The Blessing Week 1

Presermon

{DON’T FORGET THE OFFERING}

PARTY WITH THE PASTORS | Immediately after service

ENCOUNTER NIGHT | October 9

BIG FAMILY SUNDAY | November 3

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We’re starting a new series today called “The Blessing”

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Genesis 1:28 NKJV

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.”

Pray

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Illustration

My early days as a bachelor

Coffee running everywhere because I didn’t follow the proper order.

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Dive into blessing

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Genesis 1:26–28 NKJV

26 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.”

I preached a few weeks ago about the concept of blessing from the perspective of Israel blessing Joseph’s sons.

We discussed the fact that in the OT this Hebrew word for blessing is Barak

It means primarily to bend the knee or to kneel.

So before a blessing can even be further characterized as a blessing it starts as a posture of submission.

This entire series is looking at this concept of blessing…it’s benefits…it’s prerequisites…what we are missing when it’s not present.

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We posture ourselves…But God is the initiator of blessing

Commentators find a commonality in the usage of this word that calls nations to position themselves to receive blessing but the initiation of this blessing is always a graceful move of God.

You can’t manipulate your way into blessing

You can’t manifest blessing…you have to submit and trust the good pleasure of your God.

We look at blessing as a transaction.

If I give God a dollar…He’ll give me five

If I give a hundred…He’ll give me a thousand

But blessing…in this text seems to be more of a garment to be worn than it is a transaction to be enacted.

__________ Blessing to be worn

The Psalmist in Psalms 8 points back at this Genesis account by referring to the dominion that God has given to mankind.

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Psalm 8:5–6 NKJV

5 For You have made him a little lower than the angels, And You have crowned him with glory and honor. 6 You have made him to have dominion over the works of Your hands; You have put all things under his feet,

He says we are crowned with glory and honor and in turn this crowing equates to the dominion that mankind walks in .

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The word crown: t’atr’e = to surround

This is less like something to be worn on the head and more like a garment to surround one.

Have you ever met someone who wears blessing?

The creation account culminates by God putting this garment of blessing on mankind which results in a five-fold release.

Be fruitful | Have kids

Multiply | Increase…get better

Fill the earth | Consecrate as a priest…enlarge the territory of the kingdom

Subdue the earth | take territory from the enemy

Have dominion |

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We’re made to look like and be like God

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Genesis 1:26 NKJV

26 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.”

Look at the specifics whereby God has made us.

We are not drawn freehand

Mankind was created with a template in mind.

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Image = sal’me = It’s the word picture of a statue or an inscribed column

Mankind was created to reflect the appearance of God.

According to this scripture we can ascertain that the Godhead resembles mankind in appearance.

But the more important aspect of this scripture comes in the second phase of this phraseology

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Likeness = damah = to be like or act like.

We were created to be like and act like the God who created us.

________ We come from community

God speaks of making man in His image with the terms “our” and “we”.

The Godhead functions as the perfect picture of unity.

Father, Son, and Holy Spirit operating in equal power, mutual submission, and residual celebration.

The desire to elevate above others is native to Satan not God.

Satan thought he deserved to be elevated to the level of God.

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Submission is the most antithetical act to the kingdom of darkness.

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We were meant to have authority

This Godhead functions with unmatched authority.

There is nothing anywhere that can stand in the presence of His power.

That is a picture of dominion.

It is to be dominantly authoritative over that which is within it’s rule.

When God created man He did so with the intention of dominion.

Everything on this earth has been placed under the dominion of man…the one created in the image and likeness of the totally authoritative God.

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Genesis 2:19–20 NKJV

19 Out of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field and every bird of the air, and brought them to Adam to see what he would call them. And whatever Adam called each living creature, that was its name. 20 So Adam gave names to all cattle, to the birds of the air, and to every beast of the field. But for Adam there was not found a helper comparable to him.

God creates Adam…and then God gives the dominion power of the earth to Adam.

God does not name his creation on the earth…He gives Adam those naming rights.

God has modeled for us from the beginning the necessity of delegated authority.

But there was a minor issue with this model of creation…Adam was operating in authority by himself.

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God ascertained that dominion absent submission was destructive.

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That’s not good

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Genesis 2:18 NKJV

18 And the Lord God said, “It is not good that man should be alone; I will make him a helper comparable to him.”

Up to this point the creative nature of God has yielded nothing but good.

tob’ is the Hebrew word used to describe that which is pleasing to God or “good” in his sight. It’s desirable to him

But when God has established the order of creation and created man with the likeness of God even in the aspect of dominion.

He looks at his singular approach to dominion…the fact that he is alone…and declares for the first time in history

IT IS NOT TOB’

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Too much for one person

The word alone is the Hebrew word bad’

There are several different variations of this word in the scripture.

bad can mean a piece of cloth

bad can mean a stave of wood

bad can refer to an individual or a thing isolated from another.

When you piece these definitions together you find that God declared it is not tob’ for man to bear the weight of glory and dominion by himself.

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God created us in such a way that in order for us to capitalize to the fullest capacity of our dominion we need others in our lives.

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Genesis 2:21–23 NKJV

21 And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall on Adam, and he slept; and He took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh in its place. 22 Then the rib which the Lord God had taken from man He made into a woman, and He brought her to the man. 23 And Adam said: “This is now bone of my bones And flesh of my flesh; She shall be called Woman, Because she was taken out of Man.”

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The most complete level of God’s plan for dominion was for a Godly man to love a Godly woman and together they walk in dominion on the earth.

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Blessing has an order

There is an order that is necessary in order for blessing to be enacted.

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Ephesians 5:27 NKJV

27 that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish.

Paul is writing about a church who has one primary commonality with Adam and Eve in their original state.

They are characterized by glory.

They are wearing the blessing.

The preceding verses give us one of the primary prerequisites to walking wearing the blessing.

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Ephesians 5:22–26 NKJV

22 Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. 23 For the husband is head of the wife, as also Christ is head of the church; and He is the Savior of the body. 24 Therefore, just as the church is subject to Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything. 25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her, 26 that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word,

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One of the primary pieces that is present in the life of the blessed is the understanding and practice of submission.

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Observations From Paul’s writings

I want to close today by sharing some of the key intricacies of this passage that both men and women have to carry in order to position themselves for the blessing.

Men - Our level of fluency in the word…determines the level of blessing our families can walk in

If you are a man that does not place premium value on their time in the word…you are a man who does not fully value blessing.

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Deuteronomy 11:18–21 NKJV

18 “Therefore you shall lay up these words of mine in your heart and in your soul, and bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. 19 You shall teach them to your children, speaking of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up. 20 And you shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates, 21 that your days and the days of your children may be multiplied in the land of which the Lord swore to your fathers to give them, like the days of the heavens above the earth.

Men - Our level of sacrifice determines the level of blessing our families can walk in.

Ladies - You cannot be submitted to God and rebellious to your husband

This is why being unequally yoked is such a monumental thing.

The moment you enter into covenant…your level of blessing is effected by the one you are in covenant with.

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Ending

Genesis 2:18 NKJV

18 And the Lord God said, “It is not good that man should be alone; I will make him a helper comparable to him.”

Genesis 1:28 NKJV

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.”

The blessing of God was reserved for Adam and Eve walking in mutual submission.

Adam submitted to God

Eve submitted to Adam

The blessing was forfeited when Eve stepped out from under Adams leadership

And in turn Adam did the same to God.

We must be submitted to God, His Word, His principles…

We must get our houses in order because the blessing of the Lord is the only thing that will sustain us in the days ahead.