The High Calling of the Firstfruits

What is the most important matter for the Church of God at this most critical moment in time and in world history? We heard in the sermon at about those who focus on what is a reality today, where there is a great deal of uncertainty and fear. But for us in the Church, what is the most important thing for us to focus on? Well, it is what is behind the meaning of the Festival of Pentecost. I know that Pentecost technically begins at sundown tonight, but once we enter into this double Sabbath, over the years I've just tended to think of it as one big Pentecost weekend. We tend to call it that as we look at it. So if I speak on the subject of Pentecost tomorrow, I'm sure those who will be giving the messages will still have plenty to talk about. And if I tread on their scriptures, then just know that the sermonette also treaded on my scriptures. And so that's okay, same mind that we hope is behind all of us speaking at any given time before God's people as we read the Word of God. But when we focus on the meaning of Pentecost, I think we do have an answer to what is most important for us to consider at this time in our life and in this time in the history of the world. It is the reason that we are called now. Pentecost shows us that reason that we have the calling that God gives us now instead of later. When we understand the full meaning of the Holy Days as God has given to us in the church and we look ahead to the meaning of the period of the Great White Throne Judgment that we focus on when we come to the eighth day, the very last Holy Day in the plan of God that has been given to us. We understand that God will bring from the grave and He will remember in a sense His own type of Memorial Day all the dead, small and great who've ever lived. But we're called now. They will be called in a future period of judgment. We're called now when others are not. And we understand again that hope that we have not only for ourselves, but also we can share with others who want to understand and know what about those who have died not ever knowing the name of Christ, accepting salvation through that name, or having been called by God at this time. But we're called now to understand that. When we look at the Pentecost scenario, we understand that it is set in the early part of what is a very established harvest cycle that centers upon the land upon which where God gave the promises and called Abraham and sent him to and around which then he gave the land to the children of Israel. And the harvest season that is there and in the temperate zones of the world brings us to this time at this point with Pentecost where we focus on a smaller early harvest in the land, not a greater harvest that comes in the fall. And then the holy days are kept in their seasons as indeed the calendar that God has set does provide. The holy days do fall at a time to show us certain spiritual lessons regarding God's great harvest. And we focus in on the meaning of Pentecost. We understand that God has from the very beginning purpose to have a group of people of which we happen to be a part, a group of people called firstfruits. I'd like for you to turn over to Ephesians chapter 1.

And let's look at a portion of this first chapter of the book of Ephesians, a very foundational and overarching chapter that Paul writes in regard to the purpose that God has founded. In verse 3, beginning in Ephesians chapter 1, verse 3, he writes, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ. The focus is on the Father and what the Father has done and is doing through the role that Jesus Christ has taken from becoming the Word to becoming the Christ, the Messiah. Just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world.

We've been blessed with the spiritual blessings in the heavenly places in Christ, and that was what was designed. And He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love. Those of us who fall into this category of the us, of this verse, are a part of a group that has been in place from before the foundation of the world. Let that sink in, because this is what we are to focus on when we come to this festival period, this early harvest of the time of Pentecost. Verse 5 says, having predestined us, that God, this was a part of God's preordained, predestined purpose to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself according to the good pleasure of His will. This is God, this is the Father's will to do this through Christ. And there was in that purpose from the beginning, the group of people that this us refers to, we'll read on to see, called according to the good pleasure of His will to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the beloved. In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of His grace. And of course, we focused on that, didn't we, with the Passover and the Days of Unleavened Bread period just a few weeks ago, just 49 days ago, plus a little bit as we focused on the Passover service and that redemption through the blood of Christ. Verse 8 says, which He made to abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence. It's God's wisdom that created this plan and has brought it to pass, and it is God's measured will and measured design, His prudence, that is making it available to the creation, to the world in time, in His way. Having made note to us the mystery of His will according to His good pleasure, which He purposed in Himself.

The mystery of His will, that mystery is what is brought out here in this chapter and of course, many others, but in a unique way as Paul writes this first chapter, that mystery of God's will has been made known so that it's not a mystery. We can understand it. It's a mystery to those that have not been called, but to those who are a part of that, that unfolding, that revealing, takes away the mystery which has been made known to us according to His good pleasure, which He purposed in Himself, God's purpose and plan, that in the dispensation of the fullness of the times, He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, which are on earth, in Him. In Him also we have obtained an inheritance being predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will, that we who first trusted in Christ should be to the praise of His glory. Paul then says to the Ephesians and thus to us that we who first trusted in Christ, a group of people who are among the first, not the second, not the third, but the first to trust in Christ. And of course, he directly was writing to a group roughly 2,000 years ago, the first century, who had been called, who had been called to the grace of God and all who've been redeemed by the blood of Christ. They were among the first then, and there have been many since then.

That we who first trusted in Christ should be to the praise of His glory. In verse 13, to Him you also trusted after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and whom also having believed you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise. Who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession to the praise of His glory. God's Spirit is what has, along with the blood of Christ, has purchased us and redeemed us to the glory, to the calling of God. This Pentecost festival focuses us upon the fact that we are among those who first trusted in Christ. In 1 Peter 2, the Apostle Peter brings out something that again speaks to the special calling of God's people. 1 Peter 2.

We'll go right to verse 9. 1 Peter 2 and verse 9. But you who are a chosen generation, as he speaks to those who have been purified, those who have been born again of an incorruptible word of God, you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, his own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light, who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy, a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, words that were used to describe Israel when they came before God at Mount Sinai and became a part of a covenant. We call the Old Covenant, but it was a very important covenant and part of God's overall plan. We are a part of a better covenant, what can be called the New Covenant that is formed in and through the blood of Christ. But a chosen people made even more so as we understand how God is working to bring about salvation to the world by steps and by phases. He shows this in many passages, and this is that great mystery that has been revealed to the people of God as we read the Scriptures, and especially as we observe these festivals, the Holy Days and their whole plan. And, you know, as we step our way through them each year, our messages and our focus moves from the Passover and Unleavened Bread to Pentecost and on to the Fall Festival. And we order our life around these festivals. But the more we focus on their meaning, the more we focus on what they are telling us, they continue to reiterate that basic purpose that God is bringing to pass by phases, by steps, in the Holy Days, in their season, an early small harvest, a set of Holy Days that are part of a greater fall harvest. They're all the backdrops to remind us of how God is going about to establish His purpose in bringing together all things in Christ and how special that is for us to help us to understand, again, really the most critical matter for us to focus on as the world around us changes, unravels in many different ways, becomes something unrecognizable, yes, instilling fear as we look at it closely enough. And yet, the one hope, the sure hope that we have is being anchored in the Word of God, and especially in the meaning that is given to us through these Holy Days as they are placed in their seasons. In Matthew 13, there is a very well-known parable of the sower and the seed that speaks again to the harvest season. It speaks to the seed of the gospel that is spread, and it speaks also to the fact that some that seed falls on some good ground and some not so good ground that it bears some fruit and that it may not bear fruit in some of the ground that it has sown. But in the process, we understand and come to know something very important regarding God. Let's begin reading this in chapter 13. And let's look at verse 3, this parable of the sower. He spoke many things to them in parables, saying, Behold, a sower went out to sow, a person sowing the seed of whatever it might be, corn, wheat, barley, some type of grain in the field that he has. And as he sowed, some seed fell by the wayside, and the birds came and devoured them. Obviously, that seed was not going to be embedded in the ground to germinate and bear any fruit. Some seed fell on stony places where they did not have much earth, and they immediately sprang up because they had no depth of earth. Have any of you ever tried to plant a garden in stony ground?

I lived in a place one time in eastern Kentucky, and I wanted to have a garden.

We had a fairly good-sized yard there out to the side of the house. I remember going out there and starting to try to dig it up. I kept digging up stones. And the more I dug, I thought, Well, I can get all these stones out of here. The more I dug, the more stones it just kept working up. I had them piled around, and I thought, I'm tired of digging stones.

Reminds you of a song, digging up bones. I was tired of digging up stones. I said, I'm going to go ahead and plant my seed. So I did. The seed came up, but it didn't bear a whole lot of fruit. I didn't get a lot of cucumbers. Didn't get a whole lot of squash. Got some because it was stony ground, and it couldn't put down roots enough, and it wasn't fertile enough to give me really a good harvest. And it was kind of a slim, as we say, slim pickens season for us. And so that happens. For seven, some seed fell among thorns, and the thorns sprang up and choked them. But others fell on good ground and yielded a crop, some 100, some 60, and some 30.

Different fields, different types of soil. Same seed, but different results. And in some cases, not even any results. In verse 18, Jesus gives the explanation of this parable. A story, a parable, remember, is a story that is told that conveys larger spiritual truths. And Christ used many parables to do so. He gave the interpretation beginning in verse 19, when anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, then the wicked one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart. This is he who received seed by the wayside, off the path, among the briars, even on just, it could be just rock that is exposed and out there, no hope whatsoever of putting down root, germinating at all. And there's no fruit whatsoever. But he who received the seed on stony places, this is he who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy.

Knowing that the word of the kingdom, the kingdom of God, gives joy. He gives hope.

Yet he has no root in himself. He endures only for a while. For when tribulation or persecution arises because of the word, immediately he stumbles. He leaves. He gives it up. He turns back. It's too much. The persecution, the difference that it makes in one's life, standing out within the family, within those that work, within the neighborhood, can become too much. Persecution. Other factors can rob what is taken away. In verse 22, he who receives seed among the thorns is he who hears the word. And the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and he becomes unfruitful. He hears, he listens, and yet something else comes in. The deceitfulness of riches. It chokes out and becomes unfruitful, where perhaps there was some fruit beginning to be born. It just withers, and it doesn't come to fruition. Again, as you look at this parable, you understand that there's a season of time that transpires, and time enough to put down roots, time enough to put up and to germinate in some cases, and even in some cases then to bear fruit over a couple of times. The last category is in verse 23, he who receives seed on the good ground is he who hears the word, understands it, who indeed bears fruit, makes change, grows in knowledge and understanding, or grace and knowledge of the kingdom, and produces some 100-fold, some 60, some 30. It's quite an abundant harvest, even at 30-fold. That is an abundant harvest there. That can be worth the time and effort that is put into preparing the ground and tending the seed that is sown.

But again, keep in mind that there's a time lapse here of a harvest season, of a season when it's planted, spring for us as we understand it, and the season in which Christ gave this and even fits for us here, and then a season later that will come for the harvest.

There's another parable that follows on from this, the parable of the wheat and the tares. And I'm not going to read that one, but it does bring out once again the idea of the wheat that is sown growing until the time of the harvest at the end of the age. And I just want to focus our mind on that without reading through that entire parable, because again, the Holy Days are tied to the harvest seasons of the land of Israel, the temperate zones of the world, and teach us that there is a time to sow, and there is a time to bear fruit, and there is a time to harvest. And there are stages and phases, and that's what God is doing. The real key takes us back to verse 10 of chapter 13, as Jesus gives an explanation as to why He speaks to the multitudes in parables, because His disciples come to Him with that question, why do you speak to them, these large crowds, in parables? We're granted. There can be that can be heard in ways by the hearers, and they come up with different interpretations. Or it goes completely over their head. They don't understand it. And there's an intent there. You have to work at the parable, and even as you look and study the parables, you have to discern that understanding there, and also even realize that there are layers of understanding, and there are different angles, and it's multidimensional in some of the parables as to the depth of learning that can be. But Jesus gave an answer here that is very instructive for us as we consider the Feast of Pentecost and we who first heard God's plan. In verse 11, Jesus answered and said to them, because it is given to you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given. Put that down as one of the hard sayings of Jesus. That is a hard one to understand, even to accept, that He deliberately put His teaching into parables so that some would know the mysteries of the kingdom, but others would not. For whoever it has, to him more will be given, and he will have abundantly, but whoever does not have, even what he has, will be taken away from him. Therefore, I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand. And then he goes into a quote directly from Isaiah 6 that I won't take the time to read, but I do want to go to verse 16. It says, "'The blessed are your eyes, for they see, and your ears, for they hear. I say to you that many prophets and righteous men desired to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.'" Christ's teaching was understood by some and not understood by many.

Witnessed the very end of His, after His death and resurrection, 120, were gathered in that room on the day of Pentecost when that event took place. Of all the hundreds, if not thousands, that He spoke to, connected with, fed, healed, and so much was done during His ministry, as John tells us at the end of it, that it couldn't all be put down, 120. And that by the design and that by the will of God, that not everyone would hear, but some would. And that helps, brings us back to the meaning of the Holy Days. That brings us back to this meaning of Pentecost, a feast of firstfruits, a time of a first fruit harvest set at a unique time of the year, and speaking to those who are called in the chosen generation and those who are among the first to have heard and to have responded. When we look at God's festivals with the correct meaning, and understand the truth that is revealed there, and the plan that God has to bring many sons to glory. And then we focus on a group of people that are called firstfruits who are called now to overcome, called now to grow in grace and knowledge, and called now to prepare to set with Christ on His throne and to reign and rule over the nations. It can raise a number of questions. Why us? Why now? Why not us later? But why now? And what are we called to do? What are we called to be a part of? Some of us have pondered that and thought that through so many times through the years. And the meaning is very clear. We heard in John 16 and verse 33, part of the answer is there.

Mr. Rangel read this in his sermonette, but I'm going to read it again.

Because it does focus exactly on something that is important to us to understand now. In John 16 and verse 33, Jesus did tell His disciples, these things I've spoken to you that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation, but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world. When we look at that statement, Christ overcame the world into which He came. How are we doing at overcoming our world? Where are we in that? Because that's exactly why we have been called now to overcome this world. In John 17 and verse 15, in this last prayer that Jesus gave, an extensive prayer, He made a direct comment again about the role of those that He was leaving behind, those that the Father had given to Him. He says in verse 15, I do not pray that you should take them out of the world. We're not taken out of the world. We have to live in the world. But He said that you should keep them from the evil one. Now we did read in that parable that some of that seed sown by the wayside was snatched up by the evil one that came and took it took it away. But Christ said that we are to be kept from the evil one. He prayed that the Father would give us that ability. But when we look at this, we are to be kept, we are to overcome.

We are called at a time as a group of people, called and chosen, to overcome.

To overcome this world, to work against it, to be faithful, to obey God, to learn to demonstrate the fruits of God's Spirit and through the years and the lifetime that we are involved in that, to produce godly fruit of love and of joy and peace and all that is there, to develop humility. And we're called to do that now, in advance of the time when others will be given that opportunity. We're called by the power of God's Spirit. We're given that very essence of God Himself, the very life of Christ within us, and we're empowered to do that and to do that work through that Spirit. When we look at Acts 2 and understand that it was on that day of Pentecost that the church was gathered by the instruction of Christ to be endued with power from on high, and they received that on the day of Pentecost. They received the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, signified by the languages in which they spoke to all those gathered around them in Jerusalem at that particular time. And they entered into a life based upon faith and repentance and the end-dwelling of the very Spirit of God, the life of Christ, the life of the Father through the Spirit within us.

And that is our life, through the work that Christ has given to His church to preach the gospel, to make disciples, and to care for those disciples. Jesus told His disciples in Acts 1, He said, you're going to be witnesses of Me in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.

And as we look through the whole story of Acts and you read through that and study that, you see how that began. And that same work is continuing today as we preach the gospel in a world today as a witness. I referred to this one verse back in Matthew 24 as one of the first memory verses that I think I ever remember hearing and committing to memory. I was talking with the ABC Sampler class about this this week, Matthew 24 and verse 14. Dr. Dunkel has his memory verses that all the ABC students have to go through. And this I think probably was my very first memory verse because it was preached so often when I was being raised in the church where it says, this gospel or the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all nations, and then the end will come. And that gospel was preached. The book of Acts shows how it is done. That gospel is being preached today by the body of Christ. That work continues to go out. And Pentecost reveals this very important key as the church began on Pentecost. And that story of that work going out to the world in the first century continues into the present age. And it's pictured along the seasons of Pentecost and trumpets in which we are in.

You know, when we keep Pentecost as we do here in this early spring season or perhaps late spring season and picture this early harvest, we're looking forward to the time of the Feast of Trumpets the next Holy Day, a larger time of harvest that all the Scriptures and Revelation and 1 Corinthians 15 and 1 Thessalonians 4 point to at that time of the Feast of Trumpets when Christ sets His hand to reap that final harvest that Revelation 15 talks about, that that sickle is put into the harvest of the earth at that time. We have this period between Pentecost and trumpets, roughly three to four months, a growing season, a season of fine weather, adequate rain, adequate conditions to grow crops. And all of that ties into the spiritual dimension of what God is doing through His church from the time of the beginning of the church, which did literally begin on the day of Pentecost there in Acts 2. And the work that the church continues to do until Christ returns at the time, the sounding of the seventh trumpet. And that return brings about that resurrection, that first resurrection that is spoken of in all of the Scriptures, and especially in Revelation 20 and verse 4. But in this period of time between Pentecost and trumpets, there's this season, and it can be a rather long one, if you will. If you look at it, it's the longest period of time between any of the holy days. We've gone roughly 50 plus days to now, well 49 today, from the, let's say, the first holy day of unleavened bread. And so roughly seven weeks in a day. But from here to trumpets, we've got three to four months. And it's a longer time. And that teaches us something about the preparation of the church, the preparation of the bride, the work of the church, the preaching of the gospel, the continuing harvest and work of the first fruits and the disciples being knit together throughout all the ages of time since Acts chapter 2, and ongoing even today in our modern age, as God forms into a temple, His people, a spiritual temple that He's putting together.

The church is doing its work, and the bride is being prepared all along the way, all during these epics of time. Pentecost shows that period of time beginning, and it continues through this harvest season. And we are called now to be a part of that foundational work. We are among those who first believed. We are a part of this chosen generation. We are part of this group called first fruits, of which I'm sure we will hear more tomorrow. And when the church, God's elect, assemble on the right day with the right understanding on any of the festivals that God has given to us, there's an alignment that takes place. There's an alignment with God's eternal purpose. And on Pentecost, we know that and we remember that we're being prepared to be among the first fruits. We're called now in advance of all of the others.

Why are we called now? We are called to do a work. We are called to be a part of the church that is to preach the gospel as a witness, to make it known. And brethren, that has been continuing. The body of Christ, the spiritual body of Christ of which He is the head, is doing that work.

And we in the United Church of God are a part of that, and we are doing that which has been given to us that we have understood, and God is providing that fruit. You know, sometimes we don't always fully appreciate the ways in which God works and even fully understand all that God is doing until that fruit sometimes bubbles up to the surface and we find out about it. We are beginning to find people that are coming to the knowledge of the truth in areas where we don't even have people. We don't even have, that's not not even sent ministers. All we've sent is the internet. We find people in in in in Myanmar. How many of you know where Myanmar is? Good. Rest of all of us, we've got we've got people that are being called to be called to be called in Myanmar. Myanmar is right next to Thailand. They're in Southeast Asia. It used to be called Burma, and we've got we are working with 100 plus people. Some from our past, some from the present, and beginning to, you know, sort through what we have and provide a means to care for them. But how did they learn about the Sabbath? How did they learn about the holy days through the internet in some cases? I spoke spoke to a group of them and some of our ministers, Mr. Dean, Mr. Kubik, have spoken to them on on Zoom over in recent months and times to maintain our contact there. But every time it seems like we sit down and have a meeting about taking care of this group, we find out there's another group that has come to us. And that's very encouraging.

We had a meeting this week to begin to organize a group of people in Bangladesh, a Muslim country.

Small group. God, you know, God is beginning to call. People are beginning, they begin to read about the Sabbath and the holy days. They want to know more. And so that work is continuing on and in many other places. God is doing His work through His church. And as we in the United Church of God, with the mission that we have to preach the gospel, to make disciples, to care for those disciples, God uses us, uses the means by which we have put together to spread that gospel.

God is calling people. That is encouraging. And it should be sobering when we think about people in some of these areas where military coups have locked down and we can't even go in, or where there's religions that are the complete antithesis of Christianity and realize that God's Spirit knows no boundaries, no hindrances. God's Word goes and God's Word produces fruit. It does not come back empty.

And that is still happening today. And as those of us who are laborers in that field, all of us collectively together yield ourselves to God, God can do more. We do have our part to play. One of the things that I learned very early in my years in the church, and many of you will remember, is this very important principle that we are called now in advance of all the others that will be called in the time of the Great White Throne Judgment. We are called now to be a part of the work of God to preach the gospel. And it is through that involvement in that preaching of the gospel that we are prepared as the bride of Christ.

We can never forget that because all of us sit and listen and understand that we do because there has been the preaching of that Word before, which we heard, to which we have responded. And we are called now to be a part of that. We are called now as well to overcome. And the work that that is being done, as I said, the church of God, when God's elect meet on the appointed time, at the appointed season, with the correct understanding, there's an alignment with God's purpose.

And God then can do great things through His church, through His body. And that church and that body is being prepared to be among the firstfruits. And we have to take the long view of that. We have to take the long view of our own lives and the work and all that we are doing and where we may find ourselves right now, young and old, after 40, 50, 60 years, or just maybe a half a dozen years of involvement and laboring in the work of God.

Because we are all in this period of time, in the spiritual harvest, between Pentecost and trumpets, where there's maturing taking place. This is a time to mature. This is a time to grow. My wife has a part of her Bible study. She has one of these daily journal type things that has certain stories. And she was recounting a story that was a part of one of her daily entries and studies here just a few days ago that I think helps to point to what I'm talking about here.

It is a story, it's a fact about a musical instrument, a double bass, a large wood, wooden double bass instrument, the kind that is played in an orchestra. And the idea behind it is that the best of those double basses, instruments, are made of wood that has been cut and prepared over a period of up to 80 years. That the raw wood is allowed to mature, and the moisture go out of it, and it mature in season for 80 years.

At which time, a craftsman takes that wood and begins to make a double bass instrument out of it. And then it is used by a musician in an orchestra.

And the story is that it could take up to another 80 years for that instrument to reach its full maturity and give out the best sound and the best quality of sound that it can give. 80 years for the wood to prepare, to even be made into an instrument, 80 years for the instrument to be played by an accomplished musician, and to reach its full ability. The maker of the instrument never would hear the fruits of his craftsmanship.

That's generational. Certain work like that is generational. The work of God with his first fruits is generational, too. That goes on over a long season and over many generations.

And we who are a part of this group of first fruits must remember that.

We're in a time between the period pictured by Pentecost and Trumpets, a time of growing and of the work to be done and of maturing and growth and grace and knowledge.

But you know, also it is a time when stumbling can occur, when some of the fruit could fall from the vine prematurely, as Jesus said. We have to stay close to that vine. And as the parable of the sower brings out, fruit can be born, but then thorns come up or the deceitfulness of riches comes up and saps that fruit that is there so that it doesn't make it to the harvest.

Look around. There's many temptations. There's many distractions before us as first fruits to confuse us, to draw us away from this very purpose to which we are called to overcome.

Just as Christ overcame, to overcome the world, to be a part of the work of the body, of the church, to preach the gospel, to make that known. There's plenty of time to grow in that, but there's also time, it's a two-edged matter. We could be confused and we could be drawn away. Two weeks ago, I spoke on all the work that has been put into by the Council of Elders to revamp our paper on the calendar. And in that sermon, I spoke to the re-establishment that we have done of our method and understanding of calculating the holy days, not only Pentecost, but trumpets and others to keep them aligned in the seasons and aligned in what God shows us to do. While at the same time, other ideas can come in, confuse, and cause people to lose that alignment.

I don't have to speak about the world and the problems that are out there that are at the door that can come in as well. We have a big focus in the church right now upon our youth and our young adults. We spent some time talking about that at our general conference meeting here a few weeks ago. And it doesn't seem like any day goes by that I don't have somebody come to me and talk to me. And our conversation may not take place that shows the vulnerability of our young, of our youth, and the need for us to be vigilant, not only for our youth, but for all of us. Today, as we look at, as we navigate our life, we've got to realize that we have a lot of luxury opportunities in front of us today. By that, I mean we have the luxury because while things are not too good in the world, it's not that bad that they're beating down our door and we can, you know, as the saying goes, we can still go to Disney World. Okay? We can still make our plans for our feasts this year and life, there's a normalcy to it, even while we see these dark clouds that continue to build. But we still have the luxury of going about our life. And while that should be good, it's important that we don't let ourselves get distracted by alternatives that are out there and the window shopping that we can do. You know, when I was a kid, we didn't, you know, we, you know, there's a simpler time then. And that, that dates me, I know that. But my mother used to take us into town. It was a small town, one main street at that time, all the shops on two, on two sides of one main street going through the center of my hometown. And she said, let's just go downtown, seven o'clock at night on a summer night, shops are all closed, and let's window shop. And we would walk one down one street, look at the jewelry store, the department store, the shoe store, and just stop and look at the mannequins and all the displays. And then we'd cross the street and work our way back. And it made for about an hour of window shopping. All right, nothing wrong with window shopping. But you know, we could do a lot of window shopping when it comes to spiritual window shopping, which is available to us today because we have the luxury, can put things in front of us that we might be tempted to be drawn away by, and drawn away from our goals and our purposes. And the very reason that God has called us to this calling today. All of us, young and old, need to be very careful about that so that we stay close to the vine, we stay close to our calling, and we stay close to the Lamb. Revelation 14 is one of those great scenes of the book of Revelation that we may not spend enough time on to really look at the understanding, but it it can teach us something about our role as first fruits today. Revelation 14, verses 1-5 is a scene of the Lamb standing on Mount Zion with 144,000 people who had the Father's name written on their foreheads. Now, our understanding of this, that this is speaking to the church, of the church, without going into all the details of the other 144,000 and everything else, just look at what is said here about this group of people who stand with the Lamb on Mount Zion in this vision that John sees. And they sing a song that says in verse 3, there's a new song that they sing. No one can hear that song except the 144,000 who were redeemed from the earth. These are the ones who are not defiled with women.

They are virgins. They are ones who follow the Lamb wherever He goes. These were redeemed from among men, being first fruits to God and to the Lamb. So this language and these descriptors give us a pretty good idea of who's being talked about in that this is talking about those who are first fruits of God's plan of salvation, the elect, the church. And they follow the Lamb and they're redeemed from among men and they're first fruits to God. Look at verse 5 though, for a moment. In their mouth was found no deceit, for they are without fault before the throne of God. They're spotless without fault through the blood of Christ, but in their mouth there was no deceit or no guile. That is a remarkable description of spiritual maturity, one that we should look at and consider. There's no guile. There's no deceit. You know, a first fruit will learn how to overcome the malice and the evil that can be found in the heart, in the mind, and in the intellect of life. A first fruit is going to overcome that.

A first fruit can spot deception and even the subtleties of deception that can come.

Deceptions are part of deceit. The Bible says a great deal about deception. But a first fruit makes their way through all of that and doesn't stumble and isn't distracted by that. A first fruit is going to work for unity of the body. The first fruit is going to believe all things and bear all things. And a first fruit has learned, I think most of all, to deal with the deceit of their own heart. The heart is desperately wicked, Scripture says. Well, it is until God gives His Spirit. And then with the use of that Spirit, we are to, in a sense, scrub out that wickedness, aren't we? We are to remove that sin as God's Spirit replaces that as the life of Christ in us brings us to a maturity, into a growth in understanding of the grace and the knowledge of Jesus Christ. A first fruit is going to be able to deal with that deceit of their own heart, their own mind, and submit to the pure and unspotted life of Christ dwelling in them.

I think that's what that statement is saying. There is these people, these first fruits, these 144,000 and what they represent, stand with the Lamb. They follow the Lamb, wherever He goes. They're close. But as a result of that, there's no deceit found in their mouth. There's no guile.

Oh, for any of us to be of that description, as we think about ourselves and as we, you know, the thoughts of our mind go through us, our conversations and our work with one another, to be able to live a less complicated, simpler life, to be able to set and digest things that come to us, the world, our families, ourselves, before God, with His Word, to take the time to remove the distractions, to think through a matter. The first fruits are a group who overcome this present world in preparation to set with Christ in the coming age of the kingdom.

We are to overcome the world. We are to overcome Satan. We are to overcome our own sins.

We are to be overcomers. This is what Jesus says to the church, He who overcomes will I grant to set with me in my throne. We are called now to overcome, and that reward will be great. Hebrews 11 does tell us that the first resurrection is a better resurrection. It's a better resurrection because it's involving only one group of people known from before the foundation of the world, those who first trusted in Christ, of which we are a part. We are called now. We are called to stand with the Lamb and to follow the Lamb. That's why we are called, and that is what the Feast of Pentecost teaches us. And that, I think, is probably one of the more important matters for us to think about in our time, in this critical moment in the history of the world, and what can be a critical time even in the development of the body of Christ.