07/24/2026 – “Firstfruitfulness”/ “And just as we have borne the image of the man made of dust, we will also bear the image of the heavenly man.” Romans 15:49 (Verses, commentary and comments below)
“The teacher led me into a garden filled with laborers hard at work harvesting the olive trees and over to a low stone wall where we both sat down. The laborers then approached the teacher with a basket full of olives they had just harvested from the trees.
“God commanded man to be fruitful,” he said. “Beyond physical fruit, we were to have brought forth the fruits of love, righteousness, truth, joy, peace, godliness, and much more. But with the fall of man and beginning of sin, we lost the ability to bear the fruit we were called to bear.”
He look down at the basket of olives.
“On what Hebrew holy day did Messiah rise from death?”
“The Day of the Firstfruits.”
“It had to do with fruit. So the resurrection has to do with the power of fruitfulness, that we might bear the fruits we were created to bear. But it wasn’t just about fruit. And this is not just a basket of fruit. This is a basket of first- fruits. Messiah rose on the Day of the Firstfruits. So the resurrection not only has to do with fruitfulness, but with firstfruitfulness. And so the power it gives us is not only the power of fruitfulness, but the power of firstfruitfulness.”
And what is the power of first- fruitfulness?” I asked.
“It’s the power to bear the fruits of God in circumstances where those fruits have never been borne, and from the ground that has never before been able to bring them forth. It’s the power to produce the firstfruits of love, the firstfruits of Goethe first fruits of hope, the firstfruits of repentance, the firstfruits forgiveness, the first fruits of life. It’s the power to bring forth hope where there is no hope, and love where there is no love, joy where there is no joy, forgiveness where there has been no forgiveness, victory where there has been no victory, and life where there is no life. It was from just such a ground that the miracle of the resurrection took place… a ground of darkness, hopelessness,, and death. And yet from that came forth the first fruits of new life. it was so you could do likewise. And now you have a command: Be ye not only fruitful… from now on.. be yet firstfruitful.”
The Mission: Today, be not only fruitful, but be firstfruitful. Where there is no fruit of love, or hope, or forgiveness, or joy, be the first one to bear them.”
2 Chronicles 31:5; Matthew 5:44; 1 Corinthians 15:20.
The Power of the Bikoreem
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Soli Deo Gloria!
“But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father in heaven.” Matthew 5:45
“But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep.” 1 Corinthians 15:20
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Comments:
I would urge y’all to read and pray over 1 Corinthains Chapter 15 in its entirety. Section titles within the chapter are as follows: “Resurrection Essential to the Gospel” (v1 thru 11); “Resurrection Essential to Faith” (v. 12-19); “Christ’s Resurrection Guarantees Ours” (vv 20 thru v28); “Resurrection Supported by Christian Experience” (v 29 thru v34); “The Nature of the Resurrection Body” (vv 35 thru vv49); and, “Victorious Resurrection” (vv 50 – 58).
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Finally, let’s look at the Apologetics Study Bible commentary on verse 44 for clarification:
“sown a natural body, raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body.”
Commentary:
“15:44. Are the spiritual bodies of believers will have at the coming resurrection nonmaterial bodies? If so, it would imply that Christ’s risen body was nonmaterial. This, however, was not what Paul meant. Rather, descendants of fallen Adam cannot enter God’s kingdom unchanged. The “spiritual body” is a true body – a material body – but a transformed body. The two bodies being contrasted are not “physical” vs “spiritual” but rather “soul-oriented [psychikon]” vs. “Spirit-oreinted [pneumatikon].” (See 2:14-15, where Paul contrasted the psychikos person, or the natural/this-worldly-oriented person, with the penumtikos. or the believer, who has God’s Spirit.). Also, Paul’s reference to the spiritual body was not to Christ’s risen body but to the risen bodies of the descendants of the first man, Adam, redeemed so as to be fit for the kingdom of God (15:42-50).”
Always connected through prayer and by His grace!
Your brother in Christ,
Jimmy