Don't Come to God Empty Handed | Rev. Nolan Carpenter

come on can we give that handclap to the lord this evening hallelujah you know that's really easy let's lift our hands and let's lift our voices unto god god i love you tonight god the bible says where praise goes forth god you show up lord you inhabit the praises of your people lord and for the last 45 minutes or so god we have entertained your presence god and your word rang true tonight it come down like a rushing mighty wind and it filled all the house where we are sitting tonight god i pray that you would do a mighty work in this place if you believe something good is going to happen let us clap our hands in this place the bible says oh clap your hands all ye people and the shout unto god with the voice of triumph come on can we shout unto god tonight come on the clapping part is really easy but the shout signifies that the battle has been won the shout signifies that the battle has been won because signifies that victory has come to pass and i just believe tonight that something is going to happen in this place if you believe that would just say amen amen it is good to be in the house of the lord this evening i do want to say and i want to put my honor where honor is due the last couple weeks this church to put it in my terms this church uh the last couple weeks has gotten spiritually fat because we have been fed every time that we have come into this house and i just feel like we have come to a buffet every time and we have left it's kind of like you go to a japanese restaurant afterwards you you just can't even move and that that's how i feel spiritually um from from this morning's message by pastor hammond uh that challenged us that convicted us challenged us um and it was a wonderful word from the lord and then of course pastor erickson's series on the pathway back home that was absolutely unbelievable that i believe will revolutionize this church in the future to come and then pastors messages just basically every time we get well not basically every time he gets behind the pulpit we are spiritually fed and tonight i just feel spiritually fat and so i give them honor and i do i do count an honor and a privilege to stand behind this pulpit i want to give honor to my family i want to give honor to my mother which celebrated her 35th birthday yesterday and i want to give her honor and i love her very dearly she she has a thing and she did it yesterday but she has a thing where she does some something for one kid she feels like she has to do it for the rest of the kids and so hopefully that comment will make my whatever i get a little bit above everybody else but i give her honor tonight and i have to be honest with you church i'm a little nervous tonight because this is the first time that the most beautiful woman in the world is staring right at me while i'm preaching i want to give honor to my beautiful wife could you give her a hand clap i love her very much i love her and i appreciate her this week of course this is our one month anniversary we have made it one month thank the lord and uh this week obviously we haven't had any arguments yet that's a that's obvious but yeah okay thanks mom um i realized very quickly that my mom loves her more than she loves me but that's another subject for another time but this week i've kind of been teasing her if if i'll ask her to do something of course it's out of my laziness but if i ask her to do something and she she's like well you can do it she hasn't said it like that it's very sweet but i'm going to say well i'll make you testify sunday night and so i've kind of held that overhead but i know that she could come do a better job than i ever could dream of i love her and i she makes me makes me the happiest man in this world ever since we we've met and especially since we've been married she makes me a better person and i believe that is what god intended when he created marriage and i'm figuring what that's all about tonight if you turn in your bibles with me to deuteronomy 16 and 16 i realize it is the july 4th weekend and i promise you i will not hold you longer than god would have us to be held here tonight but i do feel like god wants to do something in this place i believe from i felt it in the prayer room i shared it with my father just a few minutes ago but i do believe that god wants to show himself in this house you know we've been praising god like i said and god inhabits the praises of his people and when we praise god shows up and when god shows up great things happen great things happen deuteronomy 16 and 16 says three times in a year shall all thy males appear before the lord thy god and the place which he shall choose the feast of unleavened bread and the feast of weeks and in the feast of tabernacles and they shall not appear before the lord empty and they shall not appear before the lord empty every man shall give as he is able according to the blessing of the lord thy god which he hath given thee with just a few moments with the help of the lord this evening i want to preach on don't come to god empty handed don't come to god empty handed i hope to prove through the scriptures tonight that if we bring something to god god god will give us something in return how selfish of us to think that we can get something to god but not we'll be willing to give him something first and tonight i believe if we give something to god that god will show up and he'll give us what we need if you put your bibles down and you lift your hands and you lift your voice but most importantly if your heart's in the heaven god we thank you for tonight we thank you for the opportunity to come in your your house god this place lord where your spirit dwells there is liberty god and your spirit is in this house so god i pray that you would anoint me god anoint their ears god in their hearts to receive and to hear god what i believe you have given me to say tonight god let the gift of faith rise in this place god god let us give you something lord and you will give us something in return oh god god we thank you tonight we believe you're going to do great and mighty things in the mighty name of jesus could we clap our hands one more time before we are seated thank you jesus thank you jesus in jesus name everyone said amen you may be seated i have many many childhood memories that i could share with you tonight but one of my favorite childhood memories memories happened around christmas time i don't know about you but i love christmas time i love the family time i love that we get to sit down and eat with one another obviously we celebrate the birth of christ and i love that about it but on the carnal side i love the gift-giving season of christmas and if you don't believe in christmas and if you could just turn down the computer or maybe just you know mute me out for just a few moments but i want to tell you about my favorite memory um during a christmas season i love sitting down and receiving gifts but one of they when we were doing premier uh marriage counseling which first of all to kind of talk about that um i didn't realize marriage was so hard that you had to have pre-marital counseling and uh so that was awesome so in this this pre-marital counseling uh they make you do this love language test and so i took the test and and one of my uh my results was one of my main ones was gift giving i love to give gifts i love to see their reaction when they receive these gifts um so during this christmas season um it was around the time i didn't have a job so i didn't have anything to buy any gifts with i'm not creative and i'm not crafty so i'm not going to make somebody or knit somebody a sweater i just can't do that but we sat down that evening and as we how we do it we sit all around and all the gifts are placed in the person that's going to open them so all of uh brother hammond's gifts are right before him all but erickson's gifts are right before we kind of just spread them out and um and all the kids of course and and so they as they begin to open these gifts they they would always you turn it around you announce who it's from and you say this is from mom and dad so you just open it up and you know you act surprised you probably already knew what it was because that's what you asked for but anyways that you you you announced to it was from um right before you opened it and i think they started to catch on to what i had done this christmas uh season i had um they they opened the gifts and went before they did they announced the name and they would say this is from brother uh this is from lauren and zach and then right underneath their name would be nolan so it's kind of that's kind of weird and so they would open the gift and they they would open the gift and be like oh thank you lauren zach and nolan thank you for this gift and so then paris got to her gift and she would open she had turned it upside down and and the bottom and read um read who it was from and she would say this is from mom or nanna and papa and nolan and so i found a sharpie and i began to write my name on every single person's gift because i knew that i couldn't come empty-handed to something like christmas and so now that i'm you know making a little bit of financial i'm in a better financial state i can obviously give my own gifts and it means a lot more to the person but i realized that i could not come empty-handed to a celebration i couldn't just show up and be apart without giving something or having something to offer we must realize that when we come to god we can't come empty-handed it would be very selfish of us to think that we will get something from god but not first give him something if we don't have anything to give god then god will not return anything to us in exodus 34 and 20 it says but the first thing of an ask thou shalt redeem with the lamb and if thou redeem him not then shall break his neck all the firstborn of thy sons thou shalt redeem and none shall appear before me empty six days thou shalt work but on the seventh day thou shall rest in earring time and in harvest thou shall rest and thou shalt observe the feast of weeks of the first fruits of the wheat harvest and the feast of in gathering at this year's end thrice in the year shall all your men children appear before the lord god the lord god of israel for i will cast out the nations before thee and enlarge thy borders and neither shall any man desire thy land when thou shalt go up to appear before the lord thy god thrice in a year three times a year the children of israel all the men children everybody would appear before god but god had a message for them don't come before me empty-handed and then if you come before me with something in your hands the bible says in verse 24 that i will cast out cast out the nations before thee and i will enlarge thy borders and neither shall any man desire thy land you see in the old testament um in the old testament normal man could not just appear before god whenever he wanted there was three times a year that was set aside and this was the opportunity that everybody was longing for the opportunity to p to appear before god but they had to have something with them to appear before god with um as being his creation we obviously owe him something but being people that are redeemed we especially owe him a whole lot more being created we owe our savior we owe we owe our creator we owe him praise we owe him our life but the redeemed child of god we owe him so much more than normal man could ever give god we owe him our life we owe him our faithfulness we owe him our sacrifice we owe him much more than anyone outside of these walls because who's much is given much is required we oh god being people that are blood bought being people that our sins were crucified on the cross we owe god so much that we owe god so much more than other people owe him if you believe that say amen the bible talks about in verse number 22 of this same chapter it mentions the first fruits mentions the first fruits one thing we must always have in our hands to give to god is our first fruits and i hope to to explain this concept in this law that i found in the old testament and the new testament the law of the first fruits is a concept that we must understand and apply to every aspect of our lives the law of the first fruit states that anything you receive god requires the very first of it the law of the first fruit states that anything you receive any increase in your life you owe god the very first of that thing leviticus 23 and 9 says in the lord spake unto moses saying speaking to the children of israel and say unto them when ye become into the land which i give unto you and shall reap the harvest thereof then you shall bring the sheep of the first fruits of your harvest unto the priest the ch the feast of the first fruits was not just something for the children of israel leviticus 23 14 says and ye shall neither eat bread nor parched corn or nor green ears until the self same day that ye have brought an offering unto your god and it shall be a statute forever throughout your generations in all your dwellings tonight i didn't come to teach on some false prosperity gospel but i have come to declare that if we give something unto god god will return it unto us if it would be a financial giving if we give god of our finances it's not a prosperity gospel but it's what the word of god says if you take care of my kingdom i will take care of your kingdom but it's all about giving something unto god and not coming empty-handed proverbs 3 and 9 says honor the lord thou with honor the lord with thy substance and with the first fruits of all thine increase so shall thy barns be filled with plenty and thy presses shall burst out with new wine if the first fruits are honored then blessings will follow would you notice about that verse that the promise is all contingent on offering your first fruits to god so if you don't give your first fruits unto god then there's no barns being filled with plenty but if you give god the first of your substance if you get god the first of your increase then the promise will come to pass and the blessing will be received god is a god that loves to be first and matter of fact if god is not first then he is not lord and if he is not lord there is no lordship and if there there's no lordship then there is no blessings from god exodus 20 and 3 says thou shalt have no other gods before me don't let anything come before god god wants to be put first tonight you are honoring god with your first fruits if you realize it or not you might ask how i'm glad you asked well this is the first part of our week this is the lord's day we are honoring god with the first fruits of our week by showing up to the house of the lord on sunday that is the the honoring god with the first fruits of your week it's called the lord's day for a reason it's what we owe god the first fruits of our weeks i've always been intrigued by calendars that want to start the week on monday not according to god's calendar because that would put god very last and that's not what god deserves and that's not what god wants he wants to vary first because that's the best your success in a week determines how you begin the week if you begin the week with not your best effort in the house of the lord your weak is not going to be blessed but if you realize the scripture i was glad when they said unto me let us go into the house of the lord david was excited when he could start his week in the house of god and we should be excited because the rest of our week the blessings and the rest of our week that all starts with how we deal with the first fruits of our week the the the termination of the blessing of the fruit all starts with how you do what you do with the very first of it the determinations of blessings upon the rest of the fruit all starts and it all contingents on what you do with the first fruits israel was commanded to bring their offering of their first fruits unto god this was an offering of it was an offering of the first grain harvested in israel so when they went out to harvest their grain their god says i want the first fruits of that grain if the people did not obey the rule of the first fruits then god says there will be no additional fruits in the harvest you got to understand the first fruits are important because god says don't come to me empty-handed if you want the rest of your week to be blessed start it out on sunday with your best effort in my house if you want your finances to be blessed before you spend a dime out of your paycheck give me the tithes and see what i can do with the rest of your paycheck even though i i've seen plenty of times that 90 is way more than that 100 that i could have ever kept because god can do more with our first fruits than we can do with the entire harvest because if we honor god with the very first of our being if we honor god with the very first of our time god just says i want to bless you i want to pour out a blessing in your life because you honored me with the very first of your increase don't come to god empty-handed tonight god wants to bless you just put them i love when the bible says put me to the test when god says hey well you know what my translation is on that i double dog dare you i i double dog dare you to put me to the test if you don't think that healing can come in your body i double dog dare you to begin to worship if you don't believe that finances you can be blessed and when it comes to the realm of finance well god i only only work at mcdonald's well that's great if you give god 10 god can give you way more than mcdonald's ever could all right god can do way more with the rest of that 90 percent than you could ever dreamed of doing with the whole hundred percent in leviticus there were five animals that were accepted uh acceptable to the sacrifice unto god there was five animals that god deemed acceptable for someone to offer him um in leviticus it tells us there were five of them and this is the five oxen goats sheep pigeons and turtle doves the animal that you sacrificed uh was all based on your financial state um if you were poor you would go get a turtle dove if you were if you were filthy rich you would go get an oxen goat you would get the best of the best that you have and it's awesome to me that it doesn't matter how poor you are or how rich you are it's all about how much you sacrifice if we can just sacrifice with the first fruits it doesn't say hey you've got to give me 10 oxen 100 goats we couldn't do that we couldn't do that but everybody can give of their first fruits it doesn't matter how much it is it matters that it's the first fruits of your increase and god was saying to them you can bring me in any of those five because anyone could get a hold even if it's you didn't maybe you didn't buy a turtle dove but you can go out there and you can go try to set a trap and get a turtle dove to come off from it anybody it was a matter of being lazy or not you anybody could bring something to god it's just finding what god wants from you and in this in this scripture in this passage in leviticus there were five animals that he said you can bring to me and i as i studied this i'm saying god there's got to be something and god spoke to me was the only the reason i wrote this the reason i offered five animals as i wanted no person i didn't want one person to come unto me empty-handed i did not want one person to come unto me empty-handed it didn't matter if it was a hundred oxen or maybe you can offer one turtledove as long as you give to me of the first fruits i want the first fruits because i can bless the rest of the fruit in your life don't come to god empty-handed you may look at your tithe as just a measly ten percent but if you would just see it in god's eyes he says the person that has given me it might be a dollar or ten dollars of your 10 of your income but god is looking and saying this person has gave me of their first fruits and i will bless them i will fill their barns with plenty i i th they begin to see the grain that the harvest in their life is blessed that's why we can never come to god empty-handed and that's why we have anointed praise and worship leaders that come unto you and say lift your hands lift your hands to god raise your voice and maybe it's sometimes i've seen us run the aisles what are we doing we are giving god the first fruits of our energy we are giving god the first fruits of our will when we get begin to praise and worship so what i'm trying to tell someone tonight it's awesome that you're here but god wants the first fruits of your efforts god wants the first fruits of your praise the first fruits of your worship be it's a dangerous place if we go to ball games and give them what god deserves because that's the first fruit that god wants if you're praising and you're worshiping more at nyland stadium than you are at the house of the lord you're in dangerous place because god wants the very best god wants the very best god wants your first fruits god wants the very first of your increase hallelujah i feel the holy ghost right now come on let's entertain the presence of the lord in this place god we thank you jesus hallelujah you may be seated how can we expect anything from god if we aren't first willing to give him something how can we have something from god if we show up empty-handed because you must realize that every single person in this house can give something to god god requires the first fruits of our will i enjoyed wednesday night where pastor carpenter taught us about god's will i want to echo that in the next few moments but in matthew 6 and 33 it says but seek you first the kingdom of god and his righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you if we seek the kingdom of god and his righteousness then all these things will be added un to us unto you that's the word of god that's not me saying that that is the word of god god is saying if we will put his kingdom first and his will first then god will take care of our earthly kingdom i remember as a child in our old sanctuary up the hill i remember many times after service that we would i would sit outside the pastor's office waiting to go to eat i remember it's something about memories as a child and food that i just it goes hand in hand i can really remember i remember remember as a child staying there way late after sunday night service and just just waiting for pastor and first lady to get done with a meeting a counseling session and just sitting out there i would sit i remember i would sit on the left side of the door because there was a vent at the bottom of the door and that vent allowed you um to almost see into the office there and sometimes on special occasions it would allow you to hear into the office of pastor and first lady so as years would go by i would sit outside that office at age 10 or 11 i was ready to counsel people myself i had heard so many i knew how to put marriages back together i knew how to solve financial crisis i knew all these things because i i would sit in on these count counseling sessions but one counseling session that i remember and watch out yeah okay um one of course i don't remember the person but i do remember the situation thank god and i remember once that a man had come to pastor and was so excited that he had received a job bonus he was he was ecstatic i remember the reason i could hear him was because he was excited he was talking very loud and was just telling pastor about all these benefits that was added um how it was double his salary and i just remember pastor saying congratulations brother that's what god honors that you have you have tied you have you have obviously given because the the um uh you have uh you are receiving blessings you are obviously giving unto god uh you are sacrificing congratulations brother and then at the very end um the man informed pastor that uh that he would have to move to a city and uh pastors like all right well um does this city have a good apostolic church and the man added very just kind of under his breath that you know the the church was about an hour and a half away from the city that he had had this job opportunity this is a prime example of putting our will before god's will this is a prime example of trying to build our kingdom but forgetting all about god's kingdom but the bible says that if you seek the kingdom of god and you seek it first and his righteousness all these things shall be added unto you the contingency of that promise of everything being added unto you is all based on seeking the kingdom of god first the first fruits of your will the first fruits of the kingdom of god and his righteousness so god is saying to us if you take care of my stuff i'll take care of your stuff but i want you to take care of my stuff first give to me first serve me first and i will provide all those things on to you when we want our will over the will of god we sound like someone in isaiah 14 and 12. isaiah 14 and 12 says how art thou fallen from heaven o lucifer son of the morning how art thou cut down to the ground which did its weak in the nations for thou has said in thine heart i will ascend into the heaven i will exalt my throne above the stars of god i will sit also upon the mount of the congregation in the sides of the north i will ascend above the heights of the clouds i will be like the most high i hope you're noticing a pattern when lucifer is speaking what he feels in his heart i will ascend i will be i will i will sit like the most high when we start thinking our will first we sound like someone named lucifer but we sound like someone named jesus christ when we say thy kingdom come thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven it's not about our will it's about your will in our life and if we take care of the kingdom of god all these things will be added unto you if you would give to missions every week all these things will be added unto you if you bring the tithe into the storehouse all these things will be added unto you if you take care of my missionaries over in a foreign field i will take care of your job situation if you take care of the souls that you're going to meet tonight then i will take care of you thy kingdom come thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven i believe we need to be very specific with the bible we need to pray this in our terms thy kingdom come thy will be done in maryville as is as it is in heaven and i believe when we pray specific prayers god will answer us specifically i be i believe if we would pray thy will be done in maryville as it is in heaven i believe god is going to give us a revival that we have never seen before because we are taking care of his will and god will take care of our will if we will pray god thy kingdom come in maryville in this city as it is in heaven god will bless the firstfruits of our will we must give the first fruits of our will to god we must give the first fruits of our day to god in proverbs 18 8 and 17 8-17 it says i love them that love me and those that seek me early shall find me now now i i know i'm i am as much flesh as anyone is here tonight it has been it's so many times that i will wake up and i'll say well god i can give you something when i get home i can give you some time and you can i'm not you can do that but god wants the very first of your day because the determination of the success of your day all start it all it all it all falls about upon how your day starts because the very first part of your day is the time where you have the most energy you have nothing going on in your mind from work hey guess what your cell phone doesn't ring at five six in the morning like it does at like three or four in the afternoon god once uninterrupt he wants uninterrupted time he wants the first fruits of our day we must give the first fruits of our finances we must offer god with our in our hands with our finances some would say that i've heard this many times that tithing is under the law which tithing was before the law we've been taught that but the principle of the first fruits is found all throughout your bible not only is the principle of tithing in tithing but the principle of tithing is also found in the law of the first fruits malachi 3 and 8 will a man rob god yet ye have robbed me but ye say where and have we robbed thee in tithes and offerings you are bles you are cursed with a curse for you have robbed me even this whole nation bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse should there be me meet in mine house and prove me now which saith the lord of hosts if i will not open to you the windows of heaven and pour you out a blessing that there shall not be room enough to receive it and i will rebuke the devour devourer for your sakes and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground neither shall your vine cast her fruit before the time of the field saith the lord of hosts what determines if the rest of your fruits of your finances are blessed all is based on how you start with your first fruits if you want the promise to come to pass in your life that that everything is blessed in your life god is saying the contingency of the promise is all if you bring me something is all based upon if you bring me something the law of the first fruits and offering something to god and not coming empty-handed to god is not if if you don't do this you're still okay the law that is it that if you obey it you will be blessed pressed down shaken together and running over but if you don't honor god with the first fruits then the rest of the fruit in your life is cursed but the bible the promise of pressed down shaking together and running over still rings true if you don't honor god with the first fruits then your first fruits are cursed the rest of your fruits are cursed but that curse is also pressed down shaken together and running over the promise still comes to pass but you determine if it's for blessing or if it's for cursing if you want your day to be blessed start it with prayer and start it with bible reading because the rest of your day will be blessed and it'll be pressed down shaken together and running over but if you don't begin your day with the first fruits being honored unto god then your day is going to be cursed you're going to feel like you've been pressed you feel like i've been pressed in my life i'm getting pressured all from all sides and you're going to feel like everything's shaking around you you feel like things are not stable in your life and then you feel like there's so much time that everything's running over in your life and you don't have time enough to do this and time enough to do that enough time to do anything but if you would obey the promises of god if you would honor him with your first fruits then the rest of your fruit is going to be blessed and it's going to be pressed down shaken together and running over if you believe that would you clap your hands in this place would you notice with me that if we take part of giving the first fruit of our finances the god he will rebuke the devourer for your sakes he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground neither shall her your vine cast her fruit before the time in the field when we obey the law of the first fruits and finances god takes care of the earthly things he says i'm going to rebuke the devourer i'm going to do all those things the the your your harvest is not going to come forth before it's time it's going to be matured um i'm going to rebuke things in your life that might try to destroy you if we give of our finances god says i'm going to take care of the earthly now i could go to when jesus was resurrected on the day that the children of israel celebrated the feast of the fruits there's a lot in that but i don't want to get into that tonight but when we receive the holy ghost we take part of the first fruits of the spirit eight romans 8 23 says and not only they but ourselves also which have the first fruits of the spirit even we ourselves grown within ourselves waiting for the adoption to win the redemption of our bodies when we have the holy ghost active in our life it gives us the power over spiritual things it gives you the power to stay away from sin it gives you power to live an overcoming life so when we honor god with having his spirit in our life the first fruits of the spirit we have power over the spiritual things and then when we honor god with the first fruit of our finances god takes care of the earthly things when we take part of the first fruits of the spirit god takes care of the spiritual realm and when we take care of the finances and honoring god with our finances god takes care of the earthly realm we cannot come to god i'm trying to stress to you tonight we cannot come to god empty-handed it's called a sacrifice of praise for a reason on wednesday night when you have you have spent yourself with your job and you come to the house of the lord you are honoring god with a sacrifice of praise when you lift your hands when you are tired it it hurts because you've been working with your hands all day you are honoring god with something in your hands and when you honor god with something to give him god says i'm gonna bless the rest of the fruit in your life if you will offer something to me if you won't come to me empty-handed i will bless you i will release the promises in your life how can we offer god less than what he deserves and expect more from him how can we offer less to god and expect something more something greater more revivals more miracles more signs more wonders that means we have to offer more we have to give more we've got to sacrifice more in order to get something from god you may be seated but how in the world can we offer less to god and expect something more from him if for our next few moments if i could preach to my generation how can we expect to see more miracles more signs and more wonders how can we expect to see more anointing how can we expect to see more people being filled with the holy ghost and offering less to god than our previous generations have how can we expect more revival if we aren't willing to give more of ourselves to god god is looking down from heaven and saying there is a generation with empty hands offering it unto me and expecting something great and something mighty in return i say nay i say nay i say nay if we want more from god we've got to give him more we've got to offer him more we've got to give him a sacrifice of our life we have to give him more god when you look down at me don't see empty hands but god see me with sacrifice god see me with something to give you because greater the sacrifice greater the promises being come to pass in my life hallelujah i feel the holy ghost right now can we just i know we're not in a hurry but can we just for a few moments can we just ask god to speak to our hearts god what would you have for me to give unto you god god take take notice of everything in my life god if there's something i'm withholding from you god i want you to take it because i want everything in my life to be blessed y'all don't want to be a blessed man god i want to be a blessed man when it comes to my time god i want to be a blessed man when it comes to my finances god i don't want to come to you with empty hands and expecting something from you you may be seated let's take a look at abraham and how what he did with the first fruits and let's see what god did with him genesis 22 and 1 says and it came to pass after these things that god did tempt abraham and said unto him abraham and he said behold here i am he says take thy son thine only son isaac whom now lovest and get thee into the land of moriah and offer him there for a bird's offering upon with the mountains which i tell thee of that we got to keep in mind all the promises that god has told to abraham that would flow through the promised child of isaac genesis 17 4 says as for me behold my covenant is is with thee and thou shalt be a father of many nations genesis 17 and 6 and i will make thee exceedingly fruitful and i will make nations of thee and kings shall come out of thee genesis 17 and 9 and god said unto abraham thou shalt keep my covenant therefore thou and thy seed after the end in their generations genesis 17-19 and god says sarah thy wife shall bear thee a son indeed and thou shalt call his name isaac and i will establish my covenant with him for an everlasting covenant and with his seed after him god is promising that cup this covenant is going to be with abraham and will flow through isaac it talks about isaac's children being blessed it talks about kings coming from abraham through isaac so here abraham is realizing that god is wanting to see what he has what he will do with his first fruits to see if he'll come to god empty-handed or see if abraham will come to god with with uh with withholding his son isaac verse number three in that chapter in chapter 22 verse number three and abraham rose up early in the morning sat on his ass and took of his young men with him and isaac his son enclaved the wood for the burnt offering and rose up and went to the place which god had told him then on the third day abraham lifted up his eyes and saw the play so far off and abraham said unto his men abide ye here with ash and i and the lad will go yonder and worship and come again to you and abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it upon isaac his son and he took fire in his hand and a knife and they went both of them together and isaac spake unto abraham his father and he's and said my father and he said here am i my son and he said behold the fire and the wood but where is the lamb for the burnt offering if isaac knew anything he know he knew we are not supposed to show up to god empty-handed the sacrifice is nowhere to be found and dad you've taught me all my life when you show up to god when you try to talk to god you don't show up empty-handed abraham dad have you lost your mind because we we are going to sacrifice but we have nothing to sacrifice we are going to show up to god empty-handed isaac knew this was a problem but then abraham spoke he stepped into the prophetic realm and he said my son god will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering so they went both of them together and they came to the place which god had told him of and abraham built an altar there laid the wood in order and bound isaac his son and laid him on the altar on the wood and abraham stretched forth his hand and took the knife to slay his son you have to know what it is amazing how god works all things together that pastor hammond would touch on here on this story this morning you have to know that abraham he is flesh just as much as we are you have to know that he is he's got this knife in his hand he's got his son the fur his first fruits he's got what is going to contain his promise on an altar he is saying god have you not forgot about all the times that you told me that my seed is going to be through isaac have you not thought have you forgot about that that the kings are going to flow through this this thing that i'm about to sacrifice unto you that sometimes our sacrifice doesn't make sense to us but it always makes sense to god because when abraham was willing to sacrifice isaac the bible says in verse number 11 and the angel of the lord called unto him out of the heaven and said abraham abraham and he said here am i he said lay not thine hand upon the lad neither do thou anything unto him for now i know that thou fearest me seeing that thou hast not withheld thy son thine only son from me another translation says now that i know that you put me first then in verse number 16 when he was willing to give sacrificially it says by myself i have sworn saith the lord for because thou hast done this thing and hast not withheld thy son thine only son that in blessings i will bless thee and in multiplying i will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven and as the sand which is upon the seashore and thou shalt possess the gate of his enemies and in thy seat shall all nations of the earth be blessed because thou hast obeyed my voice would you notice with me that the promises that god had gave to abraham were activated when he was willing to sacrifice when he come to sacrifice he didn't come empty-handed and when he was willing to give and put god first god says all right i see that you have you have something in your hands to offer me you are going to give the first fruits and you are going to obey my voice and now that you have done all those things the promises in your life are activated the seed is going to be blessed your descendants will be as the stars of heaven and as the sand on the seashore and so i want to speak to someone tonight that you feel like god has forgot about you that you feel like there are so many promises in your life that have not come to pass if you would be willing to offer something to god tonight god will activate the promises in your life maybe it's a child coming home if you'll come to god with an offering if you'll come to god with something to offer him then god will activate the promise that he has put in your life if you're waiting on god and you think god have you not have you forgot about me god do you not know that i live faithfully before you and god my children are not serving you god where in the world are you are you at if you will offer something to god tonight if you will offer your first fruits maybe it's in praise and in worship god says i'm going to activate the promises in your life because you're not withholding nothing from me you have something in your hand to offer me we cannot come to god empty-handed we can't expect something from god we can't expect the promises of god to be activated in our life and the blessings of god to come forth if we aren't willing to give him something we cannot come to god empty-handed you may be seated if you feel that god has left you empty-handed on promises you better check your hands to see if you're offering god empty-handed sacrifice you better check yourselves and i'm preaching to myself i promise we've got to check ourselves to see if we're offering god our very best because god doesn't really look at the amount for the individual because it basis it change varies it varies based um upon the person of of what they can give but god looks at the amount of sacrifice he wants the very first he wants the very best and if we give that to god if we give that to god he'll activate the promises in your life i i felt this in the prayer room this evening i felt that god was speaking to me and he said if my people will bring me an offering i will release miracles in their life and i don't know i spoke this to pastor before before the service started i don't know if that's a financial offering i don't know if it's an offering of praise and worship maybe it's an offering of your life if you will give something to god tonight he will activate something in your life he will activate those promises that he promised you many years ago he'll he'll activate the things that you think that god forgot about god did you not forg did you forget lord that i raised my children in church god did you forget that i gave sacrificially in the building fund when i didn't have it to give but i still gave it god don't you forget have you forgot about me and he's saying no i'm just waiting for you to give me something i'm waiting for you to offer me something in your hands if you would give me of the first fruits i will activate the promises in your life i will activate the blessings in your life if you would be willing to sacrifice to me why don't we consider the ten lepers in luke 17 and 13 it says and they lifted up their voices and said jesus master have mercy on us notice they didn't come empty-handed to god they didn't come empty-handed that god robed in flesh they came with worship they came with worship and when he saw them he said unto them go show yourselves unto the priests and it came to pass that as they went they were cleansed you got to see the picture with me you see 10 lepers you obviously can see that they have leprosy maybe as they were missing a couple limbs maybe they were missing fingers and toes but they were jesus said go show yourselves to the priest and as they went they were cleansed can't you see them on their way they left jesus with leprosy all over them that's what the bible that's what the bible says jesus did not say hey be healed let perceive no more be cleansed no it says as they went as they were on their way to the priest healing came forth in their life they brought two things unto god robbed them flesh they brought worship and they brought faith jesus said unto them go show yourselves to the priest and notice jesus didn't say go you are cleansed go your way but it says as they went as they went they were healed i just believe tonight as you are giving an offering to god as you are giving your life of faithfulness as you are giving god a sacrifice which we heard this morning is your reasonable service then god will do mighty works in your life god will do my mighty works and he will release promises and he will release blessings in your life i don't know about you but maybe it's it's you all you have to offer is empty dreams and just a life full of mistakes if that's all you have to offer god god just wants you to give him something if you have a life full of scars if you have a life full of mistakes maybe you you think that god's forgot about you if you'll give god your life tonight he'll do things in your life that you could have never dreamed and you could never imagined but if we will bring something unto god god will release something in our lives if you'd be so kind to stand with me just for the next few moments i believe god is speaking in this house if we would just just if i could have some prayer warriors begin to pray with me right now god is speaking to someone if we will give something to god god will give something to us and it will be pressed down shaken together and running over right now i believe the word of the lord has went forth and god is waiting on someone to give him something i feel so strongly about this right now i believe that god is waiting on someone to give us something if you'll give something unto god god will give something unto you come on just for a few moments let's begin to pray i believe god is speaking in this place oh god in the name of jesus in the name of jesus right now god in the name of jesus lord speak to us god speak right now lord speak right now god oh speak right now god speak lord god i believe