Sunday Message (1st service) - Pastor Tim Carscadden (April 26, 2026) | Life Bible Church

Welcome to the Life Bible Church podcast. We

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hope you find today's sermon impacting as you

listen to it wherever you are in your daily walk.

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see our website at lifebiblechurch .org. Now,

enjoy this week's message. It is a privilege

to be here, and I don't... I really prayed. Last

night I had a lot of activity in the spirit.

I didn't get much sleep. I had a lot of prophetic

activity right over here at the, I don't know

what to call the hotel. What do y 'all call it?

Yeah, whatever. It is. No, but it was a portal

for me is what it was. And I was like, I need

to come here more often just to sleep and try

to sleep and see what the Lord says. But I want

to. Say this, I'm not here to teach today. I

know we got two services. And if you, I'll say

a lot different things in the second service.

So if you'd watch the stream, it'd make me feel

better. Because I want to make sure the house

gets the word that I feel like you have. I heard

that scripture where Paul said, I don't come

to you with enticing words of man's wisdom, with

the power and demonstration of the Holy Spirit.

And I'm not here to entice you with words. Really,

you have a pastor that can blow it up teaching,

and I call him Moses and Paul in one rap right

there. And he's a phenomenal teacher and minister,

and I'm not going to try to be like that. I want

to just be who I am and be as a prophet here

today because that's really what I feel like

I've come to be, is to be a prophetic voice in

this house and to help you press through this

crisis, not just because of the river, but there's

more going on than the river. That is just one

manifestation of what you've been battling here.

And the whole thing that you're doing about voter

registration, et cetera, is another picture here.

Because one of the times I came here, the Lord

told me, because of the movement here to leave

the state and become part of Idaho, the Lord

told me, tell them that's not my will. And it

got real silent in here. And it wasn't what you

wanted to hear. But the Lord said, if the light

leaves, the darkness gets greater. And so you're

required to stay. Too bad, too sad. It's the

will of the Lord. I was in Louisiana when we

were the most corrupt state in America. And we

were at the bottom of everything, ranked 49th

and 50th in everything. I remember I prophesied,

I had a vision, and I prophesied to the state

of Louisiana of a turnaround. Especially in our

kids. I said our kids will become brilliant in

Louisiana. Had a whole prophecy of what God was

going to do. The prophecy went all the way to

the governor's house. They did a painting of

it. And he actually hung it in the governor's

mansion. And with the prophecy on it. And I got

to go to the mansion quite often to pray with

the governor. And we would just reiterate what

God was saying for Louisiana. We were ranked

50th in education. This year we're ranked 32nd.

Now, I realize that's not great, but it's a lot

better than 50. All right? So we're trending.

That's a better way of putting it. And the economy

turned around. Everything started rocking. We

have all Christian leaders in our leadership.

From the top all the way down, Christians are

leading every office in the state. And we went

from where we were nothing but total corruption

to that. And so I tell you, as somebody who's

seen it work, I'm praying for Oregon that there

will be a transformation in this state. I believe

that. Now, as I said, I'm here on assignment,

but I do want to give the prophetic first, and

then we'll get in. I know how long I have, so

I'll make sure we time it right. But for 2026,

I know some of you listen to our podcasts and

stuff, so this will be just a reencouragement

to you. But in 2026, I usually don't get a word

for the year, but I did this year. And in this

vision I had, I was given a vision, and the Lord

took me through a whole journey of the book of

Joel and this vision. And all that Joel and what

he was talking about, what Israel went through

and the difficulties that they went through and

all that they lost because of many reasons. There's

multiple reasons why they lost inheritance, they

lost their land, they lost hope, they lost so

many different things. But then he highlighted

Joel 2 .25, and he told me 2026 was the year

that he's going to restore the years that have

been lost. They restore the years that the locusts

and the worms and everything has stolen from

you. Now we can go through the process of repentance

of what we played a role in and what we lost.

But the Lord said, don't worry about all that

after you repent. It's done with. And he said,

I want you to begin to decree to the people that

2026 will be a year that people get back what

they've lost in the past at least three to four

years. And it's going to be a real defined moment

in the spirit. And so in the vision, I was taken

back in time at least for three, four years.

I was taken back in time and I watched this timeline.

And so if I could have a timeline here, you know,

I'm back here 21, 22, you know, around that time.

And we're moving toward 26. I watched people

walk and they did not get what they were deserved

because of the crisis they were in. And things

were being stolen by the locusts and by the worms.

Everything was being stolen. And so they were

losing blessings and opportunities. They were

losing increase all during this time until they

came here. And I thought, Lord, that's sad. I

was watching this whole vision. I said, that's

sad what they lost. And he said, oh, they didn't

lose it. He said, I just kept it. And I watched

and I saw like what it was like a bank vault.

That's the best way I can describe it. And every

blessing that you were supposed to have in the

last three, four years that you did not obtain

for multiple reasons. There's many reasons why

not. I want to say this and I want to decree

in the house today. You did not lose it. Okay,

you may not own it and you may not have possession

of it right now, but it is in storage. And then

the Lord said, when you decree that I'm going

to restore the years, I'll open the vault to

them and I'll release the blessings back to them.

And then all of a sudden what will happen in

one year, they'll have an accumulation of blessing,

what they should have had for at least three

years. And then he confirmed it in Leviticus

when he talked to the people of Israel and he

said, rest your crops on the seventh year. And

when they would do that, when they'd enter into

the rest that year, God would give him a threefold

harvest to bless that year, the next year, and

the year after. And the Lord told me that there

will be many people this year that believe this

word and enter into my rest that will have a

threefold blessing this year and will have triple

increase this year. Amen, Pastor Tim. That's

a good word. I'll amen myself. I don't have a

problem doing that. But I want to say this, and

I know that sounds like a great, wow, that's

a good word, Pastor, but I'm telling you, you

better push into it if you want it. And I've

already seen people that have had three times

income come to them this year before we were

already in. We're just now about to come into

May and they've already had three times income

this year because they said, I believe that word.

And it has to, you have to add your faith. So

it's not a promise. It's a conditional word.

You have to come into agreement with it. And

I don't know a church in the country that probably

needs a three year more blessing than you do.

Because of what you've got. The enemy has been

stealing back here. Did you hear me? There's

been a thief back here that's been stealing your

time, your money, your energy, your peace, your

joy. It's been stolen. And the Lord said it's

time to get it back. And it's a place that you

cannot force it to happen. Stress will not increase

it. When I became pastor, our church was in so

much debt. Our church was in such bad shape when

we took over. And if the Holy Spirit hadn't told

me to do it, I wouldn't have done it. You know,

I was an idiot to take over. But in the natural,

because they couldn't pay their bills every week,

et cetera, et cetera. And the Lord told me to

do this, to believe for this. And I remember

I just had so much faith. that God was going

to bless us. And each week, it was like our accountant

would just freak out, like we were going to have

enough money to pay the bills that week. And

I just stayed in faith, and I just kept saying,

God, you're going to provide for us. I don't

worry about that. I'm not going to get into stress

about that. And for weeks and months at a time,

the accountant would call me, and he said, I

need to talk to you. He said, first of all, you're

not stressed out enough. That's what he told

me. He said, I'm stressed every week. I said,

well, that's your job. That's not mine. My job

is not to be stressed about this issue. My job

is to stay in faith. You can go ahead and take

care of the stress for me. I'm gonna stay in

faith. And every week, well, you don't see the

numbers. I said, I see the numbers of heaven.

Now, I know that sounds naive and immature to

some people, but when you walk by faith and not

by sight, there's a time that you gotta press

into that and say, God, you're my provider. Look,

my worrying is not gonna change anything. It's

not bringing more money in. You understand? It's

not like there's a money tree and I just look

at it and it starts dressing and all of a sudden

money starts growing on that tree. It does not

happen. What happens is by faith we trust the

Lord. And y 'all are pushing into faith right

now. And you're at a moment where God is going

to do a great thing. I kept feeling this as we

walked back here yesterday and we were just picking

up in the spirit. This is a preparation for an

awakening. And I know that doesn't make sense

to you right now, but it is a purpose thing that

God is going to allow you to go through in order

that you will honor what comes in the next season.

And what's going to come is an outpouring. And

it's going to be a wall that's going to protect

you from the enemy so that you can hold what

God's bringing. And that is what I believe God

is doing in this house right now. And I believe

he's stretching you. He's stretching this pastor

right here. You know, he's not very tall, but

he's getting wider. You know, it's just, he's

got it. I'm in the spirit. What are y 'all thinking?

All right, I was talking in the spirit. All right,

we're talking about that. But I believe God has

stretched him in a mighty way. He married up.

Y 'all know that, right? He married up, so his

wife is really pressing into this thing with

him, and God is growing their faith in the middle

of this. I realize discouragement is always part

of the process, but it makes you find what's

inside of you that's not believing God. Because

if you have a place where you get discouraged,

that's a place you've left God out of that place.

Because now you're saying that he can't provide

for that. In some way, you're saying that. And

I want to say this. I had a dream. I'm going

to get to the word here in just a second. I had

a dream, and the Lord gave me Psalm 56, and this

is a word for this house. And he gave me this

in a dream, and this is a whole story of... of

God's deliverance and supplication to trust God

in whatever you're going through. And Israel's,

David's going through all this stuff. The battle's

going on. And it's just, he's wondering, where

are you, God? And there's no doubt when you go

through those seasons is why are you not here?

It seemed like you're waiting. I know you're

coming, but I sure would like you to be here

now. Amen. I don't know what the deal is with

God, like to show up, like to show up at the

last minute, but it's something, he's into it.

And I know it's a death process in all of us

because in the waiting, in the waiting, we find

out where our faith is. And so you will do crazy

stuff while you're waiting. You'll do things

that you've never done before trying to make

something happen. I think God just looks back

and smiles. It's like I complain to God and he

like totally ignores what I'm complaining about.

Jeremiah 1 is a picture of that, right? He tells

him what he's called to do. You're a prophet

to the nations. He starts complaining. I'm too

young. I can't speak. And God totally ignores

him. And says, here's what you're gonna do. The

word of the Lord's gonna be on your mouth. You're

gonna plant, you're gonna pluck up, you're gonna

do all these things. I imagine Jeremiah's like,

did you not hear me? It's like God does not,

he'll allow you to complain, but it means nothing

to heaven. Because it's not in agreement with

heaven. So you're complaining, and there's a,

I think it's Psalm, I can't remember what Psalm

it is, where David says he murmurs and complains

morning, noon, and night. Some of y 'all go more

than three times a day, but he was at least doing

it three times a day. And so it's in scripture,

so it's okay to do it. But there's nothing that

produces fruit out of it, but it's there, all

right? Just so some of y 'all just enjoy it.

It's in 55, it's right before this. Anyway, so

in this passage, in this dream, he began to show

me what God was doing and he wanted me to know

and to all of us to know that he's very aware.

Of the difficulty and the wonderings that we're

going through. And that's what David was declaring

this. He says here in verse 8, he says, you take

account of my wonderings. Now I like this, you

take account of them. Because that means that

God is recording your wonderings. He's watching

where you're going. He's watching the difficulties

that you're going through. He sees the pain.

He sees the stress of what you're processing

through. And he keeps an account of it. And I

like this because there is a book of remembrance

mentioned in Malachi, the third chapter. And

the Lord showed me in the dream that it's in

the book. So I want you to know, how long y 'all

been fighting this thing back here? Three years.

Boom shakalaka. There we go. I had a three -year

word. There it is. Boom shakalaka. You don't

know what that is, right? It's a video game,

NBA. All right, here we go. I used to play my

boys and beat them. I never let my boys beat

me. Anyway, they're going through therapy now.

But so now I lost my train of thought. Anyway,

yeah, The Wanderings. Yeah, here we go. The Wanderings,

the three years thing here. He's been watching

for three years and recording everything that's

gone on here for three years. He's recorded the

injustices. Of the Army Corps of Engineers. He's

recorded the injustices of the governments. He's

been recording all the things that have happened.

All the battles that have been going on here.

Okay, so he's recorded, he's taken account all

your wonderings. I want you, that's number one.

Then he goes on here and says, he put my tears

in a bottle. That's your intercession. That's

your crying out to God. So we got three years.

A bottle filled tears. I know that man's been

crying. I know some of you've been crying. Look,

if you go to this house and you've been fed in

this house, you better be crying. It shouldn't

be his burden or just a few other people's burden.

This should be us all. If we can get this whole

place crying out to God, feeling the bottles,

then what happens? It starts moving heaven and

earth. And that's where we are. And he goes on

to say here, And he says, are they not in a book?

So he talks about that book of remembrance. And

here's what's going to happen. Then, everybody

say then. My enemies will turn back in that day

when I call. This I know that God is for me.

Now, for David to say that, that meant he came

out of his discouragement and came into faith.

Because prior to that, he couldn't say that God

was with me. And now he was saying it. So that

meant there was a major transformation. And we're

in a moment right here in this house where God

is taking to a moment of transformation. And

we're going to get to a place that you're going

to know God's for you. And God's going to get

the victory of what's going to happen back here.

Look, I know 2 .3 million is a lot of money.

And I know that sounds, it's almost like unreachable.

And I tell you, how do you raise 2 .3? Little

by little. Now, I believe there may be somebody

online can write a check. Who knows? Some of

you may be. Shake it out. Come on, let's hear

God for what you're supposed to sow. I'm not

a hit man here today trying to pull money out

of you. I am here to say that God has a greater

purpose, and we've got to fight for that purpose.

That's why we're here. So this is a word for

you, and it just seems that it's difficult right

now, but I want to get into why I'm here today.

First fruit principle. I call it first fruits

offering, but I mean, we call it first fruits

offering, but I call it a principle as well.

And Pastor Brad and I have talked to a lot of

people that taught us, mentored us in this. We

have the same mentors. We learned it a lot of

the same ways, but I've also just gotten my own

revelation about this. And this message or this

time I'm with you here is not about raising an

offering. It's about changing your mindset. to

where you understand first fruit principle. And

that's what the Lord was, I had some dreams last

night about what it can do for you. Now, first

is everything, right? We always want the best.

I don't know about you, but if you have a piece

of pie, the first piece is the best, right? Whatever

you do is the best. But when we give, it should

be the best we give. We know that not only with

our finances, but with our lives. I I'll tell

you one story. This is my dream last night when

I don't know how my son, my oldest son, Jacob,

he's he was five years old. We went to a conference

in Washington, D .C. In time, handmaids and servants

is called this craziest women I've ever seen

in my life. If you've ever seen that group. Anyway,

so we were there and they brought in a children's

minister, a guy named David Walters. And he loves

the nations. And, of course, I love the nations

anyway. And he spoke to the parents in the room.

And he said, I want you to pray right now that

God would ask you to give your firstborn to the

nations. Now, for me, I was new in the prophetic.

I was just growing in it and understanding a

few things. And I had plans for my firstborn.

I wanted to name him after a baseball player.

And my wife didn't let me do that. I had plans

already thinking about coaching, scouts, you

know, things like that, being this manager, you

know, the whole thing. I could see the money.

I could just see everything, right? I'm not making

that up. That was my plan. I already had him

watching baseball when he was little. This is

it. This is your destiny. Because I could never

do it because I was too short and I didn't have

any power, you know, all those things. So, you

know, some parents can't live in themselves.

They live through their kids. Or at least they

try. I'm not making this up. That's where I was.

And this man said, I want you to give your firstborn

to the nations. And he's sitting right next to

me. And I said, no. I said, he can't play baseball

in the nations. And so I sat there and the anointing

just got so strong. They started standing, they

started worshiping, and the anointing got so

strong in the room. And he kept making this cry,

I want you to give your first to the nations.

And I don't know what happened. This is a massive

auditorium. I don't know, 4 ,000 people were

there. It was massive. And I cannot remember

what happened, except I was standing at the altar

with him holding my hand. I had walked all the

way to the front and didn't know I walked there.

And we're all standing up here in front and he's

about to bless us and send our kids to the nations.

And I'm going, how did I get up here? My goal

was the first was for me. I was gonna let him

live out my dreams. I wasn't surrendering my

best to the Lord. I wanted it for myself. And

the Holy Spirit overrode me. Amen. Some of y

'all need an override button where you just let

the Holy Spirit override you. And I'm standing

there and I'm weeping because the more this guy

spoke, the more the anointing was breaking my

soul. And I realized it wasn't just my firstborn,

it was the first of everything I own. I can't

just hold what I want for myself and give him

what I wanted. I have to give him the best of

everything that I have. And my child, my children

are the best. It's the best I can do. It's all

I had at that time. And so as he prayed, he said,

now I want you to pray this over your children

right now. And I prayed and he made us commit

that we surrender our kids to the nations. And

I did. I knew it was the right thing. My soul

said, no. My spirit said, yes. Thank God for

a spirit override. That it will override. You

know, the scripture says the spirit's willing,

but the flesh is weak. I reversed that. I say

my flesh is weak, but the spirit is willing.

And I surrendered to the spirit that day. And

I'm telling you, from that day forward, that

kid didn't care anything about baseball. I mean,

he would play and he could do it, but he didn't

give a flip about it. He's 6 '3". I'm 5 '9".

Come on. He was built for this, right? All right,

this whole thing. But it wasn't his destiny.

And it wasn't his purpose. See, I have a struggle

with these people. Like, they'll come to a school

and they'll say, how many of you kids want to

be president of the United States? And, you know,

they'll all raise. You can have whatever you

want. That's not true. The Bible says all the

days about our life are written in a book before

there was ever one of them. And if you're not

written to be president, you can't be president.

So we're looking for the ones who've been written

about. That messed up some people in this house

just then. All right. Because your plans, you

know, dream the American dream. Well, you need

to have a Holy Ghost dream. And follow the Holy

Ghost dream that you have for you. Anyway, so

my son. He began to embrace this thing about

nature. He's one of these kids that whatever

the Lord says, that's what we're going to do.

From the time he was a little boy, he's been

that way. He's always said, Dad, that's not what

God says. We can't do that. I'm like, shut up.

I'm the dad here. Anyway, he's always been that

way. I remember he took a test in school. You

had to count these sheep, and they were black

sheep and white sheep. And he made every question

right except one. And I said, son, you know this

test. I said, why didn't you get it? He said,

dad, sheep are not black. You know, he was just

kind of that way. Whatever it was, he had to

believe in it. And so he believed it. So the

next thing you know, he's thinking about nations

all the time. He's studying nations. We'd pray

every single night. I'd go in his room, and we'd

pray. I'd lay in bed with him and pray. And he

said, dad, I think I'm called Italy now. I said,

oh, Italy. I said, why Italy? He said, I love

pizza. I believe that God has called me there.

I mean, it was kind of, it was hilarious for

a while. But eventually, God just began to move

him and just began to woo him. And he decided

that God had called him to Asia. And that was

really where his call was. And so then Chuck

Pierce came to our church. And he prophesied

from our church. He said, from here to Tokyo

to all the way to Asia, you will go. And me and

Susan are sitting there going, no. You know,

because my son's sitting there. He's so literal.

I know what he's doing in the back of the auditorium.

That's my word. And I thought, great. He's going

to Japan. That's it. It's over. And sure enough,

Chuck prophesied over him, didn't know anything,

walked up to him. It was on his birthday that

they actually prophesied it. And he prophesied.

He says, you will go to Japan. You will go to

other eight nations in Asia. It didn't consult

me. It didn't ask me one. But anyway, so my son,

he said, Dad, I'm going to college. I'm going

to work one year and save money. I'm going to

Asia. He said, I'm going to Japan. And I remember

we took him to that airport and we put him in

that, we walked to that security line and me

and Susan looked at him. He didn't even look

back. He didn't say goodbye to nothing. He gone.

He went there, did a language school for two

years, lived with Japanese families. Now he reads,

writes, speaks Japanese. Missionary. They married

a Japanese girl. I got a Japanese half baby there.

I mean, half American, half Japanese. She's beautiful.

I'll show you a picture. She's awesome. And it

was all because I gave my first. You understand?

I gave my best. I decided it didn't belong to

me. I decided it belonged to him. I recognized

that he gave me that child. It wasn't mine anyway.

And when we talk about our first fruits, we've

got to understand it's not ours. And when we

analyze what we're going to give with our lives

or our money, whatever, we start measuring it

this way. Most people do it this way. What can

I give that will not cause me pain? What can

I give and I still get to keep all the other

stuff? And that's how they measure how much they're

going to give their life to or give their finances

to. And they'll open their billfold and say,

if I give so much, I can still go do all the

other stuff I want to do. I give that amount.

Not asking the Lord what we should give. We should

always do that. I remember once I was in Los

Angeles and I had some friends there. I don't

think we were ministers. I can't remember. Yeah,

I'd gone to Lancaster. Lord, that's a great place.

No. Yeah, that was Lancaster. Anyway. And so

I was there, and I was with some friends. He's

a kind of wealthy guy, and we spent some days

with him, and he was going to send me back to

the airport. So he brought a limousine for Pastor

Tim to go to the airport, which I thought, God,

I hope Charisma Magazine is not taking pictures

here, you know. Especially now, all this stuff

is going on. But anyway, I'm in this limousine.

It's so long, I could barely see the front. It's

a big stretch limo. I'm in the back with this

driver, young Hispanic guy. I'm in the back and

I'm just driving. We're driving on LA. We have

about an hour to drive. The traffic, crazy LA

traffic. And the Lord starts speaking to me about

the driver, little Hispanic guy. And the Lord

said, hey, prophesy to him. I said, Lord, he

can barely hear me. He's so far up there. And

he said, prophesy to him that he's supposed to

own his own limo company. I said, okay. And I

said, hey, man. I started yelling. He was so

far away. And I said, look, I know this may sound

strange because I didn't think he was a Christian.

I just said, hey, you're supposed to own your

own limousine company. I just realized that.

And he turned around at me while we're driving

in L .A. traffic. And I was like, I said, look,

look at the road, dude. Look at the road. He

goes, how do you know that? I said, I just know

it, okay? That's all. And he's like, he's nervous

now. Like, who's this freak in the back, you

know? And I could tell he was real nervous. And

I said, okay, Lord, I obeyed you. He said, yeah,

now tell him his son is going to be a professional

athlete. And don't worry about all the other

stuff in his life because he's going to. I said,

hey, man. I yelled at him. I said, hey, you have

a little boy? Because I saw a little boy. He

says, yeah, I have a little son. I said, oh,

he's five. I said, he's going to be a professional

athlete. I said, just train him that way. God's

going to use him mightily in that way. And he

like, he turns around. I said, what's the traffic

do? Anyway, he said, how do you know that? I

said, look, I just know it. He goes, look, that

boy only wants to play with balls all the time.

I can't get him to do his schoolwork, nothing.

That's all he wants to do. I said, because that's

what he's called to do. So anyway, we finally

made it to the airport. And I'm getting out of

the car, and the Lord says, give him every dime

you have, every dollar you have, give it to him

as a first fruit seed for his business. And I'm

thinking, Lord, how much money do I have? I think,

because I usually don't carry a lot of cash,

but I had a lot of cash that day. And I'm thinking,

oh, Lord, should I count it? And he said, no,

give it all. And so I pulled my billfold. I didn't

even look. I didn't want to look. I didn't want

to feel any pain. And I just took it out and

I put it in his hand. I said, hey, son, I said,

I know it sounds strange, but God told me to

sow a first fruit into you for your business,

for your limousine. I want this to be the first

offering for this, that God would help you establish

this business. And he said, man, you don't understand.

I just talked to my uncle today and we talked

to each other about starting our own business.

I said, well, today's the day. It's a first fruit

day for you. And I want to sow into this right

now. The guy starts crying. He does not know

Jesus. You understand? He knows him now. All

right? Because when Jesus comes and visits you

that way, and I think that's one of the things,

when we give our best, it's Jesus coming. When

we give half or we give a portion of who he is

and what he is and how much he is, then what

happens? We give a portion of Jesus to people.

And so when we're sowing our offerings, what

we're saying is, Lord, I want to give my best.

What portion of Christ are we giving? How much

has he blessed us with? How can we say, no, I

can't give it all. I can't give what you asked

me to give. The first time Susan and I gave a

first fruit offering, it's been 25 plus years

ago, we decided that you hear a number, I hear

a number. That thing, you know, you ever do that

in a marriage? I was hoping she didn't hear what

I heard. But, you know, it's one of those things.

But she heard the same number I heard. I'm like,

dang. That's not what I was hoping for. I thought

she had more discernment than that. But no, she

had the right discernment. It was the exact same.

And we started our journey. And it is a journey.

First fruit's a journey. And I was the financial

advisor last week, a couple weeks ago. And I

started talking to him about first fruits. He's

a financial planner. And I'm telling you, it's

like deer looking at headlights. He had never

heard this principle before. And I thought, man,

if somebody in the business that needs to know

this principle, you need to know this. He's a

Christian. He needs to know this principle. He

was excited when I started sharing about the

first fruit principle. And I think he can impart

it to all his clients. Because I think if we

get more of the body of Christ walking in this

anointing of giving our best and the first of

what we have, we're going to see a major awakening

come to our country. They're going to see a major

awakening come to Oregon. That's what I'm believing

for. And so as we sow it this way, we've got

to understand God is faithful to provide. And

when we put this together in our giving, I don't

know about you, what's your background? I'm just

telling my story for a second. I grew up in a

household that my father that I grew up with,

I was adopted, but I grew up with, his parents

grew up in the Great Depression. His father was

an immigrant from Canada. But they got through

the Great Depression. And it was a hard house

to live in when it came to finances. Because

my dad's favorite saying was, we can't afford

that. Y 'all remember that? I had that drilled

into me. Every time I asked for something, we

can't afford that. He didn't even know we could

afford it. He just would say it. Because he had

learned it. It was a learned iniquity that he

had learned from his father. And it was being

passed from generation to generation. And because

there was no teaching against that or about that,

I began to embrace that same philosophy. That

you just say you can't have anything. And you

actually embrace a poverty mentality. And see,

poverty is more than finance. It's a mindset.

It's a mindset that says we can't have. It's

like if you drive down and you see a new house

being built and you have an old house and they're

a Christian, you think, well, God, there goes

that money. God's only got a limited amount of

resources, so now I can't have one. See, that's

what a poverty mindset is. A kingdom mindset

is God owns everything. And look, I should celebrate

my brother or sister in Christ being blessed.

And as I celebrate them, then God will begin

to release it back to me as well. And so as we

went through this process, my family, and then

my mom grew up in abstract poverty in the Appalachian

Mountains in eastern Kentucky. I mean, just utter

poverty. So you had two people that came from

poverty and now married, and they're imparting

it to their children. And so I had no mindset

of what it meant to be blessed. I just kept thinking

we were never going to have. And so therefore

you dare not give because if you give, you'll

have less. You understand that's how it's taught.

That's how poverty is taught. And so the next

thing you know, you live in that cycle and you

reproduce it over and over again. And so it finally,

you know, when I got saved and I started getting

spirit filled, started hearing a different message,

it still took a while for it to break. My wife

was a key part of it breaking in my house because

when God kept trying to bless me, I would turn

it down because I thought that's ridiculous.

You're supposed to make it on your own. You shouldn't

receive from anybody. And I remember we were

struggling one time. We needed groceries. We

needed simple things. And I turned it down. And

Susan said to me one time, she said, how long

are you going to make us suffer? She's a redemptive

prophet. So you understand, I'm totally opposite.

I give mercy to everybody. She's totally opposite

that way, all right? We need that in a marriage,

right? And redemptive gifts, mercy, and prophets,

90 % of all mercies marry prophets because they

need each other. It's a real balance in their

lives. And so God put us together that way. And

then I started learning to receive. And as I

gave more, I learned to receive more. And I started

to cycle in my life and my family's life that

we began to understand that as we sow into the

kingdom with our first and our best, God is going

to be more than faithful to us. This house is

a blessed house because you've been a part of

that. And right now, the enemy wants to cause

this thing to go the wrong direction. And right

now, as we rise up in this moment, we're going

to tell the devil we're giving our best in the

middle of what seems to be a crisis. I think

that's one of the things about when I learned

to tithe. So I wasn't tithing when we first got

married. I wasn't a minister or anything because

we were having such a financial crisis. And our

kids were sick and our insurance wasn't covering

it all. And so we were having to pay constantly.

Anyway, we were in debt. I was paying everything

on credit cards. It just got worse and worse

and worse. And I kept telling God every Sunday.

I said, God, you understand why I'm not tithing.

Because we're barely making it. And I said, I'm

not buying boats and cars and guns and different

things. You know, I'm not wasting money. I said,

I'm just trying to pay the bills. And so me and

God had an agreement. We were tight. He agreed

with me, right? No, he didn't agree with me.

And that scripture, when it says, when you don't

tithe, it closes the heavens and the devourer

comes into your house. I was living that. The

devourer was destroying everything we had. It's

like we couldn't dig out of the hole. I had creditors.

They had my number on speed dial. Let's call

Tim again today. Let's ask for that money again.

And I had nothing. I couldn't give. It was getting

worse and worse. We were getting further and

further behind. And every Sunday when they took

that offering up, I mean, there was someone again,

of course, Susan was just praying. She knew I

was in rebellion. Some wives are wonderful that

way. They just quiet and pray. Thank you for

laughing. I appreciate that. But some are Holy

Ghost nags, you know, in the sense that, and

I mean that in a good way, all right? It's just

like they hear the Holy Ghost and they tell you

what the Holy Ghost is saying. We have a saying

that what the Holy Spirit doesn't tell us, our

wives do, right? Anyway. You want to talk, baby?

You want the mic? All right, here we go. So it

was just, it got so bad, we were about to lose

our house. We were about to lose everything.

They were going to repossess everything. And

I remember it was about, we were probably two

weeks away from losing everything. And it was

Saturday night. I just got paid on Friday a whopping

$750. And the Lord said to me, I sit on the side

of my bed. I was so depressed. I'm thinking we

won't be able to be in this house in a couple

weeks. And I'm sitting there in my bed, just

discouraged, depressed. And the audible voice

of God came into my room. And he said, I want

you to tithe tomorrow. And I started laughing

at the audible voice of God. How stupid is that?

And I said, God, you understand I don't have

anything. I said, I have nothing to give. We're

barely surviving. And he said again, audibly,

he said, I want you to tithe tomorrow. And all

of a sudden, the Spirit of God just came over

me. And it overwhelmed me. And the Spirit came

to me. And here's the thought that came to me.

You're going under. You might as well go under

with Jesus. That's what he said. That's what

it came over me. And I was reminded of David

when he said, I went to Sheol, there you were.

When I went to the depths of sea, there you were.

And I realized then that this was my moment.

And all of a sudden, I was carefree. That poverty

spirit just, it just lifted off of me. And I

said, well, we're going down, but I want to do

going down doing the right thing. And I got that

check, that $75 check. I didn't write any more

than 75, being 10%. I did the math, did all the

calculations, right, 75. I wrote that check.

I couldn't wait to get to church that morning.

And when that, I mean, they're doing worship.

I said, hurry up. Let's get to this offering.

I didn't sing anything. I said, offering, offering,

offering, because I want to get this out of my

system. I want to start being obedient to Christ.

I want to start following his ways. I want to

be in those principles that he has. And for all

those years, I was making my family suffer. Let

me tell you, dads, If you're the one that's holding

this thing up, you're making your whole house

suffer. And it shouldn't be the wife that has

to sneak around and give offerings. That's what

my mom did to my dad. She was sneaking and giving

offerings because he didn't want to give anything.

And I remember when that plate came by, I couldn't

wait. Come on, come on, come on. And that was

it. I was like, I have peace. I mean, just peace

overwhelmed me. Now, I had bills. Racked up,

but it didn't matter. I knew Jesus was on my

side now. Before then, he wasn't on my side because

I left him out. And so, I'm not making this up.

It was on a Sunday, on a Tuesday, this woman

comes to my house. She said, yeah, the Lord told

me to come by and give you this. It's a check

for $2 ,000. And she's like, come on, Jesus.

Now, I had so much debt, that was nothing. But

it's okay. God was trying to prime me. There's

more coming. I worked at a hospital at that time.

I'm walking through the parking lot. And I have

a special love for bald men. Because in this

encounter, this bald man walked up to me. That's

why I like your breast. Anyway. So he walks up

to me, and he's got a paper towel in his hand.

I don't know. It's wrapped up. It's just a paper

towel. And he doesn't say a word. He hands me

this paper towel and just walks by me. And I

felt something inside the paper towel. I unfold

it, and there's a stack of $100 bills about that

thick. I said, who was that? I was like, that

was pretty good. I believe angels can give you

cash. Come on. So I had that. I thought, wow,

God, you're turning this thing around. This is

awesome. That Friday, I get a letter from my

grandmother, and she says, you know, people give

their inheritance away after they die. She goes,

I don't want that to happen. I want to see my

grandkids have their inheritance before I die.

And she sent me my inheritance. And within two

weeks, I caught up with all my debt. And I've

been tithing ever since, and we've never had

to go through that again. It was a whole process,

right? Because I trusted the Lord in my sowing.

Listen to me. I gave in my poverty, not my wealth.

Because a lot of people say, well, as soon as

I get it, I'm going to give. I had a young man

in my church. He said he had a business I prayed

for. We prophesied to him. He said, Pastor, if

I ever hit it, I'm going to bless you. I said,

well, you do whatever you want to do. I'm just

praying for you. I'm caring for your soul. He

became a multimillionaire in his business. Then

when it came time, he said, you know, I know

I told you I was going to give, brother. But,

you know, we've decided to do something different

with the income. I said, that's up to you. It

doesn't bother me. I said, you do whatever you

want to do. And I watched his next business go

in the toilet. And I watched him, everything

got on drugs, lost everything, lost his marriage,

lost his family, lost everything. Because see,

when you make a commitment to the, not to me,

to the Lord, to sow and to give what he's told

you to give and you withhold, you curse yourself.

And I don't want anybody to do that. When God

speaks to you about what you should do, sow what

God says to sow. So I preached my first fruit

sermon in her house a couple of weeks ago, whatever.

And we had some, I have a young couple that are

new to the Lord and he'd never heard the message

and he got lit. They're, they're engaged to get

married. We're going to marry him next weekend.

And, uh, but his, his wife is former Catholic,

not a good one, but anyway, she, uh, he, there

were twice a year Catholic, you know, those type

people. Anyway, and so when they're struggling

for money, they need a house and all that, and

he tells her, I get that revelation Pastor Tim

was talking about. We're giving first fruits.

And she goes, we need a house. And he goes, I

don't care. We're giving. He's not married yet,

so he can go ahead and do this. He said, we're

going to go ahead and give our first fruits.

And they testified this to me the other day.

And she said she didn't believe it at all. She

said, I don't understand what he was preaching

about. Because she just came to Christ and she'd

never heard anything like it. And she said, I

didn't believe any of that, what he was saying.

And she said, when the day came to take up the

first fruit offering, he was going to give one,

he was choosing between two smaller amounts,

a smaller amount and a bigger one. And she said

in her spirit, she said, he should give the more.

And she didn't even know why. And she told him,

you need to give the more. And he did. Now, he's

been struggling. He's an electrician, air -conditioned

guy, and he had no work hardly at all. He gave

that offering, and from that day forward, he

cannot keep up with the work that has come to

his house. He said, I'm working late. I'm tired.

I'm tired all the time. I said, I'm working all

the time. I said, amen, brother. I'm excited.

But it started with faith, and he got the revelation

of what it meant to sow his best. His wife -to

-be didn't even understand what that meant, but

the Holy Spirit said that's what it means. And

there are times you walk by faith and not by

sight when you sow your best, and when you do

this, you trust the Lord, and what happens? There's

an outpouring more than you can handle. That's

the way he couldn't handle it because he was

so blessed. How many of y 'all want some of that?

I do, I want it all for what the Lord's doing

right here in this house right now. And so I'm

challenging you because not to give more, I think

you probably should, but I'm just saying that

you've got to say, God, what do you want me to

give? And when we started doing this and we started

sowing, I remember the first time, one of the

first times I sowed, I didn't even know all the

scriptures about first fruits. I'd heard this

sermon and I gave and I was just trusting my

faith. And it did, but I was in Northern California,

and it was like 2002 or something, 2003. I can't

remember what it was. And they were speaking,

and they had this word that we were supposed

to go to Israel. We were going to meet the prime

minister. We were going to do all this stuff.

And, of course, I love Israel, and I go there

a lot and do a lot of work with Israel and the

Jewish people. And I thought, Lord, I want to

go. I feel like I'm supposed to go on that trip.

Did not have the money. It's $5 ,000. I did not

have the money to go, but I felt I was supposed

to go. And this guy's talking about the trip,

and I walked out of the room, went outside of

this building, and I started pacing. I started

praying. I said, God, I'm supposed to be on that

trip. I know I'm supposed to be on that trip,

but I don't have the money. And the kicker was

it was Saturday, and he said, you've got to have

the money in by Monday. So when you don't have

the money, that's not like you can go raise it

in two days. So I was just praying, and here's

what I said. I said, Lord, I gave my first fruits

this year. I trusted you in all my ways, and

I trust you to do this for me. I'm just going

to do that. And so I went back inside, and he

said, okay, tomorrow I need you to tell me whether

you're going to go or not. So it's Saturday.

So I go to bed that night, and I'm in bed, and

I said, come on, Lord, you've got to show me

something. And so I'm laying in bed, and I have

a dream. And I'm driving in this dream. I'm driving

down this road and I come to a dead end. There's

nowhere else to go. And I thought, where do I

go now? And I look up in the sky and there written

in the sky is Proverbs 3, 9 and 10. Honor the

Lord with your wealth and from the first of your

produce so your barns will be filled to plenty

and your vats will overflow with new wine. Written

in the sky. You talk about a sign and a wonder.

That is a true sign and a wonder. Just like looking

up here on your screen. And I said, so I came

out of that dream. I said, that's it. I'm going.

I don't know how, but I'm going. And I walked

in there the next day. He said, Tim, you going?

I said, me and Susan are going. Write us down.

He said, good. Get us the money tomorrow. I said,

you got it. I don't have no money. Anyway, so

I drive. I fly home. I had a midnight flight

there Saturday night. Get home early in the morning.

And I walk up to Susan. I tell Susan that morning.

I said, Susan, I said, we need a sign this morning.

I said, I know we're supposed to go. And I said,

but we don't have the resources. So we go to

church. Susan, I'm already up front. She walks

in the back door. There's a lady sitting by the

back door. She walks up there and hands her a

check. And he said, the Lord said, y 'all need

a sign. Here it is. It was a $4 ,000 check. And

I said, we raised the other thousand that day.

And I said, there we go. We're going. And we

went on that trip to a first people, which is

the Jewish people. First fruit people. First

nation people. And I go there. I meet the prime

minister -to -be. I get an impartation and favor

comes on my life like I've never seen before.

I tell you, I began to open doors that no man

could open after that day. And it all started

with the first fruit offering. Because, see,

God had destiny. And what happens when you sow

your best and your first, what happens is the

Lord says, I can trust that saint. That child

to do whatever I ask them to do. And therefore,

I want to bless them more because I can use them

more because they're going to be faithful with

everything that I give them. And when they withhold

what I give them, then I can't trust them to

give them more authority. So to me, a first fruit

principle also releases greater authority in

your life. Because what you're saying to the

Lord is it's not mine, it's yours. You're the

one that provided it for me, so therefore I have

no ownership of it. Now, that's not easy. I understand

that. That's not easy. Everybody, you know, this

is Jesus' car. Well, good. Let me borrow the

keys. You know, it's like, well, no, I didn't

say it was for you. It was for Jesus, not for

you. But I understand that's kind of a twisting

of that. But it's hard. You still obey the Lord.

Somebody says, you know, I've given away cars

before. Thank you, Jesus, for that. He blesses

us with that. And I'd love to do that. I'd love

to see more people do that. If the body of Christ

would take care of each other that way, we wouldn't

have any of these issues we're having. You understand

what I'm saying? So as we press into this moment

here this morning for this house, we've got to

understand it's a heavenly calling. Our first

fruit principle is a heavenly calling. It's not

just something we do in giving an offering. It's

the whole thing. So I always struggled because

it's Old Testament. You gave it to the high priest,

right? You gave the tithe to the Levite. You

gave the first fruit to the high priest. And

I thought, well, the Levite, your tithe, is really

a picture of you sowing to the local house. And

as you sow here, who cares for your soul? The

Levite does. The pastoral ministry does. That's

why we tithe here. But the first fruit is the

apostle, right? The high priest. It says that

in Hebrews chapter 3 that Jesus is our high priest

Hebrews 3 · chapter mention

and our great apostle. So he taps in. He brings

the Old Testament to the New. And I understand

when I give my first fruit, I'm giving it to

our great high priest, our great apostle. And

what does a high priest do? High priest goes

to the Father and intercedes for us. And begins

to cry out for us. So when we're doing this,

we're not giving our first fruit to like Bible.

We're giving our first fruit to our great apostle.

You understand what I'm saying? And when you

sow it to him, he goes to the father what your

needs are. And whatever you're believing for

in this season. And I want, I have my whole house,

I'm preaching to my house about being debt free.

How many of y 'all like to be debt free? I believe

in the years to come, we're going to need a group

of people that don't have debt so that they can

have total freedom in that area. When Susan and

I took over our church, we were in debt. I told

you all the problems we were having. We couldn't

pay the bills every week. God gave us a vision

on how to get out of debt. And within a year

and a half of me becoming pastor, and we had

a lot of debt, we got our church out of complete

debt. That way the Lord did. And it all starts

with that first, that best. And it's so much

freedom for everybody. Because debt, mortgage

is horrible. I remember when we got out of debt,

I was wondering why the elders were so happy

when we got out of debt. We had a group of elders

that I inherited. And there was about 12. Actually,

one of them, the day we announced we got out

of debt, he did a square dance. This guy was

a former Presbyterian. He did a square dance.

And I was like, why are these guys so excited?

They never showed me this excitement before.

And I found out, didn't even know it, but their

names were on the mortgage. So I was, oh, oh,

that's why they're excited. You see, when you

get set free of debt, there's a real freedom

comes because now you know nobody has a chain

on you. That's what mortgage represents, right?

I want this house to be totally free. I want

you to be totally free in everything that you're

doing. So if you will, let's stand. I'm gonna

turn this over to Pastor Brad. And I want you

to trust the Lord in your giving. That wasn't

in any of my notes. Anyway, they look good on

my computer. But I just felt I was supposed to

prophesy to you and pour into you this morning

that God is going to be faithful for you and

to you. That as you give your best this year,

not only your finances, you need to do that,

but I'm talking about your whole life. That this

house is going to turn around. Your house is

going to turn around. As we sow to our great

apostle. Jesus Christ. He goes to the Father.

And He makes a way. Do you understand this thing

that's been locked up here for three years? God's

going to open the vault. I like the idea of a

vault, a bank vault. And just open it up. 2 .3

is nothing to the Lord. I know He's going to

do it. I had a vision back here. When y 'all

start cleaning this mess up here, major hope

and faith's coming back to this house. And so

it's ugly now, but it's going to be pretty soon.

Lord, I thank you for what you're doing in Life

Bible. Lord, I thank you for every life that's

represented here, that God, you're going to provide

for them. And as they dig within their spirit,

man, to hear these numbers, to hear what they're

supposed to sow this year. Lord, even when it's

a season where it seems like Lord, I've already

sowed to the ball. Now I gotta give my first,

it's a double honor, double blessing to you.

God is gonna pour out on you more than you can

handle. I share this testimony because I've experienced

it. So I speak it over you right now. I speak

it over this house. And we decree today that

you will make it and you will overcome and you

will see the salvation of the Lord and you'll

see the goodness of God in the land of the living.

We decree that right now in the name of Jesus

Christ. Let's give the Lord a hand. Amen. We

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