09-04-26 - ‘Appointed Times: Jesus our First-fruits’

In this Easter message, Reverend Tim Gutmann, joined by Hayley, explores the resurrection of Jesus and its connection to the biblical Feast of Firstfruits. Together, they unpack how Christ’s rising is both a historical reality and a prophetic fulfilment of God’s redemptive plan.

The teaching highlights that Jesus is the “firstfruits” of those who will be raised, pointing to the future resurrection of all who belong to Him. As the firstfruits offering signified a coming harvest, so Christ’s resurrection guarantees eternal life for believers.

Hayley brings personal reflection and application, emphasising the reality of new life in Christ and encouraging viewers to live in the power of the resurrection today. The message moves beyond theology into lived faith—walking in hope, transformation, and assurance.

Together, they affirm that the resurrection is the foundation of the Christian faith: Jesus has conquered sin and death, and through Him, new life is available now and forever.

Listeners can watch the full Midweek Church Service live every Thursday at 7pm on Revelation TV.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:10

So I'm gonna share tonight. So we just had Resurrection Sunday and I want to share something that's on our hearts constantly as we we we are a cop, we're a church actually, a ministry that really believes in God's promises, also for his people Israel, and have a heart of gratitude to the Jewish people because through that faithful remnant, Yeshua, the lion of the tribe of the Jews, the root of David, and of course the apostles and the prophets and etc. So and I want to share something really important. You see, we just celebrated Good Friday or the Passover, and then we celebrate Resurrection Sunday or the Feast of First Fruits. So you see where I'm going with this. Paul in the book of Acts he says to the church at Antioch, he says, I need to get to Jerusalem for the Passover. This is post-crucifixion and resurrection, but they're still focused on celebrating this feast, and I'll tell you why, because Jesus didn't come to start a new story, but he came to fulfil an ancient one. And when you try and separate Jesus from the Passover, and you try and separate Jesus from what God was doing through his people Israel, through the feasts and through all of those amazing things, what you do is is you're replacing the depth and the meaning with just tradition and symbolism, and that's how we end up with just Easter bunnies and eggs. And I've got no problem, we're not them kind of like people that rail against Easter and eggs and true.

SPEAKER_01 1:42

I love chocolate.

SPEAKER_00 1:43

The more chocolate, the better. Do you know what I mean? If you want to bring me a chocolate egg, but we cannot lose the depth and the meaning of the Passover because he is the Passover lamb. And I shared this last week on midweek church service. You know, we live in a crazy, crazy world, and it seems to be getting worse. We've often had this conversation that actually since about 2020 there was lockdowns. I remember there was fires in Australia. At some other crazy weekend, there was animals seemed to be falling out of the sky, and then there was war, and then there was more war and rumours of war, and it does seem like we are definitely. I I even say now, I don't even say last days, I think we're in the end of days, which kind of like signals that we are very, very close to 12 o'clock, if you know what I'm saying. Very close, and it is crazy days, but listen, for a believer, this isn't something to fear.

SPEAKER_01 2:35

Definitely.

SPEAKER_00 2:36

You see, we have a hope. We have a hope, we have a king, a king who is alive, and that's what the resurrection is. For us, it is hope. It is hope that this this crazy lot, this isn't our lot, this isn't it, this isn't the be all and the end all. What we can learn from God's patriarchs, for example, it says the Bible says in Hebrews 11, it says they were looking for a city that is to come.

SPEAKER_01 2:58

Exactly.

SPEAKER_00 2:59

You know, I love I love our country. Uh, we we're preaching to you, we're speaking to you from the United Kingdom. We love and pray for our country, praying and believing for revival. But make no mistake about it, we are citizens of heaven, we are sojourners, travelers, aliens, and strangers on this earth. We don't belong. Yeah, and so this is a crazy time, but we can keep that sure, certain hope as an anchor for our souls that is Jesus Christ alive, the King of kings and Lord of lords. All authority in heaven and earth is under his name. Alpha, Omega, beginning and end, King of the nations, the nations are your inheritance. It says in Psalm 82. It says he is the king of all the powers and principalities on the kings on the earth, in the heavens, it doesn't matter. He's far above them all, is our hope. It's an unending, never fading hope. And he says, Listen, come to me, all you are thirsty, all who hunger, come to me, my yoke is easy, my burden is light. This is the king we serve. Yeah, and his resurrection changes everything. His resurrection took a group of disciples, I guess you could say, kind of like the blue-collar type guys, you know, they were fishermen. And they were Peter would for example, Peter was scared to even admit that he knew Jesus to a servant girl, a school girl. She says, Weren't you with Jesus? He's like, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, three times. But something changed after the resurrection, after the day of Pentecost, after the Holy Spirit came down, and Peter preached and three thousand were saved, and he went from being scared of a servant girl to proclaiming Jesus is alive, that's right, and that changes everything. Yeah, those apostles they witnessed the risen Christ. Paul saw Jesus vision, and Jesus spoke to Paul and met Paul powerfully. And Paul says it's this encounter with the resurrected Jesus that's what drives me. And in fact, that's what made the disciples not shrink back because they said, You can take our bodies, you could flog us, you can kill us. It doesn't matter because we've seen the risen Christ, and therefore we know that what he said is true. We know this isn't the end. We know, we know that our bodies, our bodies might die, but our souls, our spirits will live forever. In fact, Paul goes into even better detail. We'll get new heavenly bodies. Those of you suffering with aging and poorly bodies and joints, and you're saying, Oh, please just heal me, heal me, heal me. Even if he doesn't heal you, look back at the cross, this is your hope. We get new bodies. Praise the Lord, new resurrection.

SPEAKER_01 5:42

When you said they may take our lives, but they will never take our freedom. You were giving the brave heart moment there.

SPEAKER_00 5:48

Yeah, they'll never take our spirits, our salvation. And so we celebrate the Passover, we don't separate Jesus from the Passover and create this new tradition. Actually, the meaning is he yes, he delivered us out of slavery and he sanctified us. And these are the cups, by the way, of the Passover meal, deliverance, sanctification. And the third cup, when Jesus said this is the blood of the new covenant, that is the cup of redemption. But he said, You won't drink this again until we drink it anew in the kingdom at the wedding feast of the lamb. Fourth cup, praise, and we can't wait for that. Jesus on the cross said this: He said, My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Now, if you are a but uh uh a follower of Jesus, or if you are a Jewish reader in the first century, you hear that and you see that and you know where this is going. Most of us just think this is that moment Jesus was separated from Father, and that is true because sin, God laid the sin of the whole earth upon him and it was separated. But if you know Psalm 22, if you know Psalm 22, you will see that the cross, that Passover moment, that given of Jesus of his life, actually that is our hope, that is our salvation. Let's read the rest of Psalms in verses 28 to 31. It goes on to say this, and this is what you would know if you are a Jewish believer or a Jewish person in the first century, you'd know that Jesus was quoted this psalm, for kingship belongs to the Lord, he rules over the nations, the prosperous of the earth eat and worship before him, they'll bow all who go down to the dust, even the one who can't keep himself alive. And the last verse, posterity shall serve him. In other words, Jesus isn't ending there on the cross. It shall be told of you of Yahweh to the coming generation. They shall come and proclaim his righteousness to a people yet unborn. He has done it. Or it is finished, tetelist in the Greek, paid in full. That is the legal debt, that is served time in full, that judicial term of prison, and that is conquered in full, that military term, tetelist, it is finished. But he didn't stay dead on that cross, and we celebrate the resurrection because Jesus didn't cheat deaf, he didn't pretend to die, or he didn't swoon, or whatever it is some of these other religions claim, or he got someone else to die. I think that's in some of the hadiths. Let me tell you this: Jesus stared deaf in the face, he made his way for Jerusalem, his face was set like flint. You know why? For you and for me. He went to Jerusalem. Even Peter couldn't dissuade him. Get behind me, Satan, because Jesus had a mission. Let me tell you this. This was his mission to save you and to save me. And for the joy set before him, Jesus adjured the cross, but he didn't stay dead. He rose again. Hebrews 6, verses 1 and 2 says this let us leave the elementary doctrine of Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again the foundation of repentance and of faith towards God, an instruction about washings, the laying on of hands, and the resurrection of the dead and eternal judgment. So Paul, uh not Paul, perhaps Paul, but the writer of Hebrews is saying this this repentance resurrection, sorry, is a foundational basic teaching and it's linked to judgment as well. And for us, the resurrection is hope. But if you don't know Jesus, if you've not given your life to Jesus as well, the resurrection is a fact. For those who know Jesus, don't know Jesus. Paul says in Acts chapter 24, verses 14 to 16, he says, I confess that according to the way which they call a sect, I worship the God of our fathers, believing everything laid down by the law, written in the prophets, I have a hope in God. Which these men accept that there will be a resurrection of the just and the unjust. A very serious word. So I always take pains to have a clear conscience to God and man. Listen to that.

SPEAKER_01 9:57

That's so cool.

SPEAKER_00 9:58

He says the resurrection is a fact. Look at Jesus, and he says, for both the just and the unjust. And this is a very what very, very serious warning that we give in love, because we want everyone to be saved. We want everyone when they are resurrected to hear, well done, good and faithful servant. But that's what drove Paul. He said, That's what gives me, makes me strive to have a clear conscience. Because I know the resurrection's gonna happen, and it's hope for the believer, it's hope for the follower of Jesus, but it's judgment for the unbeliever.

SPEAKER_01 10:29

Do you know what? Can I just say it also makes it forgiveness easier? Because if we know that he's going to deal with the just and the unjust, we don't have to worry about that, do we?

SPEAKER_00 10:38

No, that's right. That is right. It's hope. It is hope, but it's also a judgment. The fact is, God has appointed one man to judge Jesus Christ and he will judge. But he's so good and loving and kind and gracious and merciful. Don't don't, if you're sat there and you love Jesus, don't ever doubt that anyone can snatch you from his hand. But this is what drives us, like Paul, to have a clear conscience, but also to tell our fellow man and women that Jesus is the hope, the way. For there is no other name under heaven on earth for which men can be saved, but by Yeshua, by Jesus, by salvation, Yahweh, the name of Jesus is the name for salvation, and he showed that by rising from the dead. I think that I want to leave it there, but let me just give you a chance. If you've never ever put your faith in Jesus, don't miss this chance. Let's do this together now. I'll say a prayer. You can say this with me in your heart. Or maybe, maybe you know you've been kind of been, we call it backslidden, but you've been living life your way. You've not been living in the power of the resurrection, if you like. You've not been putting your faith in the cross and obeying and following Jesus. Now is the time to come back. Just say this prayer with me in your hearts. Father, I thank you that you love me so much, and I believe, Jesus, that you came and died on the cross to be the Passover lamb, that spotless lamb, which the Israelites put the blood of the Lamb, the sacrifice lamb, on the doorposts of their homes. I thank you, Jesus, because your blood covers the doorposts of my life, of my heart, of my soul. I put my faith in your sacrifice, Jesus, because your sacrifice on the cross is my forgiveness of sins. I repent for all my sin. I choose to follow you, Jesus. Yes, you're my Lord. Yes, you're my saviour, but I want you to be my Lord. Help me to obey and thank you for the Holy Spirit. In your name. Amen. If you prayed that, let us know. We'd love to hear from you, love to hear testimonies.

SPEAKER_01 12:51

I just wanted to actually say whilst you were so much I wanted to say, because I love listening to you preach. Didn't he do it amazing? As always, we're so blessed to have your ministry gift, my love. I know I'm your biggest fan, but I I think um it's amazing. It's diligence of spending time with the Lord. But I just, when you were talking about like the actual sacrifice that Jesus made, um, it's so offensive when in this day and age you go on social media and then people say, Oh, the Jews killed Jesus, it like diminishes everything that he did. He took, he gave himself for us.

SPEAKER_00 13:24

That's right.

SPEAKER_01 13:25

And it's important for us to remember that as righteous people, not to allow that hatred to go unchecked.