God's First Messages to Man - (1) Forty Messages From Genesis Chapters 1 to 11 — Zac Poonen

Studying Scripture by Topics and Continuously

There are two ways to study the scriptures. One is by topics, different subjects, and the other is continuously chapter by chapter. Now, in the New Testament, you'll find that Jesus spoke on topics, and the apostles and the epistles spoke on topics.

But I think part of the reason for that was that people didn't have a Bible like we have today. And there was only one Old Testament in the synagogue, which they would hear on Saturdays. So obviously, you couldn't take a verse-by-verse study when people didn't have a Bible at home or in their hands in the meeting.

But now that we have the scriptures in many translations as well, it's good for us to study the scriptures in both ways, topics, which are very important, and also sometimes chapter by chapter. Now, most of the time, you know that I speak on topics, but I thought I would take a study, since I'm here these four Sundays commencing today, on God's first messages to man.

Genesis 1–11 and the Early History of Humanity

And that is based on Genesis chapters one to 11. In chapter 12, we read about God's call of Abraham. And there begins the nation of Israel and God's purpose with Israel, and later on with the church in the New Testament.

But in the first 11 chapters of Genesis, we have a brief history of life in the early days of man, right up to the time of Abraham, from Adam to Abraham. And those are the first chapters of the Bible, even though the first book of the Bible written was Job, because Moses wrote Genesis, and Job lived a long time before Moses.

Job probably lived sometime between the early part of Genesis 11 and the end of Genesis 11, somewhere then. So he wrote his book before Genesis. But yet, Genesis is the book that tells us about the early days of mankind.

And when you think of Moses writing it, and the amazing lessons that we can learn in those first 11 chapters, we're really convinced that this is the word of God, because Moses could not possibly have thought of the things which the Holy Spirit has hidden in these chapters with spiritual lessons that come all the way down to us today, 3 ,500 years after Moses' time.

That's one of the great proofs of the inspiration of Scripture, that in this ordinary description of events that happened in those early days, there are spiritual lessons for us. So, since our minds are more systematic nowadays, I wanna give you 40 lessons that we can learn from these 11 chapters.

We'll look at 10 of them today from Genesis chapter one. So we'll only look at Genesis one today. Genesis chapter one is a description of the earth as it was first created. In one single verse, it says, in the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth.

Creation, Corruption, and God's Restoration

It did not take six days for God to create the heaven and the earth in a moment. He created it in a moment. It's very clear, in the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth. But something happened, because it says the earth was, or could be translated, became formless, empty, and dark.

Now, the Bible says in James 117, only every good and perfect thing comes from the Father. God never creates anything empty, dark, shapeless, never. That's the work of the devil. Whatever you see, emptiness, darkness, shapelessness, that's the devil.

With God, everything is full, full of light, and with a fullness and shape. So it's very obvious that verse two was not the way God created the earth. It's an insult to God to say that he created the earth first dark and empty and shapeless, and then there was an evolution.

Slowly, there was an evolution in six days when the earth became perfect. I don't believe in evolution, any type of evolution, not even this type of evolution that some people believe in. God never, never creates anything empty, dark, or shapeless.

When he does a work in me, it's perfect, or in anywhere. So that perfection is in verse one. In a moment, he created the heaven and the earth, and that's why the word created is never used anywhere in scripture for the earth, except here.

And wherever, and then what did God do in the six days? He remade that earth that the devil had corrupted initially in verse two, and that's why wherever it speaks about six days throughout the Bible, and you can look that up in a concordance, it never says God created the earth in six days like a lot of people who haven't read the Bible carefully say.

It says God made the earth in six days, two completely different words. Created is from nothing, made is from something that already exists. So God created man and made man. Both are true, he created the soul, but he made the man's body from existing dust.

But the earth described here is being made, remade, and that's why the word created occurs in the first verse, and then later on, it says God made, verse seven, God made, it's a different word altogether.

And later on when it speaks about six days, it always says God made the earth in six days throughout scripture. Just as for a clarification, now how did the earth become shapeless and empty and void? Because in between verse one and two is where the angels were created.

It's not mentioned here because this book was not written for angels, it's written for man. And so the angels' history does not come first, that'll come later on. In Isaiah 14 and Ezekiel 28, you read of the head of the angels lifting up his head and wanting to be like God and being cast down and becoming the devil and demons.

There's a vague reference in Revelation to one third of the stars of heaven that fell with Satan, which could possibly mean that one third of the angels fell away at that time and became the demons that roam around today.

But anyway, that was the time. And whenever sin comes, it affects the earth. You know that when Adam sinned, it affected the earth. The earth was cursed and the lions became wild and the snakes became poisonous.

In the same way, when sin first came, sin didn't first come with Adam, it came with the head of the angels. We don't know his name. Everybody calls him Lucifer, but the Bible doesn't give us his name.

He's just called him, Lucifer is a Latin word for morning star or something. It doesn't really, it's not really his name. His name is not mentioned anywhere in scripture. We know him now as Satan. And when he became Satan, sin came and covered the sort of a curse, affected the earth as well.

And the earth became shapeless, empty, and dark. And then we read the spirit of God started moving and God remade this corrupted, spoiled earth. And by the end of the sixth day, God himself could certify it was very good as we read in Genesis 1, 31.

So this is the first chapter of the Bible. And the first chapter is in a sense, in a nutshell, the message of the whole Bible, which is God created man perfect, but the devil came and corrupted man and made him dark, took away the light of God from him, made him shapeless.

That means he lost the image of God and made him empty. The fullness of God, which he could have had was gone. And today man is empty without the image of God and dark, exactly like verse two. But then God doesn't leave man alone.

That's the message of the Bible. Immediately the Holy Spirit begins to work and he's been working on earth for so many years, thousands of years. And the whole purpose of the Holy Spirit working is to remake this spoiled man and woman, spoiled human race into something so beautiful that at the end, God can look at us and say, very good.

That's the message of the whole Bible. And it's all in chapter one. Now, the interesting thing is he doesn't do it all of a sudden. So what are the messages we can learn? That's an introduction. What are the lessons we can learn from Genesis one?

Lesson One: Honesty About Our Spiritual Condition

First of all, let me say this, number one lesson. If you want God to work in you and to remake you into the image of Christ, so that one day God can look at your life and say, very good, the first thing you need to do is be honest about your condition.

That means, verse two, say, Lord, I don't have the image of Christ in me. I'm empty and I'm dark. It's very difficult for man to be honest about his true spiritual condition. We are very quick at seeing the spiritual state of other people.

In fact, our eyes are very sharp to see the condition of other people, but we're very slow in seeing what we ourselves are like. And I believe this is the reason why many people never progress in their Christian life.

They remain empty, dark, without the image of Christ, even 25 years after being a believer. That's tragic. Reason, they will not acknowledge their condition. The devil, and why don't we acknowledge our condition?

Because of pride. It was only pride that prevented the Pharisees from acknowledging their spiritual condition. They pretended they were healthy. And so Jesus sarcastically said to them, you guys don't need me.

Only the sick people need a doctor. So I'll go to these poor sinners. You guys are all healthy. And that's why they were lost. I think of the cross of Calvary where Jesus was hanging and the Pharisees were there watching and they all went to hell.

And there was another guy hanging on the cross next to Jesus who was million times worse than those Pharisees. His life was so sinful, but he went to heaven. How is that? There was only one difference between the Pharisees and him.

He was honest about his condition. He said, Lord, I deserve this. I don't deserve a few years in jail. I'm such a wicked man that I deserve to be crucified. He said, it's like a man going to be hanged today who says, I deserve this.

I mean, life in prison is not good enough for me. Hanging, that's the only thing I deserve. Boy, you feel sorry for a man like that who is so honest about his condition. I deserve it. I've been a wicked man.

And Jesus said, really? Well, come along with me to paradise today. Because paradise is made for honest people. And that other thief who was just as bad as this one, what a lesson, went to hell. The gospel message is there at the cross.

One went to hell, one went to heaven, even though both were equally wicked. But there was one big difference that made the difference between heaven and hell. One was honest about his condition. Have you learned that lesson?

I say, before you sit at the foot of Jesus' cross, first go and sit at the foot of the thief's cross and learn from him before you come to Jesus' cross. Sit at the foot of the thief on the cross and say, I wanna learn something from you.

My dear brother, he is my brother, he's in heaven today. I wanna learn to be honest and not blame other people. I wanna say, it is my fault. He didn't blame his parents for bringing him up badly. He took the blame.

So that's the first lesson we need to learn from Genesis 1, to acknowledge that you are shapeless, lost the image of Christ. You don't, you're not reflecting Christ. Stop blaming your wife, stop blaming your husband.

You keep doing that, you will never, God will never be able to remake you. Number one lesson, take the blame yourself. Then secondly, number two lesson, again in verse two, open yourself to the dealings of the Holy Spirit.

Lesson Two: Submitting to the Holy Spirit

Not just go to church, not just listen to messages and CDs and DVDs, good. Not even just read the Bible, good. Open yourself to the Holy Spirit right from the very first page of Scripture, we see the Holy Spirit.

You come to the end of Scripture in Revelation 22. What is almost the last verse in Scripture? The Spirit and the bride say, come, Revelation 20 to 17. It's the Holy Spirit from beginning to end of Scripture.

And I wanna say this, just like Jesus walked around in Nazareth for 30 years and they did not know this is the second person of the Trinity moving around here, they just thought he's an ordinary man. And even in the last three and a half years of his ministry, most people thought, ah, he's just an ordinary man.

In exactly the same way, the third person of the Trinity is moving around on the earth today and most Christians do not recognize him. I wanna say to all of you, honor the Holy Spirit. Recognize that he's on earth today in exactly the same way as Jesus was on earth.

I mean, if Jesus were physically on earth today in Israel, wouldn't we all take a trip there to see him? I would, I never wanna leave Israel. I wanna live there the rest of my life. If Jesus is only in Israel, I better go there.

The reason I don't wanna go to Israel is because he's not there. I don't wanna see all these churches and other things over there which have been built by Roman Catholics and others. I don't wanna go and see that.

Jesus is not there, so I'm not interested in going to Israel. But if he were there, I'd go. I'd be there all the time. I'd long to be with him. But do you know the Holy Spirit is here on earth today? And you don't have to go anywhere to find him.

He's there, you can be filled with him where you are. That's why Jesus told his disciples, it's good for you that I go away. Otherwise, I'll only be here. I'll send the Holy Spirit and he will come inside you and he can come inside all my children.

Recognize the importance of the Holy Spirit's ministry in your life. You can never, never, never be like Jesus without being open to the Holy Spirit. You can never fulfill the ministry God has for you in the body of Christ unless you're baptized in the Holy Spirit.

You can try every other method. You can study, study as much as you like, you'll be clever. But you won't fulfill your function. I know the difference took place in my life when I got filled with the Holy Spirit.

It was completely different. And don't turn away from that just because the devil has produced a thousand counterfeits of the Holy Spirit's ministry in Christendom today. The counterfeits prove that the genuine is true, is valuable.

Nobody counterfeits brown paper and toilet paper. They counterfeit diamonds and gold. Only precious things are counterfeited. And if the Holy Spirit and his gifts are counterfeited, you can be pretty sure the real thing is precious.

Seek for the real thing. Get past all the thousands of counterfeits. And if you wanna seek the real thing, come to scripture. Look at Jesus. So the Holy Spirit moved, and I like that. It's something more than that for me.

In there, he only moved over the earth, but now he moves inside me. Recognize the moving of the Holy Spirit when he speaks to you in your conscience and moving. Say, Spirit of God, move in me all the time.

What for? The Holy Spirit wasn't moving on the earth just for fun or just to give the earth some excitement. I'm not interested in the Holy Spirit moving in me to give me some excitement or some electric shock, like some people talk about.

No, I want the Holy Spirit is moving on the earth to remake it so that it'll be very good at the end. And the Holy Spirit's moving in me to make me like Jesus. Do you want him to make you like Jesus? Be open to the moving of the Holy Spirit over all of you, not some little corner of you.

If only some little corner of the earth the Holy Spirit moved on, that part would have been made good and the rest of it would have been dark, empty, and shapeless. So if you allow the Holy Spirit to operate only in certain areas of your life, you don't allow the Holy Spirit to tell you how to spend your money.

You don't allow the Holy Spirit to tell you whether you should watch that television program or not, whether you should watch that movie or not. You don't allow the Holy Spirit to certain areas of your life.

Say, you tell the Holy Spirit, as it were, please mind your own business. This is my business. Well, that area will remain dark. Every area, listen to this. Every area of your life that you don't open to the Holy Spirit will remain controlled by the devil, shapeless, dark, and empty.

Your home, if you don't allow the Holy Spirit to determine everything in your home, what all books come into your home, what all music your children play in your home, you say, what to do, brother, my children play.

Are you the head of your house or not? I tell brothers, if you're not the head of your house, you must veil your head when you come to the church and cover your head and say, I'm not the head of my house.

Don't tell a lie with an unveiled head. A man is saying, I'm the head of my house. Are you? Well, then you decide. I remember when my children are at home, I said, I decide what type of music is played in this house.

When you set up your own home, you can do what you like, but in my house, I decide what type of music, what type of calendars hang on the wall, what type of books come in, what type of magazines come in.

There is only one head in this house. Have you allowed the Holy Spirit to move in every area of your life? Then you can be sure that he will change every part. The only part, if you find areas in your life that are not being changed after many years, see, that's a part of the earth.

The earth did not allow the Holy Spirit to move. And he won't force his way. He's not like demons who come and possess people completely. The Holy Spirit moves gently like a dove. Whatever you allow, he will accept.

If you don't accept, God loves a cheerful giver. If you don't give yourself cheerfully to him, he'll just leave you alone and it'll be your loss. Okay, the third lesson, listen to God's word daily. Numerous times in this chapter, it says, then God said, then God said, then God said.

Lesson Three: Hearing God's Word Every Day

Every day, God said, God said, God said. There's no chapter in the Bible like this. Every day, it's first day God said, second day God said, third day God said, fourth day. Every day, God said something, teaching us that if you want transformation, you must listen to God speaking to you every day.

Otherwise, there won't be any transformation. If you have time to eat your food, but no time to read the Bible, don't expect to be transformed. You may be healthy, time to do exercise to keep yourself fit, time to do jogging, but no time to read the Bible.

You'll be physically fit, but spiritually ugly, dark, empty. Even Jesus, when he was on earth, it says about him in Isaiah chapter 50, verse four, this is a prophetic passage referring to Christ. And it says here that, the Lord God has given me the tongue of His hand.

Verse four, Isaiah 50, verse four, in the last part of that verse, it says, he wakens me up. The Lord God wakens me up morning by morning. He wakens my ear to listen. Now that doesn't mean Jesus had a quiet time.

He didn't have a Bible. You know, a lot of people sit to their Bible. Good, very good habit. But beyond reading the Bible, you must allow the Holy Spirit to speak to you. Not just, when it says he woke my ear in the morning, it means as soon as Jesus got up, his ear was ready.

Father, what are you saying? Right through the day, not just for half an hour in the morning, right through to the end of the day, his ear was open like these police people who have their walkie talkie radios on all the time.

So that what is headquarters saying? Go here, get into your motorbike and go here. They go, but they're, I mean, a lot of the times there may not be a message for them, but they have to keep it on all the time.

So he, Jesus' ear was alert all the time. And that's what it means to listen to God's word every day. We cannot be transformed if we do not open ourselves to the word of God. If you neglect God's word, then you can rest, remain with a dark, shapeless, empty life.

This book, if you really believe this is the only book God ever wrote, the Bible, act like you believe it. Read it more than any other book. If you're more interested in other books than the one book God wrote, that shows you're more interested in what the newspapers say than what God says.

I think a lot of Christians are more interested in what the newspapers say. And all the wonderful places they can, you know, browse on the internet. That's far more interesting than your word, Lord. God says, okay, let the internet transform you.

It'll transform you into the corrupt, worldly person that the internet produces people. Unless you go to hear God's word there. God's word is the only thing that'll transform us. And honor him by submitting to it.

Every day there is a power in God's word to transform us. There's a lovely verse in Isaiah 55, which I want you to remember what happens when God's word comes in. It says, verse 11, my word which goes forth from my mouth will never return empty.

Without accomplishing what I desire. God's word, if I receive it, it will never return empty. It will accomplish what God desires. That's why Jesus said, the first spoken words of Jesus after he was baptized in the river Jordan, the first spoken words recorded in scripture, man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.

That's how we are to live. If I believe that and submit to it, I can be transformed. That's another message there in the first chapter. Number four, Genesis one, verse four, God saw that the light was good and God separated the light from the darkness.

Lesson Four: Separating Light from Darkness

So that's the fourth message. Allow God to separate the darkness from your life so that it is all light. Light and darkness, God never wants it to mingle together. When God creates light, his purpose is separated from the darkness.

Be separate from everything that is darkness. Everything that is in the world that is darkness. Everything that is in your house, which is darkness, get rid of it. Everything in your marriage relationship that is darkness, get rid of it.

Get rid of internet pornography. That's darkness. God wants to separate light from darkness. Don't have a little bit of darkness there in your life, in the midst of your life. And it's very easy for somebody to have light and for that light to become darkness.

Jesus warned us about that in Luke chapter 11. Turn to Luke chapter 11. He said, Luke chapter 11 and verse 35, watch out. Whenever Jesus says watch out, you better watch out. Watch out that the light which is now in you does not become darkness.

Can light become darkness? Yeah, if you push it out. You switch on the light in a room, you turn it off, it becomes darkness. The light can become darkness because you turn it off. You say to the light, I don't want you anymore.

When you turn off the light in a room, what are you saying at night? I don't want you anymore. And whenever you hear the voice of the spirit trying to bring light into some area and I say I don't want it, that'll remain dark.

And gradually that darkness can envelop your whole being and that's how people who are once saved get lost. The light can become darkness. Some Christians believe once you have light, it'll never go away.

But Jesus said watch out that the light doesn't become darkness. So God wants to separate us from everything that is darkness. In the New Testament it says in 2 Corinthians, see the explanation of this light and darkness in 2 Corinthians.

Compare scripture with scripture. 2 Corinthians chapter four, verse six. This is the beginning of our Christian life. God who once said light shall shine out of darkness and God who said let there be light has shone in our hearts to give light.

What is this light? What does that Genesis 1, 3 light mean for us today? The knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. That's the light. God says let there be light in this man's heart.

The knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ comes into me. And once that has come into me, what is the next thing? Chapter six and verse 14, the last part. What fellowship has light with darkness?

You see the progression? First the light of the knowledge of the glory of God comes in then what fellowship has light with darkness? Therefore, verse 17, come out from their midst and be separate and do not touch what is unclean.

So this is why we believe in separation. Some people say, oh, all division is from the devil. The devil only brings division. No, I know he brings division. When he divides husband and wife, that's the devil.

That you read in chapter three. And when he divides God's people, that's the devil. But when the first division mentioned in the Bible is not by the devil, it's by God. God divided the light from darkness.

So don't think that all separation is from the devil. When a group of overcomers decide to leave a dead church because Christ himself has left it, that's not the devil, that's God pulling them out and saying, get out of that dead church and make a living testimony for you here, for me here.

That's how many of us came out of dead churches. That wasn't the devil, that was God. And on the principle of Genesis 1, 4, separate from all that is darkness. Number five, sanctification is a daily process.

Lesson Five: Sanctification as a Daily Process

God could have remade the earth in a second like he did created it, but he didn't do it. To teach us a lesson in the first chapter, one day, the next day, the next day, slowly, slowly. Don't expect to be transformed into the likeness of Christ in a moment.

It takes time, but it must happen every day. Not just we get stirred up on Sunday and we get, say, okay, I wanna do something about it. Every single day. See 2 Corinthians 4, for everything, we find an answer in the New Testament.

2 Corinthians 4, and verse 16. Our outer man, we don't lose heart because our outer man is decaying. That means this physical body, whether you know it or not, is decaying every day. You don't see it, but every doctor will tell you that there's a decay that takes place in this body every day.

Sometimes only when it becomes pretty bad, you become aware of it, that hey, I can't lift that heavy weight now and I can't walk so steadily like I could or whatever it is, but the decay is taking place every day.

In the same way, the inner man must be renewed day by day, it says in verse 16. Every single day, there must be a renewal in the inner man. That's the fifth thing that God wants to teach us from the first chapter of Scripture, that God wants to bring a renewal into your life every single day, day by day by day by day by day.

When does it stop? When finally God looks and says, okay, it's perfect. Can God look at you and say you're perfect? I'm not. I've been a Christian for 52 years, but I'm not perfect. The closer I come to Christ, I'll tell you honestly, the closer I come to Jesus, I find the greater distance I have to go because I discover all types of things in me which are un-Christlike, which I never even knew was un-Christlike one year ago.

I discover areas of selfishness, areas where I thought I was completely free from the love of money, a little bit of love of money there. God says, get rid of it, it's like an onion. You keep on peeling off the onion, onion, one layer after the other, and the onion gets thinner and thinner and thinner.

Praise God. Less selfishness, more humility, less pride, less love of money, less thinking of myself, less being self-centered. You peel off the onion little by little. That's sanctification. Don't expect it'll happen overnight.

It's a daily process. Number six, ultimately, Genesis 1 .26, God wants to produce his image in you. Let us make man in our image. The ultimate goal of God is to make you like him, like Jesus. That's what we learn in the first chapter.

Lesson Six: God Reproduces His Image in Believers

Man was created to reflect the image of God, and now God says, let me remake you, this corrupt, empty, dark, shapeless person that you are. I have got a passion to make you like me. Doesn't that grip you?

I say, Lord, I'm excited that you have said, not man, try and make yourself like me. Boy, that would discourage me. What does it say? God says, let us, the whole trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, let us make Zach in our image.

I said, boy, I'm excited. Put your name there. You see, God's saying that, let us make you in our image. I've heard that voice in scripture, and I believe that the Holy Spirit wants us passionate to make me like Christ in my speech, in my attitude to material things, in my attitude to my enemies, in my attitude to Pharisees, in my attitude to money changers in the temple, exactly like Jesus drove them out.

I want to drive them out too. I want to be like Jesus in every area, towards the lepers, towards the sick, towards the poor, towards the weak, towards five times divorced women, like the woman of Samaria.

I want to be like Jesus. Woman caught in adultery, sinners, like the thief on the cross. I want to have the same attitude to criminals like Jesus had, to prostitutes and thieves and wicked people, to self-righteous people, same attitude Jesus had.

How will you escape the damnation of hell? To be like Jesus with gentleness and goodness and firmness and strictness without compromise to speak forth the word of God like Jesus preached, even if people killed him.

Okay. He was a witness to the truth until the end. I praise God that it's God's passionate desire to make me like him. His desire is let us. That's the part that encourages me the most. He hasn't told me, you make yourself in my image.

I'd say, Lord, I give up. I'd give up before even I start. Wonderful message. God says, this is my desire and says, I will do it. You got to just allow me. Let us. Have you understood it? I believe the problem with a lot of Christians is they think I have to make myself like Jesus and they are struggling, struggling.

It's like the earth trying to make itself this corrupt, spoiled earth trying, hey, I've got to improve. God's not happy with me. I've got to improve. What could the earth have done? It was entirely the work of God, but the earth submitted.

There was one difference between the earth and us. The earth did not have a free will to say, hey, I don't want that. You may allow God to change you the first day, second day and the third day. When the fourth day something comes, you may say, hey, I don't want that one.

First three days were okay. And then you get stuck. You never progress. And that's exactly what's happened to many Christians. Somewhere God speaks to them, they obey, obey. And then at some point they say, hey, the price is too much.

I don't want to go that far. And they get stuck some in the first day, some in the second day, some in the third day. Who are the people who are saying, Lord, I want you to change me every single day of my life.

I want to be like Jesus more than anything else. I've often been challenged by the businessmen here in Bangalore. I see some of them in the shops and commercial street. You know how late they sit, some of them seven days a week, only to make money.

That's all. They've got no other goal in life, but to make money because that is their God. And I'll tell you how the challenge comes to me. I say, Lord, there are two God. Jesus said there are two gods in the world, God and Christ and money.

If that fellow can serve his God so faithfully, how faithfully am I serving the one who I say is the true God, Jesus Christ. Those fellows put most Christians to shame. They dream about money at night, how to make more money tomorrow.

What do you dream about at night? How can I be a little more like Jesus? Dear brothers and sisters, that's what the Holy Spirit does. Produces us in a passion to become like Jesus. And that is God's purpose.

Lesson Seven: Ruling Over Passions Rather Than Being Enslaved

Number seven, Genesis 1 26. God wants you to be a ruler, not a slave. He wants you to be a king. Let them rule. Have you read that Genesis 1 26 in the middle of that verse? Let them rule. That's another thing I learned from this chapter.

God wants me to be a ruler and not a slave, not a ruler of the earth. Jesus didn't want to be a ruler on this earth. That's useless to be some type of mayor or MP or cabinet minister or prime minister or president.

No, I want to be a ruler over my passions, which have made me the slave for so many years. I want to be a ruler over my body. Like Paul said in 1 Corinthians 9, and towards the end of that chapter, he says, I want to make my body do what it should do.

Not what it wants to do. It's a beautiful paraphrase in the living Bible. When he says, I discipline my body, 1 Corinthians 9 28, I think. I make my body do what it should do, not what it wants to do.