27th Mar 26 | 16:08
Studies by Book
02 Acts 14 08-20 THE MINISTRY AT LYSTRA 33 Acts 14 15-17 New creation
📖 Acts 14:08-20
33 – Sun, 23 Nov 2025 – *New creation*- _Acts 14:08-20_ – THE MINISTRY AT LYSTRA – _Romans 08:20-21_
_Acts 14:15-17 and saying, "Men, why are you doing these things? We also are men with the *same nature* as you, and preach to you that you should turn from these useless things to the living God, who made the heaven, the earth, the sea, and all things that are in them, (16) who in bygone generations allowed all nations to walk in their own ways. (17) Nevertheless He did not leave Himself without witness, in that He did good, gave us rain from heaven and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness."_
As Barnabas and Paul made it known to the people of Lystra that we have all inherited the nature of death. Let's keep in mind that God told Adam that the day he ate the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, he would surely die.
We are dead because we are alienated from God. We are dead because we are alienated from ourselves in the sense that the law of sin and death has settled in our flesh. We are dead because we are alienated from one another.
The fourth death that has come on us, which is now a part of our nature, is that we are alienated from creation.
We were made co-rulers with God over His creation. Creation was made to be subject to man. This is built into the purpose that God gave man in creation. _Genesis 1:26 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."_
_Psalms 8:3-6 When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, The moon and the stars, which You have ordained, (4) What is man that You are mindful of him, And the son of man that You visit him? (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,_
In giving us the creation mandate in _Genesis 1:26_, the Lord God built into this system several aspects. Man was given the (1) position to rule over God’s creation. We see that man was crowned with glory and honour. Man was given the (2) responsibility to rule over God’s creation. God gave man the (3) authority to rule His creation.
Fourthly, along with all that man was given to rule over God’s creation, man was also given the needed capacity. This capacity came from his relationship with God. Man rules creation because he bears God’s image and breath. *Rulership is not autonomous but derivative.* _Genesis 2:7 And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being._
Fifthly, as mentioned earlier, creation is made to be subject to man. That is the system of creation. *When man rules creation in the image and breath of God, then creation will respond wholeheartedly, and creation will be a blessing to mankind.*
Today, we see the violent response of creation to humanity in various forms. This is not God’s desire, but we were made as co-rulers with God to rule over creation, carrying within us those five elements.
- Position or Title
- Responsibility
- Authority
- Capacity
- Creation is subject to man
These are simple, as these are the elements that are ingrained in every assignment that we undertake.
Sin caused us to abdicate ourselves as co-rulers with God over His creation. _Genesis 3:17-19 Then to Adam He said, "Because you have heeded the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree of which I commanded you, saying, 'You shall not eat of it': "Cursed is the ground for your sake; In toil you shall eat of it All the days of your life. (18) Both thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you, And you shall eat the herb of the field. (19) In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread Till you return to the ground, For out of it you were taken; For dust you are, And to dust you shall return."_
The curse is what we have brought upon ourselves. Work has become a drudgery, not joyful. People don’t find any meaning to life, and so they live for pleasure, which leads people further down the slippery slope of emptiness. All institutions have difficulty sustaining. Governments, organisations, enterprises, institutions, communities, societies, cultures and families are all challenged to remain effective. *This is because of sin, which caused us to lose our purpose of being co-rulers with God over God’s creation.*
_Romans 8:20-21 For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it in hope; (21) because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God._
God has subjected creation to futility in the hope that God’s children will be liberated. When we come to Christ, we are a new creation. _II Corinthians 5:17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new._
```In our new nature in Christ, we usher in the rule of God on earth as His co-rulers.```