Wasn’t Easter great? We celebrated with family, friends, and food. We celebrated with eggs, chocolate and baskets…most importantly we celebrated together last week, with Jesus death, resurrection, and celebration of life.
If I were to ask you why the Good Friday and Easter story were important what would you say?
– Jesus blood wiping out our sin
– destroying the power of the enemy
– we can make it into heaven/have relationship with the Father
– Jesus proving he was God so we might believe
– Jesus overcoming death so we don’t need to be afraid of it
If you thought any of these things you would be right
Why did he do it? Why did the Father want Jesus to do it?
Why did he shed blood to eliminate our sin?
John 3:17
God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him.
Jesus went to the cross to fix an age-old problem…let’s take a look
Genesis 1:26-30
Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” 27 So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. 28 Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”
29 And God said, “See, I have given you every herb that yields seed which is on the face of all the earth, and every tree whose fruit yields seed; to you it shall be for food. 30 Also, to every beast of the earth, to every bird of the air, and to everything that creeps on the earth, in which there is life, I have given every green herb for food”; and it was so.
Man was given dominion over the earth and everything on it, They were made King (because they was given dominion a kingdom is a “King’s dominion) and priest (because there was no one between them God they had clear relationship with God) of the earth….how was that possible
Genesis 2:7tells us how man was created and if we are not careful we will miss something very important
“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 being.”
This is God pouring out life into man filling him with the Holy Spirit as well. Here is how we know…
The interesting part of this is the Hebrew word for spirit. We almost get a little spooky talking about the Holy Spirit, but the Hebrew word behind spirit is ruach, and it means “air in motion.” It is the same word for “breath.” It also means “life.”By resemblance to breath and air in motion, it means “spirit.” That’s where we get the translation, and the Hebrew word contains all those different meanings.
When man was created in order to function as a king on the earth and reign over his dominion he had to do it by being filled with the Spirit of God….we don’t have the power to overcome the flesh or the enemy without the Spirit activated in our lives.
The earth was mankind’s domain not the enemies
You may be saying, didn’t I receive the Holy Spirit when I was saved?
Yes, would be that answer just like the disciples did as they began to believe Jesus was really who he said he was after his resurrection
John 20:19-23
Then, the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in the midst, and said to them, “Peace be with you.” 20 When He had said this, He showed them His hands and His side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord.
21 So Jesus said to them again, “Peace to you! As the Father has sent Me, I also send you.” 22 And when He had said this, He breathed on them, and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. 23 If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.”
They were not filled with the Holy Spirit but instead received him so they might fully believe in Jesus as the Son of God, Son of Man, God in the flesh but Jesus said this in Acts 1: 4-8
And being assembled together with them, He commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the Promise of the Father, “which,” He said, “you have heard from Me; 5 for John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.” 6 Therefore, when they had come together, they asked Him, saying, “Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” 7 And He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority. 8 But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”
What? Didn’t they receive the Holy Spirit in John 20?Yes but they weren’t filled with the Holy Spirit. The miracles they performed were done under Jesus authority and just like Moses, Elijah, Elisha, David and Daniel, they had limited access to the Holy Spirit, because they were still carrying their sin but because of Jesus death on the cross they now have full access.
Didn’t you say Adam and Eve were filled with the Holy Spirit?What happened?
Genesis 3:7-10
Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves coverings.
8 And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden.
9 Then the Lord God called to Adam and said to him, “Where are you?”
10 So he said, “I heard Your voice in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; and I hid myself.”
They turned from trusting God and became afraid and ashamed…they lost the dominion, power, and authority…they grieved the Holy Spirit so much that he no longer filled them nor could he because of sin ruling their lives. Let me give you an example of how this lost dominion affects us physically and we see it in the world today
Instead of man having dominion over the plants of the earth the plants through alcohol, drugs, and tobacco and other means now have dominion over man
Jesus death on the cross, obliterated our sin, it no longer exists, in fact when we sin we are going against our own nature as those who are in Christ
Going back to Acts 1 we see even after the resurrection those closest to him still didn’t get it, they were looking for a limited dominion, ruling over a piece of ground but God, through Christ death and resurrection is restoring His Kingdom on earth as it is in heaven. It is not about a piece of ground but bringing people into freedom, hope, life, and love.
How does this happen, the kingdom of heaven being restored on earth? Because the Holy Spirit can empower us to be who we need to be!
John 16:5-11
But now I am going away to the one who sent me, and not one of you is asking where I am going. 6 Instead, you grieve because of what I’ve told you. 7 But in fact, it is best for you that I go away, because if I don’t, the Advocate won’t come. If I do go away, then I will send him to you. 8 And when he comes, he will convict the world of its sin, and of God’s righteousness, and of the coming judgment. 9 The world’s sin is that it refuses to believe in me. 10 Righteousness is available because I go to the Father, and you will see me no more. 11 Judgment will come because the ruler of this world has already been judged.
As Jesus was among them, He was filled with the Holy Spirit (see Luke 4:1) and the Spirit was limited to one but because Jesus took back the dominion of the earth given to Satan by Adam and Eve, he could proclaim the Kingdom of Heaven on earth and re-release the Holy Spirit on the earth to empower you and I to establish and proclaim the Kingdom of Heaven on Earth…remember Jesus teaching the disciples to pray…Matthew 6:10
Your kingdom, come,
your will, be done,
on earth, as it is in heaven.
For the kingdom to be established the dominion has to be re-established, it was the in-filling of the Holy Spirit that granted Adam and Eve the dominion
Jesus death on the cross, took back the dominion and the power for each of us to establish and function in the Kingdom…but there are two kingdoms…which one are you in?
Are you understanding today that we are meant to live as part of a Kingdom?
The Kingdom is not a kingdom about land but it is a Kingdom that is eternal!
We are called to be Kings and priest in this Kingdom, and bring others into it!
The Kingdom was lost but Jesus made it possible for us to gain it back
We need power to be in the Kingdom and the Holy Spirit provides that power as he did for Adam and Eve!
Next week
Where is the real Kingdom?