Touré Roberts - Subdue It

If I had a title for this message today, it would be «Subdue It.» I feel the Spirit of God; it’s a command to you to subdue it. Do me a favor: turn to your neighbor and say, «Subdue it.» Say, «Don’t play with it; don’t negotiate with it. Subdue it! Don’t play patty cake—no conversations, no discussions, no philosophy—just subdue!» Okay, let’s go, let’s go, let’s go! Oh, somebody already caught it; somebody already caught it! Oh, okay, okay, okay, you get what I’m talking about! Stop «Do It»! No, no, don’t get me started! Mmm-hmm, I know what you all are trying to do. No, mmm-hmm, I’m going to teach this thing, so let’s go all the way back to Genesis. I want to show you something really quickly. We’re talking about the Kingdom of God and why this message was so revolutionary, so powerful that people left everything and just started following Jesus. He was announcing that the Kingdom of God is here, and there were supernatural things accompanying his proclamation—stuff was happening! It was a renaissance of spirituality and faith; it was amazing! People were leaving everything to follow him. What in the world was he talking about?

So if we go all the way back to Genesis 1:1, if you have a difficult time finding Genesis 1:1, I want to pray for you right now. So Genesis 1:1 starts like this: «In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.» In the beginning—look at that word structure: «In the beginning, God.» This does not mean that this was the beginning of God; it speaks to the fact that there was a beginning of something. If you trace back the beginning of something, God was already there! He was already there; he was self-existent, he was already infinite; he was there! Not only was he there, but he had a domain. Stay with me! The baby gets it. The baby says, «Hallelujah!» Jesus, God was there! Amen, amen, hallelujah!

So you go all the way back to the beginning, and God is there. God is fully existent, and God has a Kingdom. So it says, «In the beginning, God.» In the beginning, God is here! He has a Kingdom; he has a domain; he is fully complete all by himself. «In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.» What God is doing—watch this—is extending his domain beyond the invisible realm into a physical realm. Stay with me, we’re going to teach today. If God, in the beginning, is already there and God, in his fullness, has a domain that is infinite but extends only into the invisible realm, God says, «I want to extend my domain into a visible realm called the heavens and the earth.» It is an extension of myself! Hallelujah! Mmm-hmm, yeah, that’s so sweet!

Okay, okay, let me be honest with you; I’m going to be honest with you. You’ve got to get this message! You’ve got to do everything in your power to get this message! Even if you have to stand in the hallway with your baby—even if it’s ten hallways—we love the babies! You’ve got to get this message! I’m serious; this is not one of those messages. This is one that you have got to get because if you understand it, it will change your life, and it will change the world! I’m telling you!

So God is extending his invisible domain into a visible one. And then you might ask, «Why? Why is God doing that?» I don’t know, but I have a suspicion. God is a creator, and he’s infinite, which means that he is infinitely creative. So in his very nature, he is a creator and an expander and a multiplier. Maybe, just maybe, out of his very nature, it’s in his essence to continue to expand as an infinite creator. I don’t know!

What gives us a clue that he’s doing that, that he is extending himself and reproducing himself, is what he begins to do when he deals with man. So if we look at Genesis 1:26, it says, «Then God said, 'Let us make man in our image according to our likeness.'» Can’t you see it? He is reproducing himself! He is replicating himself, but he’s doing it in a physical realm where first his domain was solely in the invisible realm. He is creating a mirror on Earth of that which is in heaven! Are you tracking with me? I feel the Holy Spirit of God! I wish I had about four hours to teach this, but you’ll have to tap into the Wednesday night series.

He says, «Let us make man.» As I’m continuing to expand my domain, I want it to look like what it looks like with me! Watch, it says, «Let us make man in our own image and in our likeness.» And watch this: «And let them have dominion!» He’s starting to see it; give them a domain! «Let them be like us; give them a domain! Let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over the cattle! Let them have dominion over this new domain, the domain that I am extending myself into!» You’re going to get this! Over the cattle and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth. So God created man in his own image; in the image of God, he created him.