First+Fruits+Part+2

Please include the following components in your essays this week:

A) Why was Jericho a strategic/important city during ancient times.

B) Imagine yourself among the Israelites at this time, marching around this city. You were (are) called to be Holy and set apart. Read Exodus 19: 5-6, Joshua 24: 19--23, Leviticus 11:44, 1 Peter 1: 15--16, 2: 9-10. Contrast this with what the pagan inhabitants of Jericho/Canaan like. Read Leviticus 18: 1-5, 24--30. Deuteronomy 18 9-13. Use these Scriptures and some quotes from the Vanderlaan PDF to describe the Holy place God was trying to establish for his people.

C) Jericho was to be considered a "first fruits" offering to God. What did this mean to God? What did it mean to the Israelites? (See Deut. 26: 1-15, and Joshua 6: 17, 19, 24, 26.)

D) What role does first fruits play in your life? How do you think it could impact your relationship with God? Think of a plan to give God more "first fruits" as you discover what they are in your life, and give and example of that plan in this essay.

E) Are there ways in which you might be taking back God's first fruits? What can you do to change this?