Operating In The Kingdom by Apostle Michael Orokpo: MP3 Download & Sermon Notes

The Three Layers of the Ministry of the Word

It is important to pay attention to the Word of God, believe it, understand it, and apply it, because therein lies the very essence of our being and the power that enables us to become everything God has ordained for us to be. There are three premises in the ministry of the Word that bring the advantage we require in life.

• Graphe — the written word. From a child you have known the holy scriptures, which are able to make you wise unto salvation, and all scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, and for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly furnished unto every good work 2 Timothy 3:15-17. The goal of graphe is to instruct you and form the character of God in you until you are able to host what God has to offer.
• Logos — the word as life force. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God; all things were made by Him John 1:1-4. After the Word furnishes your character, it enhances your creative capacity and brings illumination into your spirit — the same creative power by which God made the world from nothing. Anybody who engages the Word at this level must become a blessing, because the Word has the capacity to make them function like God.
• Rhema — the word as a governing force. Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God Matthew 4:3-4. At this level the Word does not merely instruct or enlighten — it becomes a weapon, authorizing you to establish God's government. In the kingdom of God, every one of us has the capacity to operate exactly as God would if He were present.

Reset: Realignment, Update, Upgrade

Reset has three layers. Realignment removes errors and weaknesses and brings you into alignment with what God wants to do. Update follows — you cannot put new wine into an old wineskin; remember not the former things, for God does a new thing Isaiah 43:18-19 — He brings you up to date with the present move of the Spirit. Upgrade increases your capacity so that you do not only know, but have the ability to enforce what you know.

The moment Jesus was commissioned, His first emphasis was reset. After the Spirit drove Him into the wilderness and He returned in the power of the Spirit, the first thing He told the people was, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand" Matthew 4:17. When a man is reset, he begins to function in the kingdom — his life becomes a manifestation of the kingdom of God.

Four Things That Define the Kingdom of God

1. The Kingdom Is the Realm of Divine Life

   Except a man be born again, he cannot perceive the kingdom John 3:3. The kingdom is the realm of the life of God, and a man who has that life is not only in the kingdom — the kingdom is also inside him. The kingdom of God is not here or there; the kingdom of God is within you Luke 17:21. This is life eternal, that you may know Him John 17:3 — you are awakened to God, brought into His realm.

   If sickness, failure, and death do not exist in the realm of God, then a reset mind understands that these things cannot be your destination, no matter what is presently happening. When God created the heavens and the earth, the earth was without form and void, darkness upon the face of the deep — yet when He showed up, He did not question the darkness, He simply said, "Let there be light," and light appeared. Because the realm of God does not accommodate failure, whatever in your life is not currently working is not your final word — you have simply come into a realm where such things cannot last.

   This is not denial of present difficulty; it is awakening to a superior law. Gravity is real, but aerodynamics is a superior law that overrides it while it operates. In the same way, contrary situations may be real, but a superior life has been awakened on the inside of the believer, and success is superior to failure, life is superior to death.

2. The Kingdom Is the Realm of Divine Wisdom

   I give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven Matthew 16:19 — a realm of the secrets, the wisdoms, and the mysteries of God. Our glory is not tied to natural law; natural laws are designed to keep us bound to this realm, and to live above it we must access superior laws — this is where the wisdom of God comes in. We speak wisdom among those who are mature, not the wisdom of this world nor of its princes, which come to nothing — we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, which the princes of this world did not know, for had they known it they would not have crucified the Lord of glory 1 Corinthians 2:6-8. This wisdom is dwelling in you now — it is not outside you, but was installed within, and from it come answers beyond the reach of formal training alone.

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Apostle Michael Orokpo
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3. The Kingdom Is the Realm of Divine Authority

   If I by the finger of God cast out devils, the kingdom of God has come upon you Luke 11:20. The kingdom means authority to subdue demonic activity — these signs shall follow them that believe: in My name they shall cast out devils Mark 16:17. This was not promised only to pastors, prophets, or apostles, but to all who believe.

   • God's sovereignty rests on three things: His deity — incommunicable attributes such as omnipotence, omnipresence, omniscience, eternality, self-existence and immutability, which belong to God alone; His divinity — communicable attributes such as absolute truth, love, righteousness and faithfulness, which He shares; and His supremacy — authority over things only He can do, such as creation, the giving of life, and power over times and seasons.
   • Though we are not deity and not supreme, we have been brought into His divinity. According to His divine promises He has made us partakers of His divine nature 2 Peter 1:4. We carry His righteousness, His name, His life, and His mind — everything that once belonged to Jesus has been given to us 1 John 5:11, 1 Corinthians 2:16.
   • This means the operation of demons is no longer merely a matter for prayer requests to God — it becomes a matter of direct command. Don't pray to God about Satan; give Satan a command and he will get out. Don't talk to God about a mountain; tell the mountain what to do.

4. The Kingdom Is the Realm of God's Will

   Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven Matthew 6:10. The will of God is that Jesus be preeminent — King of Kings 1 Timothy 6:15, Revelation 19:16. Everything must first be surrendered to Him: time, money, body, priorities, appetites. Paul said, "I beat my body and bring it into subjection" 1 Corinthians 9:27 — until your own obedience is complete, you cannot bring anything else under subjection.

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   Worship, from its first appearance in scripture, was never merely a song — when Abraham went to sacrifice Isaac, that was worship: total surrender Genesis 22:5. When a man's presence alone begins to shift the atmosphere of a room without a word being spoken, it is because he has surrendered so completely that he has become a channel that transmits God's government. Our presence can change circumstances and alter the outcome of territories — but this can only happen through the surrendered life.

Five Designations of a Kingdom Citizen

The kingdom is not merely for those who identify as Christians — the world may call us Christians because we resemble Christ, but there are names God Himself has given to those who walk fully in the kingdom.

1. Child

   It takes divine life to be in the kingdom, so you must first be born of God. As many as received Him, to them He gave power to become the children of God John 1:12. The Spirit cries in you, "Abba, Father" — God is your source, your strength, your sustainer, regardless of your natural credentials or achievements.

2. Son

   A son is one who bears the image of the Father, whose priority everywhere is to model God rather than himself. A son endures the chastening of the Lord Hebrews 1:1-3 — for if you cannot be chastened, you remain illegitimate rather than a true son. Many who began as children never grow beyond that because they resist correction — refusing to apologize, refusing to yield when the Holy Spirit instructs a course of humility — and their growth in the kingdom stalls there.

3. Priest

   When a son matures, God graduates him to priesthood. A priest's focus shifts from merely enduring chastening to trafficking heaven to earth — becoming a channel through which the invisible is brought into the visible. This is why God will sometimes require specific disciplines of fasting or extended prayer for a season: not as doctrine, but as a dealing, opening a gangway that pride, anger, impatience or insensitivity had blocked.

4. King

   Once God has made a priest of you, He hands you a scepter — your word becomes law in the sphere He has given you. Many remain believers who cannot access the frequencies of Zion because they never grew beyond childhood in the faith into priesthood and kingship; they are ordained as kings and priests in Christ, but they must manifest what they have been made by the Spirit.

5. Witness

   Finally, God sends the king as a witness or ambassador. He makes His angels spirits, and His ministers a flame of fire Hebrews 1:7. When God wants to demonstrate something, He sends a man to a place, sometimes without the man even knowing why, and that man becomes a theater — God's screen for manifesting wisdom and power, so that heaven invades the earth through him.

None of us should reach heaven and be shown nations we could have taken, only to discover that we never grew into the designations that could carry a scepter to take them. Sons must rise, kings must rise, priests must rise, witnesses must rise. No one should end their life having only been a soldier, a banker, or a doctor — those are platforms; the real business is that through you, Zion manifests.