But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be your slave,

Matthew 20:26-27 (ESV)

Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory above the heavens. Out of the mouth of babies and infants, you have established strength because of your foes, to still the enemy and the avenger.

When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him?

Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor. You have given him dominion over the works of your hands; you have put all things under his feet, all sheep and oxen, and also the beasts of the field, the birds of the heavens, and the fish of the sea, whatever passes along the paths of the seas.

O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!

Psalm 8 (ESV)

“In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.”

John 16:33 (ESV)

Proper alignment to God

POINT #1: God intended man to rule over creation, however the earth and everything in it belong to God.

Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock 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; male and female he created them.

Genesis 1:26-27 (ESV)

The earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof, the world and those who dwell therein,

Psalm 24:1 (ESV)

Proper alignment to God

POINT #1: God intended man to rule over creation, however the earth and everything in it belong to God.

POINT #2: Dominion and greatness have been marred by Sin

For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now.

Romans 8:19-22 (ESV)

Proper alignment to God

POINT #1: God intended man to rule over creation, however the earth and everything in it belong to God.

POINT #2: Dominion and greatness have been marred by Sin

POINT #3: Greatness is achieved through proper alignment to God, not through man

But Jesus called them to him and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. It shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be your slave, even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

Matthew 20:25-28 (ESV)