We Gonna Live Forever

In one paragraph

Brian walked the congregation through the Feast of First Fruits, one of the spring feasts that falls between Passover and Pentecost, and showed how Jesus fulfilled it through the resurrection. The central claim was that Jesus rising from the dead is not a standalone miracle but the first of a coming harvest, and that resurrection life begins for believers at the moment of salvation. The title...

Read together

1. Habakkuk 2:2 prophetic word spoken over Christine Schuler about writing the vision and being an amplifier
2. Deuteronomy 26:1-11 prescription for bringing first fruits to the priest and declaring God's faithfulness
3. Leviticus 23:9-14 instructions for waving the sheaf of first fruits before the Lord
4. John 20:11-18 Mary at the tomb encountering the risen Jesus and being told not to hold on to him
5. 1 Corinthians 15:20-23 Christ raised as the first of the harvest, the order of resurrection

Talk about it

1. Brian shared a word for Christine about being an amplifier, and pointed out that amplifiers only ever amplify what is plugged into them. What are some things in your own life that you are letting plug into you, and how are those things shaping what you put out?
2. The feast of first fruits required bringing the very first of the harvest straight to the temple, same day, before anything else was done with it. What does that kind of immediacy and priority look like practically in how you bring the first of your time, money or energy to God?
3. When Mary saw Jesus in the garden she could not recognize him even though he was standing right in front of her and speaking to her. Has there been a time when you were so overwhelmed by grief or a hard situation that you could not see what God was doing, even when he was close by?
4. Joy pointed out that Jesus is the first fruits of the resurrection, meaning his rising from the dead is the guarantee and the beginning of a harvest that includes all who belong to him. How does knowing that Jesus went first change the way you think about your own future, or about death?
5. Brian closed by saying the resurrection gives us great confidence that nothing less than total victory is our destiny, and that resurrection life starts on the inside the moment a person is saved. Where in your life right now do you find it hardest to actually live from that reality rather than just agreeing with it in your head?