Who Is Your God?
To be sovereign means to have unlimited power and authority. It is the highest and most important. We serve the Sovereign God. He is highest and most important. What He says goes in the universe. God is a government in and of Himself. He is everything. Sovereignty is a style of government.
He is in control of all, despite what we do. This does not mean He trumps free will. But what He establishes, will be done.
His goal was always for us to partner with Him to govern His Kingdom.
Genesis 1:26-28
Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.” So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”
“Fill the earth…” — God is saying, “Create with Me! I want more like you and I’ve given you the ability to fill the earth with more of His sons and daughters. What a huge responsibility!
“Subdue the earth…” — God is saying, “Anything that rises above the goodness that I have created, you are to subdue it. Chaos was cast out of heaven and you are to fight against it and take ground for the Kingdom of God!”
“Have dominion…” — God is saying, “I wanted you to have supreme authority over the earth. We were to rule over it with Me. You have total control over creation.”
We were supposed to have dominion over this beast, this thing that is trying to cause division and chaos, and ultimately keep us from God.
If you think this beast is Satan, you’re wrong. It’s your flesh. Your flesh will eat your soul and kill it if you don’t wage war against it. The chaos of this world is your flesh. But you still have the same assignment that He gave to Adam and Eve—to take dominion over the earth.
Matthew 18:-18-20
“Truly I tell you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. “Again, truly I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything they ask for, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them.”
Whatever you allow in the spiritual realm, whether letting it loose or binding it, will be done. You can loose God’s presence, love and joy, or allow sin, chaos, and discouragement to reign. You can bind the realm of darkness by the authority God has given you, or bind the Holy Spirit from moving, because you are living in compromise. That is an incredible responsibility that God has given us.
We heard it put this way at the Henley Graduation earlier this summer:
“What you tolerate, you encourage. What you encourage, you become. And what you become is your identity, or your lack of identity.”
—Coach Stork, Henley High School Graduation, 2026
When you encourage sin in your life, you partner with an identity that is unfamiliar with your pair. You were never meant to be an alcoholic, sexually promiscuous, rageful, or vengeful. These things are evil because you have traded your God-given identity for a lie. You have to choose the Sovereign God of the universe in order to be sovereign over your flesh!
Be Fruitful and Multiply
This doesn’t just mean procreation, my friends. This is about going into a lost and dying world to go and get the sons and daughters who are lost! This means going to get the people who don’t know who they are and that there is a God who created them and loves them!
We are not in a fight against humanity. We are in a fight against the powers of Satan and darkness.
Ephesians 6:12
For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.
He Will Have His Way
Jesus will have His way in this earth, with or without you. But here’s the beautiful part: He wants you! Love was on His mind when He created you. And he wants to partner with you to see the world saved through His grace.
“Sin is crouching at your door, but you must rule over it!” This is what God told Cain after he got angry that his offering was unacceptable. And yet he still chose to walk away. He chose to kill his brother rather than humbling himself and bringing the right offering. And even after the punishment was pronounced, He didn’t humble himself or ask for forgiveness.
He knew us before we were ever even born. And He chose us to partner with Him. He set us apart, but we still have to choose Him.
Jeremiah 1:5
“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you,
before you were born I set you apart;
I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.”
2 Timothy 1:9
He has saved us and called us to a holy life—not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace. This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time…
Ephesians 1:3-14
Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight…
He chose you before the creation of the world. But you still have to choose Him! Some people take this scripture to mean that God chose the people who would be the “haves” vs the “have nots”, so why even try to be good? This is such a lie from the enemy. God chose everyone! He made a way for everyone through Jesus Christ! But you still have to choose Him back!
Why Do We Still Choose to Serve Other “Gods”?
We do this even as Christians in having a wrong perspective of who God is. These are some of the gods we serve:
Carnal, weak God - one that looks and acts just like us. (Spoiler alert, we make sucky gods…)
Convenient God - something easy, comfortable, never asks anything difficult or hard of us.
Tyrant God - unrestrained usurper, he takes sovereignty but force, brutal, abusive and harsh. All powerful with no choice of whether you serve them or not. You don’t get a choice.
Bribed God - money or favor given, to induce one to bend to another’s will. God becomes your genie in a bottle, your works become your ticket to heaven. (John 14)
None of these are the correct perspective of our God. It cost Him everything to rescue us from sin, and he offers eternal life as a free gift, with a pretty bow on top. He offers it because of His great love for us! The Sovereign God knows you intimately, and He still chooses you. He sees your past, present and future. So what kind of god are you serving? One of a human perspective, or the Only One True, Sovereign God?
Further study:
Galatians 5
Ephesians 6
