Understanding the Power of Obeying Commandments

Programme: School of the Spirit (SOS)

Transcript Summary

1. “The former treatise have I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach, [2] until the day in which he was taken up, after that he through the Holy Ghost had given commandments unto the apostles whom he had chosen…” (Acts 1:1-2). When scripture says Jesus began to do and to teach, it means He first began to do the things pertaining to the Kingdom, and then taught and preached it afterwards. The teaching and the preaching of Jesus Christ began after He came out of the temptation in the wilderness in the power of the Spirit (Matt. 4:1-11). This means He first fulfilled the commandments of the Kingdom before He began to preach. Everything Jesus preached was actually what He had done or was doing; that was what gave birth to the ministry He did on earth.

2. Jesus is not separated from the Kingdom; He is the bearer of the Kingdom and the One who holds the key to it. Even when He was in hell, He fulfilled obedience and taught. When He rose from the dead, He also began to do and to teach until He was taken up. The pattern of Jesus’ life is that He was doing obedience so that all things might be fulfilled.

3. (Acts 1:3). After Jesus was raised from the dead, all He was doing was speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God. For forty days, He kept on teaching things pertaining to the kingdom of God, which are the things of Christ and the things pertaining to the everlasting God (the Father). This means what He discussed with the Apostles was not the milk of the word.

4. (Matthew 4:17, 23; Acts 1:3). Jesus began with the preaching and the teaching of the Kingdom when He was on earth. He taught the Apostles about the Kingdom, but they did not preach it nor started with it. They knew beyond the milk of the word but remained faithful to it. The milk doctrine of the Apostles was taught in the light of the Kingdom; this is because the basis of ‘milk’ is the Kingdom. They did not teach ‘milk’ in the light of meeting the needs of people or performing miracles. What was in their hearts was not miracles or the needs of the people; what was in their hearts was what Jesus told them concerning the Kingdom.

5. The kingdom of God that Jesus began to do and to teach is a life. This is also what we have been called to do. To get to this life, you need a beginning meal called ‘milk’ which is formulated after the Kingdom. This ‘milk’ is not separated from the Kingdom because it also has things we have to do. Jesus Christ gave the Apostles commandments by the Holy Ghost because there were things they needed to do (Acts 1:2).

6. The commandments Jesus gave them were not just what He was doing on His own, or based on what he saw, or due to the situation around Him; He was also saying things by the commandment of the everlasting God through the Holy Ghost. This means Jesus Christ Himself was not free after resurrection; everything He was doing was by the Holy Ghost. Everyone He appeared to after His resurrection was by the permission of the Father. He was taken out of the realms of man, such that He could not do what He wanted to do except the Father permits it. Jesus Christ has been so much saved beyond showmanship.

7. Jesus gave several commandments to the Apostles, one of which was to go and stay in Jerusalem to wait for the enduement of the power from on high (Luke 24:49). One of the things that the milk of the word and the ministry of the Apostles stood upon was the witness to the resurrection of Jesus. Apart from witnessing to the resurrection of Jesus Christ unto the people, they also gave commandment to the people as they were instructed. Jesus Christ received commandment from the Father, and through the Holy Ghost, He gave it to the disciples who are the twelve Apostles; the twelve Apostles also gave it to people. It is because of those commandments that the Holy Ghost was in their midst. The activity of the Holy Ghost around the churches was not just for working of miracles; rather, He was monitoring and marking how men were doing the commandments.

8. After the day of Pentecost, everyone came in as  a newcomer. The oldest people were the 120 disciples (Acts 1:15). The newcomers listened to and believed the report of the Apostles; they obeyed the doctrine of the Apostles and a work was done in them. “Then they that gladly received his word were baptized: and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls. [42] And they continued stedfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers.” (Acts 2:41-42). There was something all the believers were doing together, which was “continuing steadfastly in the Apostles’ doctrine”. It means commandments were conveyed by the Apostles’ doctrine.

9. Doctrine is not just a teaching for head knowledge; they are a body of instructions by the Holy Ghost concerning what must be done. Doctrine entails doing; this is what must be achieved in the midst of the people in churches. If there is no ‘doing’, there will be no progress in the Church. We see how the Church grew mightily in the book of Acts; that happened because people who came as mere men, heard and believed the word, and by the preaching and teaching of the doctrine by the Apostles, they became entities who could let go of their resources and share with others (Acts 2:43-47).

10. What gave birth to the early church was the power of the commandments that the Apostles were doing. That was why men in Jerusalem who listened to and followed the Apostles’ doctrine also experienced power. Highly placed men in the gentile world came and the Holy Ghost fell upon them and they repented. Many people sat to listen to a man like Apostle Peter who used to be a fisher-man. That was a breakthrough in the calender of the earth; it was a demonstration of power that gave birth to the rise of churches. The power of doctrine turned many from their old identities and gave them new ones.

11. The weight of doctrine in our hearts in terms of our response is what gives room for answer to prayer. There is an error that is moving all over that the least time a believer should spend in prayers is between eight to ten hours, groaning on one spot. Some say believers have to build their prayer life till their kneecap develops another hoof. Many press for long hours of prayers because they desire a form of power and relevance to heal the sick and raise the dead, but not to exactly witness to the resurrection of Jesus. This is not to mean that prayer is wrong, but our prayer life should be powered by our response to doctrine.

12. The doctrine we have been hearing in this ministry has power; it has the ability to overturn situations. The miracle we are experiencing here is one that is of heavenly class. Men are changing because nature is changing. God is bold, courageous, and happy because He has a people on earth that are committed to doctrine and doing commandments. The miracle of changing the nature in the souls of men is happening because our parents received those words by the Holy Ghost.

13. We should not fight commandments; our hearts should desire to do it. You may be a slow or fast doer, but as long as commandment is given, you must do it because you were actually created to do commandment. The reason why you are slow in doing commandment is because of sin and death; but no matter how strong sin and death is, the Lord is breaking them down by His eternal power. The greatest power of God among men is commandment; the only shortcut to get the power God wants to give is to do commandment. We should do the commandments that are coming to us because they are according to our level. Our attitude must be one that is eager to hear doctrine and do the instructions. One of the great blessings we have in this house is that this is a house of commandment. This is the only way that the life of men would change.

14. It is so strange when believers are not living by commandment. When you see believers who have a measure of understanding, they have commandments in their pouches. It is power that men are given grace to hear commandment and do it. If God is going to be in our midst, He will check holders of commandment. How much presence we will experience this year is determined by those who have listened to and obeyed the commandments that are coming from the mouth of His servants. So, we should get ready to receive more commandment. God sanctifies a people by His commandments, and these commandments are His works. When commandment is given, work is given. This means a commandment coming from the Lord is a work you are given to do (John 14:12).

15. There are miracles that happen outside the temple that everyone sees, but there are miracles in the temple which are not seen by all. How can you describe the miracle of forgiveness of sins? It is impossible when angels look at it! Angels can do many mighty things, but they cannot explain how a sin that was found among the angels of God can be deleted from humanity—it is a miracle to them. They stand in awe. Those who matter in the realm of the spirit know the real miracle—the miracles in the temple of God.

16. The secret of forgiveness of sins is commandments. So, blessed are the people to whom the commandment of God is revealed. We are not ordinary people, and I boast about this under the grace of God upon our parents. We are becoming supernatural and extraordinary men. What makes us extraordinary is that we are keeping commandments. It is a miracle that husbands are loving their wives by keeping commandments; wives are submitting to their husbands, youths and teenagers are submitting to the Lord, zealous for the Lord, and hungry for the Lord in all purity. This is worthy of thanksgiving. We will overcome Satan this year. Our life is preserved. We will have prosperity in all things just by obeying the commandments that will be coming to us.  

17. “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father.” (John 14:12). Jesus Christ is both a ‘prayer point’ and an ‘answer’ in Himself. When you see Jesus Christ, a prayer point is generated for you, and He is also the answer. The things that constructed the entity called Jesus are works, and these works are miracles of commandments. The greatest miracle that God did on earth was His work inside Jesus. A work of God will also be done in us if we can submit to Him.

18. We should pray with confidence in our hearts this year. The season of doubting prayers is over. If the Lord has done some work inside you, that work is an answer. All we need to do is to pray by those works. The key to answered prayers is works, not fasting. We have many of our prayers returning back to us (unanswered) because work has not been completed within us. Jesus prayed the way He did—“Father, I thank you always because you always hear me…” (John 11:41)—because He had done ‘works’.

19. If John 14:13 says, “And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do…”, it is the result of the works that must be done in John 14:12. We must know that we can stand on the works of our parents in this ministry and pray. If you do not have works, generate works from their own works. God always told Moses that it is not because of his righteousness that He was doing certain things, but because He remembers His covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. So, even though the children fail, the fathers cannot fail because they have works. However, Satan will be dealt with much more if the children also have works.  

20. We are going to fast and we are going to pray this season; but much more, we will do the work of God. This is what Satan is afraid of. Our requests and desires should be by works; they should not be a product of carnality—a gentilic work of death in the soul. The platform and altar of prayer is works. Our prayer altar is, in fact, a place of works. God is set to do works inside us, and as such, we will become a mobile altar.

Blessings!