• This month is about understanding and living in the victory of Christ
• Our biblical agency necessarily hinges upon this understanding
• Hedonistic pleasure is not a part of this, but we are to be transformed out of it thru Christ
• We should rethink and relearn our regenerated purpose in regard to dominion
• To the world, dominion means God give man free reign to mine and burn and kill nature
• This is not biblical, but we have indeed lost touch with God’s command to take dominion
• Genesis 1:26-31, Genesis 2:15
• There’s an effective tactic called an appeal to emotion which is often utilized by the world on this topic. It’s not a logical argument, but relies on charged energy and tension to convince 
• God has given no such permission to indiscriminately destroy God’s creation
• Sin has corrupted God’s economy which He set up in the beginning
• The Hebrew, avad and shemar, express care and guardianship and preservation, not abuse
• God’s creation was meant to be a blessing to Man, and was meant to be protected by a position of benevolence from Mankind
• Thru sin, we are at war with the rest of the created order. Genesis 3 reveals this
• We are condemned to toil against creation
• Psalm 8, and Hebrews 2:5-18 quotes that same psalm
• In this Jewish culture, there seemed to have been a bit of a confused perspective of angels, but the author is clear that God did not purpose for angels to rule in the future, but Man instead
• The Son has been appointed to ultimately rule all things–does this conflict with Man’s job?
• In Hebrews 2:6-8, he speaks about Man, but in verse 9 he begins speaking about the Son
• Sin scrambled the whole economy of God’s Creation–from death to taxes
• Now we see hostility and neglect between Man and Creation
• But Christ was the 2nd Adam. He came to repair all things
• Our inheritance includes restoring our position of leadership over creation with Christ
• The author points out the supremacy of Christ over angels, in that angels could not have accomplished God’s purpose or fulfilled the future role of ruling over creation, victorious
• How does this affect me now? We aren’t in this stage of full restoration yet..
• This aspect of our Christian agency is part of the sanctifying process in believers
• If we are to becoming more like Christ, accomplishing God’s will and purposes, then this also applies to our dominion
• We cannot continue in sin so that grace may abound in any fashion
• Transforming our agency in all dimensions is essential to honor God
• Matthew 25 shows that the Kingdom of Heaven is illustrated by what is done here and now
• We were created for God, not the opposite
• We should not shrug off a whole category of service to Christ–but contemplate our role
• Ask how we can let victory in Christ permeate our whole, holistic worldview
• We are now considering radically different ways of challenging our methods of worship and education to be more glorifying to God
• How are you preparing for and thinking about being involved in these kind of movements?

QUESTIONS:

• WHAT HAS YOUR POSITION BEEN REGARDING THIS TOPIC OF DOMINION? BLASE or WORTHY? IS IT A WORTHY ASPECT OF WORSHIP?
• WHAT WAYS HAVE YOU SEEN OR NOTICED THIS INVERTED ECONOMY OF SIN IN THE WORLD?
• WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO DEVELOP A DEEPER UNDERSTANDING OF THIS ROLE OR STATION INTENDED FOR YOU IN A WAY WHICH HONORS GOD?