First Fruits Of Christian Living

Fr. Robert Holet teaches about the testing of Abraham, the faithful steward.

Fr. Robert Holet reviews the teaching on stewardship in the Old Testament and the Church.

Dr. Nicole Roccas joins the podcast to discuss the stewardship of one of the most precious gifts of God - time,. She shares rich personal insights on how moments of time can become rich encounters with the Lord, as well as some practical ideas to better steward our time by taking a detailed inventory about how we really do spend our time. You can find Part I of the discussion on Nicole’s podcast titled, ‘Time Eternal’ posted on September 14, 2017.

If we see the life in the Risen Lord of the Church as a precious gift to be stewarded according to God’s grace then we see in the Gift of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost both the purpose and means of carrying out our personal and communal exercise of Her mission and ministry in our own age.

The services of Holy Week speak to us powerfully how our stewardship of all of God’s gifts in our life will determine ultimately whether or not the saving work of Christ on the Cross, and through His resurrection will be fully realized in our lives, when we face our eternal judgment for our stewardship of His gifts entrusted to us. Our focus today is on the final words of Christ to his disciples, found in Chapter 25 of the Gospel of St. Matthew.

The Great Canon of St. Andrew of Crete, which the Church prays at the Compline services of first week, and in full on Thursday of the sixth week of Great Lent, presents for us a rich meditation of the nature of stewardship of our spiritual life, as the way of repentance.

The period of Great Lent calls us to make a sacred tithe of our time, and engage more deeply in our spiritual efforts as a way of the stewardship of our whole life. In doing so we’re encouraged to offer our time to the Lord well – daily, weekly and annually in a way that leads to our salvation.

In this episode, Fr. Robert reviews the familiar story of Noah and the Flood, including the celebration of God's deliverance through the thanksgiving offering of Noah.

The scriptures challenge us with the story about the offerings of Cain and Abel. One is accepted by God, the other is not. This podcast raises the difficult question, “What about the offerings we make to God – are they acceptable to Him?”

The scriptures challenge us with the story about the offerings of Cain and Abel. One is accepted by God, the other is not. This podcast raises the difficult question, “What about the offerings we make to God – are they acceptable to Him?”

Fr. Robert describes some of the "stewardship failures" of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden.

Fr. Robert reflects on the story of Creation and the Fall and discusses what it teaches us about our role as stewards of creation.

Fr. Robert speaks about developing an understanding of 'who' a Christian steward is and 'what' they do.

Fr. Robert introduces us to the basic principles of Orthodox Christian stewardship through the rich teaching of the Church Fathers, as well as modern day resources on stewardship topics.

Fr. Robert explores Orthodox stewardship, relating the experience of financial collections in our congregations to the distinctively Orthodox practice of offering the First Fruits of the harvest at the Feast of the Transfiguration.