CREATED FOR DOMINION: SABBATH SCHOOL LESSON 2: SUNDAY JULY 3, 2016 (3QRT)

TRANSCRIPT:

Hello once again…….. I thank God the he has blessed us to do another study together……. I am Andrae B. Ricketts, and this is the Alttr Audio Sabbath School Study for Lesson 2, Sunday July 3rd 2016. The title for this lesson is “Created For Dominion”…… As usual, before we start studying, Let us pray.

As we have been studying the restoration that is Found in Jesus Christ, it is clear to see why this restoration is needed………….. Because of Sin, Man has fallen from the Image of God…… Meaning……. The Character and Glory of God no longer covers nor dwells within man.

Over 6,000 years separated from the fall, and 2,000 years after the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, there are still many individuals who don’t know who they are, or who they belong to, because from the time of Adam, man has lost his Identity……. What do I mean by this…….

The Sabbath School lesson describes people who sit up at night, perplexed because they do not know why they are here on earth…….. if there is a God……… or if their life has meaning….. Sad to say, there are many who have committed suicide because they could not find these answers.

This hits home for me because in the summer of 2009, I was one of these individuals, and suicide crossed my mind……. But I am so thankful that there is a Loving God that pleaded for me to give him a try……….. I told God in my moment of despair that If he would show me my purpose, I would give my life to him….. But if not….. There is no reason for me to live, and I was going to kill myself.

My Friends…….. The reason why I am here speaking to you today is because God was merciful enough to answer my prayer…….. All God wants is for you to give an Honest attempt at allowing him to work in your life, with no half stepping. Sometimes he has to catch you at your lowest point, when you have tried everything else, so it is clear that your only and last option is to just try him out, because you have nothing to lose..

What God did for me was motivate me by His word, and show me my purpose, by revealing his Image, or….. better yet…. His Character to me……. The same Character that he desired to be within me. He showed me that by his glory being revealed in me, I would realize my Identity….. who I am……. and what my purpose in life is…..I know this sounds weird….. but it will soon make sense…….. just hang in there with me…….. This is how God revealed himself to me.

In the exodus from Egypt, as the Children of Israel were journeying to the Land flowing with Milk and Honey….. In this 40 year trip God wanted to reveal his Character to his people, the Children of Israel, who for 400 years, had been so far removed from his image, taking on the character of the Egyptians, that they forgot who they were.

To rectify this matter, in Exodus Chapter 25, God Commanded Moses to have the people erect a temple that mirrored the temple in heaven, it was there that God would dwell with them…… But what’s most important is that on the outside of this temple stood 4 banners, one on each of the four sides of the sanctuary. Each banner had a symbol which was, a Lion, Ox, Man, and Eagle

The Symbols waved high in he sky, attached to their perspective banners…….. For the children of Israel, and Us, these Banners had a special significance. Solomon tells us in Song of Solomon Chapter 2:4…..”His banner over me is Love”…… These banners with their symbols that resided above the heads of the children of Israel around the sanctuary, represented the love of God.

Yet there is a deeper understanding……. 1 John 4:8 tells us that GOD IS LOVE!!!!!!!! The Image or Character of God is love……. So the symbols on these four banners describe in some way the Character…….The Image of God……

Brothers and Sister, I am here to tell you that these four symbols found on the banners represent the FOUR components that make up the Character and Image of God….. and it is this that he desires for you to understand and embody so that you can experience restoration…….

Lets break these 4 symbols down one by one. Lets begin….

The Lion

When the Lion is spoken of, Respect is given to him as he is revered as the King of the Jungle. This is the Kingly Characteristic that is Given to Jesus Christ as Revelation 5:5 calls him The Lion of the Tribe of Judah, 1 Timonty 6:15 is correct in Calling him King of Kings

It is through Christ Jesus the King that we are told by Paul in Ephesians 1:11 we have gained an incredible Inheritance. This inheritance is that through him, we become a Royal Priesthood, as written in 1 Peter 2:9……

Brothers and Sister in Christ……… As you place your faith on Jesus Christ……. You are ordained Kings and Queens…… the title taken from man by Satan in Eden has been restored to you by the Blood of Jesus. You are a Son and Daughter of God, You Are THE HEAD, NOT THE TAIL…. Everything that God has…. is afforded to you, and he has given you Dominion…….. All You have to do is take it by faith……..walk in Humblenss, but with your head held high….. Yet don’t get pride filled because our the next symbol, tells us what our royal duty is….

The next symbol is that of the OX…….. The ox is Known as a Slave animal, as it labors hard for his master the famer, who places a yoke upon its next in order to plow the fields. As the fields are being plowed, the famer drops seeds into the newly turned soil.

This Ox represents the slave aspect of the Character of Jesus Christ. Matthew 20:28 tells us that Jesus Christ came to Serve not to be served….. When reading the bible, we need to understand that the when we read the word servant or serve, the true translation is slave……. Jesus Christ came to be a slave, working by his merit for the salvation of souls. And Boy did Christ serve mankind…… He slaved for our souls all the way to the cross, and even now he is slaving for us as he is pleading his blood on our behalf before the throne of God as we speak.

As the Ox wore the burden of the Yoke around it’s neck, Christ carried the burden of his own yoke……… the cross….. In doing so, Christ asks us to join him, to be fellow slaves with him.

He tells us to Take His yoke upon us, but not to worry because his yoke is easy and his burden is light……. Luke 9:23 tells us that we all have a cross to bear, but Christ is there carrying it with us, which is why the yoke is easy and the burden is light. We are to display this cross to the world, completing our royal mission of 1 Peter 2:9 as we are to proclaim for the message of Jesus Christ who has brought us out of darkness into his marvelous light. We are to slave for the salvation of souls by Lifting up Jesus Christ and Him Crucified in how we live, how we treat others, and the message we preach. When we do this, Christ will draw all men to him….. Are you slaving for the salvation of souls with Christ???? If so… Be aware….This is something that we can not do on your own, by our mortal flesh……this brings us to the symbol of the man.

The Man represents the Human aspect of the Character of Jesus Christ…….Christ was actually flesh and blood like you and I, and was tempted in all points even worse than have ever been.…..Yes Jesus Christ knows exactly what we are going through.

As we can not serve on our own or even resist temptation of ourselves, we have to understand how Jesus The man did it. The example of Christ in this matter is summed up in one word………SURRENDER…….

Jesus Christ surrendered his all to God, best exemplified when in the desert, being found in fasting, studying and praying, he was there, temped by Satan….. In his bodily weakness (having not had any liquids or food for 40 days), Jesus found strength in his surrender to the word of God. Every temptation that he was hit with, he repeated scripture concerning it because in his surrender he understood that it is the word being written on mans heart that allows him to overcome temptation, not mans own efforts.

Have you totally surrendered to God????? Is this Characteristic in you????? This is the key to overcoming the enemy…… to not just winning the battle but the war….. this is the victory……..A victory that is culminated in our last symbol….. the eagle……

The eagle is an interesting bird, its wings being the most prolific part of its body. The wings of an eagle are aerodynamically designed so that when it gets caught in a storm….. unlike other birds, who will run for shelter…..the wind from the storm will actually cause the eagle to glide higher into the sky……. When the storm gets worse, and the winds begin to blow harder……… the eagle wings will be raised by the wind so high that it will then get to a height that it will rise above the storm…… The eagle them flies at a height that no other bird can reach, and is then looking down at the storm.

The wings of the eagle represent the strength, the divinity of Christ…… in Exodus 19:4 God tells the children of Israel that he brought them out of Egypt, he brought them out of their storm on his Eagles Wings. It was by His Strength By his Divinity…….

We are afforded the same pleasure, when we find ourselves in the storms of life. Isaiah 40:31 tells us that all those who wait patiently on the Lord while in their storm will receive His Eagles Wings……. These wings that will lift them up over the storm……. The power, the strength, the might of Christ is placed within you…….. By faith…. Do you understand the power that is available to you????????

Don’t you understand that by faith you have the power to trample on the head of satan, all fallen angles and temptation…. This power is called CHRIST IN YOU!!!!!!!!

These are the Four components to the IDENTITY OF CHRIST…….. This is the Image that man lost in the Garden of Eden……. Yet thank God that this is the image that is restored to us by the Sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the Cross.

This is who you are…. You are a King…. You are a Queen….. You are ROYALTY!!!!!! SONS AND DAUGHTERS OF GOD………. YET YOU SEEK TO SLAVE FOR THE SALVATION OF SOULS BY LIFTING UP JESUS CHRIST AND CHRIST CRUCIFIED TO A SIN SICK WORLD…….YOU ARE ONE WHO HAS SURRENDERED COMPLETELY TO THE WORD OF GOD, AND BY FAITH IN THIS WORD, THERE IS A POWER IN YOU THAT IS NOT MATCH BY ANY OTHER ON EARTH…….

THIS IS THE IDENTIY OF GOD, YOUR IDENTITY…..THIS IS WHO YOU ARE AND WHO YOU BELONG TO……..THIS IS YOUR PURPOSE……. THIS IS WHY YOU ARE ALIVE………THIS IS WHY YOU ARE BREATHING……… WALK IN YOUR PURPOSE…… WALK IN YOUR IDENTIYT………DOMINION IS RESTORED TO YOU TODAY……. CLAIM IT IN JESUS NAME………

IM MOTIVATED BY THE WORD OF GOD TODAY, AND I THAT YOU ARE TOO……. MY FRIENDS, GOD BLESS YOU UNTIL NEXT TIME….. AND REMEMBER

ALTER YOUR MIND, ALTER YOUR FUTURE.