The Battleground

Good evening family. Good evening the blessed of the Lord! Tonight, we’re going to talk about revival in a little different way. And we’re going to begin in Genesis 1. For those of you who have heard me minister before, Genesis 1 is one of those passages that I come back to over and over and tonight is no different,

I think one of the things that we’re seeing in our country today is a lack of the body of Christ knowing who it is. And a lack of the body of Christ standing for the principles outlined in scripture.

So, tonight, we’re going to take a look at you. And that’s all I’m going to say at this point because I don’t want to give the message away. So, in Genesis 1, look at verse 26.

(26) And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.

(27) So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him, male and female created he them.

(28) And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.

When the Bible says God has given man dominion, what is the source of that dominion? It is God’s life and God’s nature. That is the source of that dominion. So, if God gave man dominion and that dominion flowed from His life and nature, what is the true source of dominion when God first gave it to man?

The dominion God gave to man operated out of His love. Man operating out of God’s love was the way he was to exercise his dominion because we know First John 4, verse 8 says “God is love.” That is His true, defining characteristic. So, if He is giving us dominion, He is giving us dominion so that we can operate out of His love.

When we look at Genesis 1:26, it says “God says Let us…” I have this image of the Godhead getting together and God, the Father, saying “You know, I have this longing in My heart for children.” So, in Genesis 1:26, you’re seeing what God is giving to His children.

The first thing God gives His children, and I think it is very significant, is His image. God gave His children exactly who He is without deity. Look at someone and say “I am a child of God.” The only way His children could have true dominion was to be exactly like Him.

And we see the scope of that dominion is over the fish of the sea, the fowl of the air, over the cattle and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. In other words, ladies and gentlemen, there is nothing in this earth that we do not have dominion over. We have dominion.

When God gave us dominion, that dominion included the authority to enforce it. We have the authority to rule God’s creation. Now, when God gave us the authority to rule, guess what He did not give us? He did not give us, directly, the power in that authority.

That is what’s so neat about having dominion. When God gave us dominion, God is saying “You will have to work with Me to pull it off.” “You will have to work with Me to make it happen.”

So, in Genesis 1:26-28, we see God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit getting together and deciding what we would look like.

Now look at chapter 2, verse 7.

“And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.”

This is what I want you to see, ladies and gentlemen, and it is so very, very important. God gave us dominion BEFORE we existed! Do you see that? He gave man dominion before man breathed his first breath. So, when we get to Genesis 2:7, God has already given man dominion. Now, He’s giving man the spiritual life to exercise that dominion the way He would exercise it. Are you following me?

I want you to see something else. God gave man dominion before man breathed his first breath. God also gave man a soul before he took his first breath. Otherwise, why would the Bible say man became “a living soul?” He had to have had a soul if it was to become one that was alive.