David [00:00:01]:
Last week we began looking into why we celebrate Resurrection Sunday, also known as the Day of Salvation. And we begin to discover all that Jesus bought for us as believers through his death, his burial, and his resurrection. What we realized was we barely scratched the surface regarding all that we were talking about there, all that Jesus bought for us. Everything Adam lost in the beginning, Jesus has restored to us by his sacrifice.
David [00:00:59]:
And then his resurrection, his victory over death, hell and the grave restored us to our rightful position as children of God with all the rights and privileges God has given us from the beginning of time. Wow. It’s all ours again. Last week we saw that Paul did an outstanding job sharing with us about the work Jesus did for us in the first three chapters of Ephesians. I want us to finish looking at all that over the next few weeks. However, before we go there, before we do that, I feel like the Lord directed me to drill down into what it really means to be in Christ. So today we’re going to begin to explore and look at all Paul was communicating to us there. And so this will give a solid foundation to build on as we continue to explore the gift of life that Christ came to give all of us.
David [00:02:13]:
All we are talking about, all we are looking into, started in the Garden of Eden. God’s dream for mankind was revealed there. So that’s where we will begin today. You know, amazingly, Genesis 1:27 and 28 gives us context for being in Christ. So let’s start there. Let’s read it. And I’m going to read this from the Amplified classic, Genesis 1:27 and 28. Amplified classic says this.
David [00:02:48]:
So God created man in his own image, and in the image and likeness of God, he created him. Male and female, he created them. And God blessed them and said to them, be fruitful. Multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, using all of its vast resources in the service of God and man. And have dominion over the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, over every living creature, every living creature that moves upon the earth. Wow, that’s a lot there, guys. Those two verses tell us so much. And there are three keys that stand out there.
David [00:03:40]:
They are our place of being, our purpose, and our position here on earth. Understanding this helps us know where mankind begin, this adventure of life, this. This journey. Praise God. So let’s start our place of being where we are. Men and women created in the image and likeness of God. We were children of God, wrapped in his glory and in union with Him. This was our place of being.
David [00:04:18]:
One with our Father God, one with Jesus, one with with the Holy Spirit. Mankind was in Christ, living in the anointed of the Anointed One. And as a child of God, as an Anointed One, our primary identity was we were image bearers, created in his likeness and his image. So we were bearers of light. He is light, and we are light in Him. So Adam and Eve were wrapped in light, surrounded by light, encircled in light, covered by light. And before the fall, that’s all they knew, was light. The glory of God clothed them and circled them.
David [00:05:17]:
That’s who we were created to be, God’s children. That’s where we were created to be in his glory, in his light, in him here on the earth. Wow. Think about that. We were born, made in Christ in His glory, his anointing here on the earth. That’s how we were supposed to live. Which leads to our purpose. So we know our place of being.
David [00:05:54]:
Our place of being from the beginning was in Him. And Jesus came and restored all things to us so we could be in him, with him, one with the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. So what was our purpose? Our purpose was the extending of God’s heart, His dream, his plan, throughout the whole earth. All that that he spoke over Adam and Eve was his purpose and his plan. Genesis 1:28. Let me read this to you again from the Amplified Classic. And God blessed them and said to them, be fruitful, multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, using all of its vast resources in the service of God and man. Now, a lot of times in the translation, we don’t see the depth of the word and what it means.
David [00:07:09]:
And so I want to share a couple things here with you today. The first thing God did here when he was blessing Adam and Eve and speaking over them, was he equipped them. The phrase God blessed them in the Hebrew here has two key meanings. The first definition means to be blessed, means to kneel down and be blessed. And so what this word implies is that Adam and Eve were bowing before God as he blessed them and spoke over them. And so God blessed them and spoke over them. That was one blessing. The second blessing was a reciprocal.
David [00:08:03]:
Adam and Eve bless God by kneeling before him as an act of adoration, acknowledging who he is receiving his blessing over them, recognizing this, his blessing, as a benefit to them. And that’s why we do it today. That’s why we come and kneel at the altar. That’s why we kneel in prayer. Sometimes we kneel in worship. A lot of times people still bow and kneel before royalty. And we see this throughout Scripture. The child of God bowing in prayer and worship.
David [00:08:46]:
Hallelujah. Acknowledging who God is. Now, that’s the first part of the. And that first definition is twofold there, as we saw. But the second definition of the word blessed means this. It means prospered by God. To be prospered by God means to cause, to prosper. God causes us to prosper.
David [00:09:19]:
He empowers us to prosper. So what does that mean? To be prospered by God. So blessing implies. The word blessing here implies that an impartation is taking place. God was imparting something into Adam and Eve, imparting something to all mankind. You are being empowered with power and authority to be and do by the power and authority that flows from the throne, a part of what God was doing here. He was imparting to them the authority and power they needed to go do everything else. He was going to speak over them.
David [00:10:07]:
And that power and authority he was imparting to them flowed straight from the throne of God. That’s where it came from. Now, the word prosper in the Hebrew means, here means to advance, to make progress, to succeed, be profitable, to advance, to make progress, to succeed, to be profitable. When God blessed Adam and Eve, he empowered them. He gave them the power and authority to advance, to make progress, to succeed and to be profitable. This was a very intentional act of the Lord. This wasn’t something he just did in passing. This blessing wasn’t just for Adam and Eve either.
David [00:11:02]:
This blessing, spoken by the Father God over Adam and Eve, was and is a mandate for all humanity, all mankind. And it is still active and operative within mankind today. And we’re going to look at that here in a moment. Wow. He prospered us, which means he empowered us to advance, to make progress, to succeed, to be profitable in everything we do in life. And so let’s look at this again. Genesis 1:28. And God bless them and said to them, be fruitful.
David [00:11:47]:
Multiply and fill the earth and subdue it using all its vast resources in the service of God and man. So his purpose and plan were four key things here. Number one, be fruitful. And to be fruitful means to produce, be productive, to create something. God created us in his image and likeness. And God is fruitful. He’s productive. He creates.
David [00:12:25]:
The second thing he said to Adam and Eve, which was a part of Its purpose, and still is today. Multiply. So be productive, produce something, then multiply. And multiply means to expand it, to increase it, to grow it beyond more and more. God is not just a God of multiplication. He’s a God of increase. He’s not just a God of fruitfulness and multiplication. He’s a God of increase.
David [00:13:00]:
More and more and more. And so were we. We had that power, that authority, that capacity within us to multiply, to be more and more. Third thing he said to them was fill the earth. So here we go. What he was asking Adam and Eve to do was to replicate the Garden of Eden across the Earth. How you live here, what you see here, what you do here. Replicate it, recreate it across the Earth.
David [00:13:36]:
Don’t stop increasing. You know, I was thinking about this the other day, and sometimes I get out and drive around. I just love driving around, looking at nature in the countryside. I’ve seen a lot of the United States and some of the world traveling. And here’s what I see. Sometimes it just strikes me, after all these centuries of man being here on the Earth, with all we’ve done to advance and move forward, to succeed, to be profitable, we still haven’t filled the earth. We still haven’t filled the Earth. And so God is still calling on mankind today.
David [00:14:23]:
Fill the earth. Fill the earth. I’ll mention that again here in a moment, too. And then the fourth part of his purpose, a plan for mankind, was to subdue the Earth. Now, subdue means to dominate or to bring something under your authority, your management. It also means discovering all the vast resources of whatever it is you have dominance over, and discover what’s available and possible, and learn how to use these resources in the service of God and man. Wow. Now, we’ve done that in a lot of ways, but there’s still more.
David [00:15:13]:
There’s still more ways we can serve God and man through all the vast resources God has put here on the Earth. But here’s an interesting point. All of these four things, fruitful, multiply, subdue, fill the earth. All these four things were possible because God had blessed mankind with all the resources needed to fulfill them. When God blessed mankind and said, advance, make progress, be successful, be profitable, he empowered us with everything we need to go out and to succeed as we are fruitful, as we multiply, as we fill the earth and as we subdue it in the service of God and man. If you are a believer and in Christ, this is still true for you today as it was for all mankind before the fall. Keep that in mind, before the fall of man, all this was available. But when Jesus was resurrected, he restored us to that, back to that place that we held before.
David [00:16:47]:
And so all of this is available to us today. The only thing that limits us from it is our thinking. And what whether we step into it or we let society or the enemy come against us. And tell us now, you’re good. You don’t need to go any further. Again, let me read you Genesis 1:28 from the Amplified. Because he goes on to say after those four things, after he says, be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, subdue it, he says, and have dominion over the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, and over every living creature that moves upon the earth. Have dominion.
David [00:17:33]:
I’m giving you dominion. And dominion means to rule, to reign over. It means sovereign or supreme authority. God gave us supreme authority over all the earth. It’s the power of governing and controlling or stewarding all these resources for the glory of God. It also means this. When we take dominion, we take possession of what we have dominion over. We have the power to direct, to control, to use and dispose of all the resources that are available us.
David [00:18:28]:
It’s the right of possession and use. It was our right. Dominion in the earth is our right as children of God. Kingdom, dominion. Jesus brought that back to us. When he died, overcame death, hell and the grave rose again, was resurrected. He restored that right, that power, that authority to us. Kingdom, dominion is ours again.
David [00:19:02]:
We have the power and influence of the throne of God. Hallelujah. Working with us, working for us, working in us, working through us. Praise God. You see, God positioned us to rule and reign here on the earth with Him. So taking dominion, and so we’ve talked about, our place of being was in Christ, in His glory. Our purpose was to be fruitful, to multiply, to subdue, to fill the earth. And then our position was to rule and reign here on the earth with his power and authority, to have dominion.
David [00:19:50]:
So we are in Christ, and we exercise our dominion, our right and authority through Christ. And he works through us as children of God. I don’t know if you see yourself this way, but it’s true. As children of God, we are members of the royal family of heaven. And we are crowned by God with his power of dominion, his power of influence, his power of authority. That is all yours. And the enemy is still trying to rob us of it, just like he robbed Adam and Eve. He’s still trying to rob us.
David [00:20:36]:
Even though Jesus defeated him and said, no, no more, I take it back. Guys, this is important. This is who you are. This is who God called you and created you to be. A member of the royal family, a child of God who rules and reigns here on the earth with the power, authority, the dominion of God working in you and through you, for you, with you. Dominion gave mankind the right to fulfill those four primary focuses of God’s purpose for us. We are empowered to advance, to make progress, to succeed in profit by being fruitful, multiplying, filling the earth and subduing it to serve God and mankind. Wow.
David [00:21:43]:
Wow. Adam and Eve had all that. But then the enemy convinced Adam and Eve there was more than God was telling them. There was a better way. So they ate the fruit and everything changed. Fear began to rule. Confusion came like an ever changing kaleidoscope. Mankind lost the understanding and sense of our place of being, our purpose and our position.
David [00:22:30]:
Man began a journey of redefining who they were, trying to figure out their identity. As time has passed, mankind has put their identities and jobs and relational status and opinions the size of your bank account are conforming to what society says is the way to be, do and have. But the good news is, Paul tells us in 2nd Corinthians 5:17, that when we become a follower of Christ, a child of God, we stop being what we once were so we can be who we were created to be. And we’ve been invited back into our place of being. 2nd Corinthians 5:17, amplified classic. Therefore, if any person is engrafted in Christ, the Messiah, he is a new creation, a new creature altogether. The old, previous moral and spiritual condition has passed away. Behold, the fresh and new has come.
David [00:23:50]:
I encourage you to take some time, study that verse, meditate on that verse every day for a while, get it down in you. Because in Christ is where you’ve been invited to be. And if you’ve asked Jesus into your heart and you become a believer, that’s where you are. Whether you realize it or not, that is where you are. Now let’s look at what that word, that phrase in Christ means. We’re going to look at this verse, a word or a phrase at a time. And so there are 12 insights we’re going to start with right here. Just from the word in, in Christ, here’s what it means, denoting a fixed position.
David [00:24:43]:
We’re not just floating around, flopping around. Being in Christ means we’re in a fixed position, a place that has been appointed for us. It means to be implanted. It means to be intimately connected. And by implication, it means we are in a relation of rest. We are in a relation of rest in Christ. We’re at rest, we’re at peace. Being in Christ is a person to whom another is wholly joined into whose power and influence we are subject to.
David [00:25:42]:
It’s the place in which we live and move and where the power and blessing operates resulting from that union. So to be in Christ means we’re wholly joined to Christ. We are influenced and directed by Christ. It’s being in Christ is our place of being, as I said before. So it’s where we live. We live in Christ, we move in Christ. In Christ is where the power and blessing of God operates. And as we seek him and pursue him intimately, that blessing, that power flows, results, brings transformation in our life from that union with Christ, being one with Him.
David [00:26:46]:
It means we take on the nature, the soul, the thought, the mindset of Christ. The mind of Christ is ours. The mind, the power, the life of Christ is ours in Christ, the anointed one, whose power is operative in you, wraps you, surrounds you, covers you. Being in Christ reflects that in which something is manifest, a new being. You’re not who you were, you’re a brand new being. Hallelujah. It means to exchange one thing for another, to exchange what was for what is. So we let go of the old and embrace the new man, the new person, Christ.
David [00:27:50]:
Anointing. That is what we are surrounded with, equipped with, furnished with and assisted by. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. The other thing this word in means, it means to be furnished with the spirit and regal power of the Messiah, possessed of his kingly power. It means we possess his kingly power. He’s delegated that authority, that power to us.
David [00:28:29]:
We possess his kingly power. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Engrafted, as it were, in Christ, in fellowship and union with Christ, with the Lord. Hallelujah. Praise you, Jesus. It means to be in the power of, or be actuated and inspired by the Holy Spirit. Wow.
David [00:29:04]:
Wow, that’s quite a definition. But that’s what that word means. To be in Christ is all of that. We have the right and the opportunity in Christ to reclaim our place of being, our purpose and our position. All God gave mankind in the beginning is ours today because Christ paid the price to redeem us and put us back into our proper position, our place, our purpose. Paul talks about this In Ephesians, chapter 2, verses 6 through 10. And that word recreated in Christ there it says we’ve been recreated in Christ. That word recreated means to be put Back into your proper place, your proper position, with all the rights and privileges associated with it.
David [00:30:05]:
Praise God. It’s all ours again. We don’t have to work for it, we don’t have to earn it, we don’t have to deserve it. It’s ours because we are God’s children and we receive him and we bow before him and honor him as our Savior, our Father, our God. And when we do all this now, our primary identity becomes bearers of light in his image, in his likeness. Once again we become who he created us to be. And as a part of this, we are fully empowered to advance, to make progress, to succeed, and to profit in whatever way he has called you to serve. It may be in your family, taking care of your children, growing your children and partying to them, or other members of your family.
David [00:31:11]:
It may be in religion, serving there. It may be in serving God and mankind in the field of education. It may be serving God and mankind in the media in some way. And our media opportunities keep growing. They’re vast. Now, another way we serve God and man is through arts and entertainment, sports, through business or government. All these are areas where we can serve God and serve man, and in the process, use all the vast resources in the earth to bring blessing. Hallelujah.
David [00:32:02]:
Hallelujah. Hallelujah. So that we can go forth and be fruitful and multiply fill the earth and subdue it, taking our place and position of dominion and jurisdiction here on earth, wherever God has you. Now that we’ve laid the foundation for this, and you can see who we are in Christ, what we had in the beginning, Satan stole it, and then Christ brought it back to us and gave it back to us, restored it to us. And so now that we’re in Christ again, we have all this available to us. Next week we’re going to continue to work through this verse. I just gave you the first part today. We’ll review it again next week so that we can fully understand all it means to be in Christ.
David [00:33:16]:
And you are in Christ. You are in him. Praise God. Praise God. Praise God. Praise God. Thank you, Lord, for receiving us, restoring us to our place of being, restoring us to our purpose, restoring us to our position, you and in your kingdom. We thank you for it, Lord, and we give you praise for it.
David [00:33:46]:
Let’s bow our heads today. Father, we thank you for all that you and Jesus, the Holy Spirit, all you’ve done for us through the death, the burial, the resurrection of Jesus Christ. We praise God. Thank you, Jesus, for winning the battle, overcoming death, Hell and the grave, overcoming everything the enemy has set against us. You set it anew and set it right. And you overcame him and defeated him. We are victorious. We are more than conquerors in Christ Jesus, our Lord and Savior.
David [00:34:23]:
Hallelujah. We are victorious. More than conquerors, overcomers in Christ. And we thank you for that. And if you haven’t made the choice and decision to be in Christ and be a part of the family of God, we want to invite you. Come on, what’s holding you back? Everything God created for us, every blessing is yours. Just by accepting Jesus Christ as your Lord and savior, Boom. It all becomes available to you.
David [00:35:00]:
So say this with me, Father God. I come in the name of Jesus and I ask Jesus to become my Savior. Thank you for cleansing me, Jesus. Thank you for making me free. Thank you for restoring me to my place in the family of God. Thank you for redeeming me. Hallelujah. Now I commit to follow you and to live my life for you, for your glory all the days of my life here on the earth in Jesus name.
David [00:35:51]:
Amen. Now guys, if you just prayed that prayer with me, praise God. You just got saved and you’re a part of the family of God. You’re redeemed, you’re renewed, you’re a new man, a new woman in Christ recreated. And we’re going to look more into that as we move into next week. But guys, praise God. Rejoice and be glad. This is the day that the Lord has made for you.
David [00:36:18]:
Hallelujah. Praise God. Pastor Conia is coming now with a closing word thought. And we just want to encourage you. Go out and be and live in Christ and have a great week. Be blessed in Jesus name. Amen.
