Sunday Message (2nd service) - Pastor Scott Graham (May 17, 2026) | Life Bible Church

Welcome to the Life Bible Church podcast. We

want to thank you for joining us today, and we

hope you find today's sermon impacting as you

listen to it wherever you are in your daily walk.

To find service times and watch messages online,

see our website at lifebiblechurch .org. Now,

enjoy this week's message. Well, guys, my name

is Pastor Scott. I'm a staff pastor here at Life

Bible. Pastor Brad and Jenny are actually out

of town this weekend. So you guys get me instead.

So we're going to go after it today. I'm pretty

excited. All right. But before we do that, can

we just pray for Pastor Brad and Jenny? If you

guys want to just bow your heads with me. Father,

we are grateful, Lord, for senior pastors like

Brad and Jenny. They are such a help. Lord, they

give of themselves, of their time, their resource,

their energy, Lord, consistently. And Lord, as

they're out of town this weekend, I'm asking

that your hand would be with them. Lord, that

you would bless them. You would keep them. Lord,

your face would shine upon them. Your favor would

shine upon them. Lord, that refreshment, life,

grace would be released on their account. And

Lord, we are grateful as a people, Lord, that

you've given us pastors like them. Lord, we're

asking that your blessing would right now settle

on them. Let the rest of God come upon their

lives. And Lord, we thank you for greater equipping,

greater impartation to be released over them,

Lord, in what you're doing here in our church.

God, we bless them. In Jesus' name. And Lord,

we also just, I'm asking for today, Holy Spirit,

we give you all honor in this room right now.

We give you all honor, all glory goes to you.

You are the one who leads us into truth. You

reveal the heart of the Father to us. You convict

us of sin. You convict us of righteousness. You

convict us of judgment, Lord, that it's what

you came to do. You are the one who comes alongside

us. And I thank you for your presence in this

place. And Holy Spirit, we invite you to bring

life, conviction, and the word of Christ to every

heart in this place today. We honor you. We welcome

you in Jesus' mighty name. Amen. Amen. Well,

thank you, Emily, for the keys back there. All

right, if you guys could open up your Bibles

to Leviticus, one of the best books of the Bible,

right? I didn't get a lot of amens on that one.

Leviticus 23, verses 10 through 11. We're gonna

Leviticus 23:10–11

start there today. So if you are newer to Life

Bible, I will just give you a little bit of context

here. We are in the middle of our kingdom generosity

season. Every spring, we spend time talking about

our finances and offerings, specifically the

principle of a first fruit offering. And so pastor,

we had actually pastor Tim Karskadden come in

end of April and he shared on first fruits and

talked about tithing as well, if I'm not mistaken.

And then pastor Brad, the next weekend preached

on First Fruits. So we're jumping back into the

First Fruits message here. And I'm excited. I

feel like the Lord's given me just some insight

and some words to share with you guys today.

And I know First Fruits personally has really

impacted my life, engaging with the Lord. in

this offering. And so I'm gonna share a little

bit of that with you today. And I'm hoping that

the Lord just begins to stir in you and you begin

to glean what's available in Christ today. So

let's talk. I'm gonna address a few things later

on, but before we jump into the meat of the message

where I'm going later, I wanna just give a little

bit of a preface or a little bit of context as

to what First Fruits is. How many of you have

heard that term before, firstfruits or a firstfruits

offering? Okay, so majority of us in this room.

I'm just gonna bring a little bit of definition

to it. Firstfruits was actually mentioned for

the first time in the Old Testament. As Moses

was writing the law, you see the mention of firstfruits

from Exodus all the way through Deuteronomy.

And really what it was is it was an offering

that the nation of Israel would bring to the

Lord every springtime. And it was actually connected

to the feast season. So you had Passover. We've

all probably heard of Passover. That is the Jewish

feast actually where Jesus became the Passover

lamb. He died on the cross. We all know that.

Well, right after that Passover week is the feast

of first fruits. And it happens on a Sunday,

even in the Old Testament. It would happen the

day after the Sabbath, which was a Saturday.

So that's just a little bit of context as far

as what first fruits is. It was connected to

a feast, but it was also, it took place right

after the feast of Passover. So what is first

fruits? Let's read Leviticus to find out. So

Leviticus 23, verses 10 through 11. It says this,

Leviticus 23:10–11

it says, speak to the people of Israel and say

to them, when you come into the land that I give

you and you reap its harvest, you shall bring

a sheaf of the first fruits of your harvest to

the priest. And he shall wave the sheaf before

the Lord so that you may be accepted. On the

day after the Sabbath, the priest shall wave

it. Okay, I know that's an exciting passage of

scripture, right? But here's what I wanna do.

I wanna just give you guys a picture of what's

happening in this scenario. So this is our instruction

on first fruits. For the people of Israel, first

of all, it's important to note this was a promised

land offering. When Leviticus was written, they

were not in the promised land. They were actually

in the wilderness. And so Moses is writing and...

under the inspiration of the Lord. And notice

he did not say, if you come into the promised

land. So it starts off with a promise of saying,

when you come into the promised land. In other

words, this is a sure thing. This is going to

happen. That was the context of even this passage.

There was a promise that Israel would come into

their promised land. And once they got into that

land and they began to sow and reap, that is

when the first fruits offering would start to

be brought into the house of the Lord. And it

would happen yearly in the springtime. So here's

the picture. If you had a field in Old Testament

Israel, let's just say this front area is my

field. I've planted it with barley because barley

was the first crop to actually come to fruition.

So typically around the feast of Passover, Wheat

wasn't even close to being ripe at that point,

but the barley was about ripe. And so around

when first fruits came, let's say this whole

area was my field of barley. I would go out with

a sickle and I would cut a portion of my field.

I would gather all the stocks together and bind

it up in a sheaf, which you've maybe seen pictures

of that for wheat or barley, any type of grain

where they bring it all together. I would then

bring my sheaf of barley. Let's say Anthony here

is the priest. I would bring him the sheaf. I

also had like another offering of a lamb and

some oil. And then Anthony would take my sheaf

and he'd wave it before the Lord. You wanna give

us a little wave here? There you go. A little,

a wave offering. Now, depending on the size of

that sheaf, I've always wondered if it's like

a little bit or if it's like a big wave where

he's like grabbing the whole thing. I don't know.

But the point is, is he would wave that barley

before the Lord, bless it and bless the person

who brought the offering. Now, why did they do

that? There's some significance that I wanna

look at. The first thing that I wanna recognize

is it was an expectation that God would bless

the rest of their harvest that was still in the

field. That's part of the reason. why they brought

it to the Lord. They brought it as an offering,

but then the priests would bless them. And notice

it doesn't make a lot of sense to harvest barley

or wheat before it's ripe. That doesn't make

a lot of sense. But they did it as almost a prophetic

act of saying, God, we're giving you the first

of our harvest. And that 95 % or that 90 % that's

still in the field, we're believing that you

are going to multiply it and you're going to

increase it above and beyond what we could imagine.

So there was, even back then, there was an element

of faith, but they were also required to do this

under the law. Okay, why does this matter for

us is the question maybe you're asking yourselves.

As new covenant believers, well, what Israel,

their journey into the promised land, was a type

and shadow for us as new covenant believers.

In other words, what Israel walked through in

the natural, there are parallels to our lives

following Jesus in this new covenant. And essentially

you can look at that starting with Israel being

enslaved in Egypt, right? They had taskmasters,

they were in bondage. Well, guess what? Before

we came to Christ, we were in bondage to sin.

It talks about that in the book of Romans. We

could not free ourselves. We could not save ourselves.

Well, God pulled Israel out of Egypt with a mighty

hand in the same way that he saved us through

Jesus and through his sacrifice, right? So there's

parallels here. Same thing with the Red Sea.

They got out of Egypt. They went to the border

of the Red Sea and the Lord split the sea and

took the nation of Israel through the sea. And

then he brought the water on the Egyptian army

that was pursuing them. Well, that's prophetic,

even for new covenant believers. Because guess

what? We're called to do right after we get saved.

Get baptized. We go into the waters of baptism.

We come out. The bondage of sin breaks off of

us and we actually are raised to a new life to

follow Christ. So you look at Israel's journey

and there's all sorts of prophetic, pictures

toward us as those who walk in the new covenant.

Well, when Israel entered the land of Canaan,

they were entering the promised land. This is

the land that was promised to Abraham, Isaac,

and Jacob that their descendants would fill the

land. So when they went to enter into it, they

were actually entering into promises that God

had made their ancestors and they were entering

into their destiny to go into a physical land.

sow and reap and experience the blessing that

God had for them. Well, guess what? We get to

actually step into a, if you wanna say it's not

a physical land, but a metaphorical promised

land that God has for each and every one of us,

where we're apprehending the promises of God

in our lives according to the law of faith. You

guys tracking with me today? Okay, so. 2 Corinthians

1 .20 kind of talks about this. For all of the

promises of God find their yes in Christ. That

is why through him that we utter our amen to

God for his glory. We love that verse, right?

All the promises of God are yes and amen. Well,

guess what? That verse is giving us some instruction

that there are many promises that God has for

us. as individuals, also as a corporate body

and as a church. But we get to apprehend those

promises. We get to step into those promises.

And that's through our partnership of our life

and faith, okay? So the first fruit offering

represents, it actually, back then it represented

giving God the first portion of their unripened

harvest, believing him to increase the remaining

grain in the field. Well, for us, first fruit

can carry that same principle that as we bring

a portion of our resources, as we bring a portion

of our finances to the Lord, we're saying, God,

we haven't seen the full measure of the harvest

yet, but we're bringing this to you in faith,

knowing that you're faithful and that you will

multiply what has not come to fruition yet. Does

that kind of make sense? How is this different

than the tithe? The tithe is something that you

bring to the Lord after the harvest. You've already

brought the harvest in. And for Israel, they

got 10 % of what was already harvested, brought

it to the Lord. First fruits isn't like that.

They would bring the sheaf before the harvest

in faith, believing God to bring multiplication.

And it's the same with us. First fruits has the

ability to actually release multiplication in

our lives. It also can release acceleration into

the purposes of God and the promises of God being

manifest in our lives. Does that kind of make

sense? So as new covenant believers, this...

offering actually engages our faith. And that

is the key. It causes us to trust God for the

fields in our life that we're believing for more.

I hope all of you are believing for more in some

area in your life in this season. I know I am.

1 Corinthians 3, 9 says, for we are God's fellow

workers. You are God's field, God's building.

So even in the New Testament, Paul recognizes

our lives, our individual lives, we're actually

a field of the Lord. What does that mean? That

means God is actually looking to cultivate the

field of our life. He's looking to bring the

plow to our life and begin to turn dirt over.

He's looking to actually plant seed and he's

looking for a harvest in our life. So that is

what God is after. He's after a harvest in us.

And you know, here's what I would just encourage

us as we're looking at first fruits. First fruits

is a way that we can partner with the Lord in

that process of bringing our whole life to him.

First fruits is a way where we say, Lord, we're

bringing even our finances and we're saying,

God, our life is your field. You wanna see it

multiply. I wanna see it multiply. We're gonna

partner in faith with what you're asking of us

in this season. And the cool thing is I'll mention

one more, just a first, I'll mention first fruits

in the New Testament because it is mentioned

in the New Testament in 1 Corinthians 15. I don't

know if you guys knew this, but Jesus is actually

our first fruit offering. And we see this in

1 Corinthians 15. It says, but in fact, Christ

has been raised from the dead. the first fruits

of those who have fallen asleep or those who

have died. For as by a man came death, by a man

has come also the resurrection of the dead. For

as in Adam, first man, all die, so also in Christ

shall all be made alive. But each in his own

order, Christ the first fruits, then at his coming,

those who belong to Christ. So I don't know if

you guys knew this, but Jesus actually was resurrected

on first fruit Sunday, right? Passover happened,

the crucifixion, he was placed in the grave the

day after the Sabbath on the Sunday, it was first

fruits. And that's when Jesus raised from the

grave. So he actually was God's first fruit offering

that as he went. As he was resurrected from the

dead, it prophesied to the fact that an increase

of souls would follow him. And guess what? We

in this room, we are the result of God's first

fruit offering of Christ. Because Christ was

offered, the increase has for millennium now

followed Jesus in that. And now we get to bring

our entire lives as a first fruit offering to

the Lord himself. So here's where I wanna, I

wanna address a couple questions in the limited

time I have left here. And here's the first question.

When we bring a first fruit offering to the Lord,

what should our heart posture be? How should

we posture our hearts when we bring a first fruit

offering? Cheerfully, come on, yes, you are right.

I'm gonna get to that later. The first posture

of the heart that I'm gonna touch on is faith.

But you're right, cheerfulness is the next part.

So faith is a key aspect of us actually bringing

our first fruit offering to the Lord. The Israelites

were commanded to bring, you know this, the Israelites

were commanded to bring first fruits offering.

So it was actually part of the law for them.

And they were justified in accordance to how

well they kept the law, which as we know from

scripture, didn't work out very well for them.

But that is how they were justified. For us as

new covenant believers, it's not like that. How

many of you know, we are not justified by our

adherence to the law. We're justified by faith

and faith alone. Romans 5 talks about that. So

for us, anything that is done outside of faith,

is actually us moving into some type of law -based

justification. So it is vitally important that

we are living our lives from a foundation of

faith. And Romans 14, 23 puts a little bit of

weight on this. Paul's talking about what to

eat versus what not to eat. And he says, but

whoever has doubts is condemned if he eats because

the eating is not from faith. For whatever does

not proceed from faith is sin. That's a little

bit of a scary verse, actually. I don't know

about you guys, but again, it really highlights

the importance of us in first fruits and really

in everything we do in our Christian walk that

we would be doing everything from a place and

from a foundation of faith. And I think for first

fruits, it is especially important that we operate

from faith. A first fruit offering absent of

faith is nothing more than a religious act. And

that's a big deal for us to know. Sometimes we

can get caught up in, well, this is what our

church is doing. And this is, you know, my friends

are doing first fruits. So I'm just going to,

you know, do first fruits. Okay, it's great that

you're bringing resource to the Lord. But according

to scripture, we are called to actually act and

give from a place of faith first. There has to

be faith attached. Just like salvation. We could

not be saved without faith, right? We have to

believe what Jesus did and actually partner our

life. With what Christ did, there's a faith that's

attached to that. Well, it's the same with giving.

We have to actually believe who God is, what

he's promised and actually stand in that place.

So what's the first step to seeing faith in our

offerings? We have to first hear him. Romans

10, 17, it says, so faith comes from hearing

and hearing through the word of Christ. So there's

a huge aspect to faith that requires us to actually

discern the heart of God, especially when it

comes to a first fruit offering. Where, you know,

again, just like we're gonna read this passage

a little bit later, but it says in 2 Corinthians

9, don't do anything out of obligation. Don't

give out of obligation or reluctance, but be

a cheerful giver. Well, there's an aspect where

we need to actually hear the Lord on what we're

called to give. And we need to give from that

place of faith. Hebrews 11, one says, now faith

is the assurance of things hoped for. It's the

conviction of things not yet seen. See, to operate

in faith, we must believe God regardless of circumstance.

I'm gonna say that again. We have to believe

God regardless of circumstance. That is what

real faith looks like. And do you wanna know

what it feels like? It feels like risk. If you

are actually believing God for something, it's

gonna feel like risk for you to actually step

out in obedience. And that really is a great

definition of faith. I'll share a story with

you guys. There's a young man, I will not name

him, but there's a young man who goes to our

church. And a couple of weeks ago, we had Pastor

Tim Karskadin coming in for First Fruits. And

he kind of shared on First Fruits. Do you remember

that? Was anyone here? Maybe a few of you. Okay,

so Pastor Tim preached on First Fruits. And in

that process, he was talking about his own testimony

of tithing. and how he was deep in debt. He was

not in a good financial place. And that's when

the Lord said, hey, you need to start tithing.

And so Tim out of faith started doing it and

God provided miraculously. Well, long story short,

the young man in our church, he heard that testimony

and he got convicted because he wasn't tithing.

And he went home and he was wrestling with the

Lord and he also was not in a good financial

position. His rent was due that same week. And

he realized if he tithed, he would be $500 short

on paying rent. And so he's wrestling with the

Lord on what to do. Do I respond to the conviction,

give the tithe, or do I not? And he finally made

the choice, I'm gonna just do it. I'm gonna step

out. And so he brought the tithe. So I talked

to him that week on a Tuesday. The very next

day, his rent was due. And he got paid, he got

his paycheck, which was double what it normally

was. To this day, he doesn't know why. But his

paycheck was double from his work. And in addition,

he's a veteran and he spent time in the military,

but he doesn't receive any benefits. He's not

on disability or anything like that. And the

VA randomly sent him a check in the mail that

came that same day. And so he tells me this story

that more than enough to cover his $500 excess

in rent that he needed came in the exact day

that he needed it. And when I think about that

though, now I know I'm talking about a tithing

testimony, we're talking about first fruits,

but it's faith and it affects both. Because ultimately

what this young man did is he had to make a decision,

natural circumstance. was speaking to him saying,

you can't do this. This is not responsible. It's

not wise. Meanwhile, the Holy Spirit is convicting

him saying, do it. Go for it. Watch what I'll

do. That feels like risk. Has anyone else been

there at some point in your faith walk where

the Lord asked you to do something that if he

did not come through, there were repercussions?

That is the definition of risk. And that's what

faith feels like, is it feels like you're taking

a step and there's maybe nothing that's gonna

actually support you when you transition your

weight to that foot. And ultimately though, it's

required, that type of faith is required and

we're actually called to be obedient. So faith

is not just feeling convicted, it's actually

responding with our lives in obedience to what

God is asking. So first fruits, just like anything

we do in our Christian faith, requires faith

in God's character, his nature, and his promises.

And when we hear him, we get to hear him and

then on what to give, and then we actually step

out in that. And a lot of times we have to look

past natural circumstances that are speaking

the complete opposite to what God's asking us

to do. David is a prime example of this. In Psalm

Psalms 27:12–13

27, verses 12 through 13, he says, do not turn

me over to the desires of my foes. For false

witnesses have risen up against me, spouting

malicious accusations. Yet I remain confident

of this. I will see the goodness of the Lord

in the land of the living. How many of you guys

know in this passage, We're used to hearing the

last part of that verse, verse 13. I'll see the

goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.

The context is life was really rough for him.

He had people, enemies rising up on every side.

There were false accusations being made about

him. So in the midst of all of this turmoil that

was happening in his life, David actually moved

himself to a place of faith. Saying, God, I trust

who you are, that in the midst of all this, I

am going to see your goodness released in my

life, in the land of the living, not just in

eternity, but in this season of my life, I'm

gonna see your goodness. And that is faith. Faith

actually, faith demands that you look beyond

natural circumstances and actually believe God

and what he's spoken. And I don't know about

you guys, but when it comes to giving and first

fruits, my wife and I have had the opportunity

to do this a couple of years. And it has been

a challenge. It has actually required us to draw

deep on our faith and our trust in who God is.

And I'll share a story with you because we've

been married now three years soon. Our anniversary

is coming up in June. We've been married three

years. So 2024, two years ago, is the first time

that we actually participated in First Fruits

as a married couple. We had done it as singles

and then we got to participate together. And

so when we, in 2024, when that First Fruit season

came around, my wife had just got pregnant with

our daughter, Noah. And so we were looking at

our financial situation. recognizing that our

insurance was not going to cover too much of

the birth. I think they were paying 60%. So in

my mind, I'm like, oh no, I need to like start

like getting money together ASAP. You know, like

trying to figure out how we were going to pay

for this child. And so we started saving and

getting money together. And all of a sudden,

first fruit season was upon us. So in my mind,

I'm thinking, this is a great year to just. Take

it easy. You know, step back a little bit. You

know, we'll just do what is doable, what makes

logical sense given the circumstance. And so

my wife and I start praying about it and I get

a number that was challenging for me personally.

And what I mean by that is it would stretch my

faith to give that. It was way higher than I

was anticipating. And I'm like, Lord, this can't

be you. And I'm like, well. maybe my wife is

gonna hear a lesser number and she's the more

holy one anyway. So I'm sure she'll be right.

And so I get together with my wife and our numbers

were different. They were very close, but they're

slightly different. Hers was just a little bit

below mine. And so I'm like, okay, maybe we'll

at least go with hers. That's a little bit lower,

but we didn't feel right about going with hers

or mine. We prayed about it and we're like, what

are we missing? And in the midst of prayer, I

hear the Lord speak loud and clear. You need

to take your two numbers and add them together.

That's your first fruit offering. And I'm like,

no, that can't be the Lord. There's no way. There's

no way. Not this year, Lord. You know the situation,

not this year. And sure enough, you probably

remember this Larissa, but we were praying about

it and she starts weeping. She's like, that's

what we're supposed to do. And I'm like, oh man.

And so again, it was circumstantially, it was

the worst. It felt like the worst year that we

could possibly take that step of faith. And yet

we watched, we brought that first fruit offering

to the Lord and we watched God provide in insane

ways in the next year. We had, no joke, we had

thousands of dollars given to us randomly. People

walking up, handing us cash, handing us checks

for the baby specifically. And then in the midst

of the birth and paying the hospital bills, we

paid a couple hospital bills. Toward the end,

we got a big bill. And I'm like, Lord, what do

we do? The hospital had already given us a discount

because you can apply for like financial aid.

They gave us a little bit of a discount. But

we get another big bill even after the discount.

I'm like, what do we do? And I hear the Lord

say, reapply. Reapply for financial aid. I'm

like, they already like made a judgment on our

case. But I reapplied and sure enough, they completely

canceled out the remaining. It was thousands

of dollars that we were supposed to pay. And

then at the, so all of that, you watch provision.

We watch provision start to come in from very

unlikely sources. And then at the end of the

year, I look at our finances just holistically,

investments, different things where we've put

our money and we were way further along than

I even thought was possible. I'm a finance guy.

I went to school for finance. So like money makes

a lot of sense to me. Like you have inflow, you

have outflow. And like, I was shocked. I don't

know where the money came from. I really don't.

But I looked at our accounts at the end of the

year and it's like, God has absolutely blessed

us. And I'm telling you, that is a lot of times

how first fruits works is that God begins to

speak to you and he's asking you to actually

take a step of faith and lean into who he is

as provider and who he is as Lord of your life.

So I wanna just say this, this type of faith

offering says, God, I don't see how you will

bring increase. but I know that you're faithful,

you're trustworthy, and I'm confident that if

you are leading me into something, you will bring

provision. That's what a first fruit offering

does. That's brought from a place of faith. Okay,

so we talked about faith as an important heart

posture in bringing the first fruits offering.

The next heart posture that's vitally important

was spoken out from the back row, and that is

cheerfulness. So props to you, you get some type

of award. I don't know what it is, but anyway,

joy and cheerfulness is absolutely important.

And I don't think we necessarily stress this

as much as we should. But 2 Corinthians, there's

an incredible passage in chapter nine, verses

six through seven. It says this, it says, the

point is this. Now, let me give you some context

before we read it. The context to this passage

of scripture is Paul is writing about generosity

and he's writing to the church of Corinth about

giving a gift, preparing a gift to send to the

church in Jerusalem. So the context is about

giving and giving to the work of the Lord. And

it says, the point is this, whoever sows sparingly

will also reap sparingly. Whoever sows bountifully

will also reap bountifully. Each one must give

as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly

or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful

giver. Now, Pastor Brad preached about this a

couple of weeks ago. I'm not gonna spend a lot

of time on it, but the Greek word for cheerful

in this passage is the word hilaros. It's the...

It's the root word that in the English language,

we would get the word hilarious, right? And what

it actually means, it means to make cheerful,

joyous, and one who would be prompt to do anything.

That's what that word means. Now, here's the

cool thing. So that's New Testament. In the Old

Testament, we get a similar command specifically

regarding first fruits. And so we're gonna read

that out of the message in Deuteronomy 26, 10.

Normally I don't read out of the message, but

this one was really good. So I just wanted to.

Verse 10 and 11. And it says this, this is instruction

to Israel on giving first fruit offerings. And

so at the end of some instruction, it says, so

here I am, I've brought the first fruits of what

I've grown on this ground you gave me, oh God.

Then place it in the presence of God, your God.

Bow low in the presence of God, your God, and

rejoice. celebrate all the good things that God,

your God has given you and your family, you and

the Levite and the foreigner who lives with you.

So this is, I love this because it really comes

at the end of, here's the nitty gritty details

for you as an Old Testament Israelite on how

to bring the first fruit offering, what to say,

what to do. And at the very end, The Lord gives

him specific instruction. He said, rejoice. Bow

down before the Lord, worship him, and then stand

up, rejoice, and celebrate. Why is that so important?

When we actually rejoice, rejoicing at what God

has done in our life in the past season, it actually

causes us to remember and then recognize where

God has come through for us. So the fact that

rejoicing is required, it's incredible because

it begins to establish faith in you. When you

look back, you see what God has done in a previous

season. You bring to your remembrance his faithfulness

to provide, his faithfulness to multiply the

fields in your life. As you actually engage with

that and you look back to that and you say, Lord,

thank you for this. And then throw a party and

you begin to celebrate because of what God has

already done. It actually positions you in a

place of faith to believe God for your next season.

And I think there is so much value. in joy and

rejoicing, especially when it comes to bringing

our first fruits to the Lord. So, and I'll say

this, have you guys ever noticed that you can't

fake joy? This group, not as much. First service,

a lot of people agreed with that. You can't fake,

you can try to slap a smile on your face for

a little bit of time, but eventually if the joy

is not inside of you, you are not going to Try

to fake joy for very long. I'm just saying. And

there's a great story here I'll share from my

wife sitting on the front row. She can attest

to this. But our daughter, we are right in the

throes of raising a toddler right now. Maybe

not the throes. We're in the beginning stages.

She's like 19 months old. So when she's here

at church, you guys get to see the best side

of her. She's just happy. She's waving at everyone.

She's saying hi. She's just like such a joy to

be around. We don't always see that side of her

at the house. I'm just letting you guys know.

She gets in a bad mood. She gets angry. She gets

sassy. She has bad attitude. She'll be crying

and whining, all the stuff for a toddler. And

so what happens, my wife and I, many times we

will look at her when she's in one of those moods.

We say, Noah, Jane, you need to change your attitude.

And sometimes we'll even say, you need to smile.

And it is hilarious because she will give us

the fakest smile you could possibly imagine.

Inside, it looks like she's travailing. Sometimes

she still has tears flowing down her face. And

she's like, just cheeses hard, like forces it,

you know, like just, and she closes her eyes,

squints her eyes and just forces a smile. And

sometimes she's like in the middle of crying

while she's doing this. And you're like, okay,

this isn't working. We need to work on, How well

you fake stuff. No, I'm just kidding. We don't

need to work on that actually. But the truth

is though, we do that, I think at church and

we do that specifically in the context of offerings.

We're like, okay, we know we should have joy.

It's a third of the kingdom, right? Kingdom of

God is not eat and drink, but righteousness,

peace and joy in the Holy Ghost. We know it's

important, but sometimes we fail to actually

bring it into our heart and let it abound from

there, right? Jesus even said, out of the abundance

of the heart, the mouth speaks. I would take

that maybe even a little bit further that what's

in your heart doesn't just affect what you say,

it affects how you live. It really does. And

anyway, so what do you do then if you're like

my daughter and you can't fake the joy? You shouldn't

fake joy, but I'm saying, how do you actually

address that? If you're not experiencing joy

or if there's apprehension, even in bringing

a gift to the Lord and in submitting your finances

to the Lord, how do you actually begin to grow

in joy? Ultimately, it takes your partnership,

but it also takes the work of the Holy Spirit

in your heart. Cheerfulness and joy come from

the heart. And I'll just say this, I think it's

significant that in 2 Corinthians 9, it says,

only give what you have decided in your heart,

not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God

loves a cheerful giver. To even see the heart

posture is connected to the cheerfulness. It

really is. So what do we do? We have to allow

the Holy Spirit to begin to cultivate our hearts.

You guys know what I mean when I say cultivate.

If you, we live in a farming community. So come

end of August, you're gonna see lots of cultivation

in all the fields around us and many dust clouds

rising up to heaven. But essentially when you

go to cultivate ground, you are taking a plow

or you're taking something sharp and you're turning

over dirt that has been fallow or sitting there

potentially for a year or more. Right, and so

when we are looking to actually grow in joy in

our heart, we have to invite the Holy Spirit's

plow to come and turn over hard areas of our

heart that have maybe, maybe we've said, you

know what? I don't wanna bring an offering. I

don't, it doesn't feel good. I don't wanna submit

that part to the Lord of my life. Well, you need

to probably invite the Holy Spirit into that

area and say, God, how can this shift? How can

this hardened area of my heart begin to shift?

And as you don't just do it in your own strength

where you're like, I'm gonna be joyful. I'm gonna

change my heart. No, you actually just partner

with the grace of Christ and the power of the

Holy Spirit. And he is the one that ultimately

will bring the breakthrough in your heart. But

we do have to partner with him and invite his

change. Does that make sense? I'm just warning

you, that's not, Always an easy process. I don't

know if I have time for this. I'll just share

it really quick. This is years ago. I think I

was 13, maybe 14 years old. And my mom and I

would always garden in this one area behind our

lawn. Well, one year my mom's like, hey, we're

gonna expand the garden. We're gonna make it

bigger. It was my job to get grandpa's rototiller

and bring it down and rototill this new stretch

of ground that I don't know if it had ever been

worked, to be honest, maybe once a long time

ago. And I'm telling you, my little 13 -year

-old self, and I weighed way less as a 13 -year

-old, and I was way shorter. I was out there

with this rototiller, and those arms were spinning,

hitting hard ground, and that thing was just...

bouncing up and down, left and right. I was sweating

profusely. It took me forever. It was a task.

So I'm telling you that not to discourage you,

but I am saying there's an element of where stuff

is lying fallow in your heart and you haven't

surrendered it fully to the Lord. There could

be areas of your heart that need consistent working

from the Holy Spirit to come in with his grace.

with his love and begin to turn over some of

those areas of your heart so that it can actually

receive seed and yield a harvest. Amen? Okay.

So I'm gonna, in the last little bit here, I

wanna talk about multiplication because ultimately

what should we expect when we bring a first fruits

offering to the Lord? I'm gonna say something.

You should expect multiplication in your life.

I'm gonna share a story. This is from years ago

and it's possible I've shared this at some point.

So if you've heard it, then great, you get to

hear it twice. But this story actually really

marked me when I was in ministry school where

the Lord began to practically teach me on the

principles of sowing and reaping. And so this

is many years ago, it was probably close to a

decade, maybe 2016 or 17. I was going to ministry

school and I was working a minimum wage job part

-time, making very little money, had very little

excess at all. And I had over the course of like

a year plus saved a little bit in my savings

account. Well, my friend decided to get married

in Kentucky. And so I had to get a flight to

go over there for his wedding. So I came back

after spending a bunch of money. My savings were

like very much depleted. I was way over budget

for the month. And I'm like, okay, I just need

to like calm down, sit down and wait for the

next paycheck to come and start working again.

And in the midst of that, I was in my prayer

closet and the Lord spoke to me and he said,

Scott, he brought up a missionary at my church,

clear his day in my mind. And he said, I want

you to give $200 to that missionary. Now, again,

$200 isn't a huge amount in today's world. But

for me at the time, that was astronomically high.

I mean, and I just didn't have a lot. I wasn't

making a lot. And so I wrestled with the Lord.

I'm like, Lord, this is not wise. This is not

smart. You're the one who told me to budget.

I'm trying to do the right thing. I've made all

the excuses of why I shouldn't have to give this

$200 to this missionary. And at the end of my

20 minute tirade in my prayer closet, the Lord

was just silent and I realized like, okay, I

guess I'm gonna give the $200 to the missionary.

And so I got on the church's website and I gave

the money to the missionary. Didn't think a thing

of it. Well, two or three weeks later, I was

at a church event with my friend and we had just

walked into kind of the main area of this building.

And there was a lady there that we met who was

visiting our church from a different place. She

had a 14 -year -old son with her. And so we were

talking to her and we ended up just praying for

her. She was going through some things in her

life. We prayed for her, a short prayer. And

then we just said, okay, have a good one. And

we left. Five minutes later, her 14 -year -old

son walked over to us and he had a check. He

handed me a check and he handed my friend a check.

And I looked down and it was a check for $1 ,000.

from a complete stranger that I had just met.

And the son said to me, he said, my mom just

felt like she was supposed to give this to you.

She didn't even know my name. She left that part

blank on the check. She said, you can just fill

in your name. But it hit me. I was driving home

in my truck and I'm looking at this check for

$1 ,000. And I asked the Lord a question. I said,

Lord, what was that? Like, what just happened?

And clear as day, I heard the Lord say to me,

you sowed in faith, you need to expect to reap.

And I was, I'm just telling you, I was almost

offended. I'm like, that almost feels like, you

know, they talk about the prosperity gospel.

That kind of feels like that. Like, what do you

mean I'm supposed to expect to receive? Like

respect to receive a harvest. I was struggling

with it. And the Lord took me to, 2 Corinthians

2 Corinthians 9:10–11

9, verses 10 through 11. I'm gonna read that

for us. It says, he who supplies seed to the

sower and bread for food will supply and multiply

your seed for sowing and increase the harvest

of your righteousness. You will be enriched in

every way to be generous in every way. which

through us will produce thanksgiving to God.

So here's, I wanna spend a little bit of time

on this. Multiplication, the principle of multiplication,

it starts when we recognize God as our provider.

And that's made clear even in this passage where

it says God will provide seed for the sower and

bread for food. What does that denote? That denotes

present provision. and future provision. As we're

faithful, when God asks us to give or leads us

to give in faith, we have to know that all provision

comes from him. You might be a really hard worker.

You might work multiple jobs and your bosses

might love you. The truth is provision does not

come from your boss. Provision comes from the

Lord. And Deuteronomy 8 talks about that. I'm

not gonna quote it perfectly, but I think it's

verse 17. It says, do not let a wicked thought

in your heart arise that says it's by my power

and my strength that I've created this wealth.

Then the very next verse makes a statement. It

says that God gives us the power to create wealth.

That's the summary of that passage. But the point

is, You could be a great worker, but you have

to recognize that provision comes ultimately

from God. That is where our provision comes from.

So one thing to note from this passage in 2 Corinthians

is that multiplication, the principle of multiplication,

it is not designed to keep you fat and happy.

That is not why God multiplies harvest in our

life. And sometimes it gets preached that way.

That's not truth. If you look in the scripture,

it actually makes it very clear why we get enriched

in every way. It says you are enriched in every

way to be generous in every way. So that really

is greater generosity is the end goal of God.

That is what he is looking to do in our lives

as he leads us in faith. to take steps of faith

in giving, his goal as he multiplies harvest

in our life is actually so that we would grow

in our generosity. And you know what's amazing

is God is the most generous being out there.

There is no human that can compare to God's generosity.

We know that from John 3, 16. God so loved the

world that he gave. He gave his only son, the

thing that had the most value to him. He gave

Jesus to us because he loved us. Well, guess

what? We are to be conformed to the image of

Christ. Romans 8, 29 talks about that, that day

by day, we are those that have been predestined

that he is actually conforming us to the image

of his son. So every day we should be looking

a little bit more and more like God. a little

more and more like Jesus himself. And that is

God's heart is that just as he's generous, we're

called to walk in that same generosity. Does

that make sense? Okay. That's my cue. Okay, I'm

gonna keep going for a little bit here. I won't

keep you guys too long, I promise. 2 Corinthians

9, verse six, it says, the point is this, whoever

sows sparingly will also reap sparingly. Whoever

sows bountifully will also reap bountifully.

See, in this passage, the Holy Spirit is using

a natural law to explain a spiritual reality.

And we understand that if a farmer goes out to

a one acre patch of land, and he throws a handful

of corn seed, he will harvest something from

that corn, but it will be vastly smaller than

if he took a hundred pounds of corn seed and

he maximized every square foot of that ground.

We understand that. Well, it's the harvest reaped

is directly correlated to what was sown. So this

natural principle is correlated to faith. The

only reason a farmer would not sow bountifully

is if he didn't actually believe that the conditions

were good for a harvest, that it wasn't gonna

rain at the right time or the sun wasn't gonna

shine at the right time or the corn wouldn't

pollinate. That would be the only reason a farmer

wouldn't sow bountifully, right? And so... Likewise,

we must expect that as we sow our first fruits

in faith, God will do as he said, and he will

multiply a harvest of righteousness in our life.

And I want you guys to understand this is not

just in terms of finances. It might be, you might

receive a harvest of finances and that's fantastic,

but there might be other areas of your life,

other fields, so to speak, that God's cultivating,

that he's looking for a harvest. And maybe it's

finances this year, but maybe it's not. Maybe

it has to do with your family. Maybe it has to

do with your workplace or your business, things

that you're believing God for, you're looking

to be grown into. That can be the areas where

God actually multiplies a harvest of righteousness.

Does that make sense? So I've got 10 minutes

here. So I'm gonna read one last passage and

then we're gonna close. John 6, verses four through

three. It says this. This is a longer passage,

guys, so bear with me. This is the story of the

feeding of the 5 ,000 where Jesus multiplied

bread. And it says, now the Passover, the feast

of the Jews was near. Then Jesus lifted up his

eyes and seen a great multitude coming toward

him. He said to Philip, where shall we buy bread

that these would eat? But this he said to test

him for he himself knew what he would do. Philip,

I'm gonna add this, failed the test. He answered

him. He said, 200 denarii worth of bread is not

sufficient for them. That everyone might have

just a little. One of his disciples, Andrew,

Simon Peter's brother said to him, there's a

lad here who has five barley loaves and two small

fish. But what are they among so many? Then Jesus

said, make the people sit down. Now there is

much grass in the place. So the men sat down

and the men alone in number were about 5 ,000,

which means most commentators believe there are

likely 25 to 30 ,000 people there. So just think

of Autzen Stadium in Eugene divided by two, about

half of Autzen. That's how many people were at

this time with Jesus. Okay, Jesus took the loaves

and when he had given thanks, he distributed

them to his disciples. the disciples to those

sitting down and likewise of the fish as much

as they wanted. So when they were filled, he

said to his disciples, gather up the fragments

that remain that nothing is lost. I'm gonna say

this as we close. This story is an incredible

story about the multiplication power of God.

But I'm gonna tie it to first fruits. Because

this little, I wanna just go back to the little

boy. You have a little boy that actually brought

five barley loaves and two fish. You gotta think

for a minute. We talked about Old Testament first

fruits at the beginning of this time, right?

Where barley was typically what was brought on

first fruit Sunday to the priest. So here you

have. In the New Testament, you've got this little

boy who brings not wheat loaves, he brings barley.

And not only that, it was in the season of Passover.

It says that in verse four, that Passover was

at hand or Passover was near. In other words,

it was right, Passover happens, four days after

Passover, you have first fruits. So within a

week of... This situation, First Fruit Sunday

was likely right around the corner. So this boy

in the middle of First Fruit season brings his

five barley loaves to Jesus, the high priest

of our confession. And what does Jesus do? He

takes those loaves. I don't think he waved them,

but he blessed them. He broke them. And as that

boy brought an offering of faith to the Lord,

Jesus released miraculous provision that fed

close to 30 ,000 people from one young boy's

lunch. Now, this is a powerful testimony, I believe,

of even what God can do with a very meager first

fruits offering that's brought in obedience.

He has the power to multiply. He has the power

to release provision where you could not imagine

provision coming from. Blessing where you cannot

imagine blessing coming from. But that provision,

that multiplication isn't released until it's

brought to Jesus, the high priest of our confession.

And you know, I'm gonna say this, Jesus multiplied

that food. The little boy, he ate his fill with

everyone else. And chances are he probably took

some leftovers home to the fam. But bigger than

that, his decision and his offering actually

brought provision to thousands and thousands

of people and became a legacy that we're still

talking about and preaching about thousands of

years later. Because of his obedience to bring

a first fruits offering in faith. And before

we close, I wanna just give. I wanna encourage

us in one more area from this passage. Jesus

was very intentional at the end of this passage

where he says, gather up the fragments. Gather

up the fragments and make sure that nothing is

lost. What did Jesus mean by that? I don't know

about you, I've never really thought about it

much until recently. But I think the fragments

is actually an important facet of how God brings

multiplication into our life. Because when you

look at this, he was very intentional. The 25

,000 or so had eaten. They had all got up and

they'd left. So imagine acres of this hillside

of flattened grass and there were scattered quarter

pieces, half pieces of loaves, little pieces

here and there. Jesus was intentional that nothing

got left in the field. And he sent his disciples

out with baskets. The implication is they had

to actually search for them and pick them up.

They had to bend over and they had to grab each

little fragment. And as they did that in this

hillside, they filled, I'm just gonna go liberal

here. Let's say this is the basket. They filled

12 of these baskets full of the fragments. Here's

what's important. I think... When it comes to

us, it's important as we're looking at the Lord

multiplying the fields in our life, it's important

that we don't bypass or neglect the fragments

that are right in front of us. What would that

represent? I think a fragment would represent

an idea, a God idea, a God thought that comes

into your mind that it requires maybe a little

bit of work. It requires a little bit of partnership,

maybe even sacrifice. But as you engage with

that sacrifice, as you engage with that work

and the favor of God is on that idea or it's

on that opportunity and God begins to release

multiplication over you, your family, because

you engage with that fragment that could have

been very easily bypassed. Are you with me? I'll

just give you an example. I was talking about

ministry school. When I first went to ministry

school, I was working 12 hours a week. I was

living off of $650 a month. That was my monthly

budget. And I was eating very little. I was eating

rice and beans. And I was hearing all these testimonies

from my fellow students that were having miraculous

financial provision. People getting thousands

of dollars given to them or they find a thousand

dollars in the park or on the side of the road.

I mean, just crazy stories. And I was praying,

praying, praying, Lord, give me that provision.

I need that provision. You see my situation.

And I was literally in the middle of contending

and praying one day for provision. And I get

a text from my boss and said, hey, Scott, we

know it's only been two months of you working

here, but you're... You're a great worker and

we'd like to give you more hours every week.

And there was a part of me that almost immediately

wanted to say no. Because it's like, no, I'm

here for ministry school. I'm not here to work

a bunch of hours. I'm here to like grow in God

and pray more and read my Bible. No joke, I was

about to say, oh, thanks for the offer, but I

think I'm good. And the Holy Spirit immediately

spoke to me and he said, this is the answer to

your prayer. And the truth is, It required partnership.

It required a little bit of work, but that is

where God was bringing not just provision, but

multiplication into my life. And it required

me to not bypass what looked difficult, but recognize

this is a fragment, but this is how God is actually

releasing more into my life. Does that make sense?

So maybe for you guys, you've got business ideas.

that you can't just shake and you're like, man,

I think I should do this, but it's gonna require

something from me. That might be fragments that

the Lord has brought into your life to release

multiplication. Okay, we're gonna close here.

Why don't you guys bow your heads with me? I'm

gonna invite any elders, staff pastors that we

have in the room. It might just be me, I don't

know. But if you are in the room, Why don't you

come forward? We're gonna close in prayer. And

then if you would like to give for First Fruits

this year, or if you have your commitment card

ready where you've prayed about it, you've sought

the Lord and you feel like you're supposed to

give something, we would love to pray for you.

But I just wanna pray and close before we move

into that time at the altar. So Father, I thank

you. Lord, you are a faithful God. Lord, in this

season of first fruits, God, I'm asking that

faith in each and every one of us would be stirred.

Lord, it's not a faith for more money. It's not

a faith for this or that. Lord, it's a faith

saying, God, we know who you are, that you are

faithful, you're trustworthy, you love us, you

care for us, and you have great things in store

for us. You have a harvest. in our lives that

you are looking to see. Lord, we are asking that

that faith would be grown in each and every person

in this room. Lord, and in the same breath, I'm

asking for joy to come. Lord, that you would

begin to work on our hearts. Lord, if there's

any part of our heart that has not actually been

full of joy when it comes to gifts, giving of

our finances, first fruit offerings, Lord, if

there's been a reluctance, if there's been a

frustration, I'm asking that your spirit would

begin to work on our hearts. Lord, that you'd

begin to tenderize the soil of our hearts, that

the word of God and the harvest that you have

for each of us would be realized this year. And

Lord, lastly, I'm just asking, God, that multiplication

would be released. Lord, as offerings are brought

today, the rest of this month, God, I'm praying

that you would multiply the harvest of your righteousness

in each and every one of us in this place. Lord,

that no fragment would get left behind. Lord,

that we'd be diligent, we'd be faithful, but

Lord, we would receive the fullness of what you're

looking to do. Lord, you do not just add, you

multiply. You cause an abounding. Lord, of what

you're looking to harvest. And so I release that

right now, Lord, over each of us, that as we

take steps of faith, Lord, we can trust that

you will multiply what you're looking to multiply

in our lives. Lord, we bless you. We honor you

in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen. Thank you

for taking the time to listen to this week's

message. We are so grateful for those who tune

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