[Come] and, like living stones, be yourselves built [into] a spiritual house, for a holy (dedicated, consecrated) priesthood. A priesthood to offer up [those] spiritual sacrifices [that are] acceptable and pleasing to God through Jesus Christ (1 Peter 2:5 AMPC). The reason for being living stones for being built up in a spiritual house is to offer up spiritual sacrifices.
We are a holy priesthood to offer up sacrifices every single day like they did in the Old Testament.
They were in the service of offerings. We are supposed to offer up sacrifices and offerings acceptable to God. There are sacrifices that are acceptable, and there are sacrifices and offerings which are not acceptable.
God has an economic system. God has certain economic indicators. God says to bring your first fruits to Me because if you want the rest of your harvest to be blessed, then you bring your first fruits.” “Then, in the second place, you give Me your tithe, then all the extra offerings and givings, extra savings and extra sacrifices.” In doing that, we will honour God and put Him first.
1Now Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain, and said, “I have acquired a man from the Lord. 2Then she bore again, this time his brother Abel. Now Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground. 3And in the process of time it came to pass that Cain brought an offering of the fruit of the ground to the Lord. 4Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat. And the Lord respected Abel and his offering, 5but He did not respect Cain and his offering. And Cain was very angry, and his countenance fell. 6So the Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry? And why has your countenance fallen? 7If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin lies at the door. And its desire is for you, but you should rule over it.” 8Now Cain talked with Abel his brother; and it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel… and killed him (Genesis 4:1-8 NKJV).
Because it is offered or given does not mean it is accepted. God does not accept all offerings. One of the greatest qualifiers is your heart, the attitude of your heart.
4Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock… 4…And the Lord respected Abel and his offering. 5but He did not respect Cain and his offering. And Cain was very, angry (Genesis 8:4-5 NKJV). God respected Abel’s offering but for Cain’s offering, God had no respect.
3And in the process of time it came to pass that Cain brought an offering of the fruit of the ground to the Lord (Genesis 8:3 NKJV).
We are giving to the Lord.
11For we hear that there are some which walk among you disorderly, working not at all, but are busybodies. 12Now are such we command and exhort by our Lord Jesus Christ, that with quietness they work, and eat their own bread (2 Thessalonians 3:11-12 KJV).
11that you also aspire to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business. And to work with our own hands, as we commanded you (1 Thessalonians 4:11 NKJV). We must not judge. My giving, your giving – it’s personal before the Lord.
When your giving comes from your heart, with faith, to worship the Lord, it’s spiritual. Then you come with a gift, then you come with a song, then you come because this kind of giving separates itself from natural giving. When it’s from the heart, and with faith, it’s spiritual. That’s how God wants us to come.
And in the process of time, it came to pass that Cain brought an offering, of the fruit of the ground to the Lord. 4Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat (Genesis 4:3-4 NKJV). Cain brought an offering but on his own terms. He did not place God first and he decided what he wanted to do.
Israel took their first fruit and gave it to God, trusting in God, their Source.
By bringing God their first fruits, they would sanctify all their harvests and other offerings coming after the first fruits.
16For if the first fruit is holy, the lump is also holy; and if the root is holy, so are the branches (Romans 11:16 NKJV). The Jewish people believe that what is true of the first word of the Torah, is true of the whole book. What is true of the firstborn, is true of the rest of the family. And what is true of the first fruits, is true of the rest of the harvest.
35And, we made ordinances to bring the firstfruits of our ground and the firstfruits of all fruit of all trees, year by year, to the house of the Lord; 36to bring the firstborn of our sons and our cattle, as it is written in the Law, and the firstborn of our herds and our flocks, to the house of our God, to the priests who minister in the house of our God. 37to bring the first fruits of our dough, our offerings, the fruit from all kinds of trees, the new wine and oil, to the priests (Nehemiah 10:35-37 NKJV).
Your first fruit you give before the harvest. There’s always some grain ripening before the rest of the harvest is ripe.
8Will a man rob God? Yet you have robbed Me! But you say, ‘In what have we robbed You?’ In tithes, and offerings (Malachi 3:8 NKJV). The first tithe, ten per cent, goes to the House of the Lord. The second tithe is a self tithe. And the third tithe goes to the poor.
1Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 2″Consecrate to Me all the firstborn, whatever opens the womb among the children of Israel, both man and beast; it is Mine” (Exodus 13:1-2 NKJV).
9Honor the LORD with your possessions, And with the first fruits of your increase (Proverbs 3:9 NKJV). There must be increase for God to get first fruits.
Organise your life where other people come first. Now you have a heart of generosity. Save your 10 per cent, but every third one goes to the poor. Think about others first. Organise your life where other people come first. Righteousness revealed is generosity. That is who God is; so generous in His love, in His mercy towards us. God wants us to live that way ourselves.
For if the first fruit is holy, the lump is also holy (Romans 11:16 NKJV).
When you consecrate something to God, it means that God will treat it now like it’s His own. If you want to give something to God, you give it through the act of first fruits. If you really want to give God something, you take your first and your best and you offer it up to Him.
30And the first of all the first fruits of all kinds, and every offering of all kinds from all your offerings, shall belong to the priests. You shall also give to the priest the first of your coarse meal and bread dough that a blessing may rest on your house (Ezekiel 44:30 AMPC).
What you give in first fruits will speak for you and your children for generations to come.
Abraham did not wait till he had 10 sons before he gave Isaac. He gave the first, the only one he had to give. Abraham had only the promise of having more sons. But the blessing was on his house, his lineage to come. When Abraham gave Isaac he consecrated a nation yet to be born. What do you think our obedience can do?
7And he has generously given each one of us supernatural grace, according to the size of the gift of Christ (Romans 4:7 TPT). 8… gifts were given to men (Romans 4:8 TPT).
3For I say, grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, do not think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but you think soberly, as God has dealt to each one the measure of faith, 4For as we have many members in one body, but all the members do not have the same function. 5so we, being many, are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another. 6Having then gifts differing, according to the grace that is given to us, let us use them (Romans 12:3-6 NKJV).
There is a grace for a place. You must function in the place with the grace that God has given to you. 6If prophecy, let us prophesy in proportion to our faith; 7or ministry, let us use it in our ministering; he who teaches, in teaching; 8he who exhorts, in exhortation; he who gives, (with liberality); he who leads, with diligence; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness (Romans 12:6-8 NKJV).
There’s many in the body of Christ who have the gift to make money. All the gifts must give according to their grace.
32Now the multitude of those who believed were of one heart and one soul. The only way you get in that place is to put your foot in the message, to be one heart and one mind. Neither did anyone say that any of the things he possessed was his own, but they had all things in common. 33And with great power the apostles gave witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And great grace was upon them all, Great grace is upon us to step up and to be what God called you and me to be. 34Nor was there anyone among them who lacked; for all who were possessors of lands, or houses sold them, and brought the proceeds of the things that were sold, 35and laid them at the apostles’ feet; and they distributed to each as anyone had need (Acts 4:32-35 NKJV).
We cannot go forward if some of the gifts think they can stay behind.
When we start to give on this level of firstfruits, this level of the leading of the Holy Spirit, God can come in here and do things that He could not do yesterday. This kind of giving will bring a very great shift and that shift is already happening. This kind of obeying the Holy Spirit is going to cause shifts. It’s the time of God, the shift for victory that is about to take place.
15Then the angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time out of heaven, 16and said: “By Myself, I have sworn, says the Lord, because you have done this thing, and have not withheld your son, your only son, 17blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply your descendants as the stars of the heaven and as the sand which is on the seashore; and your descendants shall possess the gate of their enemies. 18In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed because you have obeyed My voice.” (Genesis 22:15-18 NKJV). Whenever God is leading you to give first fruits on this level, He is setting you up for something; that’s just the nature of God.
1After these things, the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision, saying, “Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your exceedingly great reward.” 2But Abram said, “Lord God, what will You give me? What will you give me, seeing I go childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?” 3Then Abram said, “Look, You have given me no offspring; indeed one born in my house is my heir!” 4And behold, the word of the Lord came to him, saying, “This one shall not be your heir, but one who will come from your own body shall be your heir.” 5Then He brought him outside (Genesis 15:1-5 NKJV).
16and said: “By Myself, I have sworn, says the Lord, because you have done this thing, and have not withheld your son, your only son— 17blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply your descendants as the stars of the heaven and as the sand which is on the seashore, and your descendants shall possess the gate of their enemies. 18In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed because you have obeyed My voice.” (Genesis 22:16-18 NKJV). The church rising, having the answers and having dominion because we choose to come to church, to love the Lord, to obey His Word, to be His people, and let Him be our God, to live righteously in our giving, with one another in our giftings, in everything that God has for us. We are stepping up to obey the Word of the Lord.
This is going to be leading by the Holy Spirit and an obeying on your part. When you choose to obey God like this, the blessing will come to be on your house, your children and your lineage – through the act of giving first fruits.
8Here, mortal men receive tithes, but in heaven, it is Jesus who is actually receiving them (Hebrews 7:8 NKJV).
35And we made ordinances to bring the firstfruits of our ground and the firstfruits, of all fruit of all trees, year by year to the house of the Lord; 36to bring the firstborn of our sons and our cattle to the house of our God, to the priests who minister in the house of our God (Nehemiah 10:35-36 NKJV).
8Then the word of the Lord came to him, saying, 9 “Arise, go to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon and dwell there. See, I have commanded a widow there to provide for you.” 10So he arose and went to Zarephath. And when he came to the gate of the city, indeed a widow was there gathering sticks. And he called to her and said, “Please bring me a little water in a cup, that I may drink.” 11And as she was going to get it, he called to her and said, “Please bring me a morsel of bread in your hand.” 12So she said, “As the Lord your God lives, I do not have bread, only a handful of flour in a bin, and a little oil in a jar; and see, I am gathering a couple of sticks that I may go in and prepare it for myself and my son – prepare it for myself and my son that we may eat it, and die.” 13And Elijah said to her, “Do not fear; go and do as you have said, but make me a small cake from it first, and bring it to me and afterwards make some for yourself and your son. 14For thus says the Lord God of Israel: ‘The bin of flour shall not be used up, nor shall the jar of oil run dry (1 Kings 17:8-14 NKJV). Go and do this says the priest, the pastor, give it to me first.
20But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. 21For, since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead, comes also through a man. 22For as in Adam all die, so in Christ, all will be made alive. 23But each in turn: Christ, the firstfruits; then, when he comes, those who belong to him. 24Then the end will come when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father after he has destroyed all dominion, authority and power. 25For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet (1 Corinthians 15:20-25 NIV).
46And when Jesus had cried out with a loud voice, He said, “Father, ‘into Your hands I commit My spirit.’ ” Having said this, He breathed His last breath (Luke 23:46 NKJV). Our resurrection was guaranteed because Jesus placed His life in the hands of His Father. When our first fruits are in the right hands, it cannot die.
One of the prime manifestations of pride is anger and rebellion. Cain killed Abel because he had a corrupt way of thinking. God is bringing us the messages to purify our hearts. This is what God is doing. 11For this is the message that you heard from the beginning, that we should love one another, 12not as Cain who was of the wicked one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his works were evil and his brother’s righteous (1 John 3:11-12 NKJV). When God directs us, when our leading comes from the Holy Spirit, He never takes us to crooks. When God is directing you as He directed us here, He brings us to a place that He knows these leaders are My people. Get in with everything because you are with the Lord and the Holy Spirit is leading you because that house anointing is on Pastor John.
16“This day the Lord your God commands you to observe these statutes and judgments. You shall be careful to observe them with all your heart and with all your soul. 17Today you have proclaimed the Lord to be your God (Deuteronomy 26: 17 NKJV). 18Also today the Lord has proclaimed you to be His special people (Deuteronomy 26:18 NKJV). When we choose to come and be led by God this way in our righteous giving, verse 17 says then we proclaim for all to see – our proclamation is speaking into the spiritual realm.
19And that He will set you high above all nations (Deuteronomy 26:19 NKJV). We’ve got the promise of God; this is what He is doing with His church right now.
“Come on, get out of Babylon”. If you don’t know, ask. Don’t kill. Get these things out of your heart and speak and ask. Make the adjustment and change like the prodigal son.”
16And he would gladly have filled his stomach with the [pods that the swine ate, and no one gave him anything (Luke 15:16 NKJV)
22“But the father said to his servants, ‘Bring out the best robe and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet. 23And bring the fatted calf here and kill it (Luke 15:22-23 NKJV). The father is celebrating because with God it is not about what you did not do, it is about Who you return to. The past is over. It is over and done with. Put God first. That is the only thing our heavenly Father is after.
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