WEBVTT 00:00.000 --> 00:03.980 I was planning to go into my series on the Holy Spirit and finish it. It's been like two 00:03.980 --> 00:08.120 or three years. We cut it off and we haven't gotten back to it, finished it. And I thought, 00:08.200 --> 00:12.820 well, that's where we'll go. Let's review for a Sunday or two and let's finish it. And 00:12.820 --> 00:17.980 this week the Lord shifted that whole thing on me. So we're going to go on a journey 00:17.980 --> 00:23.080 here, especially this morning is going to be a journey. And we're going to talk 00:23.080 --> 00:34.880 about our identity in Christ. Who am I? What am I? What is my identity? You say, why do 00:34.880 --> 00:41.460 we need to know that? Because without us knowing that, well, let me say it this way, that affects 00:41.460 --> 00:47.880 everything in life. It affects our beliefs, it affects what we're going to stand for, stand 00:47.880 --> 00:55.740 against. It's going to affect our relationship with Him. It totally messes with our faith if we 00:55.740 --> 01:00.460 don't know who we are. So this morning we're going to go on a journey. I'm going to go way back 01:00.460 --> 01:05.240 and I'm going to grab something that to begin with you might think that doesn't even pertain. 01:05.420 --> 01:11.940 It does. And we'll move it forward because one of the things we need to know 01:11.940 --> 01:20.200 about who we are in Christ is what was the human race originally created for? 01:22.350 --> 01:30.560 Because the first Adam lost that. But Jesus came as the second Adam to restore that. 01:33.080 --> 01:42.100 So what was the human race created for? Because our identity is still wrapped up 01:42.100 --> 01:46.040 and God hasn't left His original purpose. You know, here's what I made the human race for. 01:46.520 --> 01:50.220 Yeah, that didn't work out. Let's do something different with Him. He has not done that. 01:51.660 --> 01:56.420 It's going to flow all the way through. So here are the main things I want to hit in this 01:56.420 --> 02:01.360 series. It'll probably take me seven Sundays. I'll hit the first one this Sunday. 02:02.300 --> 02:10.840 The human being is of the God class. And then the human being fell into sin, but God. 02:12.500 --> 02:22.020 Now I am saved. I am the Father's workmanship. And two specific areas I want to hit that 02:22.020 --> 02:26.880 He's working on us in is sanctification, maturity, and empowerment. 02:30.520 --> 02:35.880 So the first point that I was going to hit, which is we're in the God class, I thought, 02:35.980 --> 02:40.060 well, let's just hit that and skip it and run. And I kept trying to skip it and go 02:40.060 --> 02:46.220 to the next one and the third one. And I kept circling back, circling back. 02:46.220 --> 02:53.680 Finally, it's like, well, okay, let's deal with this. The reason I hesitate to deal with this a 02:53.680 --> 03:01.860 little bit is because the human being was created for a specific purpose. And there's a lot of 03:01.860 --> 03:07.180 controversy around what that purpose was. There's a lot of ideas. There's a lot of controversy 03:07.180 --> 03:12.520 about it. And I've had this question for years, which I'll tell you in a second here. 03:12.520 --> 03:18.560 I've been researching this for years, and I've come up to conclusions that satisfy me, 03:18.860 --> 03:28.900 which identifies who I am in Christ. I am going to pass those on to you this morning. 03:30.080 --> 03:36.940 This was supposed to be a podcast topic. And we were going to hash this over in the podcast, 03:36.940 --> 03:43.760 this first message. But since I'm hitting it here, we might still visit it. I don't know. 03:45.200 --> 03:50.120 But here it is. Human being, we're made of the God class. We're made in God's image and likeness. 03:50.180 --> 03:56.040 We're created to rule and reign. And our words carry tremendous power. We can't create something 03:56.040 --> 04:05.720 out of nothing, but we can move things of God's creation around with the words of our 04:05.720 --> 04:08.820 mouth, or the faith that's in our mouth like Romans 10 talks about. 04:11.640 --> 04:16.380 So part of knowing, I'll just repeat it again, part of knowing who we are and what our identity is 04:17.080 --> 04:23.480 is to know what were we created for. So here's where I started studying this subject 04:23.480 --> 04:27.760 years ago, because I had two or three people. I was really young in ministry. I had two or 04:27.760 --> 04:32.280 three people ask me this, and I said, I have no idea. And I started studying it, and I 04:32.280 --> 04:42.880 still had no idea. So I've been on this for a long time. Here was the primary question, 04:43.040 --> 04:50.000 and then others floated around it. Same type of question. Why would God put man on the earth 04:50.000 --> 05:05.020 with Satan? Isn't that a recipe for disaster? Here you've got the leader of the heavenly rebellion 05:07.260 --> 05:13.460 caused him and a third of the angels to be cast out of heaven to this planet, 05:15.220 --> 05:23.100 brings total destruction to this planet. We don't know how long that went on, what the earth was in 05:23.100 --> 05:30.520 that state. But God comes up with an idea and says, I'm going to do something. I'm going to create 05:30.520 --> 05:35.280 a new kind of being, and I'm going to put them on that planet with that wretch, 05:37.980 --> 05:42.980 that deceiver, that rebellious one. That's where I'm going to put them. 05:42.980 --> 05:50.380 It's a great idea. And I'm going, that's a good question. Why would he do that? 05:52.520 --> 05:56.000 You know, the whole thing of the two trees in the garden would have went a lot better if 05:56.840 --> 06:02.060 Satan wasn't here. You know, if this would have been a totally clean, righteous planet, 06:03.880 --> 06:07.820 the temptation for that second tree would have not been pushed near as hard 06:07.820 --> 06:13.180 as when he showed up. Well, why did you put them on earth with Satan? 06:15.140 --> 06:22.240 Which goes to begs the next question. Why did God create man? Now, here I'm going to stay extremely 06:22.240 --> 06:26.460 scriptural because I've heard all kind of, I've asked people, I've asked ministers, 06:28.000 --> 06:37.510 why did God create man? Because God wanted relationship. Don't say amen too fast. 06:39.470 --> 06:43.670 Can you show me that scripture? That's why he created us so he could have relationship with somebody. 06:44.650 --> 06:55.130 God has been around forever. He has multitudes of creations. He never created one he could 06:55.130 --> 07:02.690 have relationship with from eternity past till us. Well, let's say it's true. Then why didn't 07:02.690 --> 07:09.830 he say it in the scripture? It doesn't say it in the scripture. Well, God wanted a friend. He had none. 07:14.250 --> 07:20.730 Really? I've heard some, you know, answers that it's like, naturally, that's not scriptural. 07:22.870 --> 07:28.410 I know it's widely accepted. Well, why did God, well, he wanted someone he could have 07:28.410 --> 07:34.690 fellowship with, commune with. Where does it say that? That's why he created us. 07:35.250 --> 07:37.950 Now, does he want fellowship and be able to commune with us? Absolutely. 07:39.390 --> 07:45.510 But he created us because he needed someone to have a friend and commune and have fellowship 07:45.510 --> 07:53.330 with. No, it doesn't say that. It doesn't say anything like that. So my question went on. 07:56.250 --> 08:03.270 Well, eventually I started, I studied a bunch of different material on this. And whether it was a 08:03.270 --> 08:09.110 Holy Spirit or some of this material, my brain started going in direction. Okay, God has a 08:09.110 --> 08:24.450 rebellious being, Lucifer, who got full of pride and full of himself and got into sin. God had 08:24.450 --> 08:33.650 a lot. We just let him roam unattended, him and his crew. What do we do with him? 08:41.380 --> 08:54.410 God couldn't ignore him. But because of who he created Lucifer to be, either it was God himself 08:55.210 --> 09:01.150 who had to deal with this, or he needed something other than what he had created, 09:01.150 --> 09:07.210 because Scripture, it doesn't flat out say it, but it indicates Lucifer in authority and rank was 09:07.210 --> 09:17.940 one of the highest creations God made. So who are you going to put in charge over him? Who has 09:17.940 --> 09:25.960 the authority over him? So who was Lucifer? So we're going to find our identity now. So I remind 09:25.960 --> 09:31.080 you, don't go, yeah, this has nothing to do with our identity. You wait. Be surprised. 09:33.120 --> 09:40.120 So who was Lucifer before his fall? Lucifer is his pre-fall name. Satan is his after he fell. 09:41.940 --> 09:47.420 Well, Job, forgot to give you that one. You can take a look at it. 09:48.320 --> 09:52.780 Who was Lucifer? Well, Job 1 says he was called one of the sons of God, 09:54.260 --> 09:58.920 which, you know, doesn't tell us a lot, but that's who he was. 10:00.380 --> 10:07.700 The two Scriptures that get most into him as Isaiah 14 and Ezekiel 28 gives us the most insight on 10:07.700 --> 10:12.100 him. Now Ezekiel 28 is the one we're going to look at this morning. And it's addressing the 10:12.100 --> 10:18.500 king of Tyre. But when you read it through, it doesn't apply to a man. It can't apply to a man. 10:19.000 --> 10:24.560 So most scholars say it's addressing the spirit behind the king of Tyre, 10:24.560 --> 10:30.080 which when you read it through, it's like, oh, I can see that. That's Lucifer. So let's read this 10:30.080 --> 10:36.940 through. Ezekiel 28, son of man, take up a lamentation over the king of Tyre and say to him, 10:37.060 --> 10:44.700 thus says the Lord God. You are the full measure and pattern of exactness, giving the finishing 10:44.700 --> 10:53.280 touch to all that constitutes completeness, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. 10:55.580 --> 11:08.290 I have never seen a human being that could fulfill that. Completely, totally complete, 11:08.870 --> 11:19.670 not just having wisdom, full of wisdom and perfect in appearance, in beauty. Now that's 11:19.670 --> 11:23.410 probably not just what we would consider physical. That is the entire being. 11:26.430 --> 11:31.110 This one kind of kicks the man right out of the picture. You were in Eden, the garden of 11:31.110 --> 11:37.830 God. Yep, I don't think the king of Tyre was there. This is a long time after Eden. 11:39.130 --> 11:46.030 So this has to be talking about something other than the direct man. And as we read through, it'll 11:46.030 --> 11:52.370 go, oh, yeah, I see it. You were in Eden, the garden of God. Every precious stone was your covering 11:52.370 --> 12:01.670 and he lists them there. So literally he, I don't know how it looked, but he wore precious stones 12:02.150 --> 12:13.330 for clothing, covering, expensive stuff. That was his clothes. Your settings in your sockets 12:13.330 --> 12:18.450 and engravings were wrought in gold on the day you were created. So we're going to go back 12:18.450 --> 12:23.350 to that previous line because that's a bad translation there in the amplified. 12:23.910 --> 12:28.170 It's one of the few times he amplified misses it. Every other translation disagrees with that, 12:28.270 --> 12:32.870 the ones that I looked at. But hit the last phrase, on the day you were created. 12:33.330 --> 12:39.230 So Lucifer was a created being. He's not an eternal being. God created him. 12:40.810 --> 12:46.050 And he created him with perfection beyond anything. 12:47.750 --> 12:54.910 Now, if you go to the New King James, King James, NIV, some of the other translations, 12:55.810 --> 13:01.030 this is how it says that. The workmanship of your timbrels and pipes was prepared for you 13:01.030 --> 13:06.650 in the day you were created. Timbrels and pipes speak of musical instruments. 13:09.090 --> 13:13.870 Lucifer literally had musical instruments built into him. 13:13.870 --> 13:20.910 Correct. He was a walking, living musical instrument. And 13:22.390 --> 13:27.750 of course, the presupposition to that is to praise and worship God. 13:28.930 --> 13:33.050 And since his position of authority, which we haven't gotten to yet, but his position of 13:33.050 --> 13:37.690 authority was so high, he could have very well been what we call a praise leader. 13:38.450 --> 13:45.470 It just came out of them. The music, the percussion, the timbrel speaks of percussion, 13:46.590 --> 13:55.930 and pipes speaks of, it opens it up. Some even say strings can come in under pipes, 13:56.250 --> 14:00.190 but pipes is more of an air driven type of musical instrument. 14:00.990 --> 14:06.350 So when God created him, he created him a musical being, 14:07.110 --> 14:12.090 which really makes a lot of sense in the culture and where music is at. 14:15.620 --> 14:21.140 Because the mastermind behind all the rebellious music against God and what God wants 14:22.620 --> 14:26.960 is him. So it makes a lot of sense. 14:28.560 --> 14:32.680 Here is who he was. Well, Satan was an archangel. Well, see, Scripture doesn't say that. 14:33.720 --> 14:39.760 You were the anointed cherub that covers. So you weren't just an anointed cherub. 14:40.040 --> 14:43.980 Now, cherub is of the cherubim class. Remember cherubim? 14:44.340 --> 14:46.520 They were the two that were over the Ark of the Covenant. 14:47.680 --> 14:52.720 They were winged creatures, and they had the ability to guard and watch over. 14:54.760 --> 15:00.260 Lucifer was anointed as a cherub, or of the cherubim class of being. 15:00.420 --> 15:04.320 We're of the human class of being. He was the cherubim class of being. 15:04.840 --> 15:10.620 And he was specifically given the ability to be a covering or an overseer. 15:11.640 --> 15:17.100 If you're going to cover over something, it's more than just you. It's over many. 15:19.080 --> 15:28.000 With overshadowing wings. Lucifer is a winged being. Not all angels are, but Lucifer is. 15:29.400 --> 15:34.300 And I set you so. You were upon the holy mountain of God, and you walked up and down 15:34.300 --> 15:43.620 in the midst of the stones of fire. The holy mountain of God. Here's one 15:45.180 --> 15:53.460 person. He took the Hebrew word apart. It refers to a sacred elevated place of divine presence. 15:55.460 --> 16:03.820 An elevated place of privilege, and a sacred elevated place to the closeness of God. 16:05.820 --> 16:09.900 Stones of fire seems to indicate 16:13.900 --> 16:17.120 the one guy I studied that makes the most sense to me. 16:17.260 --> 16:21.220 He said he walked among the building blocks of creation. 16:24.560 --> 16:26.900 Stones of fire literally being... 16:29.180 --> 16:35.680 You know, we used to think atoms were the building blocks, but now we've come to understand 16:36.620 --> 16:40.980 that it's a wavelength that goes back and forth between the spiritual and the physical realm. 16:40.980 --> 16:47.760 Well, how does that work? I don't know, but Lucifer did. He walked in that. He understood what God was 16:47.760 --> 16:58.800 doing. Highly, highly intelligent being. You were blameless. Back up. You were blameless. 16:59.720 --> 17:03.480 In all your ways from the day you were created. Again, a created being 17:04.540 --> 17:08.720 blameless. He was without fault. He was perfect. He was complete. 17:12.720 --> 17:13.840 Verse 16, 17:14.960 --> 17:19.940 Through the abundance of your commerce, you were filled with lawlessness and violence. 17:23.320 --> 17:30.540 That's interesting. The word commerce there literally means... Let's see if I can find it here. 17:37.610 --> 17:40.930 Where did I put it? I'll find it and then I'll repeat it. 17:40.930 --> 17:50.050 But it's dealing with a traveling tradesman. That's what the word commerce means. 17:50.930 --> 17:57.350 So somehow in the creation that was before he fell, 18:02.120 --> 18:06.980 he was working between cultures. He was working between different kind of 18:06.980 --> 18:12.800 creations. He was traveling the whatever universe was at that point. 18:13.740 --> 18:14.400 For God. 18:16.640 --> 18:21.320 Which is like, well, we don't have enough information on that to even really speculate. 18:21.740 --> 18:22.820 But that's what it was. 18:24.660 --> 18:29.700 But he did so well in that realm. He started pulling dirty deals. 18:31.980 --> 18:37.460 Lawlessness and violence started having, you know, violence. He was violating people. 18:37.960 --> 18:41.200 I cast you out as a profane thing from the mountain of God. 18:41.780 --> 18:43.420 Now listen to this next part. 18:45.340 --> 18:49.580 And the guardian cherub drove you out, one of his own kind. 18:53.810 --> 18:55.510 God chose and said, you get him out. 18:58.350 --> 19:01.990 Wow. That is interesting to me too. It's like, well, why didn't he use Michael? 19:02.190 --> 19:04.010 Why didn't he use a different kind of creation? 19:04.510 --> 19:06.850 No, he chose one of his own kind to drive him out. 19:08.690 --> 19:13.930 Verse 17, your heart was proud and lifted up because of your beauty. He was perfect. 19:15.630 --> 19:19.130 And you corrupted your wisdom for the sake of your splendor, 19:19.230 --> 19:23.910 whether that's referring specifically to the beauty or to the splendor that he carried 19:23.910 --> 19:26.750 because he was perfect. He was blameless or whatever. 19:28.110 --> 19:35.290 He was full of wisdom, but wisdom got corrupted because he was too perfect. 19:36.850 --> 19:37.930 If you want to say it that way. 19:40.010 --> 19:41.790 So now I've noticed the pattern here. 19:45.760 --> 19:50.360 Anytime, I mean, God is capable of handling full wisdom. He is full wisdom. 19:51.140 --> 19:57.000 Anytime it seems like he gives too much of that on, it corrupts. Corrupted Lucifer. 19:58.000 --> 20:05.200 It corrupts with corrupted Solomon. It doesn't specifically talk about Adam being a really 20:05.960 --> 20:12.000 wise person, but every creature that God had created, God brought to him and said, 20:12.200 --> 20:14.480 figure this out. Tell me what this is and name it. 20:17.540 --> 20:21.380 You got to have the marbles roll in the right direction to pull that one off. 20:24.460 --> 20:29.240 So I think Adam was pretty wise. So you look at Lucifer, you look at Adam, 20:29.340 --> 20:33.400 you look at Solomon, and you say, how can you be so wise and make such dumb choices? 20:36.440 --> 20:38.360 Because they did. They made some bad choices. 20:41.500 --> 20:51.880 His case, his perfection caused him to hit the ditch. That's what it says. His splendor, 20:51.980 --> 20:56.740 his perfection. He was perfect. He was complete. And he got enthralled with himself. 20:57.860 --> 21:04.080 You have profaned your sanctuaries. Sanctuary is a consecrated place 21:04.740 --> 21:12.680 like a palace, a holy place. What it's talking about, I don't know, but apparently he had 21:12.680 --> 21:19.820 some holy places, some palaces. I don't know, maybe he had a place set apart where he would go 21:19.820 --> 21:26.100 and he would minister to God in music. It was a holy hell of a place, a sanctuary. 21:26.800 --> 21:31.940 And then again, it could be palaces that were for him, like we're going to have mansions. 21:31.940 --> 21:37.040 He had palaces where he profaned the whole works by the multitude of the inequities and 21:37.040 --> 21:43.580 the enormity of his guilt. And by the, here it says it again, the unrighteousness of your trade. 21:48.420 --> 21:55.920 Interesting. So Lucifer was an amazing creation, complete in perfection. He was exactly 21:56.640 --> 22:03.780 perfect. Covered with precious stones, he had musical instruments built into him. He was created 22:03.780 --> 22:11.280 an anointed cherub, so he had oversight. He walked on the holy mountain of God among the 22:11.280 --> 22:19.680 sacred stones, the stones of fire. He was blameless. Here it is. He was in business. He traveled 22:19.680 --> 22:23.960 for trade. That's literally what that word commerce in the King James means. He traveled 22:23.960 --> 22:29.980 for trade. I have no idea what that's about. And he was perfect in beauty, 22:30.840 --> 22:37.060 but then we had a problem. He sinned and he was cast out of heaven to earth. So now what? 22:37.820 --> 22:47.040 What do we do with this? This isn't some Joe Schmo. This is a being that God created 22:49.300 --> 22:56.520 and all the inferences of what we read is there was no other being created like him. 22:57.080 --> 23:05.780 He was above somehow in his splendor, in his beauty, in his wisdom. There was, he had full access 23:06.450 --> 23:12.560 to the workings and the presence and the inside behind the scene stuff, the mountain of 23:12.560 --> 23:17.940 God, what God was doing in the stones of fire. This wasn't just some Joe Schmo angel. 23:20.400 --> 23:28.140 This is a very, very high being that God created. We can't leave him unattended. 23:29.040 --> 23:34.300 He's way too smart. You leave your two-year-old unattended. They're going to come up with 23:34.300 --> 23:38.520 stuff that's like, how do you think of that? You shouldn't have done that. 23:39.620 --> 23:44.700 Well, you think you can't leave him unattended. He's got to be controlled. He's got to be 23:44.700 --> 23:47.640 watched over. He's got to be kept in line. What are we going to do with him? 23:50.960 --> 23:54.800 I could almost hear the Trinity saying, I don't think it's our job. 23:56.780 --> 23:59.760 I mean, we're going to leave heaven, go sit at the edge of earth and watch this clown. 24:01.180 --> 24:03.120 We're not going to, we're not going to do that. 24:06.100 --> 24:08.700 I don't know who came up with the idea, but it said God said. 24:10.180 --> 24:18.740 God is Elohim. God said, let us, so it must have been a triune thing. Hey, I've got an idea. 24:19.620 --> 24:25.680 Let us make man in our own image. Elohim said that. Elohim is the Trinity means God's more 24:25.680 --> 24:31.360 than one. That's why he said, let us make man in our image. Speaks of total power and might, 24:31.360 --> 24:36.660 complete sovereignty, complete creativity and creative power. 24:39.520 --> 24:43.620 And everybody has that booklet. If you don't grab one, it gives you the names of God, 24:43.680 --> 24:47.580 so you can inject them then and go, oh, now I see what this is saying. 24:51.700 --> 24:57.220 So God created man. He needed somebody 24:58.860 --> 25:04.780 to be able to deal with Satan and the fallen angels, specifically Satan. 25:05.960 --> 25:15.020 So he created a being higher in authority than Satan and the fallen angels. 25:17.680 --> 25:21.700 If I had a big mirror here, I'd hold it up and say, that's you. 25:23.920 --> 25:34.340 That's you. Even in our ugly, fallen, flesh, nature, existence, Satan is scared, spitless of you. 25:36.360 --> 25:39.520 Because you carry a bigger club than he ever dreamt of holding. 25:41.140 --> 25:44.800 We were created to deal with this Satan problem. 25:45.860 --> 25:50.700 God needed a being that can rule and reign over Satan. So he created one, man. 25:52.080 --> 25:57.160 To me, it's the only thing that explains our design, which we're going to get to now. 25:57.860 --> 26:05.080 And it's the only thing that explains why would you create a being and put them on earth with that jerk? 26:07.220 --> 26:12.880 Oh, you need someone to be in charge of that jerk. That's us. 26:15.920 --> 26:20.060 So who or what is this man or this woman that God created? 26:21.700 --> 26:26.720 We are a creation that was made just below God in authority. 26:28.880 --> 26:36.960 Lucifer was very high, but God put us right under him. Here's where it says it. 26:39.140 --> 26:44.660 And you have made him a little lower than the angels. 26:46.240 --> 26:52.920 I added that parentheses. That word angels there is not angels. It's Elohim. 26:54.300 --> 26:59.660 It means the Trinity, the name that describes the creative power of God, the all sovereign, 26:59.880 --> 27:07.260 the all powerful one. You made him just a little lower than yourself and then to make sure that 27:07.260 --> 27:12.740 everybody got it, you crowned him with glory and honored him and who you made him to be. 27:15.460 --> 27:16.300 Wow. 27:19.540 --> 27:27.540 You have made him to have dominion over the works of your hands and have put some things under his feet. 27:28.260 --> 27:38.320 All things. Now we know where we rank in the order of creation. 27:39.440 --> 27:47.900 We are way up here right under God. And he put all things under us. 27:52.600 --> 27:55.560 Wow. I already gave you the definition to Elohim. 27:57.800 --> 28:03.220 Here's what's interesting. All the way through chapter one to chapter two, 28:03.320 --> 28:08.020 verse three, where he starts dealing with Adam and Eve specifically and creation and lays that 28:08.020 --> 28:17.860 out all the way through chapter one. He uses one name Elohim. Chapter two, verse four, he adds another 28:17.860 --> 28:22.680 name to it because now he's dealing with this creation that is put right underneath him. 28:23.540 --> 28:28.280 If you read it in the King James, the word God is Elohim. In chapter two, verse four, it says 28:28.280 --> 28:37.780 the Lord God. Lord is Yahweh. That is the big kahuna name. The self-existent eternal one, 28:37.860 --> 28:43.380 the one who will be, who will be. In conservative Jewish culture, they're not even allowed to 28:43.380 --> 28:55.720 speak that name because it's so holy. So right under God, he sticks us and then when he starts 28:55.720 --> 29:02.820 talking to us about specifics as human race, he says, by the way, I am your Lord God. 29:03.960 --> 29:08.500 So just because you're a big shot doesn't mean you don't surrender and follow me. 29:09.900 --> 29:18.980 You still must stay submitted to me. He now uses the term Lord God through all the way up to 29:18.980 --> 29:27.240 Genesis 17.1. We go through all kinds of things, creation, the fall, Cain and Abel, 29:27.440 --> 29:32.300 Nephilim, the flood, the first covenant with Noah, the tower of Babel, the calling of Abraham, 29:32.560 --> 29:39.920 Lot, Melchizedek, the covenant with Abraham, Hagar and Ishmael. This is all Lord God, 29:40.140 --> 29:48.020 Lord God, Lord God. Chapter one was Elohim, God. He changes and reveals another one of his 29:48.020 --> 29:55.480 names in chapter 17, verse one, when he's trying to convince Abraham, I'm capable of giving your old 29:55.480 --> 30:07.460 wife a son. Remember, she was 90. Don't frown at me, ladies. She was 90. She was old to be having 30:07.460 --> 30:18.160 kids. Abraham thought so. She thought so. I mean, and Abraham wasn't buying it. Hence the previous 30:18.160 --> 30:27.340 chapter, Hagar. They didn't think it was possible. So God shows up in chapter 17 and says, 30:27.380 --> 30:32.600 by the way, I am Al Shaddai. I am the all-sufficient one. I have everything you need. 30:33.540 --> 30:35.820 And I'm going to make covenant with you and get it to you. 30:37.460 --> 30:45.520 So it's like, wow. But everything to that point was Elohim, Elohim, Elohim, Elohim, Elohim, 30:46.240 --> 30:55.140 Lord Elohim, which puts him just above us. He's the master ruler over us. So he empowered us, 30:55.260 --> 30:59.620 gave us the authority to literally, we have power and authority over everything. 31:01.680 --> 31:09.380 But he added something. The heaven, even the heavens are the lords, but the earth, 31:10.080 --> 31:20.760 he has given to the children of men. The earth is up to us. And we are doing a bang-up job of it. 31:24.200 --> 31:29.600 But the earth, literally, he gave to us. So now I'm going to put something together for you here. 31:32.480 --> 31:36.660 God said, let us make man in our image according to our likeness. Let him have dominion over any 31:36.660 --> 31:41.400 names, physical things, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth. 31:43.380 --> 31:47.840 Catch that phrase. I underlined it there for you. Every creeping thing that creepeth on the earth. 31:48.220 --> 31:51.860 So God created man in his own image. In the image of God, he created him, male and 31:51.860 --> 31:55.580 female. He created them. Then God blessed them. And God said, this is all Elohim. 31:56.200 --> 32:00.660 And God, Elohim blessed them. And Elohim said to them, be fruitful and multiply. 32:00.660 --> 32:04.100 Fill the earth and subdue it. Have dominion, fill the earth and subdue it. 32:04.300 --> 32:07.240 Take note of that. Have dominion over the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, 32:07.460 --> 32:14.420 and over every living thing that moves on the earth. See, at this point, Adam and Eve 32:15.160 --> 32:20.360 were totally innocent to the spirit realm that was around them. 32:23.300 --> 32:26.940 They didn't... God was... I'm sure he was in the process of teaching them, and he was going 32:26.940 --> 32:31.020 to instruct them and take them down the road and clue them in and say, by the way, 32:31.200 --> 32:35.920 you two are not here alone. There's lots of... lots of others here with you. 32:36.400 --> 32:42.460 And he was going to move that way. But he just summed it up for them. 32:44.160 --> 32:48.100 Things that creep on the earth. Every living thing that moves on the earth. 32:48.500 --> 32:54.660 Well, here isn't it interesting when Satan had to present himself before God as one of the 32:54.660 --> 32:59.320 sons of God. And God said to him, he said, where'd you come from? Which means he has some 32:59.320 --> 33:04.700 ability to roam and move. And Satan says, well, from going to and fro on the earth and from 33:04.700 --> 33:12.040 walking back and forth on it. Well, that verse says everything that moves on the earth is under 33:12.040 --> 33:18.360 our authority. Satan just said, I'm just wandering around walking on the earth. 33:19.800 --> 33:24.300 So out of his own mouth, he made the statement that says, yeah, we're over you. 33:24.820 --> 33:28.380 Because we've been given authority over everything that moves on the earth. 33:30.020 --> 33:33.660 So here's an interesting question for you, which we won't take time, but I'm just going to plant 33:33.660 --> 33:39.780 some seed here for you to think about. Is this why angels are under our administration 33:39.780 --> 33:44.020 or judgment? 1st Corinthians 6.3, they use the word judgment in King James. It actually 33:44.020 --> 33:52.300 means administration. Since it seems Lucifer was a creation created above the angels 33:52.300 --> 34:00.740 for us to have authority over him, God created us above Lucifer, which means this whole works 34:00.740 --> 34:06.080 down here is under us, which that's why Paul says, don't you know you're going to judge or you're 34:06.080 --> 34:15.780 going to administrate angels? So that whole, apparently, that whole thing is under us. 34:16.740 --> 34:20.020 So what was this man made like? What are the characteristics? 34:20.600 --> 34:25.820 Well, it says image and likeness gives us a few clues. Image means this. 34:27.120 --> 34:32.360 It's an illusion or resemblance like a phantom image, a representative figure. 34:33.480 --> 34:41.240 So in other words, when you see us, it's like they look a lot like God. 34:42.320 --> 34:48.440 But the word image doesn't seem to carry the thing of look. It seems to carry the thing 34:48.440 --> 34:57.380 of represented tid authority, authority granted, a class or a category of being that authority 34:57.380 --> 35:03.940 has been granted. He said, you've been made right under me, Elohim. New Testament calls us 35:03.940 --> 35:14.200 ambassadors, ambassadors who represent his authority. We call things. We declare things. 35:14.840 --> 35:20.300 We bind. We lose. We don't do that in our own power. We're representative ambassadors 35:20.920 --> 35:27.400 of him. So image seems to be dealing with more authority than sight. 35:29.040 --> 35:34.180 And it's over spiritual and physical because he already made that plane. Anything that moves 35:34.180 --> 35:39.340 on the earth. Well, Lucifer said, I move on the earth where Satan said, well, guess what? 35:39.340 --> 35:46.100 Now you're under my authority. So we've been given that authority. Now 35:50.790 --> 36:00.730 we can't create from nothing. We're not, God reserves that for himself. 36:02.430 --> 36:07.430 God created the mountains. We can move them. 36:09.510 --> 36:13.950 God created the trees. We can bless or curse them. 36:15.750 --> 36:22.370 God is the creator, but he gave us the authority to move the pieces around 36:24.030 --> 36:31.290 with the words of our mouth. That's how we're like the father. Image. 36:33.930 --> 36:37.270 The two ultimate languages, we talked about these just a little bit in that 36:37.270 --> 36:41.470 pre-message message. Death and life lies in truth. 36:43.150 --> 36:47.010 Faith is in our mouth. Either it's a God kind of faith or it's fear faith, 36:47.170 --> 36:50.890 but we're always walking by faith as human beings. We've been designed to walk by faith. 36:51.350 --> 36:55.490 It's who we are. It's part of our identity. Well, I walk by sight. No, you don't. 36:56.570 --> 37:00.470 Every human being on earth walks by faith. And we can talk about that as we get further 37:00.470 --> 37:07.010 into that. So image and likeness. Resemblance. Here we've got like the model, the shape, 37:07.210 --> 37:10.990 the fashion. Like if you're going to build a new car, they make a model of it first. 37:11.150 --> 37:14.770 So this is what it's going to look like. It seems to be talking more about the physical 37:14.770 --> 37:22.170 aspect, the appearance. So what did mankind appear like before the fall? They looked like God. 37:23.630 --> 37:25.770 Looked at us. Looked at God and said, 37:27.810 --> 37:34.490 they look alike. They got a likeness. But what does that mean? What does God look like? 37:39.220 --> 37:44.220 Revelation 1. In the midst of the seven lampstands, one like the Son of Man. So this is Jesus. 37:44.540 --> 37:48.680 Jesus is God. Clothed with a garment down to the feet and girded with 37:49.260 --> 37:52.760 and girded about the chest with a golden band. His head, 37:53.230 --> 38:00.260 hair were like wool, white like wool, and white as snow, and his eyes like a flame of fire. 38:01.860 --> 38:05.320 Okay, so that's how John saw him. His feet 38:07.780 --> 38:11.960 were like fine brass, as if refined in a furnace. 38:15.140 --> 38:21.180 Almost like hot molten metal. His voice describes that at the end. It says, 38:21.180 --> 38:25.960 his countenance was like the sun shining in its strength. So he was really, really bright. 38:27.760 --> 38:31.260 So there's some similarities that show up as you go through Scripture. 38:32.280 --> 38:38.600 God the Father can look completely white also, like Jesus was there, very bright. And Daniel 38:38.600 --> 38:44.920 7 talks about that. And God the Father and the Holy Spirit are described as being 38:46.000 --> 38:54.520 bright and like on fire, like glowing metal, which that would have been under Jesus, 38:56.380 --> 39:02.720 his vesture, his clothing, his feet stuck out. He saw that part of him. Let me show you this from 39:02.720 --> 39:09.740 what Ezekiel saw. Ezekiel 1, and above the firmament over the heads was like the 39:09.740 --> 39:13.380 likeness of a throne in the appearance of a sapphire stone. And the likeness of the throne 39:13.380 --> 39:18.620 was a likeness with the appearance of a man high above it. Here is the Father. 39:19.660 --> 39:27.080 He looks like a man because man looks like him. Also from the appearance of his waist 39:27.080 --> 39:34.020 and upward, I saw as it were the color of amber with the appearance of fire all around 39:34.900 --> 39:42.180 within it. So from the waist up, it looks like he's on fire. 39:44.180 --> 39:51.840 And from the waist down, it looks like he's on fire and he's really bright. 39:53.840 --> 39:59.100 And like the appearance of a rainbow and a cloud on a rainy day, so was the appearance of the 39:59.100 --> 40:03.740 brightness, which was the glory. The brightness was the glory surrounding him. This was the 40:03.740 --> 40:10.460 appearance and the likeness of the glory of the Lord. So Ezekiel is describing the Father here. 40:13.580 --> 40:19.080 So Adam and Eve were made to look like him. Now put this in your mind. When Adam and Eve 40:19.780 --> 40:27.380 sinned, Paul says, Romans 3.23, they fell short of the glory. And all of a sudden they went, 40:29.420 --> 40:38.140 were naked. They were naked the whole time except for one thing. They were clothed. 40:40.680 --> 40:49.740 They looked like God. Very bright on fire. 40:51.800 --> 40:59.160 And it even looked kind of like a fire with a molten metal. That was their clothing. 41:01.300 --> 41:05.300 Now Lucifer, who had been in the secret places with the Father, 41:06.260 --> 41:09.220 put this in your head. When the Father came walking through the garden 41:10.240 --> 41:18.380 and he is looking like that with extremely bright, Lucifer knew that's the Father. 41:19.720 --> 41:21.460 Seen that before, know who that is. 41:23.700 --> 41:27.820 Who are those other two? They look just like them. 41:31.590 --> 41:42.690 Our original appearance, our clothing as a human race was that. So just by walking 41:42.690 --> 41:52.150 through the garden with the Father, the Father was showing Lucifer, these two got one up on you. 41:55.800 --> 42:00.460 Which he's in rebellion. So what's the first thing when you tell a kid who's 42:00.460 --> 42:06.160 in rebellion, you can't do that? Well they're going to try to do it. So hence here we go for the tree. 42:06.900 --> 42:14.040 But that is what it looked like. Man was God's representative on earth to rule the physical 42:14.040 --> 42:18.480 creation and the fallen spiritual creation. How that was supposed to play out we don't 42:18.480 --> 42:23.900 know because it never got there. First Adam messed that up. The second Adam came to restore that. 42:25.020 --> 42:31.660 Now I want you to think about something. Adam and Eve, originally the human race was originally 42:31.660 --> 42:39.100 put here to rule this physical world and everything that was here was under our 42:39.100 --> 42:44.960 rulership and our reign and our control. They sinned and lost that. 42:47.220 --> 42:56.380 Jesus comes, Paul says, as the second Adam, to restore back to man what they lost. 42:57.820 --> 43:04.480 Or what they lose. They're supposed to be ruling over everything including the spirit realm 43:05.910 --> 43:13.900 and he restores us back to the same thing. I saw Satan fall from heaven like lightning. 43:13.900 --> 43:19.900 Don't worry about him. Nothing in that realm shall by any means hurt you. I give you power to 43:19.900 --> 43:25.960 tread on over all the power of the enemy. What's he doing? He's putting us back to where Adam and 43:25.960 --> 43:33.980 Eve were. You know those creepy critters? He's supposed to be under your control not you under 43:33.980 --> 43:41.500 his. He's supposed to be under your control. This whole physical realm it's supposed to 43:41.500 --> 43:47.000 be under our control. As he gave it to them they lost it. Jesus bought it back. What does Paul 43:47.000 --> 43:56.240 say in Romans 8? The very creation is groaning, waiting for somebody who resembles God, says 43:56.240 --> 44:05.400 sons of God, to show up and set it free from what it's been put under. That's us. The creation 44:05.400 --> 44:12.660 itself is waiting for us to begin ruling and reigning again. So how do you keep the earth 44:12.660 --> 44:18.320 from being ruled and reigned by the human race? You keep them fighting and divided. 44:20.790 --> 44:30.000 Here we are. And we are literally as human beings powerless to rule the physical realm. 44:30.960 --> 44:39.160 It's like we're always reacting to what's going on rather than leading it. If the whole human race 44:39.780 --> 44:51.060 would get saved, understand who we are, we could end every destructive thing on this earth 44:52.140 --> 44:57.660 because it is designed to obey us. We've been given that authority. 44:57.660 --> 45:07.220 The problem is that's not happening. So let's come to a conclusion on this. 45:12.540 --> 45:23.480 Man was created an outstandingly awesome being. Image and likeness, appearance and authority 45:23.480 --> 45:29.920 were like God. We're created to rule right beneath Elohim. 45:32.170 --> 45:38.540 Right beneath. We're created to rule 45:40.970 --> 45:49.690 with our words. Three scriptures for it. One Old Testament, two New Testament. 45:53.490 --> 46:01.170 The curse was you're going to have to make a living with your hands which is going to cause 46:01.170 --> 46:08.710 your physical body to get hot and perspire. By your hands, your work, the sweat of your brow, 46:08.930 --> 46:15.070 you're going to make a living at them. That was the curse. Adam was designed to just speak to 46:15.950 --> 46:22.910 it. I want this there and I want that there. Jesus even alluded to it, you want to mountain move 46:22.910 --> 46:32.330 or speak to it. That was our original design. Wow. 46:35.290 --> 46:40.930 We were created to rule the physical realm and Jesus gave us examples of that. 46:42.810 --> 46:50.410 Calming the storm, walking on the water. How do we get there? There's a lake in the way. 46:50.950 --> 46:57.630 Walk over it. It has to obey you. You're charged. See, that's what we were designed to be. 47:02.310 --> 47:05.310 Wow. Created to rule the spiritual realm, 47:07.490 --> 47:18.260 including the judging and administration of angels. So my opinion, to this point in life, 47:19.880 --> 47:26.240 man was created to be the solution to the Satan fallen angel problem on earth. 47:28.000 --> 47:31.260 Again, I don't know how that was supposed to play out under Adam and Eve because it 47:31.260 --> 47:36.540 never got there. But under us, we're supposed, the keys to the whole thing is binding and 47:36.540 --> 47:41.620 losing. So Jesus said, I'm going to give you keys to the kingdom. It's the binding and losing. 47:42.680 --> 47:46.660 We're supposed to bind and lose. We're supposed to cast out. We're supposed to defeat, overcome, 47:47.240 --> 47:52.800 be victorious. We're supposed to kick the gates of hell open and go in and get out. 47:53.980 --> 48:02.700 We're to rule and reign over the kingdom of darkness. We are, 48:05.120 --> 48:12.400 we are, I'm going to say this two, three times before I'm done. God created us to be the solution 48:12.400 --> 48:23.060 to this world in Christ. I mean, it's always Lord Elohim, Yahweh Elohim, and then us. In Christ, 48:23.240 --> 48:30.860 or under His authority, He created man to be the solution to this world. 48:34.640 --> 48:49.620 Who am I? I am in the God class of being. Who are you? I don't like the song, 48:50.280 --> 48:57.400 the lowly worm such as I. I'm not a worm. I'm not a furry. 49:04.680 --> 49:11.280 I'm not something that Satan is trying to convince the world we are. 49:13.260 --> 49:23.820 I and you are created in the God class of beings. We have to know that. 49:25.720 --> 49:30.920 Now don't get all proud over that. Oh, you should see who I am. Yeah, you're nothing outside of Jesus. 49:31.220 --> 49:38.380 But in Jesus, that's who He created us to be. And someday, you know what? The glory we lost 49:38.380 --> 49:45.120 when we get out of this crate, we get our new body, I expect to be walking clothed in fire. 49:47.240 --> 49:59.450 That's the original design, original intent. We've been given His power and authority 50:00.870 --> 50:09.470 over everything. Now, the one verse we read inferred all the works of His hands. 50:10.650 --> 50:19.690 Well, right now we're limited to earth. But Jesus indicated when we get there, 50:20.070 --> 50:26.450 those limitations come off. And He who's been faithful and little will be given much. He who 50:26.450 --> 50:35.570 ruled well over one thing will be given ten cities. And we have been created as human beings 50:36.650 --> 50:44.690 to be pure representatives of God, ruling and reigning over everything. That's you. 50:47.610 --> 50:52.450 And your ability, you know, this is how deception works. This is how 50:53.010 --> 50:58.110 Satan gets in and gets us concentrated on things that we are, they're okay. They're good, 50:58.190 --> 51:04.310 but they're lesser. Your ability is not in your hands. Your ability is not in your head. 51:04.310 --> 51:10.050 Your ability is not to make crafts or be an electrician or be an inventor or an engineer. 51:10.250 --> 51:15.230 Those are all great, wonderful things. But the greatest ability you have is in your mouth. 51:18.350 --> 51:27.390 The greatest power we have is in our mouth. That's why James said, what was Satan after? 51:27.910 --> 51:36.490 He set our tongue on fire. When we died in sin and we all fell short of the glory of God, 51:37.250 --> 51:43.270 Satan said, their power is in their mouth, Jim. We got to stop that. So he set our tongue on fire, 51:43.410 --> 51:51.030 James says, with the fire of hell. Why would somebody say that to me? Because they're 51:51.030 --> 52:02.050 speaking like hell would speak. What's he after? To hurt people's feelings? No. 52:03.410 --> 52:10.830 He's after what we talked about in that first portion. He's after the greatest power we have, 52:11.850 --> 52:19.830 which is our tongue, our mouth. So what does he do? Genius. 52:21.510 --> 52:28.330 He gets us saved, and then he baptizes us with the Holy Spirit and with fire. 52:31.040 --> 52:37.180 And where does it, oh, how can you say it? Where does it come out of? Where does it 52:37.180 --> 52:44.560 attach to? What is the evidence of it? Other tongues. What is God after? Our tongue. Why? 52:44.560 --> 52:52.700 Because it's him. It's how he does things. Satan took it away and gave us other tongues. 52:54.920 --> 53:03.800 And they're not godly tongues. They curse. They lie. They accuse. They judge. They belittle. 53:04.220 --> 53:10.460 They puff themselves up. They did all kinds of boasts and all kinds of garbage falls out of 53:10.460 --> 53:15.940 that. That's his kingdom's tongues. God says, yeah, that's not going to work. Once I get them saved, 53:16.060 --> 53:21.600 we've got to fix that. That's a mess. So let's just let the Holy Spirit go in there and clean 53:21.600 --> 53:30.400 that mess up. That's you. That's why he gave us baptism in the Holy Spirit. Well, one of the, 53:30.420 --> 53:33.380 not the only reason, but one of the reasons he gave us the baptism in the Holy Spirit. 53:33.880 --> 53:39.500 If I'm going to return these people back to the authority they were meant to walk in, 53:39.500 --> 53:45.000 I've got to clean up their mouth. Because if I give authority to what they're saying, 53:45.540 --> 53:51.660 everybody on earth is going to be stupid, dead, cross-eyed, whatever. 53:55.040 --> 53:58.700 You know those things that you said about the guy who cut you off when you were on the 53:58.700 --> 54:04.360 way to the cities. Just driving, minding your own business. And then this guy pulls up 54:04.360 --> 54:09.920 beside you and waves with one finger and comes around and cuts you off. Friendly guy. 54:12.080 --> 54:17.120 And the words that fell out of your mouth, if God would have put those into effect, 54:22.540 --> 54:28.940 God's got to clean up her mouth. He's got to get us talking like him. Because he's got to 54:28.940 --> 54:34.720 restore us back to that original design. So now here's just, I've said it before, 54:34.720 --> 54:41.000 just little food for thought. Out of all the Christians in America, out of all the denominations, 54:41.040 --> 54:46.220 I think this is true worldwide, but America is where I live. Of all the denominations, 54:46.280 --> 54:52.460 everything here. Who are the people who believe? We have authority over the demonic. 54:52.840 --> 54:57.980 We can cast out demons. We can raise the dead. We can speak to things and they obey us. 54:58.280 --> 55:03.740 We can lay hands on and speak over people and they're healed. We can see miracles. We can... 55:03.740 --> 55:09.640 Who are the people that believe all that? There's only one group. 55:11.840 --> 55:19.240 Them tongue-toggers. No other denomination believes it. You know why? 55:19.960 --> 55:22.180 Because they don't have the power in their mouth to make it happen. 55:27.090 --> 55:29.950 See now, I'm going to go, I have a couple of minutes here. I'm going to go a little side 55:29.950 --> 55:35.870 story. This summer is going to be kind of off and on. This is going to be a series and 55:35.870 --> 55:39.750 Pastor Igor is in a series. So between the two of us, we're going to be batting back and forth, 55:39.890 --> 55:42.910 because there's... Like last weekend, we were speaking at a different church. 55:43.930 --> 55:47.590 We've got stuff that's going to break up the summer, different churches ministering 55:47.590 --> 55:50.450 different places, so forth. So I'll be bouncing back and forth. Well, last weekend, 55:50.530 --> 55:55.750 we were at church and the pastor said this to us. They said... I don't remember what we 55:55.750 --> 56:00.670 were talking about, but we were conversing about demonic stuff. And the pastor said, 56:00.670 --> 56:07.730 now here's an interesting one. We had a person coming to the church who, nice family, we loved 56:07.730 --> 56:12.450 them. They stayed for a while, and then they left and went to a different church in town. They 56:12.450 --> 56:16.890 named the church, went to a different church in town. And they said the reason they left is 56:16.890 --> 56:22.210 they don't like to speaking in tongues. Well, I said, well, we can identify with that. We've 56:22.210 --> 56:28.790 had that happen. And the pastor said, but now let me give you the rest of the story. 56:29.350 --> 56:35.310 So their son is late teens, I believe, is what they said. And all of a sudden, 56:35.730 --> 56:44.730 the son is starting to manifest demonic stuff. And in church stuff was manifesting at that other 56:44.730 --> 56:50.490 church. And the pastor said, just freaked everybody out and they didn't want anything to do 56:50.490 --> 56:53.690 with them. And they kind of backed away and like he's a weirdo and what's going on. 56:54.830 --> 56:59.350 The pastor sought, they tried to get together with the pastor, had the pastor do something. 57:01.190 --> 57:07.810 Here's what the pastor said. I have no idea how to deal with demonic stuff. I don't know what 57:07.810 --> 57:18.750 to do with it. So the pastor said, they came back to me, the tongue talking idiot, 57:20.590 --> 57:25.910 and said, we know you know about this. Can you get our son free? 57:28.730 --> 57:35.070 I said, what'd you say? Because you should have said, why should I go to your pastor? 57:40.600 --> 57:47.600 Perfect example. God wants to clean up our mouth the way he's chosen to do it is the baptism 57:47.600 --> 57:52.920 in the Holy Spirit, starting a fire from heaven in our mouth to burn out the fire of hell and get 57:52.920 --> 58:01.180 rid of it so that he can empower us to be ambassadors who represent him on this planet, 58:01.380 --> 58:11.420 a creation with authority over everything right under God. He needs us to walk in the full 58:11.420 --> 58:18.260 happy meal deal. Not just eat the fries, because we don't like how the burger looks. 58:18.800 --> 58:24.580 Well, that's great. But when you really run into trouble, who do you go back to? 58:27.340 --> 58:28.200 That's sad. 58:30.980 --> 58:38.680 But just put it down in your thinking that when she hits the fan, 58:38.680 --> 58:42.780 the people who mocked you will be knocking on your door. 58:44.100 --> 58:51.280 You know, I remember something about, you said something one time. What was that now? 58:54.970 --> 59:02.850 Mark my word. It'll happen. Because where they went to make them feel good and comfortable, 59:03.930 --> 59:12.830 won't work to fix the problem. Because he, according to God, nothing is impossible for God, 59:13.210 --> 59:21.050 but according to God, nothing is impossible for you in Christ. He would just like them. 59:22.690 --> 59:27.390 We are one of, I don't know if we're the highest, but we're one of the highest ranking 59:27.390 --> 59:34.470 creations God ever made. We're above angels, because Paul said we're going to administrate 59:34.470 --> 59:41.050 and judge them. We're above demons. We're above fallen angels. We're above Satan himself. 59:42.510 --> 59:46.790 And the reason we're above is not so we can strut around and say, oh, we're so great. 59:47.190 --> 59:54.210 He made us that way to fix a problem. We're the solution to the problem. 59:55.370 --> 01:00:02.210 And you know what? He made Adam and Eve that way, and nothing has changed. 01:00:03.270 --> 01:00:14.130 He's looking at you and me and His true church to change this world. We're the solution to the 01:00:14.130 --> 01:00:23.050 problem. The problem is we've gotten our eyes too much on not our most powerful asset, 01:00:23.050 --> 01:00:29.310 not who we are, and we've allowed the world to move into the church. 01:00:31.010 --> 01:00:38.290 And they're influencing us, rather than us influencing them. And it's messed up. 01:00:39.410 --> 01:00:44.370 So that's why, going back to that lineup I gave you at the beginning, that's why he needs to 01:00:44.370 --> 01:00:51.750 save us as a human being, as a race of humans. He needs to save us, forgive our sins, 01:00:51.750 --> 01:00:57.370 get us back on track, and then he's going to clean us up 01:00:59.710 --> 01:01:06.190 by his spirit, by his word. Then he's going to mature us, 01:01:08.270 --> 01:01:12.250 save us, clean us up, and maturing and cleaning up kind of go together. 01:01:13.730 --> 01:01:20.630 And then he empowers us. You don't give a stick of dynamite to a kid who says, 01:01:20.630 --> 01:01:27.970 oh, big firecracker. Let them grow up a little bit before you hand them that power. 01:01:31.440 --> 01:01:33.940 Honey, don't ever set this off in your sister's bedroom. 01:01:37.240 --> 01:01:40.320 Let them mature a little bit, let them grow up a little bit, 01:01:41.820 --> 01:01:46.600 and then give them the power. You know, the scripture goes along with that. 01:01:47.440 --> 01:01:53.860 God is able to do abundantly above what we can all ask or imagine according to 01:01:55.040 --> 01:02:03.180 the power that's at work in us. John added some light to that. He said, I want you to prosper 01:02:04.840 --> 01:02:12.920 as your soul prospers. In other words, as you mature and grow, I want to see the power grow. 01:02:13.840 --> 01:02:19.640 I want to see it develop. We are not only the answer... 01:02:21.800 --> 01:02:25.440 Well, let me say it this way. I'm going to say it a different way. We are not... 01:02:25.440 --> 01:02:30.940 We not only have the answer according to God's original design, 01:02:31.820 --> 01:02:40.100 but in Christ we are now the answer. Again, I'll say it. We are the solution 01:02:40.100 --> 01:02:47.680 to the world's problems. That's who you are. And if we don't believe that, we're going to live below it. 01:02:48.600 --> 01:02:53.720 Well, I don't really know if I really carry much power. Well, what were you designed to carry? 01:02:55.820 --> 01:03:03.300 I mean, if you go buy a car that's got a big engine, or some people buy electric cars where 01:03:04.560 --> 01:03:12.640 they have power too, and you get on the accelerator in that baby, and it's like, 01:03:17.700 --> 01:03:20.100 you know what you're going to say? Something's wrong with this. 01:03:23.770 --> 01:03:34.310 First time, it was a 1980 Buick I bought that was the new fuel-efficient eco-friendly model. 01:03:34.310 --> 01:03:40.230 I took it out west to the mountains. I got behind this truck. He had a huge load 01:03:41.810 --> 01:03:48.930 and he's going 20 miles an hour up this two-lane road. And it's curves. You can't 01:03:49.930 --> 01:03:54.550 finally pop out. There's a little bit of a straightaway. Nobody's coming. I floored it. 01:03:58.210 --> 01:04:08.890 It went nowhere. It was like a truck just stayed right there. Slowly, slowly, now cars come, 01:04:09.070 --> 01:04:13.150 had to pull in behind them. First thing that went through my mind, something's wrong with this. 01:04:14.150 --> 01:04:15.610 This is no way it's supposed to work. 01:04:18.030 --> 01:04:21.010 Well, I don't know if I have much power. Well, what are you supposed to have? 01:04:21.470 --> 01:04:26.790 Unless you know how God created you and what your identity is, we'll be happy to live down here 01:04:26.790 --> 01:04:33.450 when we're supposed to be living up here. We need to understand that if we're going to walk in 01:04:33.450 --> 01:04:38.370 the fullness of what God has. So Lord, in the name of Jesus, by your spirit, drive this into our 01:04:38.370 --> 01:04:45.070 hearts. Help us to understand what you made us to be. What our potential is, what our 01:04:46.350 --> 01:04:53.510 responsibility is before you, in the authority you've given to us. Help us to see the big picture 01:04:53.510 --> 01:04:58.130 rather than taking it apart in little bits and pieces. Help us to see the big picture and move 01:04:58.130 --> 01:05:01.330 forward in you in Jesus' name. Amen.