Pastor Yon's Blog

First Fruits

3 Mins read

Firstfruits – Opportunity for Prosperity – Part II

Deuteronomy 18th Chapter – 4"The
first fruits of your grain, of your new wine, and of your oil, and the first or
best of the fleece of your sheep, you shall give the priest. 5For the Lord your God has chosen him
out of all your tribes, to stand to minister in the name [and presence] of the
Lord, him and his sons for ever. (Amplified Version)

Last time we touched on the issue of why the priests should get the
firstfruits. In other words, why should you give your pastor your
raise/increase? Here are two reasons:

(1) To bless our Pastors

Our men/women of God should not have to take full time or even part time
jobs to make ends meet. Their full time job is and should be that of ministry.
This is why it is our job "we people who work in non-ministry
occupations," to support those who do work in full time ministry.

The 5th verse of our text refers to those in full time ministry
as "chosen." Being that they are chosen then it is obvious that God
desires them to do something and that something is to stand and minister in the
name and presence of the Lord. Let’s look at this closer.

When your man/woman of God ministers in the presence of the Lord, lives are
changed and strongholds are demolished. Yet, the enemy will do anything to keep
this from happening. And one of these things is to attack your pastor
financially.  Now the purpose of this satanic attack is to do one thing —
move your Pastor out of the presence of the Lord. It is an attempt to make
him/her believe that the Lord will not provide for him/her, though that’s not
the case. Even if it can shake their faith momentarily, the attack has done
somewhat of its job. However, to counter this attack God will bless us and
depend on us to bless our pastors. Just think about this. God desires for your
increase to be a blessing to your Pastor. Why? So that we can continually
receive increases.

(2) To get us continual increase

Once we show God that we can be good and faithful stewards over little
increase then He will make us stewards over much increase. Let’s go back to the
text from the last message.

Proverbs 3: 9
 Honour the LORD with thy substance, and with the firstfruits of all thine
increase: 10  So
shall thy barns be filled with plenty, and thy presses shall burst out with new
wine.

We all have received increase in one way or another, but how many of us have
received enough increase to make our "barns" be filled with plenty?
Quite honestly, not many of us, if any of us. Yet, God’s trying to get us
there. And He will and can if we are faithful over the little increases that we
receive. So as He is able to trust us with the increase, the increase will grow
and grow and grow. We see proof of this in Proverbs 3:9 which states, "and
with the firstfruits of ALL THINE INCREASE." God has not intended for the
raise/increase you just received to be the last raise you ever get. He has more
coming!

We don’t need to get in a "rut" and expect a raise/bonus/increase
only once a year either. I know for many of us it’s been that way for quite a
while, but those ways are our ways and not God’s ways. Too often we rely on our
expectations and traditions which nullify the word of God. We may expect that
annual raise or Christmas bonus and nothing else. Why? Because we’ve always gotten
it, and that’s all we’ve ever gotten. But God is bigger than that, and His word
tells us He is bigger than a 1%, 2.5%, or 3% raise.

Proverbs 3:10 tells us that through the firstfruits our barns will be filled
with plenty, and thy presses shall burst out with new wine. This doesn’t mean
your increase will come through your job alone. No, No, No! Don’t limit God
that way. But as you are diligent in your giving from your job God might drop a
million dollar idea in your lap. Or He might show you how to get that business
off the ground the way you’ve always wanted to — debt free and rolling "in
dough." All you had to do is show Him that you would be faithful with the
little increases in your life.

Don’t overly concern yourself with that $50, $75 or $100 raise because God
has more in store!! If we hold on to it like it’s our last, it very well may be
so. But if you treat it as your FIRST fruit God will bring your increase. He
has increase in our plans; we just have to be obedient and faithful in our
giving so that He can bring it to us.

 

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