Revival Ready: Nehemiah - First Things First

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[MUSIC] [MUSIC] [MUSIC] [MUSIC] [MUSIC] [MUSIC] [MUSIC] [MUSIC] (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) Morning cross gates family, let's stand together this morning. Song 103 says bless the Lord, oh my soul. With all that it was within me, let's bless His holy name. So with all that we are, let's lift up the name of the Lord as we sing this morning. (upbeat music) ♪ O let all that is within me ♪ ♪ Bless His holy name for His love and joys forever ♪ ♪ And His mercy's new today ♪ ♪ We will enter with thanksgiving ♪ ♪ And fill His course with praise ♪ ♪ So come on church, live your voice ♪ ♪ And sing, let's lift this to Him today ♪ ♪ O praise the Lord, praise the Lord ♪ ♪ Praise the Lord forever ♪ ♪ O bless His name ♪ ♪ Let all within me sing ♪ ♪ Praise the Lord forever ♪ ♪ If your life's been resurrected ♪

♪ By the Lord that Jesus won ♪ ♪ And if you prayed in expectation ♪ ♪ For a kingdom yet to come ♪ ♪ Are you citizens of heaven ♪ ♪ Sons and daughters of the King ♪ ♪ Come on church ♪ ♪ Just lift your voice and sing ♪ ♪ We will praise the Lord ♪ ♪ O praise the Lord ♪ ♪ Let's praise the Lord forever ♪ ♪ Come on, bless His name ♪ ♪ Let all within me sing ♪ ♪ O praise the Lord forever ♪ ♪ O praise the Lord forever ♪ ♪ For the one who's broken heart ♪ ♪ And it's hard to sing this song ♪ ♪ 'Cause you've been walking through the valley ♪ ♪ And your faith is feeling small ♪ ♪ But I pray peace and love's around you ♪ ♪ From the God who understands ♪ ♪ As the family all around you ♪ ♪ Lift your arms up when you can ♪ ♪ Join the choir of creation ♪ ♪ With the song of the ready to come on church ♪ ♪ Lift your voice and sing ♪ ♪ We will praise the Lord ♪ ♪ O praise the Lord ♪ ♪ Let's praise the Lord forever ♪ ♪ Let's His name, let's His name ♪ ♪ Let all within me sing ♪

♪ O praise the Lord forever ♪ ♪ O praise the Lord ♪ ♪ Praise the Lord ♪ ♪ Let's praise the Lord ♪ ♪ O praise the Lord forever ♪ ♪ O praise the Lord ♪ ♪ Let's praise the Lord forever ♪ ♪ Let all within me sing ♪ ♪ O praise the Lord forever ♪ ♪ Praise the Lord ♪ ♪ To praise the Lord forever ♪ ♪ Let's praise the Lord forever ♪ ♪ Let's praise the Lord forever ♪ (audience applauding) - Good morning, are you excited to be here today? I might believe that. Let me tell you what I prayed for you this morning. So this morning and every sunny morning, as a staff we're in here praying for all that's gonna happen. And so I'm like, "Lord, let people be excited to come to church today." That's why I asked that. And then this thought popped in my head. Let them be as excited about coming to church as my dog is about the cooler weather. Because let me just tell you, in the mornings, he's like, "Let's go. Let's get outside. Let's go. Let's be that way about church. Let's go. Let's get to church.

Let's go." Now you have that picture in your head when you come to church on Sunday morning about Gina's dog. That's great. But anyway, we are glad you're here. Super excited first time guests to have you in the room with us today. Thank you for choosing to come here today and join us. If you will take a connect card in the seat back in front of you and complete that, we're not going to show up at your house unannounced. But we do want to know that you were here and that you joined us today. Also, if you have a prayer quest, anyone in the house, you've got a prayer quest. If you'll write that on the back side of that same card and drop those cards in the red baskets on your way out of the doors today. And we will get those. Thank you so much for doing that. Also, thank you so much for being faithful in your first fruits giving next Sunday's November the first. What? That's crazy. So as we finished out 2026, where you continue to be faithful, your faithful giving allows us to do what the Lord's called us to do. And that's that's what the church is about, right? Doing what the Lord's called us to do. So as we continue worshiping, will you pray with me this morning? So father, thank you for bringing each person here this morning, Lord. There's a purpose in that. You've got a purpose in that. And father, you love every person in the room. You loved us so much that you sent your son to down the cross to save us from our sins. And it's by his blood that we even have a chance that we have hope you provided away, Lord, you provided a way back to you. So father today, would you speak to us? Lord, we wait expectantly to hear from you. And it's in Jesus name, we pray. Amen.

Amen. Thank you, Gina. So like she just said, because of the cross, because the nails, the crown, because the sacrifice that Jesus paid for us on the cross, if we give our lives to him, because of his perfect blood, when there was no way into his presence. Now, there is a way, praise God, praise God. Hebrews 10 verse 19 says, "And so, dear brothers and sisters, we can boldly enter heaven's most holy place because of the blood of Jesus." By his death, Jesus opened a new and life giving way through the curtain into the most holy place. So Church, let's plead the blood of Jesus that made a way, that paid the price, that sets us free, that makes us clean, and let's worship him with all that we are as we live to him this morning. [Music] Blood of Christ, wash over me, wash over me, those sin has stained me, blood of Christ comes before me, my covering. It is your glory. We need the blood. We plead the blood. We see the blood, the blood of Christ. We need the blood. We plead the blood. We see the blood, the blood of Christ. Thank you, Jesus, the perfect Son, the perfect Son, the perfect Son, the perfect Son, the perfect Son. You took the blood, and so will we, we need the blood, we need the blood, we need the blood, we need the blood, we need the blood, we need the blood, we need the blood, we need the blood, we need the blood, the blood, the heart. Thank you, Jesus, you paid it all, so we could enter men. What songs of them, what honors them, what never fails? Only the blood, what tests to hide, what covers sight, your death is light. Only the blood, what's over them, what covers them, what never fails. Only the blood, what tests to hide, what covers sight, your death is light. Only the blood, what we need the blood, the Jesus Christ. We need the blood, we need the blood, we need the blood, the blood, the heart. We need the blood, we need the blood, the blood, the blood, the blood, the heart. We need the blood, the blood, the heart, the blood, the heart. In throne in glory, my Savior King, your loving kindness has welcomed me. Though I'm unworthy of majesty, you're at the lowly in royalty. And I will lay my crowns down and your plea. You are holy, so holy and I will, in my life as an offering. You are worthy, so worthy of, oh.

Here at your altar, to seek your faith, broken and poured out without restraint. You are holy, so holy and I will give my life as an offer of me. You are worthy, so worthy, Lord. We cry, holy, holy, holy is the land upon the throne. We join with all the heavy in the everlasting song. In holy, holy, holy is the land upon the throne. You join with all the heavy in the everlasting song. We cry, holy, holy, holy is the land upon the throne. We join with all the heavy in the everlasting song. We cry, holy, holy, holy is the land upon the throne. You join with all the heavy in the everlasting song. And I will reign my crowns down at your feet. You are holy, so holy and I will give my life as an offer of me. You are worthy, so worthy, and I will reign my crowns down at your feet. You are holy, so holy and I will give my life as an offer. You are worthy, so worthy, and I will give my life as an offer of me. You are worthy, so worthy, and I will give my life as an offer of me. We are not merely just singing some words into the sky. We are singing to someone. And that these truths are the truths of the kingdom of God. But I know a lot of times we might not be quite aware of why those words matter so much. All this was so new to me. I hope I never get over this. That when I came into a church at 19 years old, man, I looked around these things and I didn't understand necessarily what that song meant. But that song we just sang before this last one. We need the blood. We plead the blood. That for every person in this room. Let me tell you what that song is saying.

There has to be a moment, a season and time, where you came to understand what the scripture says explicitly. Without the shedding of blood, there's no remission of sins. Without a moment where your life comes underneath the sacrificial blood of Jesus Christ, you will be dead in your trespasses and sin that the wrath of God remains on you. Yet, 19 years old for me. There's a moment that in the presence of God, just like this, in moments of worship, just like that, under the preaching of the gospel, like you hear here often, that you came to believe that that blood is what you need. That you would turn from your sin and put trust in that blood for you personally. And that when you were covered by that blood, you were made new. When you're covered by that blood, you're made clean. When you're covered by that blood, you're made a part of his forever family. We are listening to people that by the covenant that Christ has completed are covered in the blood. Is that true for you? If it's not, it can be. I tell you what happened in the first service. We stopped just like we're stopping right now and I said, "Who needs to be covered in the blood?" And a few people said, "I do." (applause) Had a conversation with a few after. That's great for last service, but what's happening in this room right now is, anybody need the blood of Jesus? Listen to cover and cleanse you from your sin that you don't need to hear a sermon. You've already heard the truth you need right now. Some asses be bold for a second. Just close your eyes, everybody.

But if you're here and you're saying, "Call us and God's been working in me." Maybe even this morning and the week's leading up to this. And you are just unsure of your spiritual state. You don't know if you are covered by the sacrificial blood of Jesus, but you know you wanna be. Are you willing this morning to confess your sin and need for a savior and ask him to cover you with his work on your behalf? Simply put, do you need Jesus to save you and make you a part of his forever family? So we're gonna wait till the end or nobody else looking around not gonna embarrass you, but you got at some point respond. If you need Jesus to save you this morning, why don't you do this? Just raise your hand and look at me for a second. Say, "Call, I need that. I need that. I need Jesus to save me. Make me awesome, dude. Hallelujah." There's in the house, listen, I'll wait for you. Even the house I see back there are the lights right? See, awesome. Yeah, got you. Come on now, come on now. All right, for those that looked at me, you put your hand down.

And maybe if you didn't, but you know you still need to, you can just look at me now. I wanna say this to you, to those. Biggest moment of your life right now, right now. Jesus lived a life you couldn't live, died of death that you and I both deserve, defeated death in his resurrection so that he might extend to you on this Sunday morning, right now, this opportunity to simply reach out by faith and receive the gift of salvation. To turn from your sin, put trust in his work on your behalf. It ain't the words, it's the heart. What the words do is help you put a confession to what's happening in your heart. So for those that are looking at me and those in the room, you know you need it. Right now, let me help you talk to him. Just turn your face toward the Lord. Just say simply from your heart to him, Jesus, I confess my sin against you. I'm turning from it. I trust in your life, your death, your resurrection. Would you now cover me with your blood? Save me, I wanna follow you. Hey, to those, I know it was a couple of you that just prayed that. Why don't you look at me again, okay? Welcome to the family of God. Come on now. I think we probably do a little better than that.

Come on. Oh, heaven's throwing a party right now for you, for you. We wanna be a part of that party. The best way we know how to do that, is that you gotta let us know. So I'm gonna tell you what I'm gonna do in a second. I'm gonna start preaching, get in the scripture. This happens every time I get to this point. People leave, go to the bathroom, come back. So we won't know if you're going to the bathroom or doing what I'm about to say, okay? I know I'll watch y'all, all right? As long as you come back, I don't care. Here's the thing. You can sit through this sermon, that's awesome. But maybe you would be bold enough right now that when we sit in a second, you just slip out, go to the next step center. Some of our people will be there, there's a few of y'all. And we would just like to foster this conversation for the rest of the service. We just for a few minutes, just to help you solidify what just happened in your life. Some of our staff are already out there ready for you to do that. So when you sit in a second, if you don't do it now, you can do it after the next service, after the service. But there's a war for this moment. So I just encourage you. I just encourage you. When I get done brand, just make your way

right outside these doors next step center. So I'll talk to you for a few minutes, okay? Okay. You're the best. You really are. We praise you in Jesus name. Amen. Hey can we just give Jesus some praise. I just don't get better than that. I'm gonna be honest with you. It never will. So hallelujah. If you got a Bible, turn to Nehemiah chapter 10. We're gonna finish our journey through the book of Nehemiah today. I'll actually be in Nehemiah 10, 12, and 13. You're gonna get one message instead of three messages around the topic. I'm gonna give you in just a few moments. As you turn there, just know that today is really important and a lot of being ready for a revival. We'll move a God in your life personally and as a people also next Sunday is raised to life Sunday, which is a moment that we take a couple times a year and help people take the next right step in your faith to be biblically baptized. Already got a bunch of folks signed up for that. If you're wrestling through that at some point, you got to have the courage to leap. And that might mean get on the website today, register a simple process so that we can be prepared to help you take that next step. If that's too much for you and you're like, man, I just don't know, I need to have a conversation. Well, listen, that next step center, we have people that are there after the service come up to somebody and say, I just need to talk about baptism. Or you can just say baptism. From there, we will take the conversation. But hear me, the enemy is always trying to keep you from taking the next right step. And it takes fateful courage to go ahead and do it, to lean in and say, I'm going to follow even though I don't feel it. I'm going to follow because he said it. So I encourage you, encourage you, encourage you, do that sign up today. Now, can I set up the message with a little something? If you're a visitor here today, this message is not for you. So go ahead, you're like, wow, thanks a lot. So, well, no, I mean that because I'm going to speak specifically to our faith family around this passage. What it doesn't mean is that it's not going to encourage you, it's going to encourage you. But it's going to, this message is going to call even demand some things for us that identify with Christ and this local family. So if you're new to us or new to this faith family or not yet joined, hey, you just hear what I'm saying. The principles are still true. But just hold that close to your heart and let God speak to you in the way that he wants to. We've been in a great journey through Nehemiah, seeing what it looks like to be a revived people. What does it look like? And if

you're with us last week, we got to this place of guttural confession in Nehemiah chapter nine, the walls have been restored. God had been working through their hands. Now God was working on their heart. I mean, in God's presence and power was being made manifest. And chapter eight, man, the Word of God is restored as central to the people. And God's Word is washing over them. And here's the truth. When God's Word is washing over us, it reveals things that are still in us. Come on, right? That we're not perfected yet. We're in process and that you and I still have things in us that need to die that we might live. And that was true in Nehemiah 8. It was true in Nehemiah 9. And they finally got to this place of guttural confession. And when I say guttural, meaning they meant it, that they got sin sick. They got sick over these things that were in their minds or in their eyes or in their hearts or playing out in their lives. And they knew that they needed to be set apart and distinct as God's people, that there needed to be a purity and a passion for God that they didn't have at that moment. But they came in confession and God met them in their confession and he cleansed them. They got clean and they got close. And I just want to say all of us long for that. Man, we longed for that closeness with God. We longed for that place of unashamed before God. And they got there, man, in Nehemiah 9. And he said what they did, they reestablished covenant. Like they practically, remember we said it last week, they signed their name again, that they stood and had a vow renewal. Pretty awesome with Yahweh, with Elohim, with Jehovah. Now God had never moved, but they had. But God in His grace, remember I told you last week, God married crazy. He married us. That's funny. I don't care what you say, right? That Jesus stood at the altar and said, you're a mess, but come here. I want you anyway. And he stayed faithful and true to us, but he lets us come back to him. Anybody grateful for that? That God lets us be refreshed. I'll preach. All right, here we go. But he gets to, listen to God's excited about our return. God's excited about our covenant being renewed to him. And so they do that in light of that. It's gonna change some things in their life. God's worked in there through their hands, building the law. God's worked in their hearts.

Now God's gonna release through their hands, something that is a non-negotiable to revival. So let me give you context. And the reason why I said to our visitors today, this is not for you, in a genuine revival, in genuine revival, write this down. Write giving practices are restored. He said, oh, Reno's gonna preach on given. Reno's gonna preach on given, all right. Let me tell you why, 'cause it's in the, you're lucky I'm just doing one message 'cause in Nehemiah 10, 12, and 13 is all the same principle because God knows something. God knows something. What is true, listen to me, in the way in which we steward the resources of God is like a dashboard that shows where we're in our relationship with God. That it reveals to us the priority and the supremacy of God in our lives. And let me tell you what I love about the Lord. I'm gonna teach, I'm not gonna yell at you too much. That the Lord knows this about us. That if things are left unattended, if things are not addressed, they poison us. And that God knows about our resources, man, that they can become, listen to either something we're enslaved to, they've become a really poor pursuit instead of pursuing God with all of our hearts. So God starts re-establishing these principles in this moment, may give you one more principle

and we'll jump into the text. How we steward our resources is a measurable reflection of the state of our hearts. How we steward our resources is a measurable reflection of the state of our hearts. And simply, ready? The numbers don't lie. The numbers don't lie. Katie and I, we got this, we got five kids. So we watching that budget like hawks, right? And the numbers don't lie about our food budget. Every month Katie comes to me, she goes, I don't know, I say, baby, we got five kids. And they hungry all the time. The numbers don't lie, right? Well, the numbers don't lie in matters of, hey, how much you're putting toward food. The numbers don't lie in a lot of how much we're investing in our family. We should make good investments in family. And the numbers don't lie in a lot of our faith. And how much we are stewarding toward the works of the kingdom of God. Now, there's a few ways to respond to a message like this. I'm setting it up so we can jump into the text. One is shame, some shame may be over some stuff. Some of you in here is not that you don't believe what I'm about to say is that you've never had a season where you broke the back of it. And the enemy continually feeds you a shame sandwich

and you're just thinking, how am I gonna endure the next 25 minutes? Y'all look at me. Our king does not work or play the shame game. Our king beckons us the steps of obedience. So hear me, the spirit of God is gonna empower us toward rightful obedience that brings about flourishing. So no shame today around this area of our life. No matter where we've been in the past and our finances, that is not the truth for our future and our finances. In Jesus' name, in Jesus' name, okay? The other is just pure frustration over this conversation. You're like, I don't wanna hear this, man. This is the moment where they show up and go, the church is gonna preach another message about giving money to the church, which is hysterical to me, 'cause you don't know where I come from. Maybe you do, you remember some of my testimony story? Probably six to eight months, I don't know exactly timeline, before I came to saving faith in Jesus Christ, I was in a truck with my buddy, driving by a Gardendale First Baptist Church, and these words came out of my mouth. Gardendale First Baptist Bank, the best God you can buy, and then pitched a beer bottle into the parking lot, out of this mouth. Now, about six to eight months later, God and his sense of humor would have me at an altar,

being born again at Gardendale First Baptist Church. (congregation applauding) And then, a couple months after that, I'm going, so tell me what this tithe thing is, to which God rewired the way, and here's the truth. The enemy knew then, and was trying to see the lie into my heart, that first things don't belong to God. And on the other side of receiving the firstborn of all creation, Jesus Christ, I came to realize this principle of the kingdom, everything's ultimately from him, and first things should be returned to him. you need to know this. I don't know what one person, this is a fact. I don't know what one person gives of this church nor will I ever because I don't see you as dollar signs. I see you as people that Jesus wants to live free and love you enough. Our elders love you enough. The Bible gives it to us enough so that we might learn how to live free by returning that which is first. Now all those things being said, you're ready for the sermon. All right, here we go. Nehemiah chapter 10 verses 35 through 39. The life-giving presence of God is here today. Clarity is coming to this room right now and the enemy is going to lose ground in all of our minds. It says on the other side of their commitment to the Lord, renewing of covenant, we obligate ourselves to bring the first fruits of the ground and the first fruits of all the fruit of every tree year by year to the house of the Lord, also to bring to the house of our God and to the priests who minister in the house of our God and the firstborn of our sons and of our cattle, as it is written in the law and the firstborn of our herds and of our flocks to bring the first of our dough and the first of our contributions, the fruit of every tree, the wine and the oil to the priests, to the chambers of the house of our God and to bring to the Levites the tithes from our ground and for it is the Levites who collect the tithes and all our towns where we labor, all that to say innumerable places stated the same principle in this that first things belong to God. First things, and I want to say something in a way I've never said

it before. I was talking to Brother David about this this week, man and God, I have like three sermons. I'm only giving you one, three sermons in my spirit around this because it's such a principle of revival. It's such a principle of living and right alignment, living in close communion to God. And here's the statement that I hope that you'll come to believe and let God help you win in. We've got to recognize this. There is a war for the first. There's a war. There is a war for the first in every area of every aspect of our lives. Hear me now. There is a war for the first of your time. Anybody feel that? Every day there is a war for the first of your time, man. Listen to me, that phone is warring. Every notification, every social media opportunity, every newscast, man. There is a war for your time. There's a war for the first of your time with God who made you. Jesus who saved you, the spirit who wants to empower you. There is a war. It's not merely quiet time. It's war time. It's not merely, man, let me get some devotionals, man. It's a dogfight. And the enemy is trying to rob you of what is first, to rob you of him, not merely reading the Bible, not merely praying a few prayers, and rob you of meeting with God. And so every time we're distracted, every time we detour, all that, listen to me, it's not merely just a little movement. It's a ploy of the enemy. There's a war for the first of our week. God intended. Hear me now. I'm telling you, I want us to believe this. I'm preaching to the choir because you're here. God intended that His people would gather on the Lord's day in His presence. He intended the first of our week to be set apart to Jesus being rightly exalted, magnified, glorified. Listen to me, God is right in deserving our worship on this day, but He also knew that we needed to survive the rest of the week. So this ain't merely doing some kind of cultural thing. Listen to me. We're made for this moment so that the other six days would have direction, so that the other six days would have anointing. So it ain't merely, I've got to go to church. No, listen to me. We need this. He deserves that. And it's a war. It's a war with every youth recreational opportunity. It's a war with every opportunity, man, to do something else recreationally. It's a war that we're losing bad. It's a war listening to me that our culture no longer, and I'm telling you, that's a war for my family. We have to think through it strategically. All those things, it's a war. And the enemies after no less than our soul. So no shame, listen to me, we all got a rightly evaluate.

Doesn't mean everything's inherently wrong, this means we need to make better decisions. We need to think strategically around these things, and what I'm trying to say and what God's trying to say, the enemy's trying to rob us. There's a war for the first of your affection, there's like nine messages here. There's a war for the first of your attention. There's a war for the first of your emotional capacity or effort. Let me tell you why God decides to laser focus around our finances because God knows this. When our finances move toward Him and first, everything else follows. Come on, right? When we tell our money what direction it moves, it also moves our heart, it also moves our affection, also moves our time, also moves our schedule. That's why you can rightly look at your bank statements and see what things has our heart. So we've got a personal responsibility, life given when you think about this, now we, here's a principle, we're personally responsible for returning what's first to the Lord. You're responsible, that's individual by individual, family by family, and then there's the collective sense in which we are saying we are a first-fruits people. What's happening in Nehemiah 10 is they're declaring again we're going to live God's way. God's going to have the first, and so we're going to return it to Him. Now I want to address something here specifically that I think translates to the new covenant as well. We continue in chapter 10 it says to the priest, so where were they bringing it? They're bringing these first fruits, all these things to the priest, to the chambers of the house of our God, and to bring to the Levites the tithes from our ground for it is the Levites who collect the tithes and all the towns where we labor. So let me slow down so we make sure we get it. They gave it to the Lord through the Levites to be utilized in the house of God, simplified it to the Lord through the Levites to be utilized in the house of God. It goes on to say verse 38, "And the priest and the son of Aaron shall be the Levites when the Levites receive the tithes, and the Levites shall bring up the tithes to the house of our God to the chambers of the storehouse for the people of Israel and the sons of Levite,

shall bring the contribution of the grain, the wine, the oil to the chambers where the vessels of the sanctuary are as well as the priest, the minister and the gatekeepers and the singers. I love this. We will not neglect the house of God." So they've reestablished covenant. Now listen to me, they're reestablishing these giving practices that we're going to bring the first of everything to the Lord through the Levites who are responsible to fulfill the purposes of the temple God's house. So basically they're bringing the first and their best to the priest who would make sure that they were properly utilized for the care of the house of God, so the house of God by the way in that moment fulfilling the purposes of a house of prayer is a place of praise. It's where the sacrifice is being made, that blood is being shed and spilled as an atoning work on behalf of the people so that the people of Israel might live under the blessing of God. Amen. We provided for the ministry, hear that now, for the ministers and for the maintaining of God's house. For the ministry, the ministers, the maintaining of God's house, they were given to the Lord through the local Levites coming to their towns to receive these things, to make sure it was utilized to fulfill the purpose of the temple. So I'm going to give us a question to answer, okay? I'm going to go ahead and give you the answer. Don't you all love them kind of tests? Right? Here you go. The answer is no. Okay? Got me? Say it with me.

No. That's the answer to the question. All right. There you go. Here's the question. I feel like God gave me this week. Do you, do we believe that the role of the temple and the old covenant is more important than the role of the local church in the new covenant? Now stop. Don't answer yet. You already know the answer. I'm going to tell you something. I'm grateful for the temple. Hallelujah. Aren't you grateful? Read the old covenant. I mean the Old Testament that shows us the old covenant. I'm grateful that God established a way that the people again can experience the presence of God. I'm grateful that God established again a place that he can manifest his glory and presence Is that the wall? tribe, and tongue. I'm grateful that God set apart a place that sacrifice could be made. Blood could be shed so that people could be made at one with God. I love that God made a place that the prophecies could be made known and the coming of one is sure to happen. I'm grateful for the temple. But, man, I'm glad that Jesus came to be the fulfillment of it. Come on. I'm grateful that Jesus came and said, listen to me. I'm the lamb. Nobody has to lay me down. I lay myself down. That Jesus came and said, listen to me, you don't have to have it in one place. I'm going to come and die one time so that I can be worshiped in all places. That I'm going to come and bridge the gap for all humanity through one sacrifice. So that Jesus could establish the church that the gates of hell would not prevail again.

So that the local church, come on now, that the local church, a people for his own possession, a royal priesthood, a chosen nation could be represented all over the earth. That we're trying to get back to one place, man. We get to meet as God's people in all places. That's why I get a text message this morning from some of our brothers and sisters that are in the Middle East, in the middle of the chaos, all of it. Guys asking them from their sending church, do you want us to get you out of there? Do you want us to help get you to remove you from that place in this moment? And they said, this is the whole reason we came. Is that when we lose communication, when that government shuts down our access to let you know about that, just pray more, but we ain't leaving. That's the church represented. It looks one way there. It looks another way here. Same church, same king, same savior, same cornerstone. So grateful for the temple and the purpose it serves in the Old Covenant. But it does not have a more important role than the local church does in the New Covenant. So I'm going to read you a question again. We're going to answer it with some gusto, okay? Here's the question. You know the answer. Don't let me hang in. Do you believe that the role of the temple in the Old Covenant is more important than the role of the local church in the New Covenant? And the answer is? No. That's right. So in line of that, can I ask you a second question? If our answer is no, then why would we ever think that God would want less resources being returned first through the local church? Why would we ever, if the way in which, hear me now, if the way in which the primary way that Jesus intends to get the good news of Jesus cross to Rankin County? If the primary way that Jesus intends man to see generational impact, families formed, fashioned, discipled man, impact to happen, Jackson Metro, state of Mississippi, United States, nations of the world, if the primary way that the gospel of Jesus cross is going to get to the world is through the church, plan A. And why would we ever think that it would call for anything less than our first? That each of us, and here's the awesome thing, that each of us has been called and given the opportunity to faithfully steward what God has given us and entrusted for the sake of the advancement of the kingdom that we also should return what is first to the Lord,

entrusting it to appointed spiritual leaders in local churches to advance the mission of the kingdom. That God's plan is to impact the whole world through the local church, and the enemy wants to rob us from returning what is first to the Lord through the church. Now can we talk for a second? I know we have all, every one of us, have heard the stories of how men and how ministries have misused the resources that were intended for the mission of God. Have we not heard the stories? Go online, right? Turn on TBN, and you don't know what's wrong, but you're like, I'm wrong. Something's off here in this. We've heard the misuse, the abuse, to which I want to say, . for the advancement of the kingdom of God will one day stand before the one whose eyes are like fire. And audit is coming. And audit is coming. And it's a tragedy and a travesty and it dishonors the name and the fame of Jesus Christ. Simultaneously, someone else's sin and some other context doesn't give us the right to sin in ours. I can assure you this, our staff works diligently to make sure that every penny is brought rightly into the presence of God. Our elders oversee it, meet about it this Wednesday. And I will say to you and mean this from the depth of my heart. If you don't think you can trust the leadership of this local church with the resources of God to bring the first, okay, find you a local church where you can and bring the first things to the Lord through that local church. Don't make up an excuse that will not hold up before a God who loves you enough. It calls you to be free, free from your finances, free from the pursuit of money, free from a love of money. Appointed spiritual leaders are responsible.

Appointed spiritual leaders are responsible for the stewardship of the resources and will give an account before God. That's our role. Hey, I'm gonna just heart to heart moment with you. You can't imagine how serious I take that. You can't imagine. I'm gonna give you bigger than that. The Bible tells me in Hebrews that I'm gonna give an account for each and every one of you. Y'all scared me to death with that. I'm gonna give an account before God listed me for not just what we say we believe, but for our manner of life. I'm gonna give an account personally as a pastor or leader for how we fulfill the mission of God in our time. I'm gonna fulfill literally stand before God in the kind of church that we have become. So none of that's lost on me on us. He goes to Nehemiah chapter 12 and it says, and on that day men were appointed over the storerooms, the contributions, the first freaks and the ties and gathered them into the portions required by the law for the priests and for the Levites. According to the fields of the town for Judah rejoiced over his priests and the Levites who ministered. Basically Judah wanted to be a part as a people to take care of the priest and the work that was being fulfilled in the temple. So they brought what was first to the Lord

through the local Levites in a way. Let me tell you what I love about preaching this message right now. I didn't preach a time to preach a message about first fruits. We made a decision based off God's leadership to preach the book in Nehemiah. Bad news for us that don't like these kind of messages. If you preach the Bible, you got to get there. And like I said, you're getting one message instead of three. And I realized the weight of a moment in this conversation. But I love preaching this in a moment where I'm not sitting up here telling you man, we really need you to give because we're in bad places. I'm gonna tell you what, it ain't got nothing to do with that. We're in a great spot by God's grace as a church, healthy, able to do many things for the sake of the kingdom of God. We're worried about what our partnerships are providing for the things God's already done here. It's got nothing to do with wanting from you. It's got everything to do with wanting for us to be the healthiest expression of a local church that is bringing that which is first into the presence of God. Realizing with, hey, with more people being faithful with resources, there's more opportunities. I can't tell you all the ways right now that God is using the resources

to impact the next generation, to see what God's doing in our church, to see people born again, Sunday after Sunday, to see disciples being made, generation after generation. But also look and see the conversations that are starting to form and happen of opportunities that are out there and that's gonna call for more resources. Here's the truth. If we become a first-fruits church, which we are becoming, and we'll take a step today toward being a first-fruits people, all the resources we'll ever need to do, all the work God's ever intended us to do, we'll be there, baby. And some. [BLANK_AUDIO] And Nehemiah chapter 13, and the last two verses, Nehemiah 13, that's what it says. I want you to think about this. Nehemiah has just been a part of this long work, because now we're years in this thing. Not just 52 days, there's a lot of things that's happened, we've covered a long span of time. But he's finalizing this work, and you would think, he's finalizing this letter, and he don't know we're going to be reading it one day, this journal entry. But you would think you'd start recounting a lot of different things, interesting where he lands. Verse 30 says, "Thus I cleanse them from everything far," and I love that now. He's going, "Hey, let me tell you what I've done, I went to work making sure we were set apart unto God, that we had separated ourselves, distinct from this world, and established the duties of the priests and the Levites, each in his work, because at that point the

ministers had stopped ministering to the Lord and to the people. But they've reestablished, man, the local expressions of those Levites and the collective work of the Levites and the priests and the temple of God, and I provided for the wood offering at a point in times, and then literally the last words, get this now, once you get filled this, the letter is closing in a few words, and for the first fruits." Now if I'm the am I, I'm just going to tell you, because I lack the perspective that the Spirit has in writing this. If I'm finishing this letter and making a declaration vertical to God, remember me, oh my God, for good, I think I end with this. I would probably end with, and hey God, remember the organization and the effort, man, and the diligence that it took for us to repair that eight foot wide wall. I would probably say, hey God, remember the wall that we built in 52 days, miraculously, I know it's you, and you use the people, or I might have said, hey God, remember that I helped with the re-establishing of the temple. I helped make sure that there was a platform that Ezra could come and bring the Word of God again. I think I would have ended there. God, we re-establish worship and all those things, but the last thing Nehemiah says, God, you use me to do, and I hope you remember this, is to re-establish first fruits giving. And let me tell you what I think Nehemiah knew, even more important, the Spirit of God knew, writing through them, that's the greatest evidence that this group of people are revived. He's saying, hey, Lord, I don't know how to tell you this, mind-blowing. Your people are our first fruits people again. Then he goes, God, remember me, oh my God, for my good? I think Am I saying, God, we got there, and I don't know where it's going to go from here. But in this moment, we're there. I'm going to tell you something. It would be the greatest joy of my heart as your pastor is to be able to stand in the presence of the Lord and prayer and go, God, we're a first fruits people. We give you the first of our time, we give you the first of our week, we give you the

first of our treasure. God our hearts own you now. You're going to have to keep us there. You're going to have to remind us of that. We're going to have to repent, but God right now, we're aligned. Right now, we're focused on you. Remember me, oh my God, for good. Last principle, real revival and the returning of first fruits, they're a packaged deal. No such thing, no such thing, no such thing is being a person that's revived personally, it still is to be not yielded to control of your finances. It just ain't there, that's what Jesus says. Where your treasure, there your heart will be also. He didn't say where your heart is, is what your treasure, say what your treasure, that's where your heart is. Easiest way to evidence that, that's when you've got a little, it's when you've got a lot, it's when you've got everything in between. One more passage of Scripture, I is not sure. A lot of to you. Proverbs 3, 9 and 10 says, "Honor the Lord with your wealth and with the first fruits of your produce, then your barns will be filled with plenty, your vats will be bursting with wine." I'm going to say what that's not saying is helped in wealth. What that is saying is under blessing. If you honor, if you honor the Lord, He takes care and gives you everything you're going to need. It's just who He is, the kind of God that He is, is the principle of the kingdom of God. Last week I had a conversation with a 14-year-old after He's got a grass-cutting gig where he's cutting one yard and making $50 off of it. I'm like, man, you're robbing somebody,

but he's doing it faithfully, and he has learned the principle of timing. So at 14 years old, he brings $5 to do it, but he's telling me this story last week. It's awesome. Well, he went and played golf with a buddy, and playing, going to play golf with that buddy, his buddy got there and said, "Oh man, I forgot my money." So this kid paid for that other kid's round of golf. Anybody, by the way, got that kind of buddy. Y'all know what I'm talking about? If you don't have that kind of buddy, you are that buddy. I'm just gonna throw that out there. And he's the land, convictionally, for somebody. That's funny, you can laugh in churches, all right. It's still true, though. All right, so he was wrestling coming in last Sunday, knowing that he'd paid for a buddy's round of golf that he probably ain't ever gonna get that money back. And I told him you're probably never gonna get that money back, but he's wrestling with, do I still give the five as the first fruits? So he came into church with that five. Why don't you get this now? Or came to church with that five. And then a lady that he does not really know, if you're that lady, you're part of this story. Walked up to him and said, "I don't know why, "but the Lord put you on my heart this morning

"to give you something because you're gonna need it. "I'd be for shoes, might be for something." And handed him $100. That's double. So in this moment, he's perplexed 'cause he's like, "I don't know how to break his tweenie. "I don't know how he's like, I don't know." And he's trying to figure out the math on this thing, right? And I looked at him and I said, "You'll never forget this moment." And he'll always play like that. I mean, it's not the way that it's gonna work the rest of your life. There's moments that you tie, then your transmission goes out the next week, okay? But for a young 14-year-old, you know what the Lord was saying? "I see you." And he's speaking to some 40-year-olds in here today. "I see you." Cross the age and stage, would you trust the Lord without which is first? Let me tell you what I love about biblical principles. Nobody does them better than God. And with this, God the Father gave his first for us. Colossians 1.15 says this. "He is being Jesus is the image of the invisible God." He's the first born of all creation. Hallelujah, right? "So when God the Father looked out "and saw the need of all humanity,

"He gave his first." Now what he had left? What he loved most? In light of that here, John 3.16 again, for God so loved the world that he gave his only son, he gave his first, so that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. God gave his first so that a few of y'all at the beginning of this service could be born again. Because God knows the principle of first, I sow it and it reaps. It's a principle of the kingdom of God. I love being your pastor. I mean that. And I love you enough to look at you for a cup of coffee. I'll tell you this. You can't skip this step and spiritually flourish. We can maneuver around it. It'll come up as we preach through the Bible at certain times, different points. But at some point, at some point, you've got to decide what you're going to do with it. At some point, you've got to be courageous enough to set up the recurring gift Katie and I every two weeks. Get paid every two weeks, every two weeks.

If I get paid to preach something, do something somewhere, it ain't what's left. It's first. At some point, spiritually has to become practical. What will we do with it? For some here today, you need to make a decision. Maybe look at your spouse and say we're going to start living this way. Ask for me in my house. For some of you here today still, you need to receive what God the Father gave first. I love that Jesus saved people in both services on a day that we preached on tithe and in Jesus' name. Come on. Come on. I'm telling you, to the enemy, it's like in your face. That's what it is from the Father Jesus is saying to you, listen to me, I'm going to take what you're robbing them of and I'm going to bring about a blessing in the lives of those that's choose to obey today and, by the way, I'm going to save people too. So what's the Lord doing in you? Now listen to me, every Sunday we gather, we pray for people. You got stuff going on in your life today, we'd love to pray with you, okay? Got things you need to help, healing, hope, love to pray with you. For some of you need to do business with God, the altar is open, we got like three more minutes, five more minutes here, now it's not the time to leave, let me pray for us. Father, thank you for your presence. Thank you for your presence. We're here for you. What's God saying to you this morning, you go ahead and start responding. What's the spirit speaking to you about right now?

If you need to be prayed for, we would be honored to do that. I'm going to be here in front of some of our other leaders to be here, let us pray with you. I just pray with you, when you come to altar, you can come on, like let the Lord, hey, some of you got some stuff, I'm just going to say this, that you need freedom from. No better day to be set free than today. Now the Lord's with us today. If you're here, you just need some hope, some healing, man. Maybe you're going to last all out of order, welcome to the party, we'll all be there at some point. If you let us pray with you today, please let us pray with you today. If you're here and you gave your life to Christ earlier in the service, you can come talk to somebody now, one of our guys did that in the other service. You come talk to us now, it'd be great, or you can go out to the next step center after this service and talk to somebody, you can do that as well, but why not come now? Why not come now? Maybe you're here and you're still wrestling through it. The best time to respond to the Lord is always right now. The best time to respond to the Lord is always right now. So whatever he is saying, obey, hey, let's stand worship him for a moment. We'd love to pray with you about anything. ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪

♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ - Cross Gates family, please extend your hands to receive this blessing. My prayer is that God helps us stay the course and remain faithful to Him in every area of our lives. As we see in Nehemiah, worship is more than showing up on a Sunday and singing praises. It's how we live, how we serve, and how we honor God with what He has blessed us with. Our first fruit is giving as part of that worship, and it's an opportunity to show God that we trust Him and put Him first. My prayer is that God would show each of us specifically how our giving impacts His kingdom. It may open our eyes to the lives being changed, the families being strengthened, and the people being reached because we are faithful together. For those who are new to first fruit's giving or may still have questions, I pray God gives you the faith to take that step and the opportunity to see the difference it makes.

As 1 Peter 4.8 reminds us, love covers a multitude of sins. May we lead with that same love and how we serve, give, forgive, and care for one another. Lord, help us not to drift away or become complacent. Keep our hearts focused on you. Help us remain faithful and show us how you are working through our obedience and generosity. May our worship be evident not only in what we sing, but how we live, how we love, and what we give. In Jesus' name, amen. (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music)

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