2024: New Year, New Commitment, New Behaviors
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AS I was praying for 2024 I asked God to give me a vision for 2024. A reachable goal. An obtainable achievement. He gave me two phrases concerning 2024.
It’s all about Jesus - This is going to be our main focus this year. Everything we do as a church is going to be looking through the lens of how it will reflect Jesus and how it will draw us closer to Him.
Change- There is going to be advancements made, I believe, to draw us closer to God. Now Change has some bad connotations, but when God changes things I find that they are usually better.
One of the first changes that you will notice comes starting nest week Jan 7th. is the way we are going to do tithes and offerings. We are going to be physically taking tithes and offerings like we used to pre-covid. We are going to have our usher stand up here and have the offering physically brought up and given. We are going to embark on a teaching that will explain why I believe this is important.
Another change: Is our 21 days of fasting and prayer, but it also ties into tithing. We are going to be discussing the first fruits.
What are first fruits? Where does this principle come from and how does it pertain to us.
Many people believe that the principle of first fruits are just about finances. And that’s part of it,
9 Honor the Lord with your wealth and with the firstfruits of all your produce;
But then it talks about your first born son-The first fruit of your houshold
29 “You shall not delay to offer from the fullness of your harvest and from the outflow of your presses. The firstborn of your sons you shall give to me.
Or if you read further—the first born of the animals—
30 You shall do the same with your oxen and with your sheep: seven days it shall be with its mother; on the eighth day you shall give it to me.
Then Jesus
20 But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.
Here’s the first fruit principle:
Putting the Lord First in Every Part of Your Life
God desires to be in the first seat postion in life. There are two major themes when studying the Old Testimant
Law 2. Principles
There is the biblical law which Jesus fulfilled. Then there are OT principles which still apply today. This is an OT principle.
If you put God first you will release anointing, favor, and the blessing of God on your life.
Numbers 28:26 (ESV)
26 “On the day of the firstfruits, when you offer a grain offering of new grain to the Lord at your Feast of Weeks, you shall have a holy convocation
Leviticus 2:12 (ESV)
12 As an offering of firstfruits you may bring them to the Lord.
The term first fruits here comes from the Hebrew term Re-sit- Meaning beginning or starting point.
We must bring God our starting point
Why?
Shows Gratitude and Acknowledgment
4 Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise! Give thanks to him; bless his name!
5 For the Lord is good; his steadfast love endures forever, and his faithfulness to all generations.
Notice in this verse the connection between gratitude and God’s presence. When we show gratitude and praise we bless his name and in retirn He endows us with his presence, steadfast love, and faithfulness- not jsut in our lives but for the generations that come after us.
When we give of our first fruits- Our time, Talent, Treasure-The Proimise is that his faithfulness will not only encompass our lives, but it will flow into our children, our grandchildren, our great grandchildren and so forth.
When we plant a time seed or a financial seed into the kingdom we are planting into our family.
This is why we are dedicating the first fruit of our year. So that the rest of the year will fall under the faithfulness of God. This is why we are changing the way we do offering. Because tithing is that important.
2. Shows faith and trust
5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding.
6 In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.
First line: Trust in the lord with all your heart
Trust requires us to surrender our fears, uncertainties, and plans to a sovereign God.
This is why tithing is so hard for many because it takes a great deal of faith and trust to give out of the money we need. I hear people state all the timeI can’t tithe because I can’t afford to live on what I have let alone 10% less, but it’s believing that God will multiply your income. The number might not raise, but the curse will be removed and we know What God blesses will be fruitful.
When we are faithful in our first fruits it amplifies God’s faithfulness and Favor in our lives.
Which is why God followed the trust me verse with the
Lean not on your own understanding
God’s faithfulness isn’t mathematical. People who tend to struggle with this are people like me who like to deal in absolutes and numbers, but 2+2 doesn’t equal 4 in God’s world. God works in multiplication.
In Matthew Jesus took 5 fish and multiplied it to feed 5,000 with 12 baskets left over.
That doesn’t math.
God’s ability to take 10% and stretch your 90% farther than your 100% could stretch doesn’t math, but it’s a biblical fact.
6 The point is this: whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully.
The point is this—almost like God knew I need to wrap up my sermon— this includes our time, talent, and treasure
Every Assignment has a borthplace-every blessing started somewhere and it usually derives from a place of surrender.
I believe, as a church, that if we make a habit of surrendering our first fruits of our time, talent, and treasure God is going to show off in a big way. If we take this time of fasting seriously God is going to renew your purpose, give you a greater sense of direction, and increase his presence and his blessing in your life.
I am going to calling the church to a year of sacrificial giving as well and if you believe in God’s word he will bless you bountifully in your giving.
God is going to do more this year than you’ve witnessed ever in the past. You may ask how can I be this bould, because you’ll notice, as we go through scripture and we remove curses, we live a supernatural lifestyle, we learn topray the promises of God in our life wea re going to turn the tides of blessing and favor. Doors that haven’t opened for you will burst open. time struggles and scheduling arguements will be a thing of the past. Financial struggles will be a thing of the past.
God has already given us a glimpse into it. Amanda gave numerous testimonies this year as to what happened when her family determined in their hearts to put god first in their time, talent, and treasure. I’m going to be sharing testimonies of what happened in my life when I gave of time, talent, and treasure. And I am going to ask all of you-that if you commit to this process that when God blesses you that you come to me so we can testify about it on a Sunday morning. 2024 we are going to fill the church with testimonial praises to God. WE re going to open more time for praises because they will be so numerous. Listen I am prophesying in Faith because God’s word says it is true.
If you’re willing to take this journey with me I am going to ask you to stand and I want to pray for you!