Welcome to the first installment of the 2024 Preacher Girl blog!
I pray that the year has been so good to you already. As a church, HopeNYC has just come out of our annual 21 day fast, a season of seeking the Lord’s face. He has already shown up for so many people as they have testified of His goodness. This year, in the first month of 2024, Pastor Sharo has embarked on a teaching series entitled First Things First, foundational principles that every believer needs to know. Sometimes we get our first things mixed up, we don’t prioritize what we should. So far, we’ve learned to prioritize His kingdom, our first increase, and our love for Him.
In Kingdom First, we learned to seek first the kingdom and His righteousness. The inclination to seek is because there’s something at the end of your seeking. Seeking after God’s kingdom means you WILL find it. The kingdom is not a heavenly place that you only get to go when you die. The kingdom is a realm where God is the ruler, where He reigns, where His presence manifests, and where His will is done. This kingdom exists now! The Bible tells us that the kingdom of heaven is among you. Seeking is an action word. Look in order to find it, to study it, to pursue it, and to inquire of it. Once you find it, go get it! Once our pursuit is of God’s Kingdom above anything else, His promise said that He will add His blessings to us. So don’t worry about what the world is telling you to worry about. It’s time to seek His face first.
My favorite time to give is during our annual First Fruits offering. The principle of First Fruits is sometimes controversial but nevertheless, it is Biblical. Old Testament laws are principles for now as well. A First Fruit offering is pleasing to God, it shows that you are willing to trust Him with the provision that He’s given you. God is a god of pattern and order. The first will always redeem the rest. Giving of the first increase of our year, redeems every other increase for the rest of the year. Fasting at the beginning of the year, redeems our whole year. The First Fruit offering blesses your house, it’s not for God, it’s for you! By giving this offering, you’re putting Him first and letting Him be God over your life.
Do you remember your first love? Do you remember how that love consumed the fiber of your very being. You constantly thought about the person you were so enamored with. Do you remember when you first knew Jesus? Were you just as enamored? Did you tell everyone you knew about Him? Did you manage to slip Him into every conversation? Did you lose sleep because you were so eager to be face to face with Him? In the book of Revelation, the first church in chapter 2 to be mentioned is the church at Ephesus. And while Jesus lists their exemplary qualities first, He said nevertheless this offends me “you’ve left your first love.” In other words, He’s saying “you’ve left the way you loved me first.” The passion with which you loved Him first. You didn’t lose Him, you just left. Jesus is interested in devotion. Remember, Jesus said the first commandment is to LOVE the Lord your God. In order to love Him, you have to get a revelation of His love for you. Christ dwells where He is loved.
So, First Things First…
1. Seek His Kingdom First
2. Give of your First Fruit
3. Return to your First Love
And tune in this Sunday for the last installment of the First Things First series!
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