[Darris McNeely] In the mythic novel, The Lord of the Rings, after a great deal of hardship and a great deal more hardship to come, two characters are walking along their road on their journey, on their quest, on their job of taking the ring to its location and foiling the forces of evil, as the story of The Lord of the Rings unfolds and tells. And one of them – a figure of character, named Sam, turns to his friend, Frodo Baggins, and he asks him a question at that point.  He says, “I wonder what type of tale we have fallen into, Mr. Frodo?”  What type of tale have we fallen into?  They had a number of adventures – and they had many, many more to go – and they were beginning to wonder if, indeed, they should have taken up the quest – the calling that they had been chosen to be a part of. And they went on. 

But that question lingered over the story. And it's a good question for you and I to ask, as well, on this Feast of Pentecost.  Now, some of you who are not familiar with the story of The Lord of the Rings are probably wondering what's he doing starting with a story like that on a Holy Day?  Of course, the kids aren't thinking that way because they know the story and they're thinking, oh, great, The Lord of the Rings today.  Well, no, we're not going to be talking about The Lord of the Rings, but as so often happens in a great tale like that, a great story of fiction, they, as in this case, have their themes based upon some very deep spiritual principles and outlines, if you will, that are found in scripture.  But they also utter truths and thoughts that give us something to consider. 

You and I are not on a quest with a ring to take to a fiery cauldron and toward some evil sorcerer.  We're on a different quest.  We're on a different story and here on the day of Pentecost – we're right in the middle of it, because this is a Holy Day that falls even literally right in the middle of all the Holy Days that tell us the story of the plan of God – not something mythical, not something dreamed up in the mind of a very talented author, not something that's been turned into a trilogy on the silver screen that tells quite a large story and quite a fascinating story.  I have to admit, because when I was a teenager we weren't reading The Lord of the Rings.  For some reason – my school, we weren't reading it – I never read the book.  And I resisted it and resisted it and thought, “Well, I don't want to read that myth. I don't want to read that fiction. The Bible's better.”  And then I watched the movies, and they then caught me up, and I said, “Yeah, they've got something there.  I don't have time to read the book, but I do have time to watch three movies on the subject,” which is your story, too, right?   (Laughter)

Our story is something bigger and it is something that is true.  Our story – and we are here on the day of Pentecost to rehearse a part of it, but really an integral, central part of it because with the Days on Unleavened Bread and Passover that have gone before – just fifty plus days ago – we have come to this point on Pentecost and there are several more holy days ahead of us that will tell other aspects of the great story of God's plan of salvation.  But this one is very special, and it's very important for us in the church, because it is what is unfolding right now and has been since the Day of Pentecost – really – that we read of in Acts, chapter 2, where on the Day of Pentecost, they were gathered, and the church began with a dramatic demonstration of power and flames of fire – that story.  But the story actually began earlier as Mr. Fenchel was explaining in his offertory. It began in the Old Testament with an offering.  On the first day of the week – on really, what we call a Sunday morning after a Sabbath during the Days of Unleavened Bread – when the priests would wave the sheaf and would begin a count of fifty days that ends right today and this Holy Day.  And when we put it all together and understand it, it is a story about the church, because God began His spiritual New Testament church on this Holy Day and we are a part of that now – two thousand years later.  And it's not over.  And so this whole age in which the church, that we read about in Acts, and in other stories, and in our own time, has been going on. It is actually during this period that is covered by this time of Pentecost – the Feast of Pentecost – the time of the Festival of First Fruits.  And this is our story.  And this is what you and I are gathered up in, because we have fallen into a great story.  Pentecost is about the story that we've all fallen into.  It is a story of the church – the body of Jesus Christ.  It is our calling to understand and to be enlightened into a calling that helps us to understand God and His Son, Jesus Christ, whom He sent, and the plan of salvation that He is bringing to pass. 

And it is an epic story – not one of myth, but one of truth.  And it is told far better than any other human author could ever tell any story in the pages of the Bible from Genesis to Revelation. And you and I are caught up in it.  Sometimes we have to pause to wonder what kind of a tale have we been caught up in?  What is it all about?  And this is a good day to stop and to remind ourselves of a few very important points and principles.  We will have many more challenges ahead of us.  The apostle Paul says that it is through much tribulation that we do enter the kingdom of God.  It is also through much joy.  It is also through much happiness and times of peace that we will enter the kingdom of God.  But today we need a reminder of why God has firstfruits and why you and I are firstfruits and what we are a part of now, in this age of the church.  So, let us understand today what it is that we are caught up in.  Wonderfully the scriptures have been already covered from the Old Testament that talk about this, but there are several in the New Testament that help us to blend it together and make the connection that yes, indeed, we are to be here on this day, this fiftieth day of the counting, to worship before God in a holy convocation and this is where we are. 

Probably the biggest point for us to consider is that as we recognize that this day is anchored firmly within the Days of Unleavened Bread and began with the day on which the final wave sheaf offering in the form of Jesus Christ, the resurrected Christ, was accepted by the Father as the scriptures tell us – and that morning after His resurrection He appeared to His disciples and once He said, “Don't touch Me, I've not yet ascended to My Father.”  And a little later on we find that they grasped Him by His feet, which obviously tells us that He had been accepted by the Father and He fulfilled that wave sheaf offering.  Paul tells us how this connects together in 1 Corinthians chapter 15, the resurrection chapter, verse 20.  It says:

1 Corinthians 15:20 - Now Christ is risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.

He is the firstfruit.  By His acceptance of that wave sheaf offering, He entered into the Holy Place once with His blood and has made possible salvation, forgiveness of sins through that blood and access to the Father and access to this plan for all mankind.  That was the glory of what happened with that event of the wave sheaf being fulfilled through Christ Himself being accepted by the Father.  He became the firstfruits of all who have fallen asleep because He was risen from the dead.  And then down in verse 23 -  let's read verse 21 - For since by man came death, by Man also came the resurrection of the dead.   Vs. 22 - For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive.  And that is our hope as Paul really thoroughly nails in this entire chapter of 1 Corinthians 15, that it is our hope and that He was resurrected and we have that hope, then, of being alive as well through a resurrection to eternal life.  In Vs. 22 - ...as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.   Vs. 23 - But each one in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, afterward those who are Christ's at His coming.

Christ was the first of the firstfruits and then afterwards, those who are Christ's at His coming, those who are His.  And, of course, other scriptures such as 1 Thessalonians 4 talk about the dead in Christ being raised at that time of the last trump and we will observe that as we come to the Feast of Trumpets in the fall.  That hasn't happened yet, which tells us that again here with Pentecost and the whole meaning and the symbol of this day, we are involved in an ongoing story of people who are being called as firstfruits to understand something that has not always been understood by the rest of mankind. 

And so, to think of ourselves as firstfruits and others who are going to come as the scripture here says, each in his own order, God has a plan.  All will have the opportunity to know God, to know the truth, to know Jesus Christ and to accept that sacrifice.  And God has a plan in which it is all being worked out which is why, again, on this day of Pentecost, when we fully understand the meaning of it, it does help us place what it is, not only what we are involved with, but what God is doing - that He will set His hand to save all the world.  And He is doing it and all will have that opportunity to know Him.  But at this particular point in time and through this age of the church, not everyone has had that enlightenment, that calling, that opportunity, but they will.  And so it comes back down to the question, then, for you and I, why us?  Why have we been chosen?  Why has God chosen us and to what have we been chosen?  It is glory.  It is not just knowledge that separates us, but it is the humility and the faith that allows us to live this way of life not just for ourselves, but because of what God is doing.  And in a very small sense, even we recognize that what we do is for mankind.  God is going to do it with or without us, but when we accept that calling and we stay with it and we don't let the trials and the challenges cause us to fall by the wayside, we remain faithful just as those two hobbits walked along and one of them wondered, you know, “What have we fallen into?  Why aren't we back in the shire?  Why aren't we back there where it's safe, comfortable, and we know everything and we knew exactly what our place was?  Why have we been lifted out of that into something else?”  I will admit to you, I have wondered that myself through the years.  Why me?  Why my mother?  Why my family?  Why?  Many times when I've gone back to my home shire, my hometown, I've thought at times, what would life have been like if I had stayed here?  What if I hadn't accepted that opportunity and walked out of it one day and just kept on walking into a different story?  What I walked into is far better than what I left behind.  Oh, I love my family and I love my friends – especially my family and those that are still there – and the memories are nice, but what God has offered to me is something far, far greater and it is to all of us as long as we keep it in perspective and don't let the challenges cause us to fall backwards. 

You know, when you look at it in Acts and you see the story of how the church developed, there are many lessons that we go through there, but there's one point that I would want to call our attention to and that's in Acts, chapter 9.  If you would please turn there, because several times in the books of Acts the church, the fellowship, is referred to by a word that pops up.  And the first time it comes is when Paul – Saul, I should say at this point – who was on his way to Damascus with letters to arrest members like you and I and he's breathing threats and murder in verse 1 and he's on his way to Damascus.  And it says in verse 2:

Acts 9:2 -  He has ...letters from... the priests  ...to the synagogues of Damascus, so that if he found any who were of the Way, whether men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem.

This is the first of several places where it's mentioned.  The church and the people were referred to as 'the Way'.  Other places it's called the church of God – we don't call ourselves 'the Way', we call ourselves biblically the Church of God, but sometimes we gloss over that.  And what that is really saying is it's a way of life.  It is a way in terms of a walk, a journey.  It's a lifetime, but it's a way of life that defines us.  And these people had bound themselves together all wanting to walk this way of life.  And so, for a while, they were referred to as those of 'the Way'.  A Way, which is a fellowship, a body of believers.  And, in one sense, that's a very important point to take away from what you see here in the book of Acts in regard to what they were called to.  Now, as Paul encountered others, now the story you know here is that he, himself, was struck down and converted on this particular trip.  He became, then later, the apostle Paul.  And Paul, himself, kept walking through the cities of the Mediterranean, the Roman world of his day, preaching the gospel as an apostle. 

Ultimately he came to spend a period of time in the city of Ephesus and raised up, started not only a church there, but several other churches.  We read about them in the book of Revelation.  There were six other churches there that no doubt were started during the time that Paul was in Ephesus.  He later wrote a letter back to them.  It's called Ephesians.  We will turn over to chapter 1 of Ephesians.  This is one of the great chapters of the Bible and he writes it to a church in one of the great cities of the Roman world of the 1st century.  They had a great temple called the Temple of Diana, one of the ancient wonders of that world.  And it's in this letter, in the first chapter of this letter, that he lays out something that, again, I think speaks to us on the day of Pentecost as he speaks to what God has done and is doing.  Let's just go to verse 3.  He says:

Ephesians 1:3 - Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ,   Vs. 4 -  just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love,

Right there, verse 4.  That's a great story summed up in just a few words.  He chose us in Him - the Father chose us in Christ – before the foundation of the world.  Every time I read that in the New Testament several places, it kind of – wow!  Before the foundation of the world.  What does that mean?  What was going on?  The foundation of this world - that God's plan was worked out in the mind of the Father and the Logos, the Ones who became the Father and Logos, and it was known and that people would be chosen - that special creation of mankind that we read beginning with Adam.  From them would be chosen people by God, the Father, in Christ to be holy and without blame.  We are chosen.  That's a point to consider.  God has chosen us.  Paul goes on in this opening to what is really an epic story.  He talks about vs. 5 - having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will...

That... in vs. 10, I will jump to that -  ...in the dispensation of the fullness of the times He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth—in Him.   God's purpose is not just to choose, but to gather together all in Christ, all things in Christ, whether in heaven or on earth, all will be gathered together in Him - by what He did, by what He is doing and what has been made available by His sacrifice that ...in the fullness of times...  With Pentecost there was a fullness of time that had come.  There was a marker that had been laid down in human experience through the birth, life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ of Nazareth.  A marker had been laid down in a place that now marked a fullness, if you will, that began to open up the plan of God for what these verses are talking about.  And He began to gather.  And He began to gather in that spiritual sense on the Day of Pentecost.  That is mentioned there in chapter 2.  And that is ongoing and God is gathering today as He has been through every age since that 1st century – calling, offering salvation through the preaching of the gospel of  Jesus Christ and the kingdom of God.  That has been made possible.  And there have always, in every age, been those who have responded because the promise that Christ made that He would build His church - the gates of the grave would not prevail against it - and that He would be with it until the end of the age is a promise that has never lagged.  He has been with His church throughout these ages.  It has been large, it has been small.  It has beensignificant, it has been insignificant at times, but it has never died and through it all the gospel has been preached and God has gathered people together. 

In Vs. 11 - In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will,   Vs. 12 - that we who first trusted in Christ should be to the praise of His glory.   And those, beginning with those in this 1st century, there in the church in Ephesus and others all the way down to this very moment in time who have been among those who first trusted in Christ, would be to the praise of His glory.  Vs. 12 - In Him you trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise,   Vs. 14 - which is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory.

And so that's a third thing to consider out of Ephesians 1, God has sealed us.  God has chosen us, God is gathering us and God has sealed us with His Holy Spirit, that is a down payment of His intent to bring us to glory.  Paul goes on and he makes an interesting prayer that begins here in chapter 1, verse 17.  He says:

1:17 - that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of our glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him,   This is really a prayer that he says in vs. 16 – I make ...mention of you in my prayers:     Vs. 17 - that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him,   Vs. 18 - the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of the inheritance of the saints...  

Let's just pause on that phrase:  that the eyes of your understanding be enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling and the riches of His glory.  Are your eyes enlightened?  This is Paul's prayer for us – it comes down to us today – that our eyes would be of understanding, would be enlightened into the hope of our calling.  That comes by God's Spirit, by the power of God's Spirit, the miracle of a converted mind, and a mind that accepts that calling and yields to God in faith in Jesus Christ.  But he is praying and we should be thinking and understanding that we have the eyes of understanding, being enlightened.  That's a remarkable phrase and a remarkable thought because it tells us that we really do need to see ourselves and what we have fallen into, the tale that we have fallen into.  By keeping this day and all the days, but certainly as we keep this day we do have that understanding.  It is a unique day of the Holy Days – in a sense they all are, but this is what pictures an ongoing process right now.  And, at times, we always have got to keep our mind firmly focused on what it is that God has called you to, because each of us must see ourselves as chosen, gathered for a purpose and sealed by God's Holy Spirit.  Each of us.  We must always see that in our relationship with God and we must collectively remember it and understand it, as well, within our fellowship because we are firstfruits.

In James, chapter 1 and verse 18 it says:

James 1:18 – Of His own will He brought us forth by the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of His creatures.   A kind of firstfruits.  We are part of that group and that is the understanding that we must have.

Now, you go back to Ephesians 1, at least in thought, we won't need to go there exactly, it's a marvelous letter, it's a marvelous chapter, as I said.  And he writes it about the church.  He ends Ephesians 1 by exalting Christ and the body of the church and Christ is the head of that body.  And it's, as I said, it's one of the most remarkable chapters of the Bible as Paul lays it all out there from the foundation of the world to the position of Jesus Christ.  And that prayer that he gives there - that we would have eyes of enlightenment and understanding - really stands out to me this year as I prepared this sermon for Pentecost, because how do we keep that alive so that we always know the answer to the question, what type of tale have we fallen into?  And we can immediately know we've fallen into the plan of God.  We have been lifted up beyond ourselves in our time into a story, into a truth, into a reality that God has been bringing to pass from before the foundation of this world.  And it is a story greater than any mythic epic told by anyone in any language at any time.  It is the story of truth from the Word of God, breathed from and by God's Spirit through men and told through the lives of men and women and has come down to us - and it is a great, great story.  It is the great story of the entire universe.  How do we keep that alive?  What should we take away from this day of Pentecost? 

Well, let's turn over to the book of Revelation.  If you want the real story of the fellowship of the rings, 'The Lord of the Rings' – whatever it is – this is it right here, summed up from all of the scriptures and what Christ gives through John to us in the story of Revelation.  It's a summation and it's really a foundation of so much.  I learned this book as a kid, one of the first books I remember my local minister taking us through in Bible study.  And I remember Wednesday nights Bible study, fifth floor hotel room in my home town in Missouri and going through Revelation.  And he had us get out blank paper and I drew my first beast there.  It was a legitimate cartoon drawing during Bible study because he had given us permission to draw.  We got to do it.  We drew the beast and I kept that for years.  I wish I still had it.  But I understood it and went through those churches and all these other great stories out of Revelation.  I've taught it through the years, read it through the years, written about it as well.  It's a great story unfolding scene by scene right in front of us.  Right in front of us.  And it's not a difficult story / book to understand, really, when you focus in on it with eyes with enlightened understanding as Paul prays for.  One of the things I've learned in all these decades of especially looking at Revelation, is sometimes what to look at and what to apply to my life because, as we know, the book of Revelation has a lot of things in it that you can kind of get strayed off on a little branch out here – try to figure out who the beast might be or other things and try to put names and dates and people and places to certain things.  You can get a little bit buggy.  Don't do that.  There's far more to understand. 

Turn to chapter 14.  In chapter 14 we have something that ties into the Day of Pentecost and I think when we look at it, it can help give us something to understand.  In chapter 14 verse 1, John writes:

Revelation 14:1 - Then I looked, and behold, a Lamb standing on Mount Zion, and with Him one hundred and forty-four thousand, having His Father's name written on their foreheads.   Vs. 2 - And I heard a voice from heaven, like the voice of many waters, and like the voice of loud thunder. And I heard the sound of harpists playing their harps.

Hundred and forty-four thousand.  A hundred and forty-four thousand.  Today I'm going to tell you who they are.  On this Day of Pentecost I'm going to tell you who the hundred and forty-four thousand are so get your pencil sharpened up, make sure the video camera is going.  I'm going to tell you who the hundred and forty-four thousand are.  You think you know.  You might have it written in the margin of your Bible - some of you right now.  Let's read on. 

Vs. 3 – They sang as it were a new song before the throne, before the four living creatures, and the elders; and no one could learn that song except the hundred and forty-four thousand who were redeemed from the earth.   Now, are you ready?  Here's the answer.  Vs. 4 - These are the ones who were not defiled with women, for they are virgins. These are the ones who follow the Lamb wherever He goes. These were redeemed from among men, being firstfruits to God and to the Lamb.   Vs. 5 -  And in their mouth was found no deceit, for they are without fault before the throne of God.   That's who the hundred and forty-four thousand are.  And whatever you might have written in your margins needs to agree with that.  Okay?  That's it.  But you know what?  That's all God wants us to know because it may be that that's all we need to know right now.  And in this description there's quite a bit. 

• A new song they sing. 
• They were not defiled with women and that's speaking spiritually – spiritual virgins.  Paul talked about betrothing the church to Christ as a chaste virgin. 
• We've overcome false teaching.  We have come out of false teaching into the truth and, in that sense, been washed and cleansed by Christ's blood – in that sense, presented before God as chaste. 
• We follow the Lamb wherever He goes, being redeemed from among men. 
• Being firstfruits to God and to the Lamb.
• We hear His voice.  We are of His fold.  He is our shepherd – our chief shepherd.  He is, as Hebrews 3:1 tells us, our Apostle.  We follow Him wherever He goes.  We see Him as the head of the body, the head of the church that we have been called to, that has been prepared and thought through, planned from before the foundation of the world - that spiritual body that has been being formed from the Day of Pentecost.  We are all a part of that. 

Vs. 5 -  And in their mouth was found no deceit, for they are without fault before the throne of God.

This is the group of people that are pictured here in this section and, actually, it goes all the way into chapter 15, if you will.  There's a vision in chapter 15 and verse 2 of people before the sea of glass that sing a great song in verse 3.  But here's the thing that I take from this whole passage:  there were three angels and messages that chapter 14 goes through, as well, but this is a section, one of the inset sections of Revelation, but it tells us something about those that God has called and caught up, chosen, gathered and sealed, those who are following the Lamb.  And whoever that hundred and forty-four thousand are at any given time within God's purpose and plan, He knows how that all works out.  I don't really worry about that.  I honestly don't.  What I do focus on are verses 4 and 5 of chapter 14.  I want to be found without deceit, doing and following the Lamb wherever He goes.  I would like to be part of that group of a chaste, spiritual body being presented before the Lamb.  That's what I really want to be a part of.  I see that as the church, if you will, right now.  Don't draw too many clear distinctions from that.  Let God work out the numbers, that's His business, it's not mine.  I learned years ago, I don't worry about the numbers the doctor keeps on me.  He tells me every time I go in every six months andI say, “Okay, I'll do better.”  I'll do better.  I let him worry about the numbers in one sense.  I worry about what I have to do every day.  I let God worry about the numbers. 

What he is describing here is a group of people that are called firstfruits.  And these firstfruits have challenges before them, but they win.  They win.  They are a winning team.  They are a winning family.  That's what is described here in chapter 14.  That's why they sing a song in chapter 15 called the song of Moses and the song of the Lamb beginning in verses 3, 4 and 5.  It's a victory song, but it expresses an attitude that is a winning attitude.  And that's what I think is important for me to understand today - and for you to understand - as we figure out what it is, this tale we have fallen into.  As we look at the firstfruits and we look at these descriptors – focus on those and then we know our place in the story. 

#1 – The firstfruits are a winning team.  They are a winning team or a family, if you will.  They're winners.  You know, we're in the midst of the NBA playoffs right now and I've been following them because I was hoping Indiana would be there, but they're not, so okay, I'm rooting the Spurs right now.  Can't root for the Heat, they're the Yankees of basketball.  Can't do that, but anyway.  But I was thinking about this.  You know what?  In both of those locker rooms right now I'll bet you whether it's the Spurs or the HEAT, at this point in the playoffs I'll bet there's a buzz, I'll bet there's excitement and anticipation of what they can do because that's why they are in the finals.  They know their talents.  They know their abilities.  They know their calling.  They're winners and both of them have already won championships in the past.  They're going for another one, but they're winners and a winning team has a buzz in it's locker room.  A winning church has a buzz in it's fellowship – a buzz of excitement, eagerness, anticipation – love, if you will - excitement to be together because they're following the Lamb.  There's not deceit in their mouth.  They're honest and open people with one another, loving to be together.  When you walk into their midst, whether it's twenty-five or three hundred plus, there's a buzz.  The firstfruits are a winning team and, brethren, we need to treat each other like family.  We need to treat each other like winners because this is the description of the group that God is putting together.  He has chosen, He has gathered and He has sealed.  It is a winning team.  That's what Revelation tells us.  They will overcome the world and the beast and its mark and all of the other things.  They have been redeemed from among the earth. 

Think about our fellowship as we walk along our way.  We've been walking together for many decades.  I look out here and I've come to know many of you over the last few years.  You've walked many, many decades – four, five, sometimes six decades – in the way, in this way of life and we've had our challenges, we've had our ups and downs, we've had our difficulties, but we're still here on the day of Pentecost.  We're still here eager, learning, a little bit wounded at times perhaps, a scar here a scar there, a hurt here a hurt there - small hurts, big hurts - but, brethren, we need one another because we have been called for a very, very big story and we need one another.  And, frankly, we need to fight for our fellowship because it is, in my opinion, a sacred fellowship, it is a sacred calling.  We need to fight for this fellowship because as far as I'm concerned, it's all we've got.  I don't have any intention of going anywhere else.  Do you?  This is my fellowship and at times we have to fight for it.  We have to fight for peace, we have to fight to stay together, we have to fight to stay at the table, we have to fight to stay engaged because sometimes little things happen to upset the peace and sometimes big blows happen.  But through it all we take it and we move forward because we're part of a winning team, a winning family.  That's the first point. 

The second point – we need to think like a winner.  We need to think like a winner.  It's one thing to be on a winning team and to be absorbing what someone else has an attitude and that's good because it will keep us bolstered.  It will encourage us when we may falter and want to lag behind on the journey.  But then we have to come back in, get in the game.  We have to think like a winner to be continuing to contribute as part of a winning team.  A winner doesn't think failure.  For a winner, failure is not an option.  For a winner, failure is not an option.  We are going to win because we see the story.  God wins.  The Lamb has won and we are going to follow Him wherever He goes.  Bitterness, anger, wrath – they're not an option.  Trials?  Yes.  They will come. 

In Romans, chapter 5 beginning in verse 1, Paul says:

Romans 5:1 - Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,   Vs. 2 - through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.   Vs. 3 - And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations...  Oh, glory in trial.  Wow!  That hurts.  Big trial, little trial.  Through the decades how many trials have we had individually, collectively?  We are to glory in those trials and in that resistance to the world and in whatever comes to us because he says,  ...knowing that...  trial  ...tribulation produces perseverance;   Vs. 4 - and perseverance... leads to ...character; and character, hope.  Character is something that a veteran has.  You're on the championship team playing in the championship game, you want to have a few veterans there.  I look around here and I see a lot of veterans – multiple decades of experience in the faith.  We've got it in spades.  We really do.  But that's good because that's how God has positioned it for us at this time.  And it is that glory and that trial that has brought us to that point to allow us to be able to do that.  Then in vs. 5 he says - Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.

It starts with trial and it ends in hope.  Along the way we build perseverance and character and we end up with hope.  That's how a winner thinks.  The winner takes the setback, hurts, grieves as bolstered by their friends and family, but doesn't fade away, is not counted as missing in action, walks back through the door next week and the week after and says, “Reporting for duty.  What's next?  Where can I help?  How can I serve?”  Sometimes we get a big dose of that trial so much so that we think, “Boy, God, I know You're the great doctor and You're the great healer, physician, and we need to be cleansed of sin.  And I know that that medicine - whatever it is that You give us - sometimes comes in big doses and it's what we need at that time to keep the body going.  But, God,” sometimes we say, “instead of that big syringe You've got in Your hand, God, could You just put us on a drip bag and let that trial kind of drip in occasionally?”  I know that's sometimes what we think because that's how we are.  We're part of a winning team and we need to think like a winner.

And thirdly, we need to live like winners.  We need to live like a winner.  Revelation 14 says that the firstfruits are without fault before the throne of God.  We're without sin through Christ's sacrifice, but as we live our lives through the years we should come closer to a point of where there's at least less of them, less of the bigger ones – we've cleaned up some of the big rocks and still have some of the emotions and perhaps some of the other things to work on and we're doing that, but some of the big rocks have been put to rest.  We need to live like winners, as well. 

Romans, chapter 8, verse 18 Paul writes:

Romans 8:18 - I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us...  those trials that he tells us in chapter 5 to glory in  Vs. 19 - For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God.   Vs. 20 - For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it in hope;   Vs. 21 - because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.   Vs 22 - For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now.   Vs. 23 - Not only that, but we also who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption and the redemption of our body.

This is the story, this is the tale into which we have fallen laid out here by Paul – a story that ends in glory, the glory of the resurrection and the Kingdom of God and entrance into the family of God.  This is what we have fallen into.  This is the hope that is ours.

And vs. 24 - For we were saved in this hope, but hope that is seen is not hope; for why does one still hope for what he sees?   Vs. 25 - But if we hope for what we do not see, we eagerly wait for it with perseverance.

We are part of a winning team.  We must think like a winner all along the way and we must live like winners because the firstfruits are winners and they are what are being described in these few verses here. 

No matter how long we have been keeping Pentecost, these Holy days, there are very important reasons for us to assemble on this day and to be reminded of the fact that we are firstfruits and that God is bringing together in an orderly fashion salvation for all mankind.  When we're reminded of that, we understand who we are and we understand our place in what God is doing.  And that, brethren, is the story into which we have fallen.