After number 26, moving right along, won't be too much longer before we know it, we'll be out of Deuteronomy into something else, so I do continue to implore you to pray for me as I seek to discern the Lord's mind upon what we should go into in our Bible study time, and like I said, it won't be too much longer. We've got just 34 chapters in Deuteronomy, and we're in chapter 26. I know when we started, it probably felt like, are we ever, you know, gonna get through, you know, this book's a big book, but just imagine if we were preaching through Genesis, which has been the only thing that's really been on my mind, but doesn't, I think, what is there, 50? 50 chapters in Genesis, I believe. Yeah, that's right. So, I don't know that's where we'll be. There's a lot of good material there in Genesis. But who knows, the Lord may take me back through a book I've already preached through before, I don't know. Not all of you have been here through some of the books that we've gone through. We'll just have to wait and see. Deuteronomy 26, we'll read, I know I put 1 through 19, but we're not gonna get through the whole chapter, so we'll just read verses 1 through 11. And to kind of help things along, we'll read them like we've been doing as we go through it. So we'll read the first two verses to begin with. Chapter 26, Deuteronomy, that's page number 168, verse number 1. And it shall be, when thou art come unto the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee for an inheritance, and possesses it, and dwellest therein, that thou shalt take of the first of all the fruit of the earth, which thou shalt bring of thy land that the Lord thy God giveth thee, and shalt put it in a basket, and shall go unto the place which the Lord thy God shall choose to place his name there." Where's that? They didn't know. Where's the place the Lord chose to put his name? I mean, they'd been wandering around in the wilderness, right? The tent of meeting had been, as the pillar of fire or the pillar of cloud moved, you know, that tent, you know, moved. So it wasn't in a stationary place, didn't stay the same place all the time. But what is the place that he's talking about there at the end of verse number two? Jerusalem, right? And looking back in the former chapters that we have looked at, they couldn't just take one of the idol's temples and convert that into a place they would worship God. Those things were to be torn completely down to the ground. So that place that the Lord thy God shall choose to place his name there, they didn't know what it was, but it would be Jerusalem. Where has the Lord chosen to place his name? now. It's people. We're where his name is. So his name is upon us. It's going back to the priest and the breastplate and what was written upon that. holiness unto the Lord. That's what's written upon, you know, our hearts. Part of that we were talking about this morning about being born again. That's the kind of stuff that happens. The Lord's placed his name in the midst of his people. This building's not the church, right? That would be the equivalent of a tabernacle as far as a building structure is concerned, but the church is the people, right? So the Lord's placed his name amongst us. You are ambassadors of Christ. You have that designation, you have that duty as ambassadors of Christ. But when they came into the land, into the inheritance that God had promised them, and they dwelled therein, what was gonna be there? I mean, it was a land flowing with milk and honey, right? But what was gonna be there that they did not do? Remember what we said? There was wells that they did not what? Dig. There were houses that they did not build. There were orchards that they did not plant. There were all those things that the Lord had put there. It truly was a land flowing, as it were, with milk and honey. Now that doesn't mean they didn't go out there and they didn't have to plant. I mean, it was a fertile land. But who did the Canaanites attribute that fertility of the land to? The Canaanites, not Israel. No, they had a god, a male god and a female god. but had, and I've always pronounced it bail, but I've been listening to a pastor. I wish closer that I could actually sit down and really get to know him better, but he pronounces it ba'al. I guess that's the phonetical structure there, I don't know, teacher. You've been through all these things four times, so we'll look at you. but Baal and then Ashtaroth. And so Baal was the male fertility god, Ashtaroth was the female fertility god. And that is what the Canaanites attributed the fertility of the land unto. And of course, they had some pretty grotesque rituals. I don't know if grotesque is a good word, but lewd rituals that we won't go into that they did in celebrating that fertility. and felt like that was what the gods wanted them to do in order for the land to be fertile as well. But when they came into the land, and they dwelt therein, they were to take the first fruit of all the earth, and they were to place in the basket. And as we get further on, they're to bring it before the Lord. And there's some words that they are to speak, as it were, in regards to that. But why would God require them to take the first fruit of the harvest and to bring it before him? Why would he require the first fruit? Yeah, there's something to be said there for that. Absolutely. And when other sacrifices that would be brought, that would absolutely be true, wouldn't it? As far as a lamb was concerned, it had to be spotless. It was to be unblemished. It was to be the best. You know, if you didn't have one of those, you could buy one in the temple market. And there was a guy there, don't know what his name was, but he was willing to take advantage of you, selling you an approved You know, the priest had already looked over, probably in, I don't know, may have been codes, where they were selling, you know, some of those things that were pre-approved sacrifices that would be accepted. But our best, that could be one thing to be said. What else? If you've, if you read ahead in Deuteronomy 26, you read ahead in chapter 26? Well, if there's something she doesn't want to say, then you've got to be back in 25 or 24. Those are the chapters that I really didn't want to preach there. You read 25. Well, you've already been there, covered that. Not planning on going back. You know, I got the t-shirt. I preached the most odd verse of scripture, you know, as it were, in the Bible. And I'm hopefully done with that for now. But the reason was remembrance. I mean, you think about being out there in the wilderness. They were in an arid place, a desert land, wandering around the wilderness. What did they eat? Manna, right, that fell from heaven, God provided. Okay, well, what about water, where'd they get that from? From the rock, God provided again. You know, so as they were going along these 40 years, God's been making provision for them. Well, this land's no different. Here's provision God's made. And so God would have them to take that fruit, put it in the basket, bring it before him, the first fruit, which they had probably looked forward to. I mean, the first fruit, I don't know how many of you have grown gardens. I know Brother Wiseman probably has, and I know, Dad, you've done some of that. I don't know, Steve, have you ever grown a garden before, a little bit? And you look forward to, eventually, that tomato plant, or whatever kind of plant it was. For me, I've always wanted to grow some, even wild grapes. When I was a kid and I went to my mom's mom's house, there was always, there was a trellis there and there was, I guess that's what you call it, I don't know what that thing was in the backyard. Arbor, okay, in Arbor. Brother Means, we saw him in Home Depot, he called it something else I'd never even heard of before. I just kind of went along with it. But, you ever built one of these? Nope, never built one of those. I knew I hadn't heard of it before, so I knew I hadn't built it. But, anyway, to have one of those, because I went there, and we just grabbed those grapes right off the vine, you know, and taken, and they were the old, you know, I guess those were Mustangs, weren't they, or Muscadines? Is there a difference between the two? I don't know. There is a difference. There are muscadines and we could take that thick skin and you grab a hold of it, you know, and squeeze it and the fruit would just, you know, pop right in your mouth, you know. And it was sweet and tart kind of at the same time, you know, with that skin that had been there and then you spit the seed out. But, you know, I've always wanted to, and if I had, I have tried to plant one before, but I forget where it was, Home Depot or somewhere we bought some grape vines and we thought they were Concord grapes, I think, and whatever the other green ones are. What do they call those? Table grapes, I don't know, whatever they are. But, huh? Green grapes, okay. But they never, I don't think the weed eater got it, but it could have, I'm not sure. But never did take off, had a nice chain link fence there, you know, that it could have grown on, but didn't happen. But they were looking forward, you know, to that first fruit. But you said best, that our best is to be, you know, given unto the Lord. And really, when you think about best and first, those two things can kind of go along, you know, with one another. You know, when I wake up in the morning, my first thoughts, I don't know about you, but I want to give those to the Lord. I mean, how pleasant it is. I know you're bound to have had this experience, and I know you've not had the experience, but how pleasant it is to wake up with the Lord upon your mind. How pleasant it is to wake up with a hymn upon your mind. How pleasant it is to wake up with a verse of scripture upon your mind. That's a very pleasant thing. I've been asleep. I've been, as it were, unconscious. I've been probably dreaming up about something, but I haven't really been thinking. about something that I've been aware of, but to wake up and there's the Lord. That's a pleasant thing. That's something, whenever I don't have it, I pray for, because I want my first thoughts. Those are the first thoughts of the day, you know, and I'm fresh. Those ought to be the best thoughts of the day. But they were to remember that it was the Lord that was the one that provided. I mean, what were they coming into? They had been in a place where those things weren't. They had manna provided. There wasn't manna that's there. But they're going into a land where those things are. and they're going to be, and they don't need to forget that God's the one that's still providing. God's the one that's still supplying. The only reason they're coming into this land is because God has made it possible for them. So when we think about that, those are some of the thoughts that we kind of, you know, would consider. as to why the Lord would require the firstfruits. But God demands, desires, and deserves to be worshipped. Anything that you come into, you come into a new car, you come into a new job, you come into a raise, you come into an inheritance. That might be something that we think more of when we say coming into something. But anything that we come into, I can understand it, but I can't walk this morning. But scripture says, everything give thanks. My thoughts ought to be the best thing that I can think about this is the Lord has a purpose for it. That's the best thing I can think about it. That'll be my first thought about it, if it can be. Think about the 12 spies. They go into the land, right? And they spy on the land. They come back, and they said, truly, it is a land flooded with milk and honey. And they bring back this stave of fruit. You've seen pictures probably drawn before of these grapes, these massive grapes. I don't know. Was it just an abundance of a cluster of normal-sized grapes? And that's what it truly was, or was it just something that was just massive in the mind of the artist because he's thinking about there's giants that live in the land. If you've got giants in the land, there's got to be grapes big enough to feed giants. I don't know. Whereas, they're not grape-sized that we're used to. They would be smaller than perhaps a ping-pong ball, certainly, to where you get over there and they're maybe the size of oranges or something. I don't know. Is that impossible? Does it matter? I don't know. There was an abundance. There was an abundance. And so they come out, you know, with this. They come out with proof. The very thing that we're looking at this morning ought to have been the response that they had. What we'll see, you know, as we read through this chapter, ought to have been the response that they had, but it wasn't. They said, grasshoppers in their sight, we can't take the land. Truly flowing milk and honey, but God's just, he's made a mistake here, you know, because there's no way that we're gonna be able to defeat these giants. But this is something that God required of them, the first fruit, or the first of all the fruit, you know, of the earth and the place that God had given them. You know, so as we think about this, and we say, what can be said about that, and what do we understand from it, that's the thought. The main thought is that God would have them to remember, remember. Now, we have, we've talked about this a little bit already, but we have the word of God written upon our hearts. We have the law of God written upon our hearts. But still, we need to remember. Still, Peter tells us, stir up, you know, these things. And so this would be something that God gave unto them to stir up their thoughts coming from that arid place, that dry place, that wasteland that they were in. coming into a land flowing with milk and honey, it would be something to cause them to remember that what had been done, what had been given, what has been provided, it didn't just grow there of its own. It's something that God has given unto them, and it takes us back to that formula that we've talked about before, where hearing the Word of God and obeying the Word of God equals blessing. That's where we've got to live, you know, there. And it would be true, you know, for them, if that land would continue to produce, it would be because they continue to do those things that God had called them, you know, to do. So when we, like I said, when we come into anything, we ought to do the thing that they're doing here, what they're going to be doing here is giving thanks unto God for what he has, he's provided, he's worthy of our worship. And we try to throw it into a relative, you know, context for you in a sense. We've, Mike's already gone now, you know, but we've got some people that work, you know, in construction. And let me just ask you, you know, Heath, whether it be a joint of pipe or it be, you know, Dad or Rick or Ryan, you know, going to the Home Depot and getting a two-by-four, when's the last time that you gave thanks for that two-by-four, you know, or that joint of pipe, that it was there? You know, because that essentially is what Israel's being called, you know, to do here, to give thanks unto God for what has been given, what has been, you know, provided. I can't say honestly that I've picked up a two-by-four before in Home Depot and said, Lord, thank you for this, you know. But in a general context, you know, we know when we're doing these things, the jobs that we have, the ability to feed our families, you know, certainly we're thankful for that. But God caused that tree to grow or that two-by-four wouldn't be there, you know. I don't know. Absolutely, if you could find a straight one. I was helping Dr. Means, he's my optometrist. We always have some good conversations whenever I go in to see him. I'm sure the visit lasts longer than normal, but I was helping him load for this thing, whatever he called it, that he was building for, you know, a trellis, so to speak, for grapes. Helped him load some boards and he was just grabbing them like, wait a second, you know, there's like this this check that went all the way down through this thing. It's not going to crack. It's not going to be a very good board. But it didn't come from the lumber mill. It came from God. You know, whether it be the chair that I'm sitting in, you know, the clothes that we wear, you know, all these things have come, you know, from Him. And how quickly we forget, don't we? How quickly we forget to be thankful a lot of times. We sit down to a meal, first thought it'll be, Lord, thank you, you know, but it really should be that way in everything. And sometimes the Lord calls things to happen, you know, to where we can be thankful, for what we have. You know, this gout attack that I'm having right now, I'm thankful for the times that I don't have one. You know, the Lord's reminded me of that, and reminded me of the times that I've been able to walk without pain. You know, I've got a truck that, at times, it doesn't want to start. And when it doesn't start, the first thought ought to be, Lord, I'm thankful for the times that it has started. You know, I did it to us yesterday. We were down in Houston, and finally it cranked. And you're like, boy, I'm sure thankful, you know, that started. But when it starts every time, you know, you don't think about it to be thankful for it. But we ought to just have that thankful, I'm not saying that you're going to be able to say thank you Lord for everything. We, I think the Lord understands, you know, when we give him thanks in a general context, you know, that we're being thankful for all those things that the Lord's provided for us. But that's what Israel was having to do here. And really the first They were having to take it, belonged unto God. And so the first thing out of our mouths ought to belong unto Him, you know, in this regard. He's the source. He's given unto us. You know, we come here, there's a little box back there, just to put it in the context of giving, you know, as far as tithing. You know, we feel like we're giving unto God to continue His work. It's really the opposite. It's already His. It doesn't belong unto us. Whatever it may be, my body itself, I don't have to put it in the context of tithing, my body itself belongs unto Him. It's not mine to do what I want to with. It's His. My time is not mine. You know, put it in whatever context that you want to. It doesn't belong into me. And if I feel pain in this body, Lord, use it for your glory. That ought to be my thought, along with being thankful at the times that I haven't, when I've been pain-free. You know, when it comes to the idea of a basket, I was sitting there thinking about a basket. And, of course, today, you know, being Easter Sunday, you know, and there's going to be a lot of little kids, you know, with baskets and eggs and things like that. But I guess this is what made me think about it. But you think about this basket and you think about people, they don't want to put all their eggs in one basket. We don't think about that much anymore, but there was a time when all the eggs you had, that was it. You weren't going to the store to get any more, and we understand the adage that's there. If we have everything in one place, as far as getting to the financial realm of things, a person who's a financial planner, does not want Steve to put all of his stuff right here. He wants him to diversify, and you gotta put things in different places, but it's not so with God. It's not so with God. With everything that we have, I mean, all of our hope, all of our trust, it's in him. All of our eggs, as it were, are in one basket, and we don't have to worry about it. We can lean heavily upon the Lord, and he's going to provide. You know, we can trust in him, and we're not going to be disappointed. Brethren, this, I went to a funeral Friday. Brother George Pounds, I don't know if you'd heard, he passed away and we went to his funeral on Friday and this life short. How old was he? I didn't even calculate it. 74. Okay, this this life short. You know, dad, what would that be four and a half years or so more for you? You know, I mean, this life short, but Brother Wiseman's already blown right past that, you know, and you're into your 80s, you know, but but this life is short. But we won't be disappointed. You know, before we know it, I mean, think about it, brethren. Before we know it, and this is, it kind of borders upon the anticipation that these little guys get when we talk about going on vacation, you know. Before we know it, they'll be here and we'll go on vacation, you know. But before we know it, we're going to be in heaven. I mean, do you give much thought to that? I mean, this is reminiscent of that in a sense, because you have this land of promise, right? But we have a land of promise ourself that's been promised unto us. But before we know it, we're going to be in heaven. God can be completely and fully, absolutely trusted and leaned upon in all of these circumstances. I thought about that hymn, what a fellowship, what a joy divine. I think I even put it, no, that's a different one. I put it like it here, but I thought about it, that's why I thought I did. But leaning upon the everlasting arms, you know, leaning upon him. And you know, in that hymn, you know, it says learning. Learning to lean. It's one of the phrases that's used in there. And isn't that so? This is what Israel was having to do. Learn to lean. You know, he's out there putting that septic system in and that's where he needs to be leaning. He's putting in a new septic system that he's not, I don't guess you've ever put one of these in before, right? This is new from the school, the class and all that you went to. It's been enough trouble that he's told me while I was there And he said, this is the last one, you know, but in those things, what do we do? We lean upon the Lord. I mean, am I going to lean upon, you know, Andrew being there to get on that trencher to cut all those trenches, you know? No, I'm going to lean up. That trencher could give out. I'm going to lean upon the Lord. And there could not be another trencher found, and there's a closing coming up on the 21st, and we need to have all that done before the closing happens, and the people are going to want to move in, and they're going to want a septic system that works, believe me. That's one of those things that people expect to have, but where do we need to be? Do we need to be leaning upon them? upon the Lord, and we're learning to do that. The Lord is teaching us. You know, we talked about He's able to keep us from falling in Jude. Sometimes we fall and we learn to lean, you know, as it were, you know, upon the Lord. But as we continue reading there in verse number three, and thou shalt ride upon, I'm sorry, I'm in 27, and it shall go, verse number three, 26, so chapter 26, thou shalt go unto the priest that shall be in those days, so there was a different priest, different times, and shall say unto him, I profess this day." Anybody know what that word profess means? You know, there? It's to testify, it's to declare. It even has the idea, I mean, if we're going to come and testify and declare something before the Lord. it ought to be praise. We ought to be in a heart of, in a spirit of praise. We're not just making a declaration. We can't just mouth these words and go on. Otherwise, our lips are speaking, but our hearts are far from Him. He must have got, Sister, I see you there, and we can... You okay? Andrew must have got hot while he was vacuuming. Was it already on? It must have ran all week, I don't know. This declaration, it was to be something that was to be, you know, something that was given in a spirit of worship and praise unto God. It wasn't just words to be said. But the declaration, you know, that he makes here, as we read it, the priest is going to take the basket out of his hand in verse number four, verse number five. It says, this is prescribed. This is something the Lord prescribed them to say. You bring the basket, you bring the firstfruits in it, and this is what you say when you come. This is the declaration that you're going to make before me. But is it really any different, I mean, for them to bring a sin offering? I mean, they could just bring a sin offering, and it didn't mean anything to them. I mean, at one point in Scripture, the Lord says, I'm tired of all your feasts, you know, all your feast days and the things that you bring unto me, because your heart's not in it, basically. is what it amounted to. And so this here, you know, this was something, and it would be easy for it to mean a little bit, wouldn't it? I mean, if you're looking forward to the first fruit coming, and that belonged to the Lord, you know, that was to be His. So, they would come before the priest, and in the presence of God, they were called to make this declaration. Verse number five says, Thou shalt speak and say before the Lord thy God, Assyrian, ready to perish, was my father. Now, why would he say that? A Syrian ready to perish was my father. I thought these people were Jews, or Israelites, rather. I thought they were Israelites. Why was he saying a Syrian was my father ready to perish? Well, we kind of got to go back, and where we go back to is Esau and Jacob. And Jacob, you know, remember what he did to his brother Esau, and he ends up, you know, he's out the door and off into his mother's brother's house, and he's there with Laban, He ends up serving Laban, you know, for a wife. But he sojourned there, you know, in that area. Or in your Bible, depending on what version you're using, it might say Aram. But this was the area in which he was sojourning. So that's why he says he was a wandering Syrian, in case you were wondering about why he said that. But a Syrian ready to perish was my father. And he went down to Egypt. So you fast forward in Jacob's life. And then his sons and Joseph and the famine that there was in the land and they end up, you know in Egypt So that's that's what's happening here and the Egyptians verse number Let's see. We sojourned there with a few they went in a few verse number five and came out a great nation Verse number six says that the Egyptians evil and treated us and afflicted us and laid upon us hard bondage What if the Egyptians hadn't done that? You ever thought about that? You ever thought about Joseph? I mean, here he was, second to Pharaoh, right? I mean, a pretty important, you know, position. And there was this land of Goshen that Pharaoh said, this is good land. You know, we'll give this unto your family. So, you know, Joseph was well respected and thought of in Egypt. He had saved them. You know, basically, you know, Pharaoh had that dream about the seven years of good and the seven years of famine and the seven years of good they put up and they made it through the seven years of famine, you know, because he had the fat, you know, cows and the skinny cows and all that he dreamed about and wanted interpretation, nobody could give it to him. And then, you know, Joseph comes and gives him the interpretation, tells him it's not from me, it's from God. That's where it's coming from. But what if they hadn't evil entreated Israel? What would Israel have been? Egyptians. That's not what God had intended for them to be. They weren't to be Egyptians. God would bring them through. I've heard preachers put it this way, that Egypt was kind of like a womb through which Israel was delivered and came forth a great nation. As it were so so this is this is what we see, you know here with the Egyptians evil and treating verse number seven again Remember, this is a declaration that they're making we're not as reading about history here. They're declaring This is what my my ancestry was. This is where we were. We were ready to perish But God spared us You know, we were enslaved and God brought us out as it were So he says here we were in Egypt evil entreated verse number seven we cried unto the Lord God of our fathers the Lord heard our voice and looked on our affliction our labor and our oppression and the Lord brought us forth out of Egypt with a mighty hand and with an outstretched arm and with great terribleness and with signs and wonders and we can Imagine all those ten plagues that happened, and verse number nine, He brought, or He hath brought us into this place, and hath given us this land, even a land that floweth with milk and honey. And now behold, I have brought the firstfruits of the land, which thou, O Lord, hast given me. And thou shalt set it before the Lord thy God, and worship there before the Lord. Verse 11 says, And thou shalt rejoice in every good thing which the Lord thy God hath given unto thee and unto thine house, thou and the Levite and the stranger that is among you. But, you know, this is reminiscent of this table that's down here in front of me before you in remembrance of me. You know, why do we have this ordinance? Why do we have the Lord's Supper? It's so that we remember. So just like the Israelites here were being called to remember these things. So God has to remind us. We need to be reminded. Think about the Jew when he'd pass by his doorpost. What was there? There was the mezuzah there, you know scripture there upon his doorpost. He has to pass by it You know, we have things like that in our house, you know at my house, you probably do too You know as for me and at my house, we will serve the Lord, you know And you know in first Corinthians about you know, love is patient love is kind, you know We have those things and those sometimes those things strike you and like Lord I really haven't been as loving as I ought to be and You know, have I really been diligent to, you know, bring up my children in the nurtured admonition of the Lord? As for me and my house, we shall serve, you know, the Lord. But the phylacteries on the arm, on the forehead, you know, those things were to remind them, were to stir up their, you know, remembrance as they professed this day before the Lord their God and said these things that were prescribed here. That's what they were professing. You know, it was that God is the one who has been faithful and done all these things, even though we weren't faithful as we ought to be, and we can make application of those things unto ourselves. But there are things that we can be confident in. They were confident the Lord was going to bring them into this land. We go to Philippians 1 6 and we can say being confident of this very thing that he which hath begun a good work for you or in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ. So God brought them into that land. What are we what are we going to do making application? God's going to bring us in. Like I said before, you know, before we know it. I mean, I'm almost 50 years old. I know that's not old. Some of you, you know, you think I wish I was still 50 years old, you know, but before we know it. I tell you one place I don't wish I was I don't ever want to go back to high school. I didn't like that place. You know, not a place I want to go back to. But before we know it, we're going to be in heaven. We ought to think more upon that. This is going to be over before we know it. But God brought them this land. He's going to bring us into that land. Now, the correlation, the firstfruits, you know, between what you see, you know, here upon our bulletin, you know, you see that verse of Scripture there in 1 Corinthians 15, 19, and 20. If in Christ we have hope in this life only, You know, we're miserable. We're a people to be pitied. But Christ has been raised from the dead. And what does 1 Corinthians 15 tell us about that? That he's the firstfruits of them that's fallen asleep. Now, Mike was standing up here earlier, had his son Luke, and he was asking some questions about the resurrection, said Luke's had some questions about the resurrection, wants to understand some of these things. Well, the kind of thing that we'd want Luke to understand, you know, would be this. Christ has entered as a forerunner for us. He's opened the way for us. He's the first fruit. Here's this first fruit for which they were to be in remembrance of what God had done for them and bringing them out of Egypt. What's Egypt a picture of? The world. God's brought us out of bondage to sin, slavery to sin that God's brought us out of. And Christ is, as it were, this first fruit from the grave. It wasn't the first fruit of the orchard. It wasn't the first fruit of the vine, but it's the first fruit of the grave. He's risen, you know, He's gone into heaven ahead of us and has prepared a way, you know, for us. He's gone to prepare a place for us in His Father's house, He's told us. So, you know, there would be the kind of correlation between those two images, because you can see the family, as it were, they're bringing first fruits in baskets, and you can see, you know, the empty tomb, you know, that's there. So what does the resurrection mean unto us? You know, it's along those lines. I mean, it's It is because of Christ's death upon the cross, that resurrection and entrance into heaven is the acceptance of Him for our sin, a sacrifice for our sin. And it's not just that we have hope in Christ now. It's not as we, for that would be, that would be something, you know, still, I mean, to be able to live for Christ in this life and then it's over. I mean, I'd rather live for Christ in this life alone than not live for Him, you know, at all. But that's not all there is to it. I mean, we have, we, it's not just a hope that we have in this life, but that hope that we have in this life is for that hope that we have for that life to come. Just like they were coming into this land, we're coming into a land also, but there's not going to be any giants there. We're not going to have to fight any giants. But we will spend an eternity of our days doing the sort of thing that these people are doing here and in remembrance giving thanks for what God has done for us. You remember, and Brother Steve and I'll be up there saying, you remember what we went through there? You remember what God did for us? You remember the way that God has brought us through, you know, all the way, as it were, for these people, like, through the wilderness? You remember what Christ did for us? Can you believe it, that what Christ has done and how that he saved us and he's redeemed us and he's brought us, you know, here into heaven itself and here we're going to dwell for eternity? You know, no more sin, no more sickness, no more sorrow, no more pain, no more death. All the things that God has done for us, to be able to recount those things and praise him for what he has done and what he has given. Remember Joseph, he told Israel, he said, the Lord's going to deliver you. And when he does, you take my bones out of this place. You know, he said that he prescribed that for them. Why? That they might remember this isn't going to be for eternity. You know, you're not always going to be here in Egypt. God has promised to give you a land to give you a good land. And when you leave, you take my bones with you. He lived to be 100. And I think I have it here somewhere. How old was maybe I don't, but he lived to be over 100 years old. But he lived 400 years, and they had to remember for that other 200 and some change, you know, years, they had to remember. There were 300 years, we could say. They had to remember. Joseph said, Moses said, God has said, you know, and we're supposed to take his bones out. One day, we're going to take his bones out of this place. One day, we're going to leave, and we won't be slaves here in Egypt, you know, any longer. One day, brethren, we're going to be free. You know, of all this, and it's all because of what Christ has done for us. Let me read some more of that chapter to you real quickly. 1 Corinthians 15, 12 says, Now if Christ be preached that He rose from the dead, how say some among you that there is no resurrection of the dead? But if there be no resurrection of the dead, then Christ is not risen. And if Christ is not risen, then our preaching vain, and your faith also in vain. Yea, and we are found false witnesses of God, because we have testified of God that He raised up Christ. whom he raised not up, if so be that the dead rise not. For if the dead rise not, then is Christ not raised. And if Christ be not raised, your faith is in vain. You are yet in your sins. Then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished. If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable. But now is Christ risen from the dead and become the firstfruits of them that slept For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. But every man in his own order, Christ the firstfruits, and afterward they that are Christ that is coming, we. you know. So I would place that there kind of as a as a segue or a tie-in to you know the day in which we're we're typically is is you know reserved for celebrating the resurrection. We didn't have a, Teresa told me last night, said you gonna have a sunrise service? I said no. And thankfully with my foot feeling the way it is I didn't have a sunrise service to perform but But as they Give thanks bringing the firstfruits, you know, we can give thanks today, you know for what Christ has done You know for us as they remembered God bringing them out of Egypt into this promised land We remember that that God has promised to bring us into this land this promised land called heaven, you know ourselves and we get so bogged down I know by the things of this life and and and the things that we have to, you know, do and the work and all the troubles and the cares and the problems and the woes. But we need to remember this because this isn't going to be this way always. Sooner than we think, longer than we wish, you know, but sooner than we think we'll be, you know, in heaven as it were. I see you smiling. You recognize the quote. Some of you don't. That's from Pilgrim's Progress. But sooner than we think, longer than we wish, you know, we'll be in heaven, so. Any other thoughts on the first fruits there that we see in Deuteronomy 26 verses 1 through 11? We'll try to pick up the remainder of the chapter, Lord willing, next week. May have to carry me in, but I'll try to be here. Andrew's like, I don't think I can do that. Yeah, probably not. Put me on a scale and you can pull me, yeah. You had some kind of little cart there in the garage. They stick me on that piano dolly or something. All right, well, let's go to the Lord in prayer and return things for the meal that the Lord so graciously, as we think about the first fruits, so graciously provided unto us. Dad, would you would you pray for us?