6 Things You Will Not Regret and Be Glad You Did! // Dr. Mike Woods, Sr. // 10-20-23

religious spirit will make you live a life of regret, and I want to show you why. So the first thing I'm gonna do is I'm gonna give you a backdrop in scripture, okay? And then I'm gonna give you 6 things that you're gonna really be glad you did, and that will help you eliminate a life of regret. As a matter of fact, these things I'm going to give you, you're going to love them. You're going to be able to apply find them every day. Matter of fact, you'll be able to leave this Bible study tonight and actually use them, uh, right now. Amen. And that's what we want you to be able to do. We want you to be able to use this stuff. We don't want it just to be good teaching, um, another good message. We want you really to be able to use this stuff. Amen. So do me a favor, take that text once again, and we're gonna get started in a few moments, guys. Take that text. Copy and paste that text that you received from our system and send it to somebody. Be a blessing to somebody and encourage them to get on this. I mean, because so many people, believe it or not, guys, they're living lives of regret. They're regretting things that they've done, decisions they've made, and they don't even realize that the reason of their living in that state— hear me, guys— is because the spirit of religion or religious way of thinking or doing things has, oh my God, placed them in a place of bondage where they actually are— I'm talking about, again, missing God on so many levels. So please, guys, do me the kind favor, take that text you got please be obedient. All right, I promise you, the scripture says we're blessed to be a blessing. So don't share it if these Bible studies don't bless you, but if they really and truly bless you, the teachings are a blessing to you, or if, if anything you've heard me do, even if you ain't never been on here before— I see some people on here that ain't been on before— you know, give this away. You know, I believe a blessing is not a blessing until you can give it away. Amen. So do that for me, and we're going to get started in just like 1 minute, guys. So 8:07, we're gonna be rocking and rolling. It's 8:06, in about 30 seconds, um, about, about 10 seconds, we're gonna be rolling. All right, glory to God. I love you all. Again, I'm so glad you're here. I'm super excited to teach and share with you tonight Um, if you guys have— want to drop questions or concerns in the chat, please feel free to do that. The chat, uh, is open so you can chat. If you can't hear or anything happens, just drop it in the chat if you don't mind. Glory to God. Uh, again, I love everybody with the love of the Lord. Tonight we're going to pray, and it's 8:07, and we are going to get started. Let's pray tonight. Father, in Jesus' name, We thank you for another Thursday night, God. Yes, another Thursday night. And Father, I'm so grateful that, that this Thursday I get to share what you have impressed upon my heart to share with your people on tonight. So Father, I'm asking you for the light, the illumination, and the intelligence of the Holy Ghost. Dear God, do something unusual, do something man cannot do. Saturate the walls, charge the atmosphere. Hallelujah! Somebody says they're here from created diamond. Thank you for watching that message. Glory to God! Thank you for being here. Praise God! Father, I pray that you move by your spirit, touch every person with revelation, knowledge, innovation from heaven. God, open up our mind to experience something new, something fresh, something different. And so God, we give you praise, we give you glory, we give you honor now. In Jesus' name, amen, and thanks be to God. All right guys, we're here tonight. Let's jump right in. Glad to see everybody that's on. Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you so much for being here. Glory to God, God is good. So let's jump into this tonight. Um, I'm not going to be long. I'm gonna try to be as extemporaneous as I possibly can. Uh, as you guys know, I was teaching a series and I shared a few weeks back that I would pick up on Thursday nights in this series on defeating legalism and religion. This is very important because the spirit of legalism, the spirit of religion, um, these two things never empower you. They never give you the freedom actually to express yourself in the way that God has called you to be. And thirdly, they never give you the opportunity to optimize your existence on Earth. They always keep you bound into a dead, a non-progressive system, a non-progressive way of doing things. So we want to make sure that if you haven't had a chance to hear the other messages in Defeating legalism and religion, make sure you go and watch the ones that's available online. Glory to God, because I promise you those messages will help you. Tonight we're going to open up about religion because again, these things are distinctively different. And, uh, so I want to go to Colossians. Let's start there. And for those of you in the chat, type in— please type, uh, Colossians 1 uh, verse 27 and 28. That's where we're going to start tonight. I told you I'm gonna be quick. I'm, I'm gonna move tonight. We're gonna, we're gonna put our foot in it. Glory to God. Uh, Colossians. Hallelujah. Glory to God. We give God praise. I'm excited about teaching this. I hope y'all excited about hearing it. Glory to the name of God. Colossians 1. Oh, glory to Jesus. Thank you, Father. Uh, verses 27 and 28. The Bible says to whom God would make known— listen to this— what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you. Hear this, the hope of glory. Verse 28: Whom we preach, warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus. Oh my God, I need you to say this with me. Say, God— let's start right there— wants me perfected in him. Now, the word perfect there is a Greek word, teleios. The word teleios means complete, mature. It means— watch this— the ability to carry out orders. Oh, without flak, without resistance. So when you are mature, when you are a perfect man in Christ, you have the ability to carry out what God says. Oh boy, without resistance. In other words, when God says it, you don't resist it, you do it, right? You make sure, hmm, that you get it done, because at the end of the day, you're mature enough to understand that his ways are better than your ways, and that his ways are actually— hear me— past finding out. So I need you to wrap your head around that tonight, that God wants us to have a mature life. He wants us to move in wisdom. He wants us, glory to God, to experience the riches of the glory of Christ. Okay, so ploutos in Greek is riches. Listen to me, guys. Can I tell you what it is? Are you ready? It is platos, which is— you ready? It means to have plenty of possessions, plenty of money. It means to have abundance. Watch this. Platos also means to live without regrets, which means you, you make decisions and that produce an abundance of joy, an abundance of peace. It eliminates your physical and material lack because you live from a place of maturity that produces abundant things that are— watch this— that are even mysterious to you. You don't even understand how you got those things or got the creativity or the innovation to produce those things because it's a mystery that's only found in your growth and development in Christ. Here's what I know, guys. A lot of people are living with regrets, even in the church. Hear me, they go to church every week, but they live with regrets about the career path they chose, about the money they make, the person— oh, God forbid— the, the person they married. Some of you ain't never been to jail, but you're doing time. You're doing time on the wrong job. You're doing time in a bad marriage. You doing time with the wrong friends. You doing time in the wrong classes. And what God wants is for you to never have to live with these regrets, but to be able to move in absolute abundance. Hallelujah. Not just religious activity, going to church. You sound good, you sing good. Oh my God, you can preach good. Glory to God. Hallelujah. Or you, you, you, you can evangelize, you, you good at your office, but you're bad at experiencing mature perfection and wisdom to produce abundance in your world. And, and that means balanced abundance where you have abundance in all areas. Guys, are y'all hearing me? Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy, oh boy. Hallelujah! Glory to God! I love it. He's a good God, isn't he? Just rub your belly and say, God wants me balanced, and he wants me to have balanced abundance. So on both sides of the coins, he wants you to have an abundance of spiritual things. He wants you to be able to move in supernatural power and optimize your gifts. But he also wants you to have an abundance a material good. It's right there in the Bible. He said he wants you to know what the riches of the glory is. So all this glory we produce, he wants us to have all this doxa— glory to God— this honor, this dignity, this worship, this praise we give unto God. He wants us to have riches, material good, or manifested emotional good that's connected to that activity. Oh, hey, Lord have mercy, Jesus. Oh God. Okay, okay, I'm gonna move, I'm gonna move. So here's basically what these two verses are saying. They're saying that the mystery of Christ is in me. It's the hope of glory, it's the hope that when I come to Christ, I can have more. I can live better. I can live— watch this— without regrets. Oh, I dare you shout, no more regrets! Glory to God! Come on, shout it! No more regrets! Oh my God, thank you, Jesus! No more regrets. None, none, none, no more regrets. Praise God, it's not God's will for you to live in this realm of regret. He— the scripture clearly told us he wants us to have more. Listen, it's not Christ in a building, it's not Christ up in the sky, it's not Christ in a Pacific denomination. Hear me, it's not Christ in how we do things uh, in the worship experience, but it's Christ in us who is our hope of glory. I need you to understand he's in you. Oh, just touch somebody and say, he lives in me. Hallelujah. Uh, just touch yourself. Yeah, if ain't nobody in the room, would you touch yourself and say, he lives in me? I need, I need to lay this backdrop. We're gonna get into 6 things you'll be glad you did in a moment, because I want to give them to you. I'm gonna give you those just like the Lord gave them to me, because these are keys to not living with regrets. But the first thing we got to understand, how we end up in regret— we become religious, we become legalistic, and start following these patterns that don't empower us, and we play the guessing game because we don't trust God. Hallelujah. I get asked a lot, you know, and I hate it when people ask me this because I, I'm forced to answer them truthfully. What religion are you? I hate that because I'm no religion. Glory to God. Matter of fact, I am not a religious man. I want to submit to you tonight, religion— hear me, guys— religion has never done anything for anybody. I'm gonna say that one more time. Religion has never done anything for anybody. Religion never empowers you again. It never— it keeps you looking for God. It keeps you looking for his plan, looking for his way. Religion never accomplished a thing for anybody. Are y'all hearing me? So when we start going through religion's patterns and expecting God to move in that, we're gonna have a whole lot of regrets and we're gonna have a whole lot of disappointments because he doesn't move that way. Okay, so let's get a working definition of religion because we're going to be teaching this, because I want you to understand, because I want you to be clear Religion, again, ain't got nothing to do with the denomination or what type of church you go to. People are quick to say, oh boy, if they Baptist, they religious. If they COGIC, they're on fire. Or if they non-denomination, they got the glory. Listen, I'mma tell you something. I done seen some quote-unquote, uh, non-denominational folk that say they walking in fire and glory and all that stuff, and they're religious because they don't have a balanced abundance flowing out of their life. So it ain't about what's on the building. And I have been into some Methodist churches to preach, some Catholic churches even to preach, and when, when they yielded with a hunger to the power of God, God moved and manifested himself in those environments because they chose to want more. So I'm gonna tell you something, reality, guys, reality check. It's not the name on the building, it's what's in you. Again, because religion is rules and regulations or beliefs that have been designed by man for you to follow— watch this— in order, in their mindset, to find God and be a part of what they're doing. But I'm gonna tell you right now another thing: religion doesn't empower you. But secondly, There's no discovery of God in religion. The root of the word religion is rel, or a lie, which literally means to search. Religious people are still looking for God. They ain't found it, and they're trying to create systems that they hope will produce God, when really God is just looking for a relationship with you, all right? So let me give you a few things real quick, all right, that backs up my statement that religion doesn't give you power, and the only thing that gives you power is a deep personal relationship with the Father, with the Holy Ghost. Hallelujah! A personal relationship with the Son. Glory to God! That's what gives you power, ability, authority to actually walk out the hope of Christ, to walk out the mysteries of God. Hear me, hear me, hear me tonight. You gotta know him. Let's go to Philippians 3:10, King James Version. Paul says, he says, that I may know him and the power of his resurrection. That has nothing to do with religion. The word know is a Greek word, gnōskō, which means knowledge that is gained through a process, by relationship, through experience. So you go through a daily process every time you get life— hear me— to deepen your relationship with God. Just like if you have people in your life that are a part of your life You make opportunity to deepen your relationship with them, with your children, with your spouse, with your family members. You do that through communication. You do that through spending time with them. It's no different with God. And so when I go through processes with him, and every time, oh my God, I have issues or things that I endure— hear me, God. Oh, hey, hallelujah, God. or I have things that I endure, listen, or things that I go through. These things introduce me, listen guys, to another dimension of God. Whoosh! Yeah, God today. So that I posted something to her yesterday. God is never really revealed when things are going well. He's often revealed, most time revealed, when you're going through hell. So when you're going through hellacious problems and issues, God, hey, he takes you through things to reveal himself. The situation oftentimes is designed to produce revelation. Oh, oh, that's why you got so knowledge, good nose cold, that I may know him. So don't curse your crisis. Whatever you're going through, glory to God, hallelujah. Don't curse it, don't curse it. You're going through it so that you can find God in the midst of it. Here's what I know: there's never a time that we're not in God's hands. That's heavy, because the Bible said before he formed me in my mother's belly, he knew me. Jeremiah 1:5. The scripture also says, glory to God, that he reigns on the just as well as the unjust. Bible also tells us, watch this, that while I was yet a sinner, he died for me. I mean, in his omnipotence and omnipresence, he's always everywhere at all times, at the same time holding all power. And if I am predestined to be saved and to live holy like you are as well, Oh my God, that means no matter where you were in life, you were never really out of his hands. He always has his hand on you because the Bible even says no man coming unto the Father except he draw them. The word draw, suguru, drag them. Watch this, dragging through a process of development and relationship. Religion doesn't do this. All of these things that have happened in the background of your life, they have happened because God had need of you. And again, he didn't want you to live a life of regrets. Religion always makes you regret decisions you make because they are not made in power. I gotta move. I'm just setting the backdrop, y'all. And listen, there are people who have been religious for years Amen. And I have watched people be religious, and you know, I learned about religious people. It's impossible for them to enjoy life. It's impossible for them to enjoy the power of God. It's impossible for them to embrace new things and be open to God's way of doing things because that spirit of religion constantly— oh my God— is making them live in regret. Are y'all with me tonight? God help us. No regrets, no regrets. I'm telling you right now, you gotta drop religion so you don't regret. You gotta learn that he is powerful, not, not you. And when he comes into your life, he just shares the power with you. And then you, because he's limitless you become limitless. Thank you, Father. Thank you, Father. Yeah, I'll say it again. Because he's limitless, you become limitless. Religion is afraid of that. Stop putting limitations on yourself and creating regrets in your life because you refuse to accept the real power of God. He's not just some figment of our imagination, some, uh, figure that we talk about in a book of archaic writings. God is real, and he wants to display his power in your life. Oh God, people, I love y'all. That's why I teach y'all so hard. I— listen, you do not ever another day accept a religious attitude. It's powerless. There's no revealing in it. You will never get to know God in religion, and you'll never have power. Oh my God. 2 Timothy 3:5, Amplified Version. Listen to this: For although they hold a firm— a form of piety, or a form of godliness, a form of true relationship. Hallelujah. They deny and reject the power of it and are strangers— oh my God— to the power of it. Wait a minute, you going to church, you jumping, shouting, speaking in tongues, spitting, blowing bubbles, rolling in the floor, going through all of the motions but you are rejecting the— you got a form of it. It looks like it's God, it looks like it's supernatural, it looks like, oh my God, oh my God, it's the thing to be a part of. But it doesn't matter if that doesn't culminate with real power. That's displayed in balanced abundance in the world. Stay with me, guys, I'm almost done. I won't hold you long, I promise. I just sound long. I got 30 more minutes. Just stay with me 30 more minutes. I just needed to lay a backdrop for this. Listen, a religious person cannot stand to see someone moving in abundance and living without regrets. A religious person is envious, jealous of every— anyone that's moving in assignment and in what God has called them to do. So when you start getting those kind of attacks that's trying to divide you from God and pull you back to them. That's a demon. Hallelujah. That's trying to pull you away from abundance. Amen. So let's get into this. 6 things. I got 30 minutes. 6 things that you will not regret doing, and you're gonna be so glad hear me, that you did them. Are you hearing me? I'm about to give you 6 things, hallelujah, that you listen— oh boy, oh my God— will not regret you did. You're gonna be so glad you did these things because it's the key to living without regrets. Religion wants you to live with regrets. Christ wants to fulfill your life. He wants you to move in abundance. He wants you to move in peace. He wants you to move in joy. He wants you to move in the— in happiness and experience a bliss in him. He wants you to live from another world. But so many people have regrets, and they're disappointed, they're frustrated, they're angry. Why did I have this baby? Why Why did I marry this person? Why did I do this? Why did I take this class? Why didn't I get this degree? Why, why, why, why, why, why, why, why, why? You whining about it. But God says he's about to shift something tonight for you. I need you to open your heart and your mind. Hallelujah! Glory to Jesus! Hallelujah! He's about to open something up for you. Briso rabande kose. Hallelujah. Reban soto rabatia. We give you praise. Yeah. Glory to God. Oh Lord. All right, y'all ready for this? Glory to God. Let's go. Let's, let's go. The first one, number one, this is the first thing you'll be glad you did. The first thing, and I want you to write it down because you're gonna need this, is connecting the dots. Many times we live with regrets because we don't know how to connect the dots before we make decisions. What does that mean, Michael Woods? First of all, our decisions are never made in isolation. We gotta connect the dots because our decisions are not just about us. So many a times we live with regrets because we make decisions about things and about people, about business, about jobs, about education, about church, about life, that we don't realize when we make these decisions, it affects other people. And then a lot of times when we make the wrong decision, it starts having an effect on our environment, the people around us. We don't understand why, and we're trying— we'll blame the devil, we'll say, oh my God, he's trying to attack me. No, it's not the enemy, it's that bad decision you made without connecting the dots because you followed a religious pattern of pride and assumption that caused you to assume hear me, that what you were doing and saying was right. Your decisions will impact the people closest to you. Every decision I make about ministry, about business, about life, it impacts my wife, it impacts my children, it impacts my church, it impacts people around me. So I have to be very careful about making bad decisions. Okay, okay, let me go here. So let me use this, for example. So you're a husband and you see a shorty that's fine, and you're an old man, and you— okay, you— this little shorty fine, like you because she need a sugar daddy, and you make a decision to engage this little shorty, right? Come on, come on, come on. You engaged this little shorty and you made a bad decision already from saying you gonna engage her. Because one, if you, you don't know if you could trust them. You're married, right? Two, that decision affects your entire life. Oh boy. I'm just— I'm telling you, I done been there and done it before, so I'm trying to tell you, man, look, stay focused, connect the dots, look at the repercussions of the decision you are making. See, a mature person— and we talked about maturity in the beginning, so that was the foundation of this— is maturity. Mature people make these decisions so they don't have regrets. But when you operate in maturity, a mature person— this is how I like to say it— they will deny themselves of what they want so that they can keep what they have. Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God. See, immature people, they play around with things. Oh boy. And they don't connect the dots and don't think about the repercussions until it's too late. Ooh. But a mature person says, okay, I don't want to affect my children. I don't want to affect my life. By making this investment, by running with these people, by sleeping with this man or this woman that's not my spouse. You got to connect the dots. Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, somebody shout, connect the dots! But immature people don't think about what they have, they just think about how to satisfy their moment. So I, I enjoy the cars I drive, right? It doesn't make sense for me if I know I gotta pay my car note, right? If I got a car note, I don't take car note money and spend it on something else because, oh boy, because I'm— I need the car. Are y'all hearing? And then you go and be immature and do something crazy like that and don't connect the dots. Watch what happens. Your car gets repoed, and then you say, oh, the devil repoed my car. No, you, you didn't connect the dots. It wasn't the devil, it was you. Are y'all getting that? And then after it's all said and done, you regret you bought that $1,000 purse. And then pay your car note. Oh, connect the dots. That's number one. Oh boy, y'all ready? Number two, I ain't got a lot of time. I could teach on all— I could teach a whole message on all these, but I'm just trying to show you how to mature and live without regrets and not operate in realms of immaturity where where you go through life regretting the decisions you made because you decided— hear me— to take pleasure over longevity, pleasure over sustainability. Oh my God, oh my God, thank God for his grace. I can only teach from a place of grace, man. I can only teach you where I've been. I know this because I've been in my folly, in my immaturity. I'm— I live this. So I'm trying to tell— and I lost everything. So I'm trying to tell you what did it do to you. Thank God for grace to restore, but you don't want to go through what I went through to be restored. So what I'm gonna need you to do before you is grow up, get grown, stay grown. Hear me, get grown, stay grown. And before you make decisions that could affect the very people around you and be detrimental to them, connect the dots. Look at the dot. Where does this decision lead? What is the outcome of this decision? What, what incisions will this decision make? Connect the dots, okay? Connect the dots, connect the dots, connect the dots. Number 2, this is another thing you'll be glad you did and you will live without regrets. Number 2, Here we go. Just listen. Number 2, just listen. Immature people have problems listening. When I say listening, I'm talking about akou, which is the Greek word for hear or to listen, which means to listen with an intent to perform what you hear. The scripture teaches us to be quick to— A-K-O-U— quick to hear, slow to speak. Most of us talk way too much. Uh-oh, uh-oh, somebody's saying, get on here tonight for this. Yes, yeah, yes, yes you did, because you talk even in prayer. Some of you do way too much talking. And you need to learn how to listen to the voice of God for instructions. This is how you live without— just listen. Why be in a prophetic ministry and when you get a prophecy from someone that's a credible prophet, you got to take the word and weigh it with somebody else and you You know, you at the end of the day, you just don't receive it and you don't believe. You go through all this trauma behind what God said when all you gotta do is really just listen. Oh my God, listen, here it is. This deals with getting— we read it in, in the first scripture in Colossians 1:27-28. He talked about wisdom, being taught wisdom. Wisdom is a proper use of knowledge or advice. You cannot use knowledge or advice if you don't AKO you— acoustical in English— if you don't listen with the intent to return what you heard for fruit. So you gotta listen with the intent to return what you heard with fruit. Instead of being a hearer only, it, it compounds itself with being a doer. James. Yeah. So when I hear, I got to take action. I have to return what I heard. Oh boy, the advice needs to become fruitful. Otherwise, it made no sense to even speak it or hear it. So you gotta just listen. Open your ears. You won't regret it, I promise you. I can't tell you the times things have been said to me and I didn't listen. I'm throwing myself under the bus tonight, right? But y'all always know I'm real transparent. So I mean, I done missed it, man. And there are times I just thought I was right. There's times Felicia said something to me and I, I said, okay, I hear you, but I totally ignore what she said, did it my way, and it didn't work. And you know, I love her because she ain't the I told you so type, but in with her humble self. But see, you should just listen. The reality is you got to know when to listen. Watch this. When you don't want advice, can I tell you something? Write this down. Most of the time, when you do not want advice, that's when you need it most. I'm gonna say that one more time. When you don't want advice, that's when you really need it the most, most of the time. 'Cause your emotions are raging. You just know you got this under control and you want to fix it yourself and you want to do it your way. And religion is pulling you back in that old way of doing it, and you just need some advice on how to shift your trajectory, change your position, move at a different force. Oh, glory be to God. Whoa, I know nobody don't like being told what to do. Here's a fact, y'all. It doesn't matter how old you get, how seasoned you are, how anointed you are, irregardless to your perspective, anointing, or ministry position, you're gonna always have to learn. You're gonna always have to dance to somebody else's music. To say. There are people I lean on for advice in business and in ministry consistently on a day-to-day basis because I don't know everything. I ain't always been here. But let me tell you something, I'm so glad I'm wise. I got the wisdom because I want to unravel— I want to unravel the mystery of Christ, the hope of glory, in me. So when I show up in the world, I show up in abundance, abundance of authority, abundance of power, abundance of riches and wealth. Oh boy, I want to show up, but I got to get advice. I gotta listen. The Bible says only a fool that won't take heed to knowledge. Hallelujah. So you have— which means won't listen to knowledge. So that's number 2. Just— I stayed on that too long. Again, I could teach a whole series on each one of these. I just want to help you tonight. This is the first message we're dealing with religion. I want to help you not to let religion cause you to live with regrets, because it's a religious, stubborn, prideful mindset that positions you in a place where you just can't listen to nothing, and you think you're right, and you're missing God the whole time, and you're missing the very blessing that God is laying out in front of you because you are stubborn, bullheaded, and will not listen. Ooh-wee! Somebody said, oh my God, why is Apostle talking to me like that? I'm working on you, that's why. I love you, that's why. I want you to have the very best of everything in every way. Glory to God. I want you to not just be religious, I want you to experience the abundance of God in every aspect of your life. Glory, Jesus. Number 3, number 3, you ready? You ready? Number 3 is— so number 1 was connect the dots, number Number 2, just listen. Number 3 is just forgive. People who have vendettas, vengeance in their heart, and who cannot forgive, they never experienced those riches we talked about in Colossians 1:28. And that's a very, uh, idle place for religion to set up camp and control your actions with your feelings. It's not easy. I know it's not easy. I've had so much hurt in my life from people, from family, from friends, church folk. But you know what I learned to do? It's forgive. And I love people in spite of what they did to me because I understand I'm giving them a gift. Forgive. I'm giving them a gift. I'm releasing them. And real forgiveness says I'm not penalizing you for what you did to me. We have to be able to forgive without penalty. Listen, that's the only way you'll be free. I'ma say it, the only way you'll be free from religion and free to move in the abundance that God has prepared for you is to forgive them. You gotta let them go. You gotta let the person that molested you, that raped you, that abused you, that left you, whatever happened, and you still harboring this bitterness in your heart, you got to let it go. The person that owe you money You got to forgive. You got to let it go. Oh my God, you, you, you, you, you're saved. You're a child of God, and you're gonna let money or something somebody owes you, or you feel like they owe you, stop you from loving on them? Oh boy. Think about this. And RC, you gonna be there? Nigga, think about this. Watch this, people mics coming on. I can tell they in full-blown conversation while I'm teaching. So I'm telling right now, when you get on these Zooms, I have these Zooms for the purpose that you don't scroll, number one, so you can be in tune with the word, but number two, so that you can lock in, take notes, and there are no outside distractions. We'll post a message for everybody else later. But let me tell you something, you know, focus on this message, you know. And having a full-blown conversation while I'm teaching, you're missing it. Come on, get it, get it, get this. Glory to God. Wonderful Jesus. So you got to forgive. Forgiveness, it's not only freedom, but it's, it's wholeness. You, you, you make yourself whole when you release people of what they've done. Let it go, let it go, release them. Praise God. Hallelujah. All right, connect the dots. Just listen, just forgive. Number 4, I'm almost done. Number 4 deals with going the distance. What do you mean by that? And again, this is how you live without regrets. You can't quit, you can't give up in the middle of the process. You got to go the distance. So whether you're in a relationship with God, a relationship with other people— watch this— relationships get better when they engage in the fact and the process. Are we gonna finish this at all costs? Now, first, let's deal with our relationship with God. God is 100% invested in his relationship with us. The problem is never him, it's always us that's half-stepping. It's always us that come up short. So I, I like using Dr. Tamara in my teaching. The reality, because I— that's a, that's a vision, and it's something that God dropped back in her life. But in order to get that doc, that MD degree, she's going to have to finish the course and go the distance and keep her relationship with God tight. Because when there's destiny on your life and when you're pursuing something that's bigger than you, It's vital that you not be religious and revert back to old patterns, old ways, to try to earn your way into something. But you have to trust God through the process. Oh God, so until you achieve the result. Hallelujah, glory to God. You got to go the distance, man. You got to go the distance. You know, you, you gotta have Really, it's almost like you gotta engage in another level dimension of really competition, not with the people you're in relationship with or with humans, but you gotta come into competition with yourself. You gotta defeat you. You gotta get out your own way and say, I'm gonna go the distance. And you gotta eliminate every area of quitting in you that you've ever had. Oh my God. Oh my God, you got to eliminate quitting on every end. You gotta let it go. I said, you know, quitting is not an option. The only way you're gonna lose is if you quit. I'll say that one more time. The only way you're going to lose— listen to me, everybody— is if you quit. Quitting is not an option. It shouldn't be in your vocabulary at all. Go the distance, finish your course. Ah, Paul said, I have fought the good fight of faith, I have finished my course. His reality You want that to be your testimony. Tragically, that's not the testimony of every believer. Tragically, most people die and they're not able to say that because some religious mindset kept them inside of a system from the past that was ungodly. I got 7 minutes. You got to go the distance. Oh God, oh God, I feel like running out this studio. You got to go the distance. Hallelujah. You got to go the distance. You got to finish. One of my favorite movies is the Rocky series. Even the Creed movies, I love them because they always tell the story of going the distance. Rocky could be getting his tail totally whipped, beaten down. I don't care who the opponent, Apollo, Mr. T, Drago, it don't matter, Tommy Guns. He get beat up every movie. Right? But somewhere in his Noah, they would cue up that music. And he goes coming back, man, and he knocks somebody out because he makes up in his mind, I'm gonna go the distance. Don't you dare quit. Don't you quit. Whatever you do, don't quit. Almost done. Aya! Number 5. 5. So connect the dots. Just listen. Just forgive. Go the distance. It's how you live without regrets, man. Number 5, you gotta live generously. Said at the beginning, it's not a blessing until you give it away. Scripture says, give and it shall be given unto you. I'm not teaching about money, I'm talking about giving of you, your time, your talent, and your treasure whenever that is in place. But you got to make up in your mind you're going to be a person of generosity. When you reach levels of maturity, you understand again, this thing is really not a blessing until I can bless somebody else, until I can give and help somebody else be blessed too. You should not live in the realm of selfishness. You should be willing to share with others how you overcame. You should be able to be transparent and have moments of transparency that share with other people how you got through the hell that you've gone through. Lord, help us today. Yeah, so, and here's what I know: people who live generously— watch this— they don't give sporadically. They have a plan. They have a plan on how they're going to share knowledge with people. They have a plan on how I got a plan on how I want to bless the homeless community. I want to bless, uh, women and men who are being sex trafficked. I want to bless, uh, single mothers who have children who are struggling to make— I got plans in my head how I want to win souls. I want to give back to people who are entrepreneurs and help them build their dreams. I got a plan for how I want to do that. You have a plan to be generous, or it's all about you? See, when you make things all about you, you have regrets, man. Selfishness is the source of all sin. Sin is harmatia in Greek. It means to miss the mark, to come short. And when you selfish, you're always dis— it's always a displeasure to God. And all you're going to do is try to please yourself, which is what religion is. It's a self-aggrandizing spirit who only wants to please self or its system, close-minded to anything new, anything different. Oh, I'm almost done. Number 6. I'm done, I'm done. Y'all ready for this one? So Connect the dots. Just listen. Just forgive. You ready? Go the distance. Live generously. Number 6, and I'm out of here, guys. I got 2 minutes. Tell the whole truth. The hard one. No. The first person we got to tell the whole truth to is ourself. Oh my God, oh my God. When you lie to yourself about yourself, it keeps you from doing what's good for yourself. Let me say that again. When you lie to yourself about yourself, it keeps you from doing what's good for yourself. So you got to be honest, tell the whole truth about where you really are. Some people are not where they say they are spiritually, and you'll never get better, you'll never increase. And that in itself is a religious mindset. You could speak in tongues, 100 tongues an hour, and be deceiving yourself that you're in a place you're not. You can worship, oh Lord, we thank you, Lord, we give you glory, Jesus, hallelujah. You can go through all of that and still be a baby. So in order to go to levels and dimensions you have not gone, you got to be truthful. Always be where you are. Just because, guess what, you know you lying to yourself. You may fool some people sometimes, sometimes, but At the end of the day, if anybody knows who's lying to themselves, it's you. And once again, I, I'm teaching you things that I have lived through. I thought I had to tell myself certain things about me to get past where I come from and It's the worst thing you could do, man. Oh my God, tell the whole truth. Be where you are. Identify your struggles truthfully. Hmm, if you know you struggling with it, tell the truth about it. Tell the whole truth. Because you— because guess what? You got to do something about that and stop lying to yourself, because you'll never experience the hope of glory, which is Christ, because he's the way, truth, and life. And religion will have you telling yourself these lies about yourself, about your abilities, about your potential, about your capacity. And what you got to understand, you are who you are. And you got to be okay with that and celebrate that. Some of us have lied to ourselves so long that we believe the lie, and this is why we communicate this lie effectively to other people all the time. And God says, no, I— you shall know the truth, and the truth brings freedom. Religious religion hates truth. And this is why, again, religious people live with regrets. When you lie to yourself, you're gonna have regrets because you never will fulfill the hope of your calling. I love y'all tonight, man, but I pray you take these 6 things— I saw somebody wrote them in the chat, please, glory to God— apply them to your life. I don't want you living with regrets. You're going to be glad you did. When you're challenged to not do one of those 6 things, listen, do them anyway. When you're challenged not to connect the dots, connect the dots anyway. When you're challenged to not just listen, listen anyway. When you're challenged to not just forgive, forgive anyway. When you're challenged to not go the distance, go the distance, man. Oh my God, listen, when you're challenged not to be generous, be generous. You're challenged to not tell the whole truth, tell the whole truth anyway, no matter how bad it may hurt you or the situation you're in. Because guess what, especially if you're lying to people you love They deserve the truth. They deserve to know what you're dealing with, what you're going through. They did. They deserve it. And it may hurt, but they deserve to know that truth. I promise you, if you do it, you won't have no regrets. Because you know what, there are times I've said things that I thought would hurt me and hurt the situation I was in. But after I said them, I was so free. It was a weight lifted off— a Mack truck lifted off my back. And it created an opportunity to heal the situation because I was honest. But if you keep lying, you'll never heal the situation you're in. Tell the whole truth so you can be helped, so you be strengthened. I don't want you living with regrets, and religion causes regrets. Let's pray tonight. Father, in Jesus' name, I pray that your people have received something of you. And dear God, tonight, in the name of Jesus, I ask you, God, to touch every person under the sound of my voice, whether they're on this Zoom or watching a replay on one of our social media channels. I pray, God, God, that they will connect the dots, that they will listen. Glory to God, that they will forgive, that they will go the distance, that they will be generous. And Father, I thank you in the name of Jesus that they won't be gripped with fear to tell the whole truth when it's time to tell the whole truth. And I pray, God, that the spirit of religion tonight will be bound in the name of Jesus. We bind it up and we decree and declare that And religion has no place in our life. In Jesus' name, amen, and thanks be to God. Hallelujah. Well, you ought to praise God for victory and praise God for his word tonight. Amen.