First Fruits 2026 (2nd service) - Pastor Brad Neuschwander (May 3, 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. We get ready to move

on. Jenny's gonna just play just a little bit.

Why don't you open your Bibles to 2 Corinthians

chapter eight and nine. Hopefully it opens there,

chapter eight and nine. At least it is in my

Bible where eight's on one side, nine is on another.

And so if you don't have that Bible, you might

wanna get one. No, just kidding. Eight and nine

is what we can look at it. 2 Corinthians eight

and nine. There's a few verses that we're gonna

get to there in a bit. Father, this morning,

as your word is opened. Lord, I'm reminded of

Zechariah chapter four, where there were two

olive trees that stood before him. Lord, pumping

oil into a lamp that would produce light and

fire. Father, we recognize that that presence

that stands before you always as both your living

word and your Holy Spirit. Lord, always releasing

their life into us that it might produce light.

Let the fire of God, the passion for your word,

the passion to love you and serve you with all

of our heart be our portion today. Open the scriptures

to us in Jesus' holy name. Amen. Amen. Can you

tell the band and the team, they did a great

job in worship this morning. I really appreciate

it. Awesome. All right. I got a lot to cover

this morning, so let's get right into it. I kind

of gave you the scriptures this morning. We're

going to look at a few scriptures, but I kind

of gave you the context where I hope that we

will start to land the plane on those scriptures

a little later. Last week, we had the honor and

the privilege to have Pastor Tim Karskadin with

us from Shreveport, Louisiana, good friend of

mine and love him very deeply. And the reality

was he came simply to encourage us in our journey,

obviously with this riverbank project that's

behind us, but to speak the word of the Lord

as we begin to move into what we call our first

fruits. commitment season. And the reality of

that is this is something that Jenny and I personally

have been operating in for over 30 years. It

has marked our life. From the moment we heard

it, it has become something that has changed

how we live and with an understanding of how

we grow in various aspects as God stretches our

faith. This is something that we'll be celebrating

25 years for those that are fairly new to Life

Bible. We'll be celebrating 25 years this September

and October of planting this church. And this

has become a culture for us that every year right

after, right around the season of close to Pentecost,

from Passover to Pentecost, just in the calendar,

we kind of just look at that because that was

where the children of Israel... in their calendar

brought the sheaf of first fruits that represented

something that they were to give to God as a

worship experience in honoring God with covenant.

Now we know that the scripture says that Jesus

is our first fruits. I was looking at it this

morning and I found a hundred scriptures. Now

we won't get to all hundred today, but I found

a hundred scriptures dealing with first fruits

and the first of bringing the Lord the first.

A hundred. It's amazing how deep this truth that

runs from Genesis to Revelation with Jesus being

our understanding and the principle of it. So

let me just remind us what Pastor Tim brought

to us last week. He brought really a message.

If you were able to catch. Both, you got a real

full meal deal. But he, if you were only able

to catch one of the messages of the two, he was

really trying to deal with the principle of the

giving of our first and our best. And that principle

is reinforced throughout the scripture, but it's

demonstrated best in Galatians, or sorry, not

Galatians, Genesis four, verses three through

seven, in the two persons of revealing two hearts

of, Cain and Abel. The account not only reveals

the Lord's blessings upon who gave their best,

but it also reveals the issue of the heart that

started with mankind from the very beginning.

Abel gave of his own free will, and he does not

withhold what God says is to be the first and

the best that the Lord provided him with. Abel

represents someone that does willingly and joyfully

what God asked them to do. Cain still gave an

offering. However, Cain in his offering determined

the level of his giving rather than responding

to what the Lord had actually asked of him. Let

me just kind of portion this out. You can give

to the Lord and give an offering or of your heart.

That actually doesn't bring your whole heart.

God responded by saying. Abel's offering he accepted.

Cain's he did not. Which means what? You can

actually give an offering. And God not receive

it. What does that mean? That means you can.

Listen. Jesus taught this even by the widow with

the two mites. He said this woman gave more than

all of them. counted together. Why? She gave

from the heart of dependence of faith. They gave

out of their excess. So we see the principle

of Cain and Abel starts just like we would see

Babylon starts in Genesis 10 and 11 and carries

all the way through to revelation of this understanding

of this sin and this economy of Babylon of the

worship of self. It starts. Even earlier than

that with two representatives. Cain and Abel.

One that gives willingly and cheerfully what

God says. And does not try to negotiate with

God. But surrenders and allows God to bless it

and accept it. And one that gives and negotiates.

And gives stingily even though they give. And

doesn't seem to get breakthrough. How does that

work? It works because of the heart. Where's

my heart in this process? As we celebrate this

truth of firstfruits, of giving our first and

our best, firstfruits offering is further explained

with the children of Israel coming out of the

land of Egypt and their journey to the promised

land. We see that God actually writes on it multiple

times. I'm just gonna pick a few. He later talks

about it in Ezekiel. He talks about it in Nehemiah.

He talks about it, but he sets the page for the

children of Israel in Exodus 23 of them coming

out past the Red Sea, past Sinai, and beginning

to receive something that they would do in the

promised land. Turn to somebody and say, he's

talking about the promised land. Okay, there's

three of you that are responding to that. He's

talking about the promised land. Who is your

promised land now? Thank you, Jesus. Jesus is

your promised land. Why? Because the scripture

says all of the promises of God are what? Yes

and amen in Jesus. He becomes our promised land.

In the Old Testament, the promised land was physical

land. In the New Testament, what they experienced

natural first, we experience spiritual first.

It doesn't mean that our spiritual isn't connected

to our natural, but it's spiritual first and

then affects our natural. For them, they lived

everything in the natural trying to get an understanding

of spiritual. We get the fullness of the spiritual

now. Are you there? And so he deals with it in

Exodus 23, Leviticus 23, Deuteronomy 26. He connects

it to 1 Corinthians 15, verses 20 through 23

1 Corinthians 15:20–23

that says what? Jesus now has become our first

fruits that we also might be the first fruits

unto God. Meaning what? What is done, this is

the principle of first fruits. What is done with

the first governs the rest. Let me say that again.

What you do with the first fruits determines

the rest. What God did with Jesus in the first

fruits determines what's going to happen to you

and I with the rest. You understand that? Because

he's changed, because he lives in resurrection

life, because he now has a new body. Guess what?

That is your assurance. What happened to the

first fruits will happen to the first fruits

that follow the rest of the harvest. Why? I mean,

it's just the principle. That's the principle.

Now, let me just give you a couple of scriptures

real quick. Exodus 23, 19. What's it say? Bring

the best of your first fruits from the ground

into the house of the Lord. Leviticus 23, 9 through

11 says this. When you come into the land that

I give you, bring a sheep of the first fruits

of your harvest to the priest that he would wave

it to the Lord. Deuteronomy 26, and I'm just

highlighting some passages here. Deuteronomy

26 says, when you come into the land that the

Lord your God is giving you for an inheritance

and have taken possession of it and live in it,

you shall take some of the first fruit of all

the ground. and that the Lord your God is giving

you and you shall put it in a basket and you

shall go to the place that the Lord your God

chooses and there where he causes his name to

dwell. Verse three. And you shall go to the priest

who's in the office and declare today that I

have come into the land that the forefathers,

that you swore to our forefathers and the priest

shall take the basket from you, set it at the

altar of the Lord. Verse 10, and then you're

to say, I have now brought the fruit of the ground

which you've given me. I set it before you, Lord,

and I worship before you. What is the essence

of first fruits? It is a covenant. That is formed

out of worship. It's not a covenant. Like the

tithe is of a surrender. And an allegiance. And

Lord it's yours. This now comes to a place. An

offering comes from a different place than the

tithe. An offering is something that I choose

of my own free will. Another word for it would

be it's votive. What does votive mean? It means

it's my choice. A tithe, of course, still is

my choice. But a tithe, I don't have a choice

in what that means. It means a tenth of all.

It means if I'm going to honor God with that,

a tithe is a tithe. It's not negotiated. Portion

to it. An offering is whatever God puts on my

heart to do. Radical difference. Two different

blessings associated with it. One represents

a covering and a grace that comes over all that

I have. But an offering represents what? I tap

into, and this is the other scripture, not only

do I tap into 1 Corinthians 15, that Jesus is

the first fruits. I tap into what the Holy Spirit

gave the apostle Paul revelation into what? Sowing

and reaping, which means what? It is tied to

increase. Now you have to ask yourself the question,

is this guy preaching a prosperity gospel? No

and yes. And what do I mean by that? It means

if it's a tied to abundance, and it's tied to

increase, that has some form of prosperity to

it. But the problem is, where most people go

wrong is that that's all they teach on is money.

First fruits is not about money. First fruits

is about increasing you in every dimension. It's

not allowing God to be some cosmic slot machine.

That is the furthest from the truth. The reality

is everything that God actually does, he does

to do what? To increase you at every level so

that more of him actually comes out of you. So

just think about it. If he's going to teach you

on love and forgiveness, what is he going to

do? he's going to stretch you to see if you actually

got it. Have you ever noticed the time that you

just decided that you were going to actually

just let go of some of the bitterness and the

wounds and the things that God did and you come

to the altar, oh God, I give it to you and I

forgive them of their trespass. Forgive me as

I forgive them. I let them go. I give it all

to you. And then the next two weeks, you are

tested of whether or not you really have forgiven.

Why? There's always the stretching of things

and in the faith of things to move you to a place

of what? Of increase. You have to ask yourself

the question, if I'm not increasing, what kind

of gospel and message am I listening to? That's

a good word, preacher. Come on. If Christ is

not being formed in you, An increase of the things

of God are not increasing in your life. That

means you're in a stagnant place. You can deal

with it in forgiveness. You can deal with it

in love. You can deal with it in patience. You

can deal with it in virtue. You can deal with

it with the gifts of the Spirit. Every gift of

the Spirit. Every grace that deals with the nine

gifts of the fruit of the Spirit. The nine gifts

of the quality of the character of the Spirit.

Every single one of those things is meant to

what? Grow in you. You see, every time I see

you, I had this thing in my head and I go, and

white boy Rick, right? And so I'm like, white

boy Rick is meant to grow. He's meant to not,

where he, I met him today or last year. By the

time I see him in the next two or three years,

Rick should not be the same Rick that I met three

years ago. He's been what? Deepened, widened,

lengthened. The breadth of who he is has actually

grown. You see, God doesn't think linearly like

we do. We think, equation. This is where we get

in trouble. We think God should work on an equation

of one plus one equals this. God says in Ephesians

what? He said, I pray that you would be filled

with the love of God. And God is love. And love

is the motive for everything. So what is he saying?

In that love, he wants to fill you. How does

he say he wants to fill you and enlarge you?

Height. depth, breadth, width of the love of

God, that you would know the fullness of Christ.

You understand what he's saying? He's saying

that in every area of your life, you may not

see exponential quotient on the one linear thing,

but he's also working in three other dimensions

of you, not just the output level. And so when

we deal with increase, we're dealing with the

increase of who Christ is inside of you. Can

I get an amen? All right. Now, you have to understand

that when God launched, oh, I gotta hurry, shut

up. When God launched this first fruits offering,

he gave them the offering when they couldn't

do it. Meaning, He gave them the offering as

they were coming out of the land of Egypt. The

whole goal of the wilderness wasn't supposed

to be 40 years there. The whole goal of the two

years of the wilderness was to work God's miracle

provision of keeping them safe and supplying

all that they need that it wouldn't wear out.

to get them to get to a place where they trusted

God to move to a different level of faith. That

was the whole goal, right? Because it doesn't

take much faith. Just work with me here. It doesn't

take much faith to pick up supernatural bread

that's on the ground. You don't need to go out,

oh God, give me faith to pick this up this morning.

You didn't do that. Once you did it a time or

two, You moved to expectation and it just became

something that became concrete. You expected

in the wilderness manna to fall. It had no faith

to it. Hello? The sign and the wonder and the

sustenance of it was to get you to believe in

God's ability to do way beyond what you asked

or thought. That's why when he brought them to

the promised land and they saw the giants and

the cities and they saw the enemy, the goal was

after two years of him doing, and the Bible records

it, 10 specific supernatural miracles to sustain

them, that the law of faith, 10 being the law,

the law of faith would have taken over from the

law of unbelief. And they would have looked at

the promised land and said, God is. is able.

Two of the 12 did, but the 10 of the 12 didn't.

The curse was that that generation had to stay

in the wilderness. And the Bible says what in

Hebrews chapter three, it says, and with that

generation, he was not well pleased and their

bodies littered the wilderness. They will not

enter my hello rest. Because, oh my goodness,

I'm going to preach this morning. Why? Because

rest is connected to faith. Let me say that again.

God's rest is connected to faith. That's what

was missing. That's why the water coming out

of the rock that followed them. That's why the...

elders standing over the ground and singing to

the ground and the well pops up and water springs

up out of the desert spring up a well where we

get that song comes right out of that example

where the elders put their staffs in the ground

and by putting a stick nobody drills a well with

a stick Okay, if you're a farm kid at all, you

don't go out there with just a walking stick

and just tap the ground a few times and a well

of water that could feed hundreds of thousands

of sheep and cattle and two million people pop

out of the ground. But supernaturally, God did

all of those things in the wilderness. Why? To

prepare them. for a different culture. Please

hear this. For a different culture, a different

system, and a different rhythm of living than

what they walked out of Egypt. Everything in

Egypt was done by hand. It was what? Egypt was

the epitome of build it by man's power, man's

strength, and man's mind. It was by the crack

of the whip, And it actually says this in the

scripture, by the pressing of the foot pedal

of the Nile River, they watered their crops.

It was all, they didn't have Elon Musk back then.

They didn't have Tesla technology. They didn't

have sump pumps to put in the river and do it

for them and just have automatic timers. You

know how Egypt grew all their crops? By slaves

pumping water. on the ground. You know what God

said to them when they came into the promised

land? He said, this ground is different. He said,

this ground will respond by heaven, and I'll

give you in covenant relationship the early and

the latter rains. It will not respond. The ground

in the promised land will not respond like the

ground did in Egypt. That's why the early and

the latter rains are associated with what? Faith

and obedience and blessing. Rains always speak

of blessing. Why? What do rains come to do? Well,

I don't have time. I could teach a whole series.

It's probably eight weeks on just the rains.

But I know I need to do it. But the reality is,

what does the early rain do? The early rain is

the rain that sets the seed that has been sown.

It's a setting rain. Meaning, when you go to

sow. All right, I'm going to keep going here,

but let me just give you a scripture. What is

the kingdom of God? Luke 13. Let's just read

it so that you understand what I'm preaching

on. Luke 13 verse 18. What is the kingdom of

Luke 13:18

God like? Jesus is trying to explain kingdom

of God to the people. And to what shall I compare

it? It is like a grain of mustard seed that a

man took and sowed in his garden. So let's get

this down. Jesus is trying to explain the laws

and the realm of the kingdom because it's different.

The laws of the kingdom are different than the

laws that are connected to sin and to the earth.

Jesus has kingdom laws. That's why it's sowing

and reaping is a kingdom law. Are you there?

Forgiveness and love actually unlocks more forgiveness

and love. That's a kingdom law. Give and it shall

be given to you. Press down, shaken together,

run to it. As one gives whatever measure they

give, it shall be measured back to you. That

is kingdom. If you sow love and kindness in the

midst of life, guess what's gonna happen? To

the degree that you're willing to do that, God

says that will come back in your life. You sow

hardship and be in a hard rear end your whole

life, guess what's gonna come to you when you

need it? Not grace and mercy. But the rear end,

that stiffness of a hard A of a man will come

back. I've watched it. I've watched it for, as

I've been a Christian now for over 40, almost

45 years. I've watched it. Those who measure

and operate in kingdom principles when it's hard

and they do what Jesus asked them to do when

they needed it comes back to them. But when they

refuse to do what the Lord says, exacting everything

from every person without love and forgiveness

and grace, when they end up in that place, then

they wonder why that's not happening. It's a

kingdom law, sowing and reaping. Now, Jesus ties

it to the kingdom of God is like a man who sowed

mustard seed. Well, Jesus taught a lot on mustard

seed, but what we do know, it's the smallest

seed of the field. But the Bible tells us in

other places that that mustard seed becomes,

even though it's the smallest seed in the field,

it becomes the largest plant in the garden. Now,

let me ask you a question. What constitutes a

garden? How do you determine a garden? Cohen,

right? Cohen, would you say this is a garden?

No. And why is it not a garden? Right. It's not.

You were close. So I'm going to give you the

answer. And you did well. It's because there's

nothing cultivated or turned over to prepare

for seed. Notice what Jesus says. The kingdom

of God is like an individual that took a mustard

seed and sowed it in his garden. Do you understand

that, first of all, you actually have to have

a garden? You can't become just a concrete wall

to the things of God and expect growth. You can't

just be pavement. Remember, we spent a whole

year on the parable of Mark 4. I have 37 lessons

we taught. On 37 Sundays out of 52, I taught

on this what? The seed that falls on the hardened

path gets plucked up, right? The other seed that

falls on what? Stony and rocky ground shrivels

and dies. The other seed that falls on shallow

ground never produces fruit. You plant a mustard

seed, if it's going to grow to become the biggest

thing, even though it's the smallest seed, it

has to be what? A cultivated, tilled garden ready

to receive the word. So what is he saying to

us? He's saying, listen, if you're going to operate

and want something, you want to grow in God,

you have to begin to cultivate your garden. Who's

the garden? You are. Prove it to me. 1 Corinthians

3, 9. You are God's field. Guess who's responsible

for tilling that field? You are. Where's that?

Genesis chapter 2. And God put man in the garden

Genesis 2 · chapter mention

to till it and to cultivate it. The very first

commission of our lives as Christians, even what

he started original with mankind is to what?

In order to get the garden to expand, you have

to do what? Go cultivate it. Do you understand

that the scripture actually says in Genesis that

God forbid the rain to come. On the ground. Now

listen to this. Early latter rain. We're connecting

it to blessing. And we're connecting it to faith.

God did not send rain on the earth. Tell what?

There was a man to cultivate the ground. Do you

understand? That rain. Which represents blessings.

Can only come. When you move past the territory

of what you are now and you begin to cultivate

your heart to plant seed in borders beyond where

you're at now. That is the essence of first fruits.

The whole point of first fruits that we do yearly

is what? Cultivate your heart to do what? Move

you to a place of increase. Does that mean, does

that, equate to money? No. Not directly. It equates

to growth in Christ which comes to what? Your

success. Are you there? That's the real prosperity

preaching. Real prosperity preaching is you get

more of Jesus. Who wouldn't want to be that kind

of preacher? I'm a preacher of doubt and unbelief.

I'm a preacher of stagnation. God forbid the

whole point of preaching is to move people into

a place of increase for God's glory. And if it

affects your love, if it affects your forgiveness,

if it affects your character of Christ, if it

affects your speech, if it affects the way you

steward, if it affects your integrity, that is

increase. And guess who gets the glory? God.

And guess what happens to you? You actually succeed

in the things that God puts you on earth to do.

And you increase. Now that brings me... in the

last five minutes to the verse that I said we

were going to get to. See, I should have really

gone to law school. I was going to go to law

school because the argument of most of the time

how I preach is bring everything around to my

closing argument. And here it is. 2 Corinthians

8, 7. But as you excel in everything, talking

to the Corinthian church, as you excel in faith,

in speech, in knowledge, in earnestness, and

in love, see that you excel in this act of gracious

giving. You understand, God is asking you to

what? To excel. Excel is not a spreadsheet here

in the Gospels here. It's not the computer program

Excel. This word Excel means what? It is increase

and abundance. It is growing from one place of

where you were to growing in a new place of where

God wants you to be. That's why Paul could write

in Romans chapter one, Verse 17, for the justified

shall live by faith. And we're to grow from faith

to faith. What was he saying to the Corinthian

church? I want you to now grow and increase in

what? Your speech. He didn't mean I want you

to talk more. That wasn't what he was saying.

I want you to talk more. I would say no. Jesse

Joe, that is not your gift. You don't need to

talk more. What do we need to talk? I know I'm

using you as an example. What do we need to do?

When she talks, if she grows in God, her talk

is going to have more substance, more character,

more depth, and it's going to reflect her relationship

with Jesus. It's not about the abundance of words.

It's about the depth and the breadth of Christ

formed in her. That's the excelling. It's supposed

to happen in speech. What else is supposed to

happen? It's supposed to happen in deeds. Your

deeds that are generated by what? By what you

hear the voice of God speak to you. As you hear

God, you what? Respond and do deeds that are

sponsored by faith. Faith without works or deeds

is what? Dead. If you have a live faith, I don't

show my faith by deeds, but deeds certainly validate

the fact that there's a living faith. What else

does it say here? In love, right? In earnestness.

Earnestness is what? In genuine, heartfelt faith,

but in compassion and care. What's he saying?

Bring increase to that inside of your life. In

knowledge. What's he saying? Knowledge. Not just

anything. I don't just crack open a book and

study biology for the sake of growing. Now, if

you're a scientist, you probably ought to know

some things. But if you're a Christian, you ought

to know Jesus. And listen, I'm not trying to...

Cohen, I picked on you here. Let's just keep

going. Okay? Let's just keep going. You had it

once. Let's give you the second barrel. If you're

going to grow in the knowledge of Jesus, it isn't

going to be by reading 30 years worth of somebody

else's devotionals. That is not growing in knowledge.

Growing in knowledge means you're actually going

to get a book. that's gonna dive into the language

of Hebrew and of Greek and is gonna teach you

the living word, Jesus, in the fullness of who

he is. And you're gonna pull it out. Why? Because

the more you know about him, who is the living

word, the more Christ is gonna be formed in you.

Now, I don't say this often. I'm not a huge fan

of technology. But there's one thing I like about

technology, Diane. And that is, I'm not the greatest

Greek scholar and I'm not the greatest Hebrew

scholar and I don't know any Aramaic or Latin.

But what I do love is the computer does know

it. And I can hover over a word and say, say

for me this word. And it goes, and it repeats

it out. I now can speak Hebrew with the help

of AI. I can speak Greek with the help of AI.

I can understand. Now, Trent says I still don't

do it right. But the point is, at least, at least

I can go deeper in the meaning of the word and

pronounce it. Why? I'm getting more of why God

used that word to convey a message in the language.

And Christ is now being formed in me. I'm not

just listening to somebody's opinion. I'm now.

finding him to be real inside of me. Are you

doing all right? What am I doing? Well, in first

fruits, and Jenny's gonna just play a little

first fruits closing music here. In first fruits,

as we get ready to hear the Lord and we start

this process, and today you see some cards on

there. If you are ready to begin to fill that

out, we can do that in a little bit. We'll take

time for that. But over the next few weeks, we're

going to be praying for people as what they heard

God. What does God asking us to do? We begin

to ask the Lord of the harvest. Remember how

he said, pray and ask the Lord of the harvest

to send workers. The Lord of the harvest is over

every form of harvesting, every form of sowing

and reaping. You're talking to the one who is

the Lord of the harvest. He can't be Lord of

the harvest unless he's also Lord of your sowing.

Let me say that again. He can't be Lord of the

harvest unless he's Lord over your sowing. And

he asks us to what? Sow in accordance to the

measure of our faith. That's why the next scripture

I told you to look at is right on the next page.

Second Corinthians chapter nine, verse six that

says, if you sow sparingly, you reap sparingly.

If you sow generously, you reap generously. And

then he adds this amazing statement. He says,

for he who sows must do it cheerfully for God,

not under compulsion or grudge, for God loves

a cheerful giver. Do you know where that verse

is actually connecting you? To the very thing

that Pastor Tim brought you back last week to

Cain and Abel. a sowing with Abel and Abel responded

generously and cheerfully and he accepted it.

You know what Cain did? He begrudgingly gave

of his own works. He still gave. God didn't accept

it. That's why the Holy Spirit puts in this verse.

He said, you have to do it because your heart

is stirred and you have to do it willingly because

you want to hear God and you want him to grow

in you. Now on those cards, you'll see, it says,

I'm believing for a harvest for. You can't sow

seed in God's economy without believing for a

harvest. I filled out my card yesterday because

I knew I was going to preach this and I asked

the Lord, I said, Lord, I want to have my seed

ready to give this weekend. What you've spoken

to Jenny and I, and I'm gonna put on my card.

You know the first three things that I put on

my card have nothing to do with me or Jenny.

Has everything to do with this church. And the

number one response is not the riverbank. That's

number three. I put about seven or eight things

that I, because I'm sowing what I believe the

Lord asked me to do. It's sacrificial. It's difficult,

but it's large, but I have joy in doing it. But

in the response, okay, what am I sowing to? I'm

sowing into this church. I'm sowing into the

people. I'm sowing into breakthrough and into

his presence. I'm sowing for breakthrough on

the riverbank. Those become my top three, and

then there's some things for my family and my

future. But the principle is I have to be willing

to cultivate the ground of my heart, take what

God has given me as a steward, and now come to

the Lord of the harvest who's in charge of all

of the fields of my heart. And I say, Lord, speak

to me. You know what's inside of me. You know

what I have. How do I partner with you by faith

and that you would stretch the increase and enlarge

me? What is it going to take this year? What

do you want to do through me? And that's how

I wait on the Lord. And that's how I'm hoping

you wait on the Lord. I know we're just a little

over time here, but I'm going to give us a few

moments and then I'm going to ask the elders

and pastors to come. And if you're ready, we'll

pray for you. We'll be praying for people after

the next few services. So you can, if you're

not ready today, you can take that card home

and pray over it. If you are, we want to pray

for you as Pastor Trent comes in a bit. Let's

just wait on the Lord. Father. Right now, Lord,

we're asking you to speak to us. Lord, we're

prepared our heart this morning. We know that

this is our first fruit season. This is a time

of growth for us. It's a time of stretch. It's

a time of being enlarged in every area. Would

you now speak to each family? Husbands and wives

together in faith. Those that are single coming

to you, Lord of the harvest, our God of salvation,

our God who provides, as it says, he gives seed

to the sower and bread to the eater. Lord, that

he may abundantly supply, having sufficiency

for all things. God, speak to us. What do you

want to do? What do you want me to do? What do

you want us to do? If you are in need of prayer,

send us a text message at 541 -625 -1365. We

would love to pray with you.