The Divine Mandate by Apostle Michael Orokpo: MP3 Download & Sermon Notes

The Foundation: God as the Starting Point

He sent forth his word and healed them. Psalm 107:20. And he delivered them from all their infirmities. He sent forth his word. God's method is the method of his word. In the beginning was the word, the word was with God and the word was God. John 1:1. All things were made by him. Without him was not anything made that was made. In him was life. The life was the light of man. And the light shineth in the darkness and the darkness comprehended it not.

When God wants to create a change, he sends the word. And in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Genesis 1:1. And the earth was void and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the spirit of the Lord moved upon the face of the waters — and God said. The moment God begins to speak, things begin to happen. And the beautiful thing is that he speaks through his servants.

When you study the Bible, one of the things that will confront you first is the revelation of God, because he is the reason for our existence. Genesis 1:1 says, "In the beginning God" — because the beginning itself cannot exist without God. Every time a beginning is referenced, God is always referenced, because he is the source of the beginning. In John 1:1, in the beginning was the word. In 1 John 1:1, that which was from the beginning — still referring to God. You can't have reality outside God. One of our major preoccupations on the face of the earth is to study God, to understand God, and to live for God. Until we are able to do that, our life itself will have no meaning.

It is possible to come into time and attempt to use the things God gave you on a journey of your own devising. The reason you can think is because he gave you a mind. It would be foolishness to use that mind to think against him. The reason you are here to debate him is because he gave you life. Whether you like it or not, all of us will believe God someday. It's just where you choose to believe him. Those of us who believe him here, he has reserved a place for us in eternity. Those who choose to believe him in eternity, there is another place.

The Supremacy and Sovereignty of God

There are two major components that capture the full syllables of the study of God. The first is the supremacy of God, because God is a being that is in a class of his own and is superior and higher to every being in existence. The second is his sovereignty, because God not only is higher in essence — he also occupies offices and exercises authority beyond any being. It is within the subject of his essence and his authority that his full reality can be captured.

When we talk about his supremacy, we are talking about his essence — what he is. When we talk about his sovereignty, we are talking about the power and magnitude of authority he exercises.

Within the subject of his supremacy, we deal with two major components:

• The divinity of God — speaks of his nature, his DNA. These are the things that are of God, the essence of his being.
• The deity of God — speaks of his capacity, the abilities that make him the only one who should be worshipped.

God's DNA — his divinity — includes these attributes:

• God is light. 1 Timothy 6:16 — that light is so brilliant it is unapproachable.
• God is spirit. John 4:23 and 24 — they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.
• God is love. He doesn't just have love — love is his nature. God cannot but love.
• God is truth. Anything that comes out of God is truth. God cannot lie.
• God is righteous. Everything he does is right.
• God is good. He's so good that there's nothing bad or evil in him.
• God is infinitely wise. The foolishness of God is superior to the wisdom of man.
• God is merciful. His mercy is replete in scriptures — manifested through forgiveness, through forbearance, in different ways.

Everything in God's divinity, God shares with all his offspring. The moment you become a child of God, it becomes natural for you to want to speak truth. Righteousness is imparted into your spirit. Mercy and mercifulness are imparted. That's why you can show kindness, that's why you can forgive. It's not because people are reasonable — it's because it is in your nature. He has imparted mercy into us because we derive it from him. Anyone who is an offspring of God naturally inherits his DNA.

God also calls man a spirit that dwells in the body. Man is also called light. 1 Thessalonians 5:5 says you are the children of light. Matthew 5:14 — you are the light of the world. We inherited God's DNA. We are light. We have spirit. We are righteous. We are merciful. We are truthful — implanted into us because we were born of God.

Then there is the deity of God — six major attributes he does not share:

1. God is eternal. He has no beginning and no end. Ephesians 1:17. Every time a beginning is referenced, God existed before the beginning. Beginning actually began in God and the end will be in God.
2. God is immutable. He does not change. Malachi 3:6 — "I am the Lord, I change not. Therefore you the children of Jacob are not consumed." He says what he means and means what he says. God is beyond having integrity — he's immutable.
3. God is self-existent. God is the only being that lives for himself. Once upon a time only he existed, so what would he live for? You are part of creation, so you must live for God. Imagination Samsung creates this phone and the phone wakes up and says I will do what I want — no, you were created to serve a purpose. The only one who can live for himself is the creator. Exodus 3:14 — "I am that I am. I am what I am. I will be what I will be. I am the purpose for my being."
4. God is omnipotent. He has all power. Nothing is impossible to God. And he doesn't just have all power — he also has the power to put himself in check. Absolute power does not corrupt him.
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Apostle Michael Orokpo
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5. God is omnipresent. He is everywhere at every time. He is here, in Australia, in Africa, in the United States, in the spirit realm. Everywhere God is now — and beyond being everywhere now, God is already everywhere tomorrow. Anywhere God is not, reality can't find expression. He is the substance of reality.
6. God is omniscient. He knows all things at all times. Nothing can be hid from his eyes.

Divinity and deity combined define God's supremacy. He is the only one who possesses all these qualities. On account of this, God is higher than all. Then you come into his sovereignty.

The Offices of God's Sovereignty

Because of who he is and the capacity he has, there are certain authorities that only he can exert:

• Creator — creation requires that you bring to being out of nothing. Only God has the capacity to bring things into being out of nothing. Science at best can only form things. We convert one form of something to another. We depend on raw material. We even depend on laws God encoded into creation. We don't even know what gravity is — we only study the effect of gravity. God was the one who encoded the laws into nature.
• Father/Lifegiver — he is the father of all spirit and God of all flesh. All things that exist and have life are sourced from God.
• Judge — he created us to live in a world governed by laws. Like moral law — nobody tells you what evil is. Intrinsically you have the capacity to discern good and evil. Even a child when he does wrong, knows it is wrong. Because the moral lawgiver has put a moral law on our inside. And because he created us to live in a realm governed by laws, he becomes the judge to bring equity and create balance.
• King — all his other offices are connected within his kingship. He creates because he has a kingdom he wants to advance. He is a father because he needs entities to function within the kingdom. He is a lawgiver because he needs order within the kingdom.

The revelation of God as king is critical because it is as a king that the revelation of all his offices are connected. It is as king that his agenda finds expression. A kingdom cannot find expression without a jurisdiction. So God had to become creator in order to fabricate a jurisdiction. In Genesis 1:1, in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth — he was creating a jurisdiction where the kingdom can find expression. The earth is not a place of fun. The earth is a platform for government, a platform for kingdom expression.

The Dominion Mandate

For his agenda and kingdom to find expression, he needs entities to embody it. So God becomes a lifegiver. Genesis 1:26 — God said, "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness." We were created to play host to a spirit that has an agenda. We were not created to live here for our emotions. We were not created to be happy — we were created to serve God and his agenda. He has a kingdom. He wants to find expression but needs people to embody it. And that is why the moment he created man, he said, "Let them have dominion."

The dominion mandate requires territory (jurisdiction) and entities. The territory creates the platform. The territory carries the life and laws that bring about the kingdom. When these two are in place, God can express his agenda.

The word dominion is a compound word:

• Authority — you are delegated with divine authority to stand in the gap for God, to stand in the place of God. You are God's legal representative through authority.
• To prevail — should there be a contrary authority that wants to oppose God's agenda, you don't just have authority, but you have authority to undermine whatever power wants to attack or compromise God's purpose. The Hebrew word is radah. It means prevailing authority.
• To reign — you are representing God not as a servant but as a co-ruler. The word is basileus in Greek, meaning glorified. While you are serving God, God makes you like himself. You don't just serve him as one being used — you serve him as one being transfigured into glorified living. When you serve God, your life is blessed. People don't serve God and fail. When you serve God you are expected to flourish because there's a glory that comes out of you. Even people will love you because you become like him.

A point comes when you don't pray for things anymore. Anywhere you are, things work. Things just happen because there is a glory on your life that makes you flourish. He said the righteous is like the cedar — you are established and you keep flourishing. You are blessed on every side because dominion speaks of reigning. The actual word is kinging — you king through life. You come into nobility and royalty.

God's Agenda: The Preeminence of Christ

Why did God establish all of this? Because he wants his invisible kingdom established in the visible realm. The territory is the jurisdiction where his kingdom finds expression. The people are the agents God wants to use to advance his kingdom.

Colossians 1:15-18 — Paul speaking about Christ says he is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature. For by him were all things created, that are in heaven and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones or dominions or principalities or powers — all things were created by him and for him. And he is before all things and by him all things consist. And he is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things he might have the preeminence.

So the program of God — all these things God is doing — is for Christ to be the preeminent one. For Christ to be the center of reference. For everything to find meaning to the degree that it is connected and submitted to Jesus. That was God's plan.

If Christ is the preeminent one, then all things live to know him, all things live to worship him, and all things live to serve him.

The pursuit of the experience of Christ is God's agenda. Every living creature, everything created, whether visible or invisible — Christ is your trophy. Christ is the preeminent one. God's agenda is that you strive for a relationship with Jesus. John 17:3 — Jesus said, "This is life eternal, that you may know him the only true God and Jesus Christ his son whom he has sent."

You can be on earth and pursue relationship with everything. Some people spend their whole energy pursuing an experience with a house or a car. The moment you get what you vowed you must have, it loses value — because that's not what God's agenda is.

God's focus is that you know Jesus. God's focus is that you worship Jesus. Worship is not a song — worship is adoration for him that results in your surrender to him. You come to a point where you adore him, and because you adore him, you surrender to him so that he can dictate to your life. And it is something you do with joy because now you know him that is good — everything he asks you to do is for your own good.

The more we know Christ, the more we become. The idea of knowing Christ is to become like him. 2 Corinthians 3:18 — beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, we are changed into the same image. You know him, you discover you become like him. You worship him, you discover you become like him. Everything that is his rubs off on you. The believers were first called Christians in Antioch because they were like little Christs. The same goodness of Christ flows from you. The same mercy, the same kindness, the same wisdom, the same power flows from you.

That's why the glory of the Lord shall fill the earth as the waters cover the sea. The glory is the Christ — the essence of the Christ you now embody.

The Channel and the Agents

God's agenda cannot happen except agents rise to propagate it. God's agenda will always find expression where there are agents to facilitate it. Two things are of importance when these agents rise:

• The channel — the gospel. If the gospel is not preached, Christ cannot be known. The gospel is the unveiling of Christ so that he is known, he is glorified, and he is served. Anywhere the gospel is preached, Christ is revealed. Anywhere the gospel is preached, Christ is glorified. So it's Jesus revealed, Jesus glorified, and Jesus served.
• The understanding of themselves — to be able to communicate the agenda. So many offices of God were put together for you to be named his agent. He had to be creator to create a territory. He had to be lifegiver to animate you. He had to be a lawgiver to establish order within you and then entrusted you with dominion to facilitate his agenda. You are not ordinary. The psalmist said, "I am fearfully and wonderfully made."

In revealing Christ, there are certain things that must be established. We must reveal him in his divinity. We must reveal him in his deity. Many religions of the world confuse him for a prophet or a great teacher. Jesus is more than a prophet. He is more than an apostle. Jesus is God in flesh. John 1:1 and 14 — in the beginning was the word, the word was with God and the word was God. And the word became flesh and dwelt amongst us.

John 8:58 — Jesus said, "Before Abraham was, I am." And they took stones to stone him because "I am" is the title of God. Exodus 3:14 — "I am that I am have sent me."

If you don't understand the dominion mandate, your existence will be common, will be natural. But those of us who understand this know there is a stake on our lives and we live on earth from the frame of dominion.

You are God's agent. You are not ordinary. Live from the frame of dominion.