Trust in Training — First Fruits — Rich Wilkerson Jr.

We are in a collection of talks entitled First Fruits, talking about putting first what matters most. First Fruits is a biblical command in the Old Testament, but it's something that rings loud and clear all throughout the Bible. We're learning in this new season that it's not always about our abilities, but more often than not, it's about our priority. If you'll put God in his proper order, your life is going to be in order. And so last week, we talked about first time. Today, I wanna read a passage of scripture. This is 1 Kings chapter 17. I'm gonna read 14 verses because we are 14 days in, and I believe you can handle lots of scripture today. The word of God says this, then the word of the Lord came to Elijah. Leave here, turn eastward, and hide in the Kareth ravine, east of the Jordan. You will drink from the brook, and I have directed the ravens to supply you with food there. So he did what the Lord had told him. He went to the Kareth ravine, east of the Jordan, and he stayed there. Now, the ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning and bread and meat in the evening, and he drank from the brook. Sometime later, the brook dried up because there had been no rain in the land.

Then the word of the Lord came to him, go at once to Zarephath in the region of Sidon, and stay there. I have directed a widow there to supply you with food. So he went to Zarephath. When he came to the town gate, a widow was there gathering sticks. He called to her and asked, would you bring me a little water in a jar so that I may have a drink? And as she was going to get it, he called, and bring me please a piece of bread. As surely as the Lord your God lives, she replied, I don't have any bread, only a handful of flour in a jar and a little olive oil in a jug. I'm gathering a few sticks to take home and make a meal for myself and my son that we may eat it and die. Elijah said to her, don't be afraid. Can you just help me preach a little bit today? Look at your neighbor and say, don't be afraid. He said, don't be afraid. Go home and do as you have said. But first, someone say, but first. Make a small loaf of bread for me from what you have and bring it to me and then make something for yourself and your son. For this is what the Lord, the God of Israel says, the jar of flour will not be used up

and the jug of oil will not run dry until the day the Lord sends rain on the land. Someone said amen right there. She went away and did as Elijah had told her. So there was food every day for Elijah and for the woman and her family. For the jar of flour was not used up and the jug of oil did not run dry in keeping, I like that, in keeping with the word of the Lord spoken by Elijah. I wanna take a few moments today and I wanna preach from this subject, trust in training. Trust in training. Lord, we thank you for your word. We ask now, Holy Spirit, that you would speak to us. God, we've gathered on the first day of the week as a sign to say that we trust you. Lord, we're believing that whatever we're stepping into this week, that Lord, you're already blessing it, you're already working things out. God, today, Lord, we've worshiped you. Your word says that you inhabit the praises of your people. So I ask now, Holy Spirit, that you would speak through me. Let them not hear this broken vessel, but may they hear the word of the Lord, that we leave different from how we walked in. If you agree with that prayer, all of God's people said? Amen.

All of God's people said? Amen. And if you love Jesus, make your neighbor uncomfortable, make as much noise as you possibly can. When I say the word trust, I can already just see it on people's faces. People kind of get tense. Because trust, it sounds spiritual, but how many of y'all know, it feels personal. And you don't have to be like a sociologist to look around the times that we're living in to notice that we are living in a generation that people have trust issues. Don't say amen too loud, okay? People don't trust nothing anymore. We don't trust the media, we don't trust politicians, we don't trust institutions, we don't trust authority, we don't trust churches, we don't trust pastors, we don't trust people. And I get some of it, right? There's a lot of things coming at us. There's a lot of noise. This is a season that we try to turn down the noise so we can turn up the voice of God, but noise is coming at us. Like emails, I don't trust emails anymore. Anyone like me? I get so many emails. Excuse me, sir, we've noticed some suspicious activity on your account.

I'm never like, oh, thank you, stranger. I'm always like, the devil is a liar, no sir. We don't trust labels. I don't care what the label says, all natural. It's like, says who? Is there anyone else that can attest to this? I get 35 spam phone calls a day. How do all these people have my phone number? Can somebody help me with this? Like, I don't know, and it's always like for some big breakthrough. You've been approved. I didn't apply. So I was like, this is gonna change your life. I don't think it is. It's Tuesday at 1137. This is not from God. And what I'm noticing sometimes is that if you're not careful, man, like we go through life and there's a reason why our trust has been broken. Maybe it's someone or something that hurt us. And this is not my message today, but if you're not careful, if you don't process it, you'll carry it. If you don't actually handle and face the thing that hurt you, you will watch this, hand it down. And many of us, we're going through a season right now that we have trust issues. And there's so much noise coming from so many different angles.

But my concern is with all of the different voices coming our way, if you're not careful, you will miss the voice of God. It's like anyone like me, like if God were to call my phone from an unknown number, I'm probably sending him to voicemail. And I'm like, God, if it's you, shoot me a text, right? Because the thing with trust issues and the thing with trust is that it doesn't just hurt us, watch this, it changes how we live. Because trust is far more than belief. Trust is a behavior. Trust is what you do without any proof. Trust is a behavior in action. Let me try to give you an example. The other day I was sitting in a meeting and my wife walked in with some sort of paperwork and she said, sign this. I didn't question her, I just signed it. Now I hope she didn't just take me for all my money, you know what I'm saying? But why did I do it? It's because I trust that woman. I don't need an explanation. I don't need evidence. I don't need understanding. I've walked with her. I know that she has good things in store for me. I know she has my back. But this is why it's so easy to trust God

until he asks for first. It's very easy to trust God once you got that promotion. I always knew you were Jehovah, Jireh, my provider. It's very, very easy to trust God that once you get the call back from the doctor that you're cancer free. Say, Lord, I always knew you were a healer. It's always easy once we get clarity to trust God, but that's not how God works. He flips the order time and time again, and he says, trust me, and then he makes you wait. This is what Proverbs chapter three says. It says, trust in the Lord with all your heart. Lean not on your own understanding. Have you ever paused to think about that? Wait a minute, God. You mean following you will not always be logical? You mean following you will not always make sense to everyone else around me? No, following God will require trust, but if you'll trust him, and if you won't lean on your own understanding, he promises you that as you acknowledge him, he's gonna make your path straight. Does anybody feel like stepping into 2026 on a straight path? I don't care how long it takes me to get there. I just don't wanna waste any time going in any circles. Anybody want a straight path, go ahead and praise God in advance.

It will require trust. In today's passage that we're looking at, it's beautiful because it's not a proverb. It's not a principle. It's not a formula. It is a tale of trust. It's a story of trust. And it's beautiful because our passage begins with the word of the Lord came to Elijah. Now, as the word comes to Elijah, I think that's powerful that you see that because you need to understand the context of the moment. This word is not out of nowhere. For what has happened is just a couple verses before, Elijah has given a prophetic word that there will be a drought in Israel. Why is there a drought coming to Israel? There's a drought coming to Israel because this is one of the darkest moments of Israel's history. There is an evil king named Ahab and even more wicked queen named Jezebel. They have turned the people to stop worshiping God and they are now worshiping Baal. I want you to see this. Baal is the God of storm, rain, and fertility. So when Elijah gives this word, he's not giving a weather report. He's confronting Baal. God is saying, oh, you're in charge of the rain.

Let's see. It will not rain again until I open up my mouth. But what I'm so grateful when it comes to God is this, is that God will never ask you to obey him publicly and then abandon you privately. Many of us are starting a brand new year and you're like, this is my year of obedience. This is my year of discipline. I'm going to follow God's pattern. And as you step out publicly, sometimes there's consequences. Sometimes you lose some relationships. Sometimes your circle gets smaller. But I want to encourage you that as your circle out there gets smaller, I want to remind you of a God who keeps on speaking to you and leading you. He will never leave nor forsake you. Somebody give him praise. And I like it because He directs him to this ravine, to this remote place, this place of isolation, that you have spoken for me publicly, but now I want you to trust me quietly. And the word of the Lord comes to Elijah, and he says, I'm sending ravens to feed you. That makes me laugh, because that is peculiar. I have seen people feed birds, but I have never seen birds feed people. It's not that strange, I suppose.

This weekend, I took my two older boys on a father-son trip with two other dads from VU Church. We went down to the Keys to go fish. We caught very little fish, but we made a lot of memories, somebody said, amen. You can imagine three dads going down to the Keys, lots of good memories, but poor planning. The weather was terrible on Friday, so we couldn't go fishing, but we found this little part of entertainment called Theater of the Sea. It's where they do dolphin shows, and shark shows, and parrot shows, and it was really cool. I sat down for the sea lion show, and right away, something caught my attention, because the trainer came out, and she started talking about the sea lion. She says, we train these sea lions based upon trust. We command them with our voice and with hand signals, and when they obey us, we reward them. And then she started doing all these tricks. She started having the sea lion balance a ball. The sea lion made a basket. The sea lion rode down a water slide. This sea lion does more than some of us before we even have coffee, okay? But before she began the performance, this is what she said, and it spoke to me. She says, we're now going to test the sea lion's trust.

I said, you preachin', Miss Trainer. Because I want to encourage you that God doesn't try to trick you, but he will test your trust. And if this woman can speak in a way that a sea lion can obey, why are we so shocked that God could speak in a way to a raven to make a raven obey? Please understand that everything under God's creation submits to his voice. Everything obeys him. Seas obey his voice. Storms obey his voice. Donkeys in the Bible obey his voice. Bushes obey his voice. Rocks obey his voice. Demons obey his voice. Even ravens obey his voice. Which ought to get you excited because it tells me that there is no situation, there is no circumstance that has put you in such a box that you are limited to God getting you what you need. He can speak in a way that he can make the birds fly and show up right where you need it. Doesn't matter the condition of the economy. Doesn't matter how dire your circumstance is. If God wants something to happen, all he has to do is speak a word and that thing will obey. Somebody give him praise today. We don't serve a God who operates merely in the natural.

We serve a God who operates in the supernatural. So I don't know what you've come in here with right now that as you look at it, it seems like it could never ever happen. Please understand we serve a God who takes impossible things and he makes them possible. Somebody praise him in this place. But it's my trust in training. He sends ravens to feed Elijah. Ravens. God speaks to the ravens. Now I want you to notice two things about these ravens. Rabbis used to teach that these ravens, they actually believe these ravens were taking food from Ahab's kitchen. I don't know if it's true, but I love that, man. I can show it to you in the Bible. The Bible says it this way in Psalm 23, verse five. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil and my cup overflows. This passage says he prepares a table in the presence of your enemies. But if it really is from Ahab's kitchen, that evil king, it also means that God can prepare and he can actually prepare a table from the presence of your enemies. That your enemy's food can actually become fuel for you. But it's not just that. It's also, secondly, that if you study the Old Testament,

Elijah is a Jewish prophet and under the law of Moses, you could not deal with ravens. Ravens were seen as unclean. They weren't fit. You couldn't touch it. It was forbidden. But here we see God using the forbidden thing to permit a provision to a man that he's trying to get something to. I want to encourage some people, because some of you are going through a season right now that you have been labeling that thing as bad, that thing is evil, that thing is unclean. But anybody grateful for a God who can take bad things and he can do good things? things with it. This is what Romans chapter 8 actually says, that we know that in all things, someone say all things, that's the bad things, that's the troubling things, that's the challenging things, that's the things that seem bad or unclean or unusable. God can take all things and he can use it for the good of those whose love and trust is in him. Somebody ought to praise God today that he can get it to you. So if everything in creation obeys and if everything in creation operates through voice command, the bushes, the rocks, the demons, the ravens, even sea lions, the only thing in creation that has a hard time obeying the voice is you and me. I'm so thankful for a God that even when I'm faithless, he's still faithful. Come on, anybody grateful for a faithful God? I want to obey his voice. Because the word of God says that it wasn't just ravens that were feeding him, but he also provided a brook there for him to get water. Now, it was a drought. This was judgment, but God had already made a way where there was no way. And for a long while, this brook was sustaining him. This brook was keeping him. This is how he was actually getting hydrated. But if you saw there in the passage, the passage says, then the brook dried up. I just want to remind some people what saved you in one season will not sustain you in the next. I'm trying to comfort some people today.

If you go down right now on the count and your heart goes out, emergency teams are going to come in here, they're going to pull out a defibrillator and they're going to bring you back to life. That works one time. You can't go around life just shocking yourself. It saved you. It won't sustain you. I think about training wheels as a kid. Remember when you first started teaching your kids how to ride bikes or when you first learned how to ride a bike, the training wheels served a purpose. It got you going. It kept you balanced. It kept you stable. But I have never seen a 25-year-old man pull up to a house and be like, what's up? Got my bike, see my training wheels. How are you feeling? No, that's pathetic. Because at some point, those training wheels that got you going begin to limit your speed, begin to limit your distance. Come on, I'm trying to get somebody to see right now that the thing that saved you on one season will not sustain you in the next. God is not drying up the brook because he's angry. He's not drying up the brook because Elijah sinned. He's not drying up the brook because there's a problem. No, he's drying up the brook because he's looking at Elijah and he's saying, Elijah, you're ready. You're ready to move into the next season. You're ready to move into the next era. You're ready for action. I wonder, is there anybody here today who's ready in 2026 to get moving? The brook drying up wasn't punishment. It was promotion. And some of us, we get so attached to one season, we can't step into the new season. In order for you to step into something new, you have to leave something old. In order for you to enter, you actually have to exit. In order for something to start, come on, something has to end. The brook was never the source. The raven was never the source. God was saying, my voice, my word, that's the source. Somebody clap him right now. Give him praise in this house. The brook dried up, the ravens were gone, but the voice of God was still there. And I want to encourage you this year, God's voice will never leave you. The reason why I'm trying to get you to read your Bible is not so you can just learn more scripture. It's that you would learn how to decipher and discern and interpret the very voice of God. Because God doesn't leave him right there. Instead, God speaks to him and the word comes back to Elijah again. And he says, there's actually a widow in Zarephath and she has the provision that you need. Listen to me, provision always follows direction. It always follows the voice of God. Where God guides, he provides. What's interesting, and if you don't actually get the context of this passage, it'll kind of just go over your head because this is a wild word from God. A wild word. He says, go to Zarephath. Zarephath is the place where Jezebel came from. It's an unlikely place.

A widow is the lowest form of social class of the day. So God is saying, go to the unlikely place to the unlikely person and do the unlikely thing because I'm going to use it for an unlikely result. I want you to see this because many times this is what we miss on our journey is that some of us, we're going through life and it's not the fact that God isn't providing. It's just that we don't like how he's providing. I'm serious. Like we don't like how he's doing it. And listen, if you continue to continue to reject how he's doing it, you're never going to receive what he has for your life. There's an old story about a man who who's at his house, and there's a storm coming that way. And so he says, God, protect me in the storm. God, protect my home and protect my life. And right around that time, a fire truck pulls up, and he says, sir, you need to evacuate the home. He says, no, it's okay. God's gonna save me. They say okay, and they leave, and the water starts to rise about six feet up, and a boat pulls up. Sir, you need to leave the house. He says, no, it's okay, I've talked to God. He's gonna save me. Now he's on the roof of the house, and the house is almost underwater, and a helicopter shows up. He says, this is, you gotta come now. He says, no, it's okay, I've talked to God. God is gonna save me. Before you know it, the water rises above the house. He dies, gets to heaven, and he looks at God and says, God, how come you didn't help me? And God says, I sent you a fire truck, a boat, and a helicopter.

You cannot ask God for provision and then complain about the package it comes in. Wow. It's gonna require trust, and when it requires trust, oftentimes he does it in a way that you wouldn't expect. It's an unlikely person, it's an unlikely place. It requires you to lean on his voice. It requires you to operate from a voice command, to step out and obey him, and as you obey him, he begins to reward you. Some of you, you're like, God, I want a breakthrough, and God's like, cool, here's a process. No, I don't want a process, I want a breakthrough. Somebody's like, I need a sign. God's like, cool, here's a unique conversation. I don't want a conversation, I want a sign. Hey, hey, hey, God, I need a blessing. He's like, here's a budget. I don't want a budget. I want a blessing. I want a healing. He doesn't give you anything, he gives you a church. It's not in the way that you want it, but it's not that he's not answering your request, it's that he's not sending it in this package that you like. Think about Elijah, man. Elijah wanted food, but God sent him ravens. Elijah wanted water, but God sent him a brook. Elijah wanted a stream, but God sent him a widow. As we go on in the story, the widow, man,

she wants food, she wants resources, but God sends her a prophet. What I'm trying to get you to see is many of us are rejecting the thing that God is sending our way because it hasn't come in the package yet, but this is a year that you trust God, and as you trust him, come on, he's gonna lead you. Somebody praise him in this house. The Bible says that as he shows up there to Zarephath, he sees this woman, I wanna highlight this, this woman, she's out there and she's gathering sticks, and the details matter. She's not planning, she's not preparing, she's not like on her vision board dreaming. Rather, she's picking up some sticks because she's preparing to make her last meal with her one and only son that they might eat and die. The word of God says that Elijah shows up on the scene and he looks at this woman and he says, can I have a drink of water? Now, I like this too because the woman, she doesn't say no, this woman who is on her last call heads towards the well to get water. It shows me that her heart and her posture is one of generosity, one of service, one of kindness, one of preferring others, and as she's on her way to the well, Elijah says, hey, I wanna have a drink of water. And as she's on her way to the well, Elijah says, hey, also, I like it,

can I get a morsel of bread? And her answer is this. She says, sir, as surely as God lives, all I have is a little bit of oil and a little bit of flour. I think a lot of people in life get stopped right here. How do you make bread? Flour and oil. Because she doesn't have the finished product, many times we negate the ingredients. And here we are stepping into 2026, and I know what the Lord's doing in some of your life. He's speaking loudly and clearly. And rather than actually give him the ingredients of your life, your time, your talent, your treasure, rather than give him your day and your week and your month and your year, you start getting yourself trapped in your thoughts because you're going, I don't have the finished product yet. This is what a lot of people, I've seen this for years, pastoring this church for 10 years now. People come in and they hear the good news of the gospel, and they say, I love that. What a beautiful message. But I gotta go out into the world. I gotta clean myself up. And once I get my life right, once I start actually obeying and living a moral life, then I'll come to Jesus. Friends, that's the opposite of the gospel.

You can't clean yourself up. The gospel is acknowledging that I haven't just sinned. I am a sinner. And the only way I can be cleaned up is when I repent, surrender, and submit myself over to your voice. I'll do the surrendering. You do the cleaning. What ingredients are you hanging on to? What thing right now are you saying, it's not in its perfect form yet, so I can't start serving. I can't go to the growth track yet. I can't go to a crew yet. I can't join a team. I don't have it all together. All I got is flour and oil. But you watch, if you'll give God the pieces of your heart, if you'll give him the pieces of your life. He will begin to use it. He'll take the thing that feels terrible and he can do something beautiful I need you to clap your hands and build some faith in this room today Notice what she says she says all I've got is some flour and oil and I'm going home to make a meal So my son and I can die That's where she's at That's the situation that she's in. She's very very honest. She's very vulnerable I'm going home that we might die But how do I know? Honesty doesn't always equal the truth Just because she's being honest doesn't mean that she's telling the truth She's saying we're gonna go home and die. I love honesty and I want you to be honest God's not intimidated by your honesty. I mean Psalms is a book of honesty. Lamentations is a book of honesty. Jesus himself

He he wept with Mary and Martha. I love your honesty But listen to me honesty describes how I feel truth defines what is real Because here she is and we're gonna go home and die, but if you know it that's not how the story is going to end Honesty sometimes can lie to you. That's why you don't build your life on honesty You build your life on the truth of God's Word. I feel tired. I feel anxious I'm depressed good But now what is God's Word said God says he when he starts something he finishes God says he can take terrible things and do beautiful things God says when he starts working in your life, there is no demon. No person. No thing. No circumstance that can stop it I'm grateful that you're honest, but I don't stand on honesty. Come on somebody. I stand on the truth of God's Word You can be honest about what you fear but wrong about your future and many of us We're letting fear take over our life. And that's where she's at. We're gonna go home and die. No, you're not You're living like you're dead. But hey newsflash. You're still alive. I Wonder how many of us have come into God's house today living in a mode of honesty living based upon a feeling Living like we're dead, but not understanding that because of Jesus Christ. We are being renewed day by day I'm Training myself to trust in God Look at what happens here. This is why I think it's beautiful that Elijah when he speaks to the woman What he says to the woman that's very very important is he starts by saying don't be afraid. Can you pull the passage up? Said don't be afraid And I want to speak the same thing over our church. Don't be afraid go home and Do as you've said here it is, but first someone say but first Make a small loaf of bread for me from what you have and bring it to me and Then make something for yourself and your son here. It is the principle of firstfruits Hey, don't be afraid that's the comfort Go home and do what you said, but first and I want you to think about how scandalous this is I mean, this is scandalous in the world that we live in with Drew ski clips and people hating on the church Think about this Prophet of God coming to a widow who's about to die

It says hey, don't be afraid go make yourself a meal, but first feed me What's happening here Elijah is standing in proxy and he's a picture for us of who our God is God doesn't want your second. God doesn't want your third God wants your first your your your first First fruits God, I'm gonna give you the thing first and I'm gonna trust you with the rest It's hard to understand firstfruits and I'm trying to explain it and I want to make sure you you honestly see it's first first requires trust it requires obedience watch this without evidence I Like pizza and a couple of weeks ago I had ordered for my favorite pizza place Luke Ali. It's on the beach It's far from my house. It costs lots of money to have it delivered. It kind of gets cold on the way It's not a big deal. I'm okay. Don't don't worry about me But it was just me and I've got my portions figured out of what I want and The pizza was was on the way and as the pizza was on the way to my friends walked in the house And I Love my friends But they did not notify me or call me or let me know they would be at the house that day So I had not accounted for their company And so as the pizza arrived There comes this moment Watch this is it's not am I gonna give them some of the pizza? The question is am I going to give them the first slice? Because As I give them the first slice, the question is, will there be enough for me? It's going to require trust. That is first fruits. I'm going to give you the first. I'm going to give you the beginning because it's an act of trust. And God, you're training me in my trust. And so, God, I give you the first of my time, and I give you the first of my talents, and I give you the first of my treasure, and I give you the first of my day and the first of my moments. Because, God, as I give it to you, it's requiring trust. Will there be any more for me? It's not that I won't give my friends leftover pizza. It's will I give them the first pizza. So, here's Elijah.

But first, give me some. But watch this. Here comes the command. Bring the verse back up. I want you to see there's a promise attached. This is all throughout the Bible. It's the command verse. For this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says. The jar of flour will not be used up, and the jug of oil will not run dry until the day the Lord sends rain on the land. So, Elijah's saying, honor me first, and then watch. God's going to make sure that you have more than enough. And the scripture says that this woman, she obeys. And as you read the story, it's beautiful. Because the flour doesn't run out, and the jar of oil is always full. It wasn't that she had more than enough just waiting there. It's that she had enough every single day. As her trust was trained, she depended on God. And I have never seen the righteous forsaken when you put God first. Come on. He blesses the rest. It's a beautiful story, because you're watching Elijah's trust be trained. You're watching this woman's trust be trained. But I want to take you deeper today. Because first fruits is not just about now. First fruits is always about next. First fruits is not always about preserving and sustaining your present. First fruits is always about protecting your future. Because how many of y'all know that life is much more than flour, and life is much more than oil. Those aren't the biggest problems. No, there's far bigger problems than that. As you read on in the story, this woman, the thing that she feared the most eventually happened. Her one and only son, he died. But what I love is you read the story. She doesn't panic. She doesn't freak out. She's not afraid. No, she has sown into her future. The profit she fed is now the profit she needs. And praise God, she had sown into that because she knew who to call when the problem got too big. I wonder, are you sowing into the future that you're going to depend on one day? Yeah. What are you going to do when your little boy gets sick? What are you going to do when your marriage is on the rocks? What are you going to do when your business is going through it? What are you going to do when you're confused? What are you going to do when you're lonely? I hope you've been sowing into God. I hope you've been sowing into your family. I hope you've been sowing into your friends. I hope you've been sowing into your church, your crew because you're going to need them one day. This is not a story about her pantry merely being ordered. This is a story about her heart being ordered because watch this, the trust she trained in scarcity became the trust that she carries in her sorrow. She calls Elijah and quickly what we discover about 1 Kings chapter 17 is this is no longer a story about provision. Now it's a story about resurrection. For Elijah comes into that place and this woman's got some faith that she's trained,

she's been obeying daily. It wasn't a Sunday kind of faith. She's found herself in that deep, deep valley putting her trust and her faith in God and now as she's in sorrow she knows who to go back to. If my God can fill jars of oil, if he can put flour in my pantry, who's to say that this God cannot resurrect this boy? If my God can feed prophets with ravens and if he can bring about water in the midst of a drought through a brook, who's to say he can't resurrect a boy? The Bible says in Elijah praise that boy is resurrected. Oh but the story's better than that. This is the first resurrection recorded in the scriptures. It's the first but it's not the last. This son who has no earthly father, the one and only son of no earthly father, oh it kind of looks like Jesus. For Jesus is God's first fruit, his firstborn over all creation, given, given first. Why given first? Because all throughout the Bible, Exodus and Leviticus, it's the first lamb that redeems the rest of the lambs. It's the first offering that redeems the first offering that redeems the rest of the offering. It's the first. harvest that redeems the rest of the harvest. God gave Jesus as his firstborn and as his firstfruits so that you and I could all be redeemed, so that you and I could all be blessed. Watch this, Jesus Christ, he died on Passover, he resurrected on Sunday. Sunday marked the day of the first fruits festival. He resurrected on the first day of firstfruits. So Jesus, God's one and only son, resurrected on firstfruits. This woman's only son resurrected because of firstfruits. This is not my idea, this is what the apostle Paul says in 1 Corinthians chapter 15 verse 20, but Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who've fallen asleep. Do you see what this is saying? This is saying because Jesus resurrected out of that grave, this boy was the first in scripture. Jesus, he comes, but when Jesus resurrects as a firstfruits offering, now it gives permission for each and every one of us, no matter what we're going through, no matter what we've done, when we put our trust and our faith into Jesus Christ, God's firstfruit offering, anybody grateful today that you too can get up out of your situation, you too can get up out of your grave, you too can get up out of that problem, that season, you are that which is redeemed from his offering, his firstfruits. Today, baptism is a picture of mimicking God's firstfruit offering. Cross before me, world behind me. I'm a follower of Jesus, not because my daddy said so, not because my mom said so, not because my husband, my wife, not because my boyfriend convinced me, no, no, no, he called me out of darkness, and my faith is not merely a confession, my faith is an action. So as I go down under those waters, I'm burying my old self, all my sin, all my mistakes,

but as I come up out of that water, thank God for Jesus who came up out of that grave, I too can be resurrected into life and life more abundantly. I'm walking by faith. I'm walking by trust, and my trust is in training. It grows and it gets stronger as I obey him. I don't give, serve, obey for a blessing, I do it from this blessing. And he went into that ground, but praise God, he got up out of that grave, and today, come hell or high water, I'm following him, and I know that wherever I go, I serve a God. It doesn't matter what my circumstance looks like, he can feed me with ravens. I can get drink from a brook, and if that brook drives up, it's okay. It was never the source. His voice is with me. So God, I put you first. Would you train my trust? I believe this is a year that God's training our trust, and there's people all throughout this room and at our different locations that you're stepping into a week, and there's all sorts of things that you're challenged with. People trying to buy a home. People trying to keep a job. People wondering, am I supposed to stay in Miami? Am I supposed to leave Miami? People praying for a teenager who's running from God. People believing that God can breathe on their marriage and redeem it and restore it. People hoping to have a baby. People hoping to pay their rent. The stories go on and on and on, and I am not for one second denying the pain and the reality of what you're up against. What I'm giving you is the answer. It's going to require trust, and if all creation obeys his voice, why don't you just be a person to say, Lord, I'll obey you. I'll sign that contract. I'll obey without even evidence, believing, Lord, that as I trust you, you're going to lead me and guide me. You didn't fail Elijah. You didn't fail that widow. You didn't fail that boy. You're not going to fail me. You haven't failed anyone. You're not starting today. I need you to clap your hands in faith. I'm putting my trust in the Lord. I trust in God. I trust in God. Let's use it to make it really practical. Because I trust in God, every area of my life, I want to examine it and look at it and say, God, are you coming first? Are you coming first? There's always going to be noise in the world. Churches aren't perfect. People aren't perfect. Pastors aren't perfect. Politicians aren't perfect. Media is not perfect, but there is one. It's God. Don't let the failures of those around you, the pain of a circumstance stop you from obeying the voice of God for obedience is better

than sacrifice and he's a good God and he won't leave and he won't run he's with you he hears you if he cared about a widow and Zarephath well he cares about you you know what's so cool about that widow it seems so small so unlikely unlikely place unlikely people doing unlikely things create an unlikely result you know what an unlikely result is this woman that we don't know her name lowest in the social class somehow she makes it not just into the Old Testament she jumps all the way into the New Testament for Jesus in one of his earliest sermons he decides that the widow of Zarephath is a good person to preach about when it comes to faith Jesus makes the widow an example in a sermon he says in Luke chapter 4 verse 25 but I assure you that there were many widows in Israel there were many people in Miami in voo churches time when the sky was shut for three and a half years and there was a severe famine throughout the land yet Elijah was not sent to any of them but to a widow in Zarephath in the region of Sidon I'm trying to get you to see that when you put God first it doesn't just sustain you right now but it protects your future you have no idea the legacy that you are leaving as you seek God first what did Jesus say seek first my kingdom and all these things all the flour all the oil all the relationship pain all the challenges all these things will be added unto you you never come in second putting God first you never come in last when God is placed in his proper order he's going to take care of you and he's going to use your story to tell a bigger story it's going to be history his story if you believe it today clap your hands and praise God may my life be an offering of first fruits