There is nothing more exciting than the moment you begin to see the germination of something you’ve planted.  You put a seed in the ground, you water it and wait, water and wait and then all of a sudden there is the evidence of a shoot coming through the soil, a few days later leaves begin to unfold and you know that a miracle has occurred!  A seed has become a plant that will bear a flower or fruit along with many more seeds!  God calls your offering a seed!  (2 Corinthians 9:8)

I love that!  That’s why God called His people to bring a First Fruits Offering (Exodus 23:16) to Him in the spring at planting time!  It was a seed planted into the Kingdom of God honoring God and with it was the peoples request for God to look with favor on them and bring a great harvest time for their life.  God always honors those that honor Him first!  He has from the very beginning!  (Genesis 4:4) 

At Anthem we choose to honor God with a First Fruits Offering each spring in the season of planting!  This year it happens April 14th but you can bring yours when you can! 

We do this for two reasons!  We want to continue to press forward with the Great Commandments and Great Commission!  We want to do our part to present the good news of Jesus to our community; to develop fully devoted disciples of Jesus in a secular culture and to be global senders of this message in partnership with missionaries across the world! 

There are great promises for those who participate in this offering!   Promises for the supernatural intervention of God in your life by way of angels, divine protection, supernatural health, blessings on your children and long life to name a few!  (See Exodus 23) God’s favor is amazing!  Join me this year and bring a First Fruits Offering that is worthy of the King!  Let it be an offering that stretches you out of the comfort zone and watch what God will do!  Here is what he has done for just a couple people in our congregation!

“We gave God an offering and wrote the amount we wanted to sell our house for on the check!  After having very few lookers God brought a buyer who offered us the exact amount we had written on the check!  Our house sold! It was a miracle!” - Mark and Victoria Herron

“I had just become a Christian and never gave regularly then my accountant came to me and said you owe $54,000 in taxes.  I felt stirred to give all I had in our savings as an offering to the Lord.  It was 5,000 dollars!  Then the next week my accountant called and informed me that instead of owing 54,000 I was going to receive a $1600 refund!  A $55,600 turn around!  God is faithful to His promises!” - Dr. Tom Saeman

“We were almost 50,000 upside down with our home mortgage but as we begin to be faithful with our tithe and participating in the First Fruit Offering God did a miracle.  We sold our home and walked away with over $100,000 in cash!  We quickly honored God with the first tenth and saw God bless us with a beautiful new home!  We’re still shaking our heads in amazement at the goodness of God!” - Ryan and Carissa Mills

I am expecting the next great testimony will be yours! 

Blessings, 

PB