# MINISTERING TO THE LORD | APOSTLE MICHAEL OROKPO

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BvMBEcKzBmc

[00:00] Exodus 28 1 and 2.
[00:02] Let's look at that quickly first.
[00:04] He said take unto thee Aaron thy brother and his sons with him from among the children of Israel that he may minister unto me in the priest's office even Aaron, Nadabihu and Liaza and Itama Aaron's sons.
[00:25] So the whole idea behind the engagement of the priestly office is to minister to the Lord.
[00:29] This is when the Levitical priesthood and the ironic priesthood was instituted.
[00:34] And God gave us the foundational philosophy behind it.
[00:37] He said this to minister to me.
[00:41] If you study Acts of the Apostles Chapter 13 Verse 1 and 2 you'll still see the same phrase used there.
[00:48] Acts of the Apostles 13 verse 1 and 2.
[00:54] Quickly it's a noun.
[00:57] They were in the church that was at Antioch certain prophets and teachers as Barnabas and
[01:02] Simeon that was called Niger and Lucius of Cyrene and man which had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch and Saul.
[01:11] And then go further, he began to show their priesthood.
[01:13] He said as the minister to the Lord and fasted, as they ministered to the Lord and fasted.
[01:22] So these guys understood a technology as they ministered to the Lord and fasted.
[01:29] So they were engaging priesthood, the very practice operation that God spoke about when Aaron was to be set up as a priest in the Old Testament.
[01:42] The word minister is the word lito, and it actually means service.
[01:53] But this kind of service is not the kind of service that a deacon provides, because the word diaconic is also a word service.
[02:00] But this kind of service is a service of
[02:04] Reverence of exaltation and of praise.
[02:08] You are serving the person not just by working for him.
[02:11] You are actually serving the person by reverencing him, by exhorting him, and by praising him.
[02:20] A graphic explanation of this act is what you find in Revelations chapter 4 when John was carried to Heaven.
[02:27] You are going to find the 20 and four elders ministering to the Lord, and you will see what they were doing.
[02:35] The Bible said they fell from their Thrones, so they humbled themselves.
[02:40] He said they cast their Crown, so they submitted their Authority.
[02:45] And he said they praised him, saying, "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord."
[02:50] And so the way you minister to the Lord is first of all to humble yourself.
[02:53] Number two is to place everything that makes you relevant aside.
[02:59] Then you exalt him, you praise him, and you declare his majesty and his.
[03:06] Sovereignty, if you don't follow this protocol, you can't minister to the Lord.
[03:10] There are many persons who are praising the name of the Lord because they had somebody say it, or they are reciting a song, but they've not humbled themselves.
[03:18] They've not brought themselves low, or they've not put aside what makes them relevant.
[03:22] You can walk into a church, and the church will honor you as a governor, and that is good because the Bible admonishes that we should honor leaders.
[03:30] But when we start ministering to the Lord God, you have to take off that your governorship crown and put it aside.
[03:37] That is the sign that you are ministering to the Lord, because when priesthood begins, all of us become equal.
[03:42] You know why? Because we all humble ourselves.
[03:46] We will all come down from our thrones.
[03:49] If we are doing priesthood and people are still sitting on their thrones, they don't know priesthood.
[03:54] When we come to that point where we want to minister to the Lord, everybody must step down from that kingdom position that gives him an advantage.
[04:04] When we go out for legislation and litigation, yes.
[04:06] We can recognize people in their respective offices.
[04:08] You can be an apostle.
[04:11] You are a trainer and a coach of the church.
[04:13] You can be a governor and you're an apostle to the governmental world.
[04:15] You can be an economic giant and will respect everybody in that right.
[04:17] Because now we have gone to the field to deliver our mandate and our kingdom ordinations.
[04:22] But when we are doing ministering to the Lord, the apostle will step down from his office.
[04:30] The governor will step down from his office.
[04:32] All of us, like the twenty-four elders, will go down and then we all cast our crowns.
[04:37] It doesn't matter if you can see the spirit.
[04:42] It doesn't matter if you can sing.
[04:43] It doesn't matter the giftings or the peculiarities that you have; we will still put them aside.
[04:46] So when you come into that cycle, the only one that you will see glorified is God.
[04:49] That's what ministering to the Lord means.
[04:52] And if the church does not understand this, then the church will not understand priesthood.
[04:56] Because the three major things that make ministry into the Lord is humbling.
[05:07] Yourself, that's what the Bible said.
[05:08] Jesus did in Philippians chapter 2 from verse 5 to verse 9.
[05:16] Open the scripture.
[05:19] Can you do New Living Translation or the Message version, any you know contemporary version for me?
[05:24] I just want the point to be very clear.
[05:26] He said you must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had.
[05:32] I'm showing you what ministering to the Lord means.
[05:35] I hope you remember I told you there are two kinds of service.
[05:36] There's the Dark on it, or the Deacon or the draconia, and there is what the little Geo this one is about exaltation of another being.
[05:47] They say you must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had.
[05:52] Go further, he said though he was God, he did not think of equality with God as something to clinch to.
[05:59] So what did he do next?
[06:01] It's an instead he gave up his Divine privileges, that's his crown.
[06:06] He said he took the humble position of a.
[06:09] Slave and was born as a human being.
[06:13] When he appeared in human form, so he took human form, became a human being, and took the position of the least among men, which is the slave.
[06:23] That's what it means to humble yourself.
[06:25] Go further.
[06:27] Is that he humbled himself in obedience to God and died a criminal's death on the cross.
[06:36] Now the beautiful thing with this operation of priesthood is these were honor and influence is put on you.
[06:42] If you don't know how to minister to the Lord, you may be a gifted teacher, but you will not have honor and authority.
[06:48] If you don't know how to minister to the Lord, you may be a gifted singer, but you don't know how; you will not have authority and influence.
[06:57] Because priesthood, like I told you, your kingship is operational within the context of your priesthood.
[07:02] And I'm teaching us these things now because you will need honor in your workplace, especially in the face where we are going to a face of hostility.
[07:12] A face of subjugation, a face of undermining.
[07:18] Like you have already seen, how can a party choose a Muslim candidate and the Muslim candidate also chooses a Muslim candidate as his running mate?
[07:28] Is that not a slap on the Christians that you have no influence and there's nothing you can do about it?
[07:32] Is that not an affront?
[07:35] What you see is because honor and influence is depleting.
[07:41] People are preaching, people are shouting, people are quarreling, people are threatening.
[07:45] If you don't have honor and reverence credited to your life, even when you're threatening people, they will laugh.
[07:53] They will say, "Do your worst."
[07:55] And they will tell you you can't do nothing.
[07:58] Even if you could do something, but because there's no honor, everything you do they take for granted.
[08:06] And so in this phase that we are coming into, we need honor that will cost our enemy to quiver and to tremble.
[08:11] This is why we...
[08:13] Teach these things we are not just being religious, but it's because of the mystery that underguards this operation.
[08:20] That when a man masters how to minister to the Lord, there is a spiritual and invincible honor and influence that God puts upon that man that becomes a scepter as it goes about his daily living.
[08:36] Because when Jesus did this, what happened in verse 9?
[08:38] See what the Bible said.
[08:40] He said, therefore, so when you minister to the Lord, there is a therefore.
[08:46] It's a God elevated him to the place of the highest honor and gave him the name that is above every other name.
[08:56] How did you think the early church conquered the award?
[09:00] This has been the principle of the Bible.
[09:03] In Deuteronomy 2:24, it's a rising up.
[09:07] He said, take up that journey and go beyond the river Arnold.
[09:09] Behold, I have given unto you Sihon the Amorite king of Heshbon.
[09:12] Begin to contend with him and...
[09:15] to possess his land, but why did he say that?
[09:17] He said, for I have put my dread.
[09:20] I have put my dread upon you, so when the guys are coming, the nations quiver.
[09:27] Are you seeing that it's a beginning?
[09:30] From today I will make the people throughout the Earth terrified because of you.
[09:36] The King James version said I have put my dread upon you.
[09:38] He said when they hear reports, don't worry, just leave that.
[09:44] He said when they hear reports about you, they will quiver.
[09:48] That's what honor means in the Bible.
[09:51] But the only way a man can route this part is when he masters how to minister to the Lord.
[09:56] And so every believer who wants to be a priest and actively engage priesthood must master the art of ministering to the Lord, which is first of all humble yourself.
[10:08] We are praying, we are conscious of ourselves, conscious of what we are wearing, conscious of today.
[10:14] When worship is going on, people are recording and...
[10:17] Putting online, yeah, we are here, yeah.
[10:20] No reverence for God.
[10:23] And then you think that church will be powerful.
[10:26] People are praying, they are chewing bubble gum.
[10:30] And they are strolling, they are talk — really?
[10:33] Is that how the twenty and four elders worshiped?
[10:37] When the twenty-four elders worshiped, they didn't even notice John came.
[10:41] They fell on their faces, cast their crowns, and all they were doing was holy, holy, holy is the Lord, holy, holy, holy is the Lord, holy, holy.
[10:53] That's priesthood.
[10:56] The first dimension of priesthood is to minister to the Lord.
[10:58] Our generation is proud that we can pray, and we can pray long, and we can pray loud — in capital letter.
[11:03] That's for our citizen.
[11:05] Go and read the Bible, you find it.
[11:07] It is the Pharisees that are proud, and they pray in street corners to be seen of men.
[11:12] It is the Pharisees that brag about praying long.
[11:15] Remember, I'm not talking against.
[11:17] Praying long I've taught you already
[11:18] That praying Lord generates power to numbness and I've also taught you that
[11:23] Praying consistently generates Kratos
[11:25] I'm not against it but when it becomes a show in the flesh it loses its potency
[11:30] And that's the pride of our generation
[11:33] Calling people prayer warriors they work with a limp and with certain posture to show that they are men of prayer
[11:39] When you find out you will know yes they pray but they have no priesthood
[11:43] And this is why their life is pitiable
[11:45] Burglary because there's no influence there
[11:48] The sign that a man is operating in priesthood is the influence that God puts upon him because he has mastered the art of ministering to the Lord
[11:57] A priest cannot be beggarly
[11:59] Priests are honorable people
[12:01] Kings bow to them
[12:02] In the ancient times every day people keep bringing sacrifices and offerings
[12:08] That's why God told the priest don't work
[12:11] I'm not giving you a lamb you don't need an inheritance because even if you don't have any heritage you will prosper
[12:16] Only the priest has that level of influence
[12:19] You don't need to have a land to be prosperous.
[12:21] You don't need an inheritance.
[12:23] I am your lot.
[12:25] And no priest begs because of what God puts on them.
[12:31] On influence, Authority, the church needs it now.
[12:37] The last time there was covet crisis, they called us non-essentials really.
[12:44] That's why I tell her, I tell people, especially young people, this thing is beyond correlino.
[12:50] That is a dynamic.
[12:52] There's a protocol that we must follow.
[12:57] Crystal.
[13:02] [Music]
[13:17] You know as a young believer, God will...
[13:20] Use everything to teach you.
[13:22] I share the story last week or two weeks ago now that I went to preach where Pastor E. A. Adeboye was coming to preach.
[13:27] My heart was keeping; my heart wanted to jump out of my mouth.
[13:33] Listen, this thing is not human worship.
[13:35] But when a man has honor, there's nothing you can do.
[13:39] As the time approached, I became more scared.
[13:43] But when I left that meeting, the part I didn't tell you was the fact that I started examining myself.
[13:50] If I honor a man so much and tremble at his presence, do I know God?
[13:56] If I'm going to minister in a meeting that Adeboye was watching, without due respect to him, and I feel my preparation is not enough, I still have to pray until the meeting.
[14:04] How come I walk to some other meetings casually?
[14:08] Because every meeting I go for, God is watching.
[14:15] Why, why is my consciousness of that particular meeting so heightened because he is more real to me than God?
[14:23] And so God began to teach me priesthood.
[14:26] He said I should be more rude to you.
[14:29] That when you come into that meeting to preach, you shouldn't notice at the boy.
[14:34] When you come out of that meeting, honor him as an elder and as a senior man.
[14:39] But when you are an Adeboye in my presence, both of you are dust.
[14:44] If you are more conscious of him than my presence, then you don't know priesthood.
[14:50] Does that mean God dishonors him? No.
[14:52] But when John entered the throne room, the 20 and 4 elders didn't notice him.
[14:57] And when the glory of God appeared, he also didn't notice the 24 elders.
[15:03] When Ezekiel was seeing this, the cherubs, the cherubim in Ezekiel chapter 1, he was talking about the emergency until the glory of God appeared.
[15:13] The moment the glory of God appeared, he didn't notice the cherubim.
[15:18] Because if you can notice another being in God's presence, you will worship that being also.
[15:24] And so the act of ministering to the Lord is the first molecule of priesthood.
[15:30] If you don't know it, your prayer may not amount to much.
[15:34] Learn these things.
[15:36] Practice these things.
[15:39] Christianity is to be practiced.
[15:40] He said, "Until I come, First Timothy 3:15, that you may know how to behave yourself in the house of God, which is the ground and the pillar of truth."
[15:51] There is a way you comfort yourself before God.
[15:54] Even when you are having to walk to pray, there must be some level of reverence.
[16:00] There must be that posture of humility and brokenness.
[16:04] There must be that posture of exalting the one to whom you have come.
[16:08] It's not about English, talking big grammar and no how.
[16:10] You are talking to an immortal spirit.
[16:15] It's deeper than even the language we are using, because it's been heard through the blood.
[16:21] If not that, language is corrupt.
[16:22] You can't speak mortal.
[16:25] Language among Immortal Spirits your language doesn't have the credibility for legislation in that Realm.
[16:31] And so you need to have a Consciousness and overwhelming consciousness of exaltation to the one we are talking to.
[16:38] We are too arrogant in God's Presence.
[16:40] That's why we are praying but we don't know priesthood the first element of priesthood the first dimension of priesthood is to minister to the Lord.