First Fruits of the Resurrection

In one paragraph

This was the third and final week in the series "We're Gonna Live Forever," preached on Mother's Day by Pastor Brian. The message stayed rooted in the feast of first fruits and what the resurrection of Jesus means not just as a past event but as a present and future reality for everyone who belongs to him. The core word for the morning was this: nothing less than total victory is our destiny....

Read together

1. Isaiah 55:9 quoted to show God's ways and thoughts are higher than ours, establishing his holiness
2. 1 Corinthians 15:20-23 read aloud by a congregation member to establish Jesus as first fruits of the resurrection
3. John 16:33 cited by Amanda to clarify that believers will have trouble in this life even while destined for total victory
4. 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 read aloud describing the sequence of resurrection events when Jesus returns
5. 1 Corinthians 15:35-44 read aloud describing the nature of the resurrection body compared to a seed
6. Isaiah 35:5 quoted to picture the blind seeing and lame leaping at the return of Jesus
7. Philippians 3:20-21 cited to establish believers as current citizens of heaven awaiting transformation of their mortal bodies
8. Jeremiah 29:11 quoted as God declaring plans for a hope and a future over those who felt their life had taken bad bounces
9. Matthew 23:37 referenced as Jesus longing to gather Jerusalem under his wings like a mother hen does her chicks
10. Romans 7 briefly referenced by a congregation member noting Paul's words that the good he wanted to do he could not do

What was said

• Read Deuteronomy 26 and Leviticus 23 this week to understand the feast of first fruits that the series has been built around.
• Read all of 1 Corinthians 15 slowly, using Bible study tools to look up words and read the passage from multiple angles.
• Write the phrase 'do not judge your destiny by the current bounce of your Plinko chip' somewhere you will see it when discouragement hits.
• If you have been sitting with a lie from the enemy about a bad season or a bad bounce in your life, say out loud that you reject it in Jesus' name.
• Come to the Saturday evening gathering or Sunday service at the Virginian to hear from Laura Sanger on the supernatural and spiritual warfare.

Talk about it

1. Brian described the feast of first fruits as one of only seven yearly family traditions God gave his people, and said it deserves more attention than it usually gets. What do you think it means that God built resurrection into the rhythm of the calendar like that, and why do you think we tend to skip past it?
2. Brian used the Plinko chip picture to say that the resurrection of Jesus gives us confidence that nothing less than total victory is our destiny, while others in the room pushed back that this life still includes real trouble and that the victory is ultimately future. Where do you land on that tension, and how does it shape the way you actually live day to day?
3. Paul writes in First Thessalonians 4 that we should encourage each other with the hope of resurrection, but Brian observed that many of us treat resurrection as something that will just sort itself out when we get there. Why do you think that hope is so hard to hold onto in a practical way, and what would it look like to genuinely encourage someone with it this week?
4. First Corinthians 15 uses the picture of a seed to describe the difference between our current bodies and our resurrected bodies. Bethany added the example of David being anointed at 15 but not crowned until 30, and Brian said our character goes with us into the next chapter. What roots do you feel you are sinking right now, and are they the roots you actually want to take with you?
5. Brian closed by saying that total victory is not just a future destination but something we get to start grabbing hold of now, and he asked people to consider which lies from the enemy they have been believing about the current season of their life. What is one lie you recognise, and what does the scripture from this sermon say against it?