From Deliverance to Anticipation: Why Counting the Omer Matters

"Don't just celebrate your deliverance—anticipate your destiny."

In this episode of the HHP Podcast, Pastor Chris Franke of HFF Church unpacks the deeper meaning behind the biblical command to count the Omer. It's not just about where you've been or what you've overcome—it's about where you're going and who you're becoming.

Explore how the Omer connects us to Jesus as our First Fruits, and why the journey from Passover to Pentecost mirrors our spiritual transformation. Discover the importance of shifting focus from gift to Giver, and how the calendar is less about dates and more about building expectation for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit.

 

#OmerCount #FirstFruits #Pentecost #JesusOurHope #HolySpiritOutpouring #HHPodcast #ChrisFranke #HFFChurch #SpiritualGrowth #BiblicalFeasts #GiverNotGift #FaithJourney #ChristianPodcast #browsefeature

 

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📖 Topics This Week:

• Why it's not just about deliverance

• Jesus as the First Fruits offering

• God as the source, not our effort

• Building spiritual anticipation

• Connecting Torah and the Holy Spirit

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🕊️ Join us in OKC for Saturday Church @ 10:30 AM.

 

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Don't just celebrate your deliverance.
Anticipate your destiny.
Sometimes we get so focused on what we've overcome that we stop and never
go towards where we're supposed to go.
This is part of the entire narrative of the Bible.
It's not just that you overcame.

(00:22):
It's that there's a promise for you.
Welcome to the HHP Podcast.
My name is Chris Frankie and I am the senior pastor of HFF Church in Oklahoma City.
Join me and others from around the country as we talk all things Bible,
church and family.
We may be right.
We may be heretical, but that's for you to decide.

(00:43):
Drop a like, a share, a comment, subscribe, and let's get to it.
It's hard not to just think of how do I find myself justified or sanctified or
in right standing with God, but sometimes it's a lot deeper when it comes to

(01:04):
actually trying to implement what was God trying to do in each small nuance of
testimonies, feasts, the festivals.
I mean, ultimately 50,000 foot level, we can sum it up.
All comes down to a man dying on a cross saving the world, but we're going to

(01:25):
continue with our bullet points on unpacking the Omer, unpacking why this is
important.
And so this week I want to pick up with bullet point number three, the Omer and
the time of counting the Omer between first fruits, which comes at the conclusion

(01:48):
of unleavened bread, almost always there's leap years and stuff like that, but
almost traditionally always it's resurrection day.
That's the day by which the first is brought to God.
And then the 50 days into Shavuot Pentecost.
Number three is to keep us focused on the giver, not just the gift.

(02:12):
Israel had a holiness code that created ceremonial, ritualistic laws and those
came with offerings.
And they had happened over and over and over again.
And so the focus was somewhat traditionally on the gift.
This is what we must bring.

(02:34):
Well, we see that absolutely in the Western church.
Everybody's focused on the gift.
Sometime it's the perversion of the giving of the gift of the offering.
It's well, if you bless me with a gift, then I will bless you with a gift and the
Lord will bring down abundance.
And then the far other extreme is, well, ties offerings, all of that.

(03:00):
Those, those are all done away with.
We, we don't have any requirements.
We don't have to do any of that.
That's both sides and all of that's really kind of missing the point.
It's not just about the gift.
It's about the giver.
So for example, I love my wife.
My wife is the most important human being to me.

(03:21):
I don't really care.
She wants a gift.
I don't really care if I feel obligated to give her a gift.
I don't really ever think about those things.
Why?
Because I love her.
So I want to give gifts to her.
Why?
Because I'm always focused on the one I'm giving the gifts to.
I'm focused on how much I love my wife.
How much when I see something at a store and I'm like, Oh, that's perfect for my

(03:45):
wife, it's not about, Oh, what's the cost or how awesome is this gift?
It's about her.
Well, how much better when we're talking about God and ancient Israel, this
was a harvest season, the barley first and then the wheat.
And we get so caught up in whether the barley is of Eve or whether it's this,

(04:08):
that the other, who cares?
You're missing the point.
The people were working hard in the fields, but God didn't want them to
forget who had provided the rain, the sun, the soil, the seed and the breath
for them to be able to do it.

(04:28):
See, it's very easy for us to get caught up in the fact of we did this.
No, you didn't do anything.
God put forth so many sources of provision for you to have what you have.
And that's why counting the Omer kept their eyes on the source of the provision,

(04:48):
the giver, not just the produce or the gift for us today.
This is a reminder that our success, our growth and our fruitfulness come from
God, not just from our own effort.
And then number four, to build expectation for the outpouring.

(05:14):
In Acts chapter one through two, Jesus told his disciples to wait in Jerusalem
after the resurrection.
He didn't tell them how many days to wait, but we know that it ended up being 50
and that it aligned perfectly with Shavuot.
That wasn't an accident.
It wasn't a coincidence.
Jesus was the first fruit and the Holy Spirit poured out on the same day as the

(05:37):
Torah that was originally given during Pentecost.
So when we count the Omer, it's more than just a calendar.
The calendar almost becomes irrelevant at that point.
It's a countdown to power.
It is to build anticipation and expectation for a fresh move of what?

(06:01):
Nothing you do.
It's a fresh move of God, the source, the provider, both in us and through us should
be a time of humbling.
It should be a time of refining.
It should remind us that on our own, we were always, and still are, incapable of

(06:28):
producing the proper fruit on our own.
No amount of effort, our success, our growth, our fruit comes from God.
And in that, I find so much peace.
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(06:50):
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