You First

Introduction

Matthew 7:7 KJV 1900

7 Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you:

Body

Tell the story of how I always had to be the first to test my brother’s inventions

Scott built them, so now I had to test them

He did his part, so now I had to do mine

We must offer our firsts to God

Exodus 22:29 KJV 1900

29 Thou shalt not delay to offer the first of thy ripe fruits, and of thy liquors: the firstborn of thy sons shalt thou give unto me.

Exodus 13:12–15 KJV 1900

12 That thou shalt set apart unto the Lord all that openeth the matrix, and every firstling that cometh of a beast which thou hast; the males shall be the Lord’s. 13 And every firstling of an ass thou shalt redeem with a lamb; and if thou wilt not redeem it, then thou shalt break his neck: and all the firstborn of man among thy children shalt thou redeem. 14 And it shall be when thy son asketh thee in time to come, saying, What is this? that thou shalt say unto him, By strength of hand the Lord brought us out from Egypt, from the house of bondage: 15 And it came to pass, when Pharaoh would hardly let us go, that the Lord slew all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both the firstborn of man, and the firstborn of beast: therefore I sacrifice to the Lord all that openeth the matrix, being males; but all the firstborn of my children I redeem.

Numbers 15:20 KJV 1900

20 Ye shall offer up a cake of the first of your dough for an heave offering: as ye do the heave offering of the threshingfloor, so shall ye heave it.

Matthew 6:33 KJV 1900

33 But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.

Matthew 20:16 KJV 1900

16 So the last shall be first, and the first last: for many be called, but few chosen.

The firsts are very important to God

First of our Time

To Seek God

Exodus 40:2 KJV 1900

2 On the first day of the first month shalt thou set up the tabernacle of the tent of the congregation.

Set our hearts to seek the Lord early

In our lives

In the day

To Obey God

Ezra 7:9 KJV 1900

9 For upon the first day of the first month began he to go up from Babylon, and on the first day of the fifth month came he to Jerusalem, according to the good hand of his God upon him.

Genesis 22:1–3 KJV 1900

1 And it came to pass after these things, that God did tempt Abraham, and said unto him, Abraham: and he said, Behold, here I am. 2 And he said, Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of. 3 And Abraham rose up early in the morning, and saddled his ass, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son, and clave the wood for the burnt offering, and rose up, and went unto the place of which God had told him.

To Consecrate Ourselves to God

Ezra 10:17 KJV 1900

17 And they made an end with all the men that had taken strange wives by the first day of the first month.

Ezekiel 45:18 KJV 1900

18 Thus saith the Lord God; In the first month, in the first day of the month, thou shalt take a young bullock without blemish, and cleanse the sanctuary:

Our Best Offering

Leviticus 9:3 KJV 1900

3 And unto the children of Israel thou shalt speak, saying, Take ye a kid of the goats for a sin offering; and a calf and a lamb, both of the first year, without blemish, for a burnt offering;

Leviticus 12:6 KJV 1900

6 And when the days of her purifying are fulfilled, for a son, or for a daughter, she shall bring a lamb of the first year for a burnt offering, and a young pigeon, or a turtledove, for a sin offering, unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, unto the priest:

Leviticus 23:12 KJV 1900

12 And ye shall offer that day when ye wave the sheaf an he lamb without blemish of the first year for a burnt offering unto the Lord.

At one year old, the animal is old enough to full-grown but not old enough to consume more resources than it will return

The yearling represents a year of hard work and investment.

God is saying “Don’t bring me an offering of the animal you would have to kill anyway.”

God is the First

Isaiah 44:6 KJV 1900

6 Thus saith the Lord the King of Israel, And his redeemer the Lord of hosts; I am the first, and I am the last; And beside me there is no God.

Revelation 1:17 KJV 1900

17 And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead. And he laid his right hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear not; I am the first and the last:

Take great care as to who/what you place as first in your life!

The First Commandment

Mark 12:29–30 KJV 1900

29 And Jesus answered him, The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord: 30 And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment.

We must know who God is

We must love God with everything in us

God has already offered His firsts to us

Matthew 27:50–54 KJV 1900

50 Jesus, when he had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost. 51 And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent; 52 And the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose, 53 And came out of the graves after his resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many. 54 Now when the centurion, and they that were with him, watching Jesus, saw the earthquake, and those things that were done, they feared greatly, saying, Truly this was the Son of God.

Luke 24:1–8 KJV 1900

1 Now upon the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they came unto the sepulchre, bringing the spices which they had prepared, and certain others with them. 2 And they found the stone rolled away from the sepulchre. 3 And they entered in, and found not the body of the Lord Jesus. 4 And it came to pass, as they were much perplexed thereabout, behold, two men stood by them in shining garments: 5 And as they were afraid, and bowed down their faces to the earth, they said unto them, Why seek ye the living among the dead? 6 He is not here, but is risen: remember how he spake unto you when he was yet in Galilee, 7 Saying, The Son of man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again. 8 And they remembered his words,

Luke 24:44–46 KJV 1900

44 And he said unto them, These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning me. 45 Then opened he their understanding, that they might understand the scriptures, 46 And said unto them, Thus it is written, and thus it behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day:

We’re Next

Deuteronomy 11:13–15 KJV 1900

13 And it shall come to pass, if ye shall hearken diligently unto my commandments which I command you this day, to love the Lord your God, and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul, 14 That I will give you the rain of your land in his due season, the first rain and the latter rain, that thou mayest gather in thy corn, and thy wine, and thine oil. 15 And I will send grass in thy fields for thy cattle, that thou mayest eat and be full.

Most every one of God’s promises to us are in this format

“If you will…, then I will...”

God has already done His part. He’s waiting on us to move next.

God has bound Himself to the Church

Before God moves, we must!

Moving Forward in God

God requires a few things from us to be effectively used by Him:

Our complete submission

If ye love Me, keep My commandments

We follow Christ’s example: “…not My will, but Thy will be done.”

Our bodies

Romans 12:1–2 KJV 1900

1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. 2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

Our lives

Acts 21:13 KJV 1900

13 Then Paul answered, What mean ye to weep and to break mine heart? for I am ready not to be bound only, but also to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.

2 Timothy 4:6 KJV 1900

6 For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand.

Everything we have

Conclusion

God desires to be first in our lives.

God worked first. His desire is to continue His work here on earth, but He’s waiting on us.

God is going to use someone! Will it be you!??!