Will I Be in the Firstfruits Harvest? Part 1

This is an interesting feast day in the sense of its name. By the time the Jews had come out of captivity after having not obeyed God for some time, and had settled back in Jerusalem, when Jesus Christ was on earth, they had named this holy day by using a couple of Greek words that fit together as Pentecost, loosely meaning 50th, count 50, or 50 days.

That's not a bad name. It's not necessarily exactly what God called it. God called it the Feast of Weeks, which is 49, if you count it, seven times seven. It also was talking about a period of time between the waving of the first of the first fruits, which referred to Jesus Christ's ascension, and that period of time coming up to this festival, during which was represented those coming out of sin, those coming out of Egypt, those coming out of their life of ungodlyness.

It's not so much the name of the Feast that's important, but the descriptions that God gave it. For instance, in Exodus 23, verse 16, He calls it the Feast of Harvest, the first fruits of your labors, which you have sown in the field. So there's another name that God gave this Feast, the Feast of Harvest, the first fruits. In Numbers 28 and verse 26, He refers it to the day of the first fruits.

This is the day of the harvest of the first fruits, and it represents that event in time when the saints will be resurrected to join the family of God. What an amazing opportunity! Let's go to Romans chapter 8, verses 18 through 24, and take a look at this very event that you and I are celebrating today. That event that you and I so much want to participate in. Romans chapter 8 and verse 18 says, In verse 19, it says, The expectation of the creature eagerly awaits for the revealing of the sons of God.

Now, I have a different take on this than most often I think we read this passage. I'd like to share it with you. It actually comes from the Adam-Clarke commentary. The word creation here comes from a Greek word that can mean either creation or creature. And those are the two obvious definitions from the word. But if you look back in history, according to Adam-Clarke, this particular Greek word was a term used by the rabbis for a new convert. And so when Paul, who is the one who uses this term in the New Testament, when Paul uses this, he, I believe, is using it to refer to a saint, to you and to me.

And so what's being said here in verse 19 is, That's what we want. That's what we pray, isn't it? Your kingdom come. That's what we seek, is to be changed when Christ returns on the day that this day celebrates. The harvest of those whom God has called, those whose focus is on being part of his family. And this is our earnest expectation.

Creation itself has no earnest expectation at all. But going on. Verse 20. For the convert, for you, the saint, was subjected to futility. You and I aren't going anywhere. We're going to die. We're going to grow old and we're going to die. Now, it says here, not willingly. We don't want to grow old. We do everything we can to quit from growing old. In fact, I'd like to live forever in this flesh.

I try. I exercise. I eat right. You know? Sometimes I get encouragement. If I'm around my wife, they always say, you know, wow, you look so young. If I'm not around her, they never say that. You know? And you know what it is? It's not willingly that we are subjected to futility, but because of him who subjected you and me in hope.

See, we have a hope of the resurrection. We have a hope of our calling, which is to be resurrected as first fruits when the seventh trumpet blows. Going on, verse 20. Because the convert, the saint itself, also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption, or as the margin says, of decay, of rotting.

We're all going to die. Creation's not going to die. It doesn't corrupt. It's just a bunch of rocks and stuff. But you and I, we are going to be eventually delivered from the bondage of decay, raised out of our graves, notice, into the glorious liberty of the children of God, the divine God family. There is no festival that you and I celebrate that is more focused on your reward or mind than this day.

This is not a day to get confused or lose its meaning because of some Greek term. This is your day. This is about your salvation. This is about your calling. This is why God has had you in mind since before he even created the universe. It's an important day. Verse 22, This is about eternal life. This is about the reward that Jesus says in Matthew 22. I don't know if I'm going to be in the resurrection.

I don't know if I'm going to be one of the first fruits. Well, that's an important question. It's not one we should kind of roll out and say, roll the dice of our life and live like we live and hope for the best. You never know. Rather, we should know. Paul knew, didn't he? Jesus knew. The apostles knew. Why don't I know? Why don't you know? We can know. I hope by the end of this sermon you will have absolute rock-solid evidence of whether you will or will not be in the first fruit's harvest.

Jesus said in Matthew 7, Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, you're my Lord, you're my master, I'm in your body, I'm in your church, not everyone who says that shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my Father. In 1 John 2, it says, and the whole world is dying, the whole world is passing away, this age, this cosmos is coming to an end, but he who does the will of God lives forever. Can you state exactly what God's will is? What does God will for you to be doing?

We just found out that if you're doing that, you'll be in the kingdom. If you're not, oops. Today, I'd like to ask, what exactly is the will of God? And am I doing what God wills me to do? You and I better be. Do we even know what it is? Has anybody ever told you this is what the will of God is? You better do it, and if you do it, you'll be in the kingdom, and if you don't, you won't.

Jesus is very clear about it. The Bible is very clear about it. But sometimes we're not so clear. And it has everything to do with whether we will be part of the first fruit's harvest or whether, sadly, we will miss out. You know, there were five foolish virgins and five wives in the same church. There were wheat and there were tares that looked a lot alike in the same church.

There were sheep and there were goats who looked a lot alike in a group in the same church. How can you and I know if we will be the ones who are harvested, that we have the fruit that God is looking to reap in? We're going to take a look today at this will of God and ask the question, will I be in the first fruit's harvest?

There is nothing more important to me than you being in that harvest. It is paramount that you are there. I don't just mean in a well-wishing way. God has done everything that He can to get you there. He is giving you every opportunity. He is never going to leave you or forsake you. It is so important to Him that you are there. So let's all be there, okay? Now let's go find out how. Because you know what is very, very impossible. It is very, very possible for us to spend our whole lives in this church and miss out on the kingdom of God. As odd as that might sound. Because Jesus said, many will come to me in that day saying, My pastor, when I was growing up, was Mr. Armstrong, and he said, when it says many, it means the many, most. Many will come to me. And I believe in the church saying, Lord, Lord, we have done the work. We have been busy. We have given our tithes, our offerings. We have sacrificed. We have known the truth. We have kept the commandments. We have kept the Holy Days. We didn't eat pork. We have really gone all out here. We have lost jobs over the Sabbath. We may have even given our lives for the truth. And he says, Depart from me. I never knew you. But wait a minute, Lord! Lord! We knock. We knock on the door, open to us, and he says, Who are you? And we begin to say, Well, we are the ones who did the work, remember? Well, the ones who denied ourselves, and we did all the stuff, and we obeyed, and we believed. And he said, I don't know you. And he said, There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. We don't want to be in that group. But he says those things, you see, because he is the one that has to choose. He has the key. He opens the door, and he closes it. He has to make that difficult decision, and he wants you and me to be successful. What is God's will? It says in Ephesians 5, 17, Do not be unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is.

You've got to understand what God's will is. I was born in this church. This is going to be my 60th Feast of Tabernacles this year. I've spent most of my life in this church not knowing what God's will is. Oh, I thought it was all kinds of things. I could make you a list. I could write you a book. I was pretty clueless. But I'd like to share today from the Scriptures what God's will is and what those will be doing who will be part of the harvest that this wonderful festival celebrates. Will comes from the Greek word philema. It means a determination, a choice, or that which pleases a person. So God's will is that which he chooses, which he determines, and also that which pleases him.

In Matthew 12, 50, Jesus said, For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and my sister and my mother. They're going to be family. We identify with you. If you do our will, we really identify with you. You're family. It's something we're going to find out today about the God family that is very unique. It's nothing like you or me or anybody we know. And anybody who becomes like that, they really identify with. And they want those individuals to join them.

Let's learn a crucial truth about our spiritual parents that we often overlook. It says in Ephesians chapter 1 and verse 4, He chose us in him before the foundation of the world. Now we can almost worship the creation of this world. It is amazing. It's beautiful. It's inspiring. You can get a real bad case of wanderlust to want to just go around and see more and the unique things that exist everywhere. Or go into deep space. How many of you like to be a rocketeer, you know? Or a diver to go down in the ocean or get one of those microscopes and be made really, really small so you can go down and go around through the various tiny microscopic things that are... You know, you could just consume you to go out and almost worship the creation by looking at it and thinking how nice it is. But here we found God didn't have the creation even in mind when He chose you. He chose you first.

He chose us in Him before that. He chose... He's talking here about the saints. For the first fruit's harvest were chosen before God made the first Adam. A-T-O-M.

This is your time. God has chosen you for now. God has chosen you for this symbolic seven-week period to produce something for that harvest that no one throughout time in the future will ever receive. A time that the angel says in Revelation chapter 20 and verse 4 and 6, Oh, how supremely blessed are those who enter the first resurrection. Something really unique about that group. And you were chosen to be part of that group before God made anything. This creation serves a specific purpose for you. A specific, finite purpose for you.

Let's look at the creation from God's point of view.

God first chose you. Designed you. He designed you... Let's start with the eyes. He designed you with full-color, three-dimensional spectrum, dual-input eyesight that is equaled by nothing else in the universe. Nothing that mankind can make equals that of the human eyes. Everything that is made optically, everything that is made in video or anything else, is judged by human eyes. And it is always inferior. Nothing can take an input and process it in instant time, like your eyes can. Nothing has the definition, the resolution, the saturation. God created in you the depth of field, the stereoscopic, with broad, almost 180 degrees, sometimes greater spectrum or an angle of width. And then, once He did that, He filled the universe with things for you to see. Incredible things for you to see. The most amazing things in the plants, the flowers, in the animals, in the birds, in the fish... He created colors in the sky with sunsets. He created planets. He created so many things to see. You can't even see them until you use some scientific things, some time delay, photography and color film. No matter how you look, there's always more to see. No matter what technology or media you use, there's always more to discover. He made so much to see and so much variety of things to see. There are no two things out there that are even the same. No two grains of sand, no two butterflies, no two deer, no two people. Everything is unique, everything is different. No matter where you go, how deep, how high, there is always something new. And man will never see it all, let alone one individual. If he or she spent their lifetime trying to look for everything, would never see it all. And then God gave you ears. He designed those ears in advance. Unique things, there's only two of them. If a man did it, he'd probably put eight of them and call it surround sound. Super surround sound. Some up here and some down there so you could really get the full spectrum. But God gave us these funny little things stuck on our head and only two inputs and some really odd stuff inside. There's no electronics in there at all. There's some funny things that go like this and other things that go like that. And they kind of bump and bang and then it all disappears into some nerves and goes into a brain.

And that is better than surround sound because no matter where the sound is, you can hear it perfectly. You hear it in multiple channel surround sound. You hear it in what they might call stereo, hi-fi, digital, advanced surround sound, or whatever else they want to try to put on it. There is nothing in the universe that has the quality of hearing that God has made from just two ears. And every audio component, every audio source or sound or whatever is compared and judged in its frequency responses by the human ears. And so then God filled the universe with things to hear. It's amazing that no two things in the universe sound the same. No two waterfalls sound the same even. No two birds sound the same. Various species who look the same, sound the same to you and me, actually tell each other apart by the differences in the sounds that they make and how unique that they are. Including fish and whales and creatures underneath the water who know exactly who's where and who's related to who and all this stuff. Just by the different sounds that sound the same to you and me. You know, a sound of one type of wood is different than another type of wood. A sound of one voice is different than another voice. The sound of any instrument, they're all different. If you line up a hundred violins, they will grade them on the differences of sounds. The things that God has made that come to our hearing, including singing and music and the words that can be spoken and heard. The wonderful melody of the cacophony of the symphony of life that's out there goes on and on and it's endless. And no one will ever hear all the different kinds of sounds that God has made.

And then God gave us something else. He gave us taste. He put... I don't even know how it works, but there's some sensory things, not only in our tongue, but I guess all over the place, connected with smell and other things as well. And this taste, sensation, isn't just one thing. You have taste or you don't. No, it's a taste that is just swirled into a universe full of things that God made for you and me to taste. And no two things taste the same, as I've mentioned before. Do you like curry or not? How would you know? God made 200 kinds of curry.

And so on. Do you like salmon? How would you know? Are you talking about coho, silver? You talk about the sockeye, the reds? There's types of salmon that go on and on and on, let alone all the other species of fish. Everyone tasting different than the other. Every type of animal, every type of grain, every type of vegetable. God filled the world with things for you and me to taste, and not just foods that taste. Every leaf on a tree out there tastes different. Every type of wood put in your mouth, it will taste different. So many things God has made, and He put taste that you might want to put in your mouth, you might not. A lot of things out there. And then God created smell. The olfactory system that God made, once again, is just over the top. It is capable of appreciating or rejecting a whole lot of things. And no two things smell exactly the same. No two types of plastic smell the same. No two types of animal smell the same. Baby often can tell its mother by the smell in a variety of species, including animals that live underwater. It's just amazing the dimension of things to smell. All the flowers and all the trees and all the vegetables and all the animals and everything out there. This created so unique. The bacteria, the mold, and God filled our universe with things for us to smell.

And then He created touch.

You are a touch machine. We tend to think of finger pads with touch. Oh, no, no. Not so. Think of any part of your body inside or out. And there are sensory perceptors. Not just for touch, but the kinds of touch. How strong is the touch? How light is the touch? How warm is the touch? How cool is the touch? Is it a cold day? Is it a warm day? Is it a humid day? Our touch has so many things, so many components to it that are just immeasurable. And then God filled the universe with things to touch. I've even touched something from outer space, some of you, a moon rock. Wow, this came from... and they let you touch a moon rock. A moon rock feels different than an earth rock. You just have to trust me on that one.

Everything feels different. Oak feels different than pine. Brass feels different than bronze. Aluminum different than steel. Chrome steel different than regular steel. Different than stainless steel. Different than nickel, etc. etc. And that's just some inanimate stuff.

Things are wonderful to touch and to feel and to dive into and let the body feel or to rub on or to be rubbed upon. It's amazing what God made in all the various areas.

No two things look alike. No two things sound alike. No two things smell alike. No two things taste alike. No human can ever experience all the huge diversity of things that God made for your five senses. And He created you in that sense before He ever started filling the world with all of these things. Now here's a question. Could God have created anything more for you?

Is there something you've been missing? Is there some trace element that's missing off the chart of elements? Is there something that mankind has sort of been lacking all these years in the universe? Could God have created anything more? At some point we think we've seen it all and then you watch another nature show. And it's like, wow, I haven't seen anything yet. Where do these things come from? I think you've tasted it all and then somebody cooks up something from another part of the world you didn't know about. The answer is, the Father, through the Word, were pleased to create an unfathomable universe in which they could give no more. They gave it all. They gave it all. Creation stands there as you pass through it as an example of God, the God family, giving their all for mankind. Next time you go outdoors, start thinking about pebbles of sand, leaves of trees. The next time you fly over the earth, think about everything that's down there below. The next time you take a walk, begin to realize the little things that you don't tend to pay attention to. Next time you're about to swat something, get a microscope out or a magnifying glass and take a look at it. It was down on my knees last week looking at a bug on the sidewalk I'd never seen before. It was just incredible realizing this is something that God has made. It was a really fascinating, unique creature with horns and some kind of ears that were sort of doing this. It had colors and it was just so unique. I happened to be praying at the time and I was thinking, wow, my God made this bug. As a kid, I'd just squash it. But here I am down on the ground looking at this thing up close. I thought, I wonder if he'd like a little back rub? And I gave him a back rub. His big old long legs kind of bent down and bent down. Seemed okay with it. He wasn't purring or anything. But it's like, wow, we think we've seen it all. A little gnat landed on my hand a couple of months ago and so I took out something where I could see a little bit better. And this thing had round wings. Coolest little round wings. He could sort of do this with them. And he had little legs. This little tiny thing. I couldn't even see it without a magnifying source. And he had antennae, nose, ears, eyes, little feet. The thing could fly. Wouldn't you like to fly? I can't fly. He can fly! And he's just the tiniest little thing. And he picks up his little legs and finally started vibrating those things. And he kind of lifted off and he was going. Wow! I've missed that! You know, God has given us all that he could and you and I can walk through this and see it as an example of giving all. But then the Father gave us much, much more. It says in John chapter 3 in verse 16, And God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son.

For those who would believe, that Son would become life to them. What we may not stop to realize is the Father gave everything he had. There was no more God family to give. He gave all the God family there was and there was nothing more the Father could give. Now the interesting thing about the Son, the Word, who became Jesus the Christ, He gave up His eternity. He gave up His spiritual state. He gave up His God family spirit being state. And came down to live on earth like you and me as a mortal human. And He gave His life and sacrificed His time here on earth to serve and to give. All that He could, He healed everybody that needed healing. He fed people. He did everything He could possibly do. And then He gave up more than that. He gave everything that He was. He died. Now ask yourself the question, could Jesus Christ have given you anything more? Is it possible that Jesus Christ could have possibly given you anything else? He gave you His blood. He gave you His life. He ceased to exist. He even gave up His eternity for three days and three nights. Is there anything more He could have done?

That is what the God family does. They give everything. Giving all is the trait of the God family. Now let me ask a question. This is a question I ask myself. Do you really want to be in that family? Oh, we say yes we do. We want the reward. Oh yeah, I want to live forever. I want to be powerful and stuff like that. Do you want to be a member of that family, or is that kind of a strange family there? They are really giving up everything, and they want me to be one of them? I'm not wired like that. I don't know about you. But, you know, they are different than we are.

You've got to count the cost. That's what Jesus was saying. Count the cost.

The cost of being in the family of God is great. If you want to just cut right to the chase, we can go back to Revelation 22, the end of verse 3. It simply says this. Once all the people are in the family of God, and this whole physical universe is gone, all of those people shall serve Him. In other words, they will be giving their all for eternity. Is that what you want to be part of? It doesn't say you're going to be floating on a cloud and having a nice life, you're going to be living it up, it's going to be great, it's party time with your friends. No. Eternity of serving with the mentality of the God family. Is that what we want? We've got to count that cost. Now, if you want to be part of the God family, they require one thing, just one thing. And here's where the rubber meets the road. All of us, if we want to be part of the first fruit's harvest, we have one thing required of us by this family who gives their all. Jesus gives it to us in Matthew 22, verses 37 and 39.

Matthew 22, verses 37 and 39.

You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your life, and with all your might.

That's how they loved you. That's how they are loving you. That's what they do as a family. And that's what they only ask of you. And in verse 39, you shall love your neighbor as yourself. That gets minimized sometimes because we don't cognizantly think how much we love ourself. But we pamper and pander ourselves from the moment we wake up in the morning to our every whim and thought and taste and comfort, to the achievements of the day, to the things that entertain us, the things that inspire us, the achievements we hope to have, the impressions we want to make, the favor we want to garner, the excitement we want to experience, all the way through our meals and even the size and the depth of the pillow that we put our little head on at night, and the temperature of our home. We really coddle ourselves a lot. And all God asks us to do is do that for everyone else.

Because that's what the God family does.

Give your all just like them all the time.

Now, most want the reward, like I said. It's easy to say, yeah, I want the reward. Everybody wants in on the reward. But who wants the serving? Who wants the sacrifice? Who wants to actually be like God?

Well, if we really want to be part of what this day pictures, we really want to be part of that harvest. The way the truth and the life tells us. That's Jesus the Christ. The way the truth and the life. He tells us. He is that way. He is the truth. He is the life. And He'll clue us in. He'll even give us a help in becoming like them.

He says in John 13, verse 34, A new commandment I give you, now that you have me, you have your helper, you have God in you, He's saying, A new commandment I give to you, not to everybody, this is for you, those who are the firstfruits, or actually those who are the saints, those who are on a quest to become the firstfruits at the resurrection, I give a new commandment to you, that you love one another as I have loved you. Forget the punctuation here. There's no punctuation in Greek. My command is that you love one another as I have loved you. You see what I've done for you. You see what the Father has done. We've given you everything. All we ask is that you now do the same. Pick up on the Godly mindset. You become like we are. You become like your Father in Heaven is. Matthew 5, 48. We want you to pick up on this family mentality. You love one another as I have loved you, that you also love one another. And you know how you're going to be known as related to the family of God, as if you have that mindset. He goes on here in verse 35. By this, by what? By loving one another as I have loved you, giving everything you have, everything you can, all the time for God and your fellow man, you're going to be associated with us. By this, all men will know you're my disciples. If you have that kind of love for one another, not some other version of love or a lovey man. No, that kind of love. You're thinking like the God family.

And it's different. It's unique. It's something that you and I can't even think, let alone do, without another mentality being shared with us. And so on this particular festival, we find that God offered to come and live in you, as one of those saints for which all of this was created, and you're the focus. God said, I will come and help you. I will be your helper. I will help you with this mentality. And the main byproduct of us living in you, of this Holy Spirit, will be love, agape, a godly kind of, I'll give, I'll serve, I'll help, I'll humble my... whatever it takes to sacrifice and love and help others. And we'll put that right in there, and we'll help you think that way. And you'll do that all the time, no matter what. Like in Ephesians 5 and verse 25. This will be how you think. In other words, it's not going to be anything real special, but this is how you'll be thinking as a human being. Ephesians 5, 25. Husbands, love your wives as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for her. That's how you'll live, you see? That's what you'll do in your marriage, that's what you'll do at work, that's what you'll do with your neighbor, that's what you'll do on your knees. As Christ loved the church and gave himself for it, you'll be picking up on our mentality of giving it all. So the Bible has clearly defined God's will for you and me. And that is, be like us. Become you therefore as your Father in heaven is. Grow up in the mind of Christ. Let this mind be in you which was in Christ Jesus. Lord himself, humbled himself, gave everything. Have that mind.

The title of the sermon is, Will I Be in the First Fruit's Harvest? That's the question I ask, and I'm sharing that with you. And the answer certainly can be known, can't it? Because what is God wanting to harvest if it's not His nature? That holy, godly character of suppressing the self and putting others first and giving your all no matter what.

Well, how loving and giving and serving and sacrificing am I? You know, when I started looking into this, I began to realize, I'm not at all! You've got to be kidding! I've been wasting my whole life! I've been worrying about commandments and tithing and tithing on the incense and the little seeds and trying to know the law perfectly and the prophecies perfectly and getting all the truth right and making sure the gospel gets preached. Everything except giving everything and loving and serving. So you make up my own religion, make up my own criteria. Oh, all those things are important. Sure, that's loving God with all your heart, soul and mind is doing some of those. That's important. But that's not it. We have a daily choice to make. Galatians chapter 5 verses 13 and 14, just a few pages back here. Galatians 5 verse 13 says, For you brethren have been called to liberty, liberty from slavery to self-centeredness, while they do not use liberty as an opportunity for the flesh. It's not about you. It's not for yourself. It's not about becoming important in the church. It's not about doing something that causes focus on you, even within the church, in a kind of a religious sense. But through godly love, serve one another. There it is. That's what we're here for. To grow in this agape love and serve one another. Verse 14, for all the law, the whole Bible is summarized or fulfilled in one phrase, even this, you shall love your neighbor as yourself.

Wow! We can get so confused and so distracted, and we can miss that one thing that God is wanting to harvest.

He needs individuals who want to be family, who are becoming family, who are showing the fruits of that family, that have something to harvest. Yes, look, these are like we are. We want them in our family. These other goats, these other tares, you know, these we can't use. Certainly they're fruits, but we can't use them. It's not what fits within our family. How loving and serving and sacrificing am I? I've had to ask that question, and I tend to find certain things that are tendencies. First of all, if I'm going to be helpful, I'm going to help somebody, I need to start with a full storehouse. I mean, I need to be responsible. If I'm going to give you a can of corn off the shelf of the pantry, my pantry is going to have a lot of corn, a lot of beans, it's going to have some other things, some peanut butter for sure, some nuts and other things. Spaghetti is going to be in there. Now, when the pantry is full, and you know, we've got the big tubs of the rice and the stuff, and now I hear, oh, you don't have as much to eat. Okay, well let me go in my pantry and give from my full storehouse. Let's see, ten cans of beans. I'm sure you'd like a can of beans. Like some nuts? No, you probably don't like nuts. I like nuts a lot, but you probably don't.

But there's this grapefruit juice that's been here for quite a long time. You'd probably like that. You know how it is. And we'll tend to give, and afterwards I'll feel real benevolent. Wow, look at me! And the bag even weighs something, you know, that's good. And here, and I'll, I'm such a wonderful person. You know, I've just really gone all out. Especially when I get the corn for 32 cents a can if you buy four, you know, and how that works. But we just feel so benevolent. But we want to make sure that, man, our house is okay. Got some money, you need some money? Okay. Check the savings account, check the bills. Okay, we've got some extra money here. Here's a dollar. Oh, I know. It hurts me, too, but you go ahead and take it.

You know, life can be like that. Even when we really dig deep, I have ten dollars. Wow, this is going to hurt. Think of what I could do with ten dollars. Oh, a hundred dollars? You must be kidding. I must be going straight to heaven. No, I shouldn't say that. But what's a hundred dollars? You know, what's that in the big scheme of things? Is it really hurt? No. It doesn't really hurt. So, when we give, we also tend to measure out, we'll ration. You know, you need help? Well, first let me think. Are you deserving of help? I mean, really? Have you been responsible? I'm not so sure you'd be asking for help if you were responsible. And sometimes it's better, even the Proverbs say, sometimes it's better, you know, for a person to go hungry if they're not going to work. So, we have to factor that in for you as well. But maybe to ration, I'll give you a pinch. You can have a crumb. We'll see how it goes. Wisdom should be wise as you give. Economy, frugality, all of these things are things that wise people do. You know, when they serve others, I think. I found that. I have to ask my question. Is a wise, moderate approach what God wants from the firstfruits? Is that what he says? I want you to be very careful in what you give and how much. Is that what he's asking? Let's go over and see what Jesus tells us in Matthew 10 and verse 8. He says, freely, the word from the Greek means gratuitously. Gratuitously give. No, he says gratuitously you have received. Gratuitously give. Remember all that God gave you? Remember all that he has given you gratuitously? And what he says to do in return is to gratuitously give to others. Give like I gave to you. Give like a God family member does. Now, I don't know much about how a God family member gives. I don't understand it at all. Come with me to Luke chapter 6 and verse 30 and I'll explain to you my dilemma. It's really, really foreign. Luke chapter 6 and verse 30. But Jesus is going to tell you how a God family member gives. He says, give to everyone who asks. Oh, wait a minute. I don't understand that one. Give to everyone who asks? Wow, that's a scary thought. I'm going to stay away from people. They'll clean me out in a heartbeat. You know, don't go to certain countries. You know, you'll come back naked. Give to everyone who asks of you. And from him who takes away your goods, don't even ask them back. What do you do if somebody steals your stuff? On the phone? Nah. No. A godly mind, a god mind says, give to everyone who asks. And when they take things that aren't there, just don't even ask for them back. I told you I don't understand this. Look at verse 35. Love your enemies. Do good and lend to your enemies. Hoping. Not just wishing it didn't happen, but hoping for nothing in return. Oh, I hope I don't get anything back. I'm giving it. I'm lending it. Oh, no. I hope they're not bringing it back. Who thinks like that? God. For even sinners lend to sinners and receive as much back. That's not how God's family members think. Don't think like that.

Verse 38. Give like this. Give and it will be given to you. And here's how you give. Give a good measure. None of this pinchy stuff. None of this can of corn. Give a good measure. And when you give it, a lot of it, give it, press down. None of this cereal in the box, you open it up and it's going to settle out. No, no, no. Cram it in there. Jam it in there. You know, drive the car over it if you have to. Get it in there and get the lid on. Press down. Shaken together. Running over. That's how you give. And if you do that, then the intent here is you will be in the family of God. And it will come back to you in spades, as they say. The Trump suit. It will come back to you hugely. Because as a God being, you will inherit the universe. You'll be part of a family that does this with unlimited resources and abilities.

Let me ask you a question. Have you ever given everything? Have you ever known anybody who's given everything? I mean, given everything. I have to do it myself. God gives everything. He asked me to give everything. Have I ever given everything of something? Nothing comes to mind. I've given some, but everything? That's not part of my mentality. Would God want me to do that? I don't think so. Surely not. That's a scary thought for a human. Let's go to Mark 12, verse 41. Jesus came from a different family, from a different mentality, and he was here on earth with people like me. That's a scary thought right there. All of those people were interested in themselves with getting and receiving and their lives being impressed. They were always taking from him. Heal me! Heal me! Fix this! Feed me! It's all about them. It's kind of like everybody was vacuum cleaners. They'd suck everything off. They finally even got his clothes off of him, and they got his life from him. They just took everything. Living here was being like an alien in a really strange place for Jesus Christ, because nobody thought like he did. An event happened here at the temple one day. He was up at the temple quite a bit. In Mark 12, verse 41, nothing particular was going on. It was just kind of another day at the temple. Jesus sat opposite the treasure. He'd been teaching up there and interacting, and people asking him challenging questions. He was fielding those questions. So they were sitting there. Imagine 12 disciples and 13 people probably in a long bench, I guess. Maybe Jesus is in the middle of them. There's not a lot happening. It's the typical stuff. People are just coming up to the treasury and donating their money, as they should. If rich people had more, they gave more. If poor people had less, they gave less. Another day at the treasury. Nobody's saying anything. Nothing's happening. Well, let's go on. Verse 42, then. Drumroll, you know. And then.

Nobody noticed. Nobody cared. Verse 43. So, he jumped up. Something unique had happened. Probably the only thing that happened during his lifetime that he could identify with from home. No one else caught it. Something that he could identify with had taken place. And he gets all excited. And he gets up and he calls this disciple to himself and says, Did you see that? Assuredly I say to you that this poor widow is put in more than all those who have given to the treasury. That's not the lesson. For they all put in out of their abundance, but out of her poverty, here comes the lesson. She put in all that she had.

Somebody gave everything. Somebody put in all that she had. She didn't put in all that she had. She didn't put in her clothes. She didn't put in her house. She didn't put in her food. But it says here, she gave all that she had her whole livelihood. She gave something. She gave all of something. Now, what's his lesson here? Is he telling you, you also need to go clean out all of your bank accounts and take all of your income and put it in the offering? Well, that's not the lesson, is it? In fact, it's kind of a curious thing that happened there because there's really no lesson to it, other than she gave everything. And it resonated with him that she had done something like the God family does.

Have you ever given everything? I don't think I have. We're beginning to see now God's requirements for firstfruits. Do you want to be a firstfruit? He requires us to become like him in mind and thought and in deed to develop his form of love. Its self is not even in the picture. You know, we are to pray, thy kingdom come, your will be done. What is God's will? His will is that we begin to think and act like he does. That we love him with all our heart, our mind, our lives, and we love each other as much as ourselves. That's his will. And we pray that that kingdom will come.

Do I want to be in that family? Do I want to be part of the firstfruits resurrection? Or do we as a typical human say, well that's really not my thing. I want the rewards, so I have some substitutes here. And you and I, we do have a list of substances. I can share mine with you. There are things that we put in place of loving and sacrifice and serving. There are some things that are actually just as good. So they'll get you into the kingdom as opposed to developing God's mentality. They're things like, I'm in the true church. The true church. That's important. As long as I'm in the true church, then I'll be in the kingdom. I understand prophecy. I know the identity of the beast. I know the identity of the Israelites. I know about the place of safety and the millennium and the great white throne judgment. I am preaching the true gospel. See, all these things, these count. These are good substitutes, aren't they? I have the right form of governance in my church. I have the right leader that I follow. I have the special doctrine that nobody else understands. And that makes... well, that does it, you see. God takes that as a substitute for giving my all, serving, loving, all the time, Him and the brethren. And the rest of humanity. I know God's law. I know His Sabbath. I know His holy days. Other people don't know that. I have His Ten Commandments plaque on the law. I even memorized it, even. I mean, we can make the list long, can't we? I will submit to martyrdom before giving up my I things. I won't give up the Sabbath. I won't give up the holy days. I won't give up doing the work. I won't give up being in the right church. I won't give up any of my I things. I will die before that. And that certainly will grant me entrance into the kingdom, won't it? Or, as Paul said in 1 Corinthians 13, though I understand all prophecy, give my body to be burned and don't have love, it prophesies me nothing. And Jesus said, many will come in my name, saying, we've done all these things. Many will come and say, Lord, open to us. But is the fruit there for God to harvest?

What are you bringing to the harvest? Let's go to Matthew 7, verses 21-27. Matthew 7, verse 21. Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my Father in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, we've got an alternate list. We have other things besides the fruit you're looking for.

And I will declare to them, verse 23, I never knew you, depart from me you who practice lawlessness. What's the law? Love. Love God, love your neighbor. What is lawlessness? It's lovelessness, isn't it, by definition. It's a lack of that godly mentality of doing everything one can for all that he or she can. Therefore, whoever hears these sayings of mine and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock.

Does them? I'm loving, I'm serving, I've got the godly mentality. And no matter what happens, no matter what rains blow, no matter what trials come in life, if I keep on loving and serving and sacrificing for God and my fellow man, I'm going to make it. It did not fall, for it was founded on the rock. But everyone who hears these sayings of mine and says, oh, I like those. Love is all you need after all. Love is wonderful. I love, I love you. Put the word love up. But does not do them. He will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand, and the rain descended and the floods came and the winds blew. And guess what? He says in Matthew 24, when the tribulations come, the love of many wax cold. It wasn't really there. It wasn't really true. It wasn't really their mentality. It didn't persevere. And so the love of many wax cold and the house fell, and great was its fall. Brethren, it's so important that you and I understand clearly what the will of God is. Between now and the return of Jesus Christ comes the great tribulation. And we think, ooh, and it will be a tough time, really a bad time. There are those, incidentally, who will have already proven to God, they will have already proven to God, that they have love. In fact, they're called by the name Philadelphia. They will do it no matter what. They've already been tested, they've already been tried in little areas of their life, and they've been shown to persevere no matter what. And he says, I will protect you from the hour of trial that's coming on the whole world to test and try then. You've already been tried, so you come to a place of safety away from Satan for three and a half years. That's a beautiful thing that will happen to some. But this tough time ahead, even for the elect, is coming. What should be the most crucial thing in our minds? Let's go to 1 Peter 4 and verse 8, and let Peter tell us, this one who was commanded by Christ to feed the sheep, what are we being taught?

What is most important? 1 Peter 4 and verse 8. Let's start in verse 7. Let's do prophecy first. I'll give you all the biblical prophecy you need to know. Not all the biblical prophecy you can know, and it's a lot of interesting prophecy in the end times. But here's all the biblical prophecy you need to know. It's in verse 7. The end of all things is at hand. There it is. You got it. The end of all things is at hand. Now that we know that, therefore be serious and alert in your prayers. Now, what are our prayers to be filled with? You know, when Jesus gave the sample prayer outline in Matthew 6, it does not contain the word I, me, or my. So what do you think that prayer is going to be about? I'll just leave you with that thought. So be watchful in your prayers. Alert. And above all things, above everything else, everything else that you can think of or you can do as the end or your end is approaching is this. Above all things, have fervent love for one another. Do you know why it covers a multitude of sins? Because that's the fruit God's looking for. And He will forgive and ignore in that sense and discount our slipping. He'll discount our tendencies to slide toward selfishness when there's fruit there. And He'll trim that vine and He'll cause more fruit to grow. Fervent love is what we're supposed to have. Is your love, my love, put on for the reward? Do we just, oh, I think I'll do this. One person was telling me, oh, I'm doing these things because I know that if you do this, God will overlook sins. And I want to be in the Kingdom. It's kind of similar, isn't it? I'm doing something to get something. That's different than having the mentality of, hey, I will love God, I will serve God, I will serve my fellow man no matter what. That's what God, through His Spirit, is creating me to be. That's my new mentality. I'm a child of a new Father. A Father in Heaven who thinks this way, you see. Now how do you get that out of the child? They used to say you can take a boy out of the country, but you can't take the country out of the boy. A person who's growing in the mentality of godliness, you can take him out of a godly environment and you can run him through some tribulation, but you can't take the godliness out of the person. And so we find back in Romans 8, verse 35, the statement by Paul, and it's in a very reassuring way, that if you really, truly have been called as a saint, if God chose you before the foundation of the world and gave everything for you to have this opportunity, and if you are throwing yourselves into loving and basing self and serving and obeying God in all ways, then you can be sure you're going to be in that resurrection.

Paul says, verse 35, should say, Christ's love for us is a no question whatsoever. It's even set up in verse 31, if God's for us, who can be against us? God's love for you and me is never in question. What's in question is, is that love that God is growing in you and me, can that be separated out of us? Or is that the genuine thing? What shall separate out from us the love of Christ? Shall tribulation? What if we have to go through tribulation? Well, we suddenly say, okay, I was about loving and serving, but now gloves come off, it's about me, and I've got to survive here. No. No. A person who really has God's thought and concern for others, even tribulation, won't take that love out of them. What about distress or persecution? You know, I'm living God's true way of life. I believe in the true God of God. I'm being persecuted. I'm being called satanic and all these terrible things, and people are wanting to kill me. When you're being persecuted, and just being maligned, is that the time to say, okay, well, I can't think of anybody else anymore. Now I've got to protect myself. I've got to defend my name.

What about famine or nakedness or peril or sword? When those things come up to me, we say, well, swords came out, okay, time for me to pull out my 38th special I keep under the pillow for times like this. I mean, I used to love you guys, but you know, you're taking it across the line here. You know, what's been described here is all the things that Jesus went through. And did that separate the love of God out of him?

If you go back up, tribulation, distress, persecution. You know, when they started saying those things about him, did he quit loving? When they stripped the clothes off him, did he say, oh, well, now things have changed. You know, I'm really embarrassed here.

I'm going to focus on myself here for a while. Or did he start talking to the neighbors and talking to them about the resurrection? Did he reach out and say, John, here's your mother. Take care of her. I want to make sure she's taken care of. Or the sword, when they stuck the spear in him. And he screamed out in pain, was that it? Okay, now I'm going to think about me. Or did he say, Father, forgive them. It's about them. Forgive them, for they don't know what they're doing. See, that's how a godly individual thinks. As it is written, for your sake we're killed all the day long.

We're a counter to sleep for the slaughter. Yet in all these things, we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. We keep thinking love and selfless and service and sacrifice. For I am persuaded, Paul says, that a real convert now, a real saint, the one who has God living in them, who has this mentality growing in them, I am convinced that neither death nor life nor angels or dark angels nor principalities or powers or things present nor worries about things to come nor height nor depth nor any other created things shall be able to separate from out of us the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

It's their love, and they've put it in us. And if we really, truly are growing as children of a new Father, nothing will separate that out from us that we go through. There is a requirement for you and I to understand what God's will is for you, and that's to become his children. What do children mean? It doesn't mean sort of a cutesy little religious term. It becomes, you think like the family. You're the kids of the adults. You've got the parents. And God is searching you and me for evidence that you and I think like him, that we are loving and serving.

You know, it's easy to miss out on the kingdom of God. It's very, very easy. It's very easy to have been in the church your whole life, I found out, and miss out on the kingdom. You know, I know, Jesus tells us. Let's go to Matthew 25, and let me just show you how easy it is to miss out on that which you and I have hoped for our whole spiritual life.

Matthew 25 and verse 35. He comes and puts the sheep from the goats, the wheat from the tares, the wise from the foolish. He has to separate, he has to choose who's going to be in his kingdom. Let me show you how easy it is to miss. He separates and says, verse 35, for because here's my choice. This is why I chose you to be a sheep.

For I was hungry, and you gave me food. Alright, let's do the old test again. Look around. Can you see anybody here who's hungry today? I don't see anybody hungry. Looks like everybody's been eating pretty well, in fact. So, there's nobody hungry that I see, therefore, check that off. I was thirsty, and you gave me drink. I'm looking around now. Anybody? You look around. Anybody see anybody thirsty? Nope. I don't see anybody thirsty. Check that one off. I was a stranger. I was a foreigner.

I was a traveler. And I had needs. I didn't have a place to stay, a place to eat. I look around. Do I see anybody that's a traveler? Do I notice anybody that's a traveler? No. I don't notice anybody that's a traveler. I see some people I don't know, but I don't know if they're travelers, and I'm sure I don't think they have any knees. I mean, after all, they're here. So, they made it somehow. Fine, check that one off. Naked and you clothed me.

Quick check? Nope. Check that one right off. I was sick and you visited me. Anybody see anybody sick here that's not here? Nope. Everybody looks like they're here. And I was in prison and you came to me. Anybody see anybody in prison? Anybody know anybody in the church in prison?

Anybody even know where a prison is? No. Check it off. Verse 45. And then he will say to them, Assuredly I say to you, inasmuch as you did not do it to one of the least of these, my brethren, you did not do it to me, and these will go away into everlasting punishment. That's how easy it is to miss out on the kingdom of God.

It's easy, isn't it? Hit the easy button. That was easy. And yet, where are we headed? What am I? What are you as an individual headed for? In conclusion, the seven weeks between Jesus' wave-sheaf, His being presented to the fathers, what that represented, and this festival of the harvest of the first fruits, which is the culmination, it is the resurrection, it is the bringing in of that precious fruit of love, godly love.

This is the lifetime that you and I have to develop God's mentality of actionable service to one another and to Him, the real thing, the real deal. Again, do I want to be, and will I be, in the first fruit's harvest? I'd like to conclude by showing you how you can make good progress through the Scriptures. This is found in 2 Peter, verses 5-11.

2 Peter, chapter 1, verse 5. It's a process. We can't just sort of say, okay, I got it, boom, and we start doing it, because I don't think like this, you don't think like this. Not without seven weeks. In other words, a lifetime that God has allotted us, a spiritual amount of time that God has allowed you and I to make a journey down a difficult path, to make progress and ultimately reach a certain destination.

2 Peter, chapter 1, verse 5 says, For this very reason, giving all diligence, now if you want to develop that kind of fruit, if you really want to be in the first fruit's harvest, give all diligence to this, he's saying, add to your faith.

Now you have faith. When you first became aware of God, you developed a certain amount of faith, or you wouldn't be here. You need to add to that faith virtue. Virtue really comes through repentance, a recognition of what you are. Repentance, a getting rid of all the un-virtuous things. The baptism of having those washed away, the receiving of God's Holy Spirit, so that virtue can now begin.

And to that, add to virtue knowledge. There's truth. There's the truth of God's plan, His commandments, His way of life, all the things. And many of us stop right there. I've got the truth, I'm hanging on to the truth, I'll die for the truth. But to truth, self-control. That's a fruit of having God's Holy Spirit. Self-control means saying no to self. It means saying yes to others. It means humbling oneself, getting mind off self. It means putting God first, and really loving and serving God, and then loving and serving others, and beginning to grow towards a mentality of God.

And God will help us. And to self-control, perseverance. You can't just say, oh, I did that. No, that becomes a persevering way of life that we have to really keep going in. And to perseverance, godliness. Now we're taking on a different mentality here, of giving all we can, doing all we can, sacrificing all we can, and have for God and for everyone, wherever we have opportunity.

And to godliness, brotherly kindness. This is thoughts away from self. To being kind and thoughtful to others. Not just others of my empire, my church, my friends, my family, my country, my ball team, my race, my whatever. But ultimately, a real brotherly love, the word philia, is that brotherly love. And that's a place to grow to, but not a place to stay.

Because as it says, and add to brotherly love, agape. That is our destination. That's our goal. That is the summit. That is what God is. That's what you and I are asked to become. So, brother, may God lead you into His mentality. And then, you will join the God family at the time which this festival pictures the harvest of the firstfruits of the children of God.