Know Your Design
This is the second class ("Know Your Design") in the third series of classes of the Women’s Foundation Series.
This series will explore understanding God’s role for women, having a proper self-esteem and knowing our place in the world.
I. Humans were designed to fulfill the ____________________.
Genesis 1:26-28 26 Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” 27 God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. 28 God blessed them; and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”
A. The Purpose
1. Bear the Image and Likeness of God Accurately - Be a Visible ____________________ of the Invisible God.
2. Bear His Image and Likeness as you are fulfilling the ____________________-
John 1:14 14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son[a] from the Father, full of grace and truth.
Col 1:19 19 For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell,
Hebrews 1:3 And He (Jesus) is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power.
II Cor 3:18 18 And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.
Gal 5:22-23 22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.
B. The Plan
1. Be fruitful and ____________________.
2 Tim 2:2 The things which you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, entrust these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.
2. ____________________chaos and disorder; promote order and goodness.
Subdue - to conquer and bring into subjection; to overpower by superior force; overcome; to bring under mental or emotional control; render submissive; to repress (feelings, impulses, etc.).
I Cor 9:27 27 but I discipline my body and make it my slave, so that, after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified.
3. Rule over creation and exercise ____________________on God’s behalf over the created world .
Rule – to control or direct; exercise dominating power, authority, or influence over; govern.1
Dominion - the power or right of governing and controlling; sovereign authority.[1]
II Cor 5:20 20 Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.
II. According to your gender role (vs 27)
A. Human men were designed to uniquely image God ____________________, providing, and protecting in the endeavor to fulfill the Creation Mandate.
Gen 2:15-17 15 Then the Lord God took the man and put him into the garden of Eden to cultivate it and keep it. 16 The Lord God commanded the man, saying, “From any tree of the garden you may eat freely; 17 but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die.”
B. Human women were designed to image God by ____________________accomplish that goal.
Gen 2:18 Then the Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone; I will make him a helper (EZER) suitable for him.”
Living out our design as women is an ____________________, because it represents God in a special way.
Psalm 33:20 Our soul waits for the Lord; He is our help and our shield.
Psalm 70:5 But I am afflicted and needy; Hasten to me, O God! You are my help and my deliverer; O Lord, do not delay.
Psalm 28:7 The Lord is my strength and my shield; My heart trusts in Him, and I am helped.
C. The curse of sin makes living our design a little ____________________but not impossible.
1. Both genders will have a harder time accurately reflecting God.
Gen 3:4-7 4 But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. 5 For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”6 So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. 7 Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths.
2. Men are going to have a hard time ruling and exercising dominion.
Gen 3:17-19 To Adam he said, “Because you listened to your wife and ate fruit from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You must not eat from it,’“Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat food from it all the days of your life. It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return.”
3. It will be harder to fill the earth and multiply. Women are going to want to try to be in charge, not help.
Gen 3:16 To the woman he said, “I will make your pains in childbearing very severe; with painful labor you will give birth to children. Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you.”
III. Telling the story of God vividly
A. Kingdom Building ____________________– (follow along on the back of diagram sheet)
1. Majestic King gained power and built his empire /kingdom that represented his awesome glory.
2. Visible representatives of an invisible king.
3. Be fruitful and multiply
4. Subdue passions, insurrection, and disorder to be orderly subordinates of the King’s authority
5. Rule and exercise dominion over conquered land on behalf of the High King.
B. Kingdom Building Scripturally – ____________________
1. God, the High King, with and eternal, everlasting kingdom.
2. Visible representatives of an invisible king
3. Be fruitful and multiply
4. Subdue passions, insurrection, and disorder to be orderly subordinates of the King’s authority
5. Rule and exercise dominion over conquered land on behalf of the High King.
IV. Carrying out God’s purpose and plan efficiently through ____________________roles in marriage
A. Marriage provides a companionable ____________________with unity and purpose in completing the Creation Mandate.
Gen 2:15-17 15 Then the Lord God took the man and put him into the garden of Eden to cultivate it and keep it. 16 The Lord God commanded the man, saying, “From any tree of the garden you may eat freely; 17 but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die.”
Gen 2:18 Then the Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone; I will make him a helper (EZER) suitable for him.”
Gen 2:24 24 Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.
B. Marriage provides unconditional love and ____________________, imaging God the Father’s and Jesus the Son’s love and acceptance of us.
Gen 2:25 25 And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed.
C. Marriage allows us to ____________________the completion of the Creation Mandate efficiently under biblical authority structures.
Ephesians 5:22-28 22 Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. 23 For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior. 24 Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands. 25 Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, 26 that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, 27 so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. 28 In the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself.
D. Marriage allows us to image Christ’s intimate relationship with the ____________________ vividly.
Eph 5:29-33 29 For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church, 30 because we are members of his body. 31 “Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh. 32This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church. 33 However, let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband.
V. ____________________God’s purpose and plan through families
A. The family creates a secure and stable foundation from which new ____________________ can enter the world.
Gen 1:28 28 And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”
B. Family provides the relationship, safety, direction, and provision for receiving and ____________________ replicating God’s plan and purpose for humans.
Deut 4:4-9 4 But you who held fast to the Lord your God are all alive today. 5 See, I have taught you statutes and rules, as the Lord my God commanded me, that you should do them in the land that you are entering to take possession of it. 6 Keep them and do them, for that will be your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the peoples, who, when they hear all these statutes, will say, ‘Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.’7 For what great nation is there that has a god so near to it as the Lord our God is to us, whenever we call upon him? 8 And what great nation is there, that has statutes and rules so righteous as all this law that I set before you today? 9 “Only take care, and keep your soul diligently, lest you forget the things that your eyes have seen, and lest they depart from your heart all the days of your life. Make them known to your children and your children's children—
Deut 6:4-9 4 “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.[b] 5 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. 6 And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. 7 You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. 8 You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. 9 You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.
Eph 6:1-4 Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right.2 “Honor your father and mother” (this is the first commandment with a promise), 3 “that it may go well with you and that you may live long in the land.” 4 Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.
C. All family members worship, work, and are educated full-time ____________________ in their home to fulfill God’s mission for themselves and the created world.
Col 3:12-17 12 Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, 13 bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. 14 And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. 15 And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful.16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. 17 And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.
D. Each member is working together for a ____________________, common vision under the leadership of the husband/daddy (if present).
Col 3:18-21 18 Wives, submit to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord.19 Husbands, love your wives, and do not be harsh with them.20 Children, obey your parents in everything, for this pleases the Lord. 21 Fathers, do not provoke your children, lest they become discouraged.
[1] http://dictionary.reference.com/
