Abundance Day 2 with Apostle Mike Woods | Developing Faith For Abundance | 28 Faith 26

—out of no way, what he's done for me. He's been the rose of Sharon, yes he is. What he's done for me, he's the lily in the valley, yes he is. What he's done for me, oh, you don't know, you just don't know what he's done for me. Oh, you don't know, you just don't know what he's done for me. How he raised me! What he's done for me? How you raised me today— what he's done for me?! I get joy when I think about what he's done for me! I get joy when I think of how much he loves me!

I enjoy it! Enjoyed! I enjoyed! I enjoyed! I can't join my kids' church on Sunday morning because they're not allowed to come together at all. So we have our own little Zoom meeting that takes place every weeknight from 6 PM until midnight or so.

And then after this weekend was over, there were some things going through people's minds like, well, why did God allow COVID-19 happen? Why didn't Jesus do something before now? Well, if He had been able to stop coronavirus back in March last year, maybe Christ would be here right now too. But no one knows exactly who caused it; but everyone has their thoughts.

My question to us tonight is, does anyone know an answer?

Does anybody want to try? Yes, sir. We don't really understand everything yet. Don't I get joy! I get joy! When I think about what he's done for me— when I think about what he's done for me— I can't hold it back. When I think about what he's done for me. I need love when I think about what he's done for me.

Amen. Hallelujah. Glory. Clap your hands and glory to God. Let's pray really quick. Father, we thank you and we give you the glory, we give you the honor. Truly, we get joy when we think about what you've done for us. You've been so good to us, you've been so kind. You've been so faithful. And God, beside you there is no other. It's in we— we live in you, we move in you, we have our being in you. It is you, God, that gives us life. And Father, we thank you even for this weekend. We thank you that we are annihilating the thief in our life. Thank you, Jesus. And we're creating abundance. And Father, we thank you for your goodness toward us. Anoint our mind this morning to hear and receive what you have for us. Father, we thank you that the days ahead will be filled with manifested abundance, and we glorify you for that now. In Jesus' name, amen. Amen. Clap your hands again and give God praise. Hallelujah. All right, glory to God. We'll get started. You can be seated. Thank you guys for being here this morning. You know, to get up on Saturday morning and come to hear the word, you gotta want to. Amen. Amen. So I'm grateful for those of you that are here. And, uh, they're— folk that ain't here say they want to, but really what I've learned about is that y'all do what y'all want to do, for real. Glory to God. Okay, yeah, it's all right. Y'all do what y'all want to do. And, um, y'all know I'm right. People do what they want to do. I've been dealing with people 37 years. You do what you want to do, period. And at the end of the day, you gotta want and you gotta have a hunger for something more than what you've experienced. Amen. Amen. Amen. And sometimes, uh, taking the position of a learner is hard because, you know, learning is never something that many people have really embraced. You know, we— even in going to school, you had a select few that wanted to be there. Amen. But guess what? You had some parents that made you go. You went regardless of whether you wanted to go or not. Amen. Amen. So this morning, I'm going to dive into this Um, I really wanted to unlock a few things about investing and things like that, but I really— as Apostle was preaching last night, the Lord just kind of shifted me into something else, and I want to give that to you. Is that all right? Amen. Because I, I just don't believe you can really have the things that God has for for you if your faith is not in the right place. So I want to just take some time to walk through a faith that pleases God. That's what we want to talk about, because we, we quote the scripture, but a lot of times we don't know what that means, okay? And so I want to make sure we get this this morning. Glory to God. Uh, go to Hebrews 11:6. I'm gonna start right there. Glory to God. Praise God. Y'all ready? Yeah, I'm not gonna be long. I, I was running, I was trying to get in my car, so y'all, y'all pray for that electric car. I was clicking the key, nothing, it just would not let me in. So I'm sure I had to come get me. I'm like, okay, well, the devil is alive. Now it has nothing to do with gas, right? It has nothing to do with gas. That is, your car got electricity too. If your battery goes dead, you ain't gonna be able to get in. Glory to God. So at the end of the day, I'm gonna get in. I just didn't have time to do it right now. Yeah, you leave your lights on, guess what's gonna happen? Glory to God. You don't better get in. Glory to God. All right, somebody say this: I need faith. I need faith. That pleases God. That pleases God. Now the scripture says, without faith— didn't Apostle Richardson preach last night? Yes. What a word, man. Amen. And I set up— we set up, Felicia and I, with them and just had so much fun to the wee hours of the morning. So, but I'm glad to be here this morning. Glory to God. The Bible says, and without faith— say faith. It is impossible to please— say please. God. Now watch this. As a born-again believer, it is God's desire that all of us operate in what I call the pleasure mode. Say this, say, I should be operating, I should be operating in the pleasure mode, pleasure mode of God, not the performance mode, not the performance mode. Here's the problem: most of the church is in performance mode. They believe they have to perform for God in order to get his attention. Many times we think we have to perform for people, and at the end of the day, we should live for the audience of one, and we should live to please him. Jesus, when he was baptized by John, the Father spoke audibly the only time in the Bible, in the New Testament, and he said, 'This is my Son in whom I'm well pleased.' Nothing Jesus did was a performance. Matter of fact, you will find him saying, 'I do what I see my Father I'm here to do the will of my Father. So this is why we're here, right? Amen. Can I submit to you that the pleasure more to God and God's desire for us is never a mediocre thing? It's always a huge thing, cuz God thinks big. Watch this. He says, I know the thoughts that I think toward you, right? So the word toward, mahakavash, and thoughts, mahakava, which means the big intentions, the large dreams. Tell them, say, God has large dreams. God has large dreams. Y'all hear me right? Large dreams. God has large dreams for my life. For my life. Saying, I intend, and I every one of them. To fill every one of them. My God. So you got to bring pleasure to him through fulfilling those dreams. All right. You can't do it on your own. You got— you— none of what God is saying to us as a church, as you individually, we can't accomplish that without God. Amen. All right, I just want you to be clear about that. We can't build around a city without God. We can't buy this $1.1 million building around the corner without God. That's right. Amen. Without faith, it's impossible. Please. Notice he didn't say without prophecy. He said without faith. He said without apostles, without pastors. He said without faith. He didn't even say without money. So watch this, faith becomes my currency. Yes. So when I look at a $400 million project that we're going to build on those 33 acres, I'm not looking at my bank account. I'm looking at his mighty God. Yeah. And in building this, it's not to perform for man, it's to please God. Amen. Are y'all hearing this? It's not so people say, oh, Michael Woods built a great Rada City over there. No, that's not what we're doing it for. We're doing it because it was left up to me. I'm telling you right now, I can be right here, we can pack this out for 3 or 4 services every Sunday, I'll be fine. And never have to move, because I already know what that entails mentally, spiritually, physically, all that is involved. I gotta trust God. Amen. Are y'all hearing this? Amen. And guess what? In your life with your dreams, you gotta trust God. That's right. We gotta bring pleasure to him. So he says, because anyone who comes to him must believe. Say believe. Believe— this is good— that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him, or diligently seek him. Not the church, not the pastor, not funds, not connections. Him. Are y'all hearing this? Yes. So we gotta diligently seek him. The words faith and believe are the same words in this text. That's why I have them underlined there. One is pistis, uh, in Greek, and it means to be— y'all heard me give you this before— totally reliant upon, absolutely dependent upon, confident in what you can't see. Because faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. So it means to rely on what you can't see. But how many times have we been taught to rely on what we do see? Okay, yeah, and that's the pattern of most of our lives. We rely on what we see. Yeah. But today I want to teach us, and again, when I got home, I got in the bed and started studying, got up this morning, studied, because this is kind of fresh, right? Because I— we need to have— in order to move in abundance, you got to have an abundance of faith. That faith has to be developed. Yes. Okay, so, so let's get into it. So first of all, faith is not optional in the kingdom. I'm not, I'm not ready for that. Go back there again. We're gonna stay right here. Write this down: faith is not optional in the kingdom. I want you to realize something: faith is the only atmosphere in which God moves. Somebody said, oh no, I see God move in good worship. I've seen him move when there's good prayer or good preaching. Well, all of that happened because of faith. It's the foundation of anything that happens in the kingdom. I want y'all to settle that, resolve that today. Faith is the foundation of anything that happens in the kingdom. Y'all get this? Amen. Because it has nothing to do with how you think about it. When you seek him, it's how he thinks about it, what he has believed about it already. All right, reality is you can't fast long enough, you can't pray long enough, you can't work hard enough to replace faith. Because guess what? You— I said this last week— you pray 20 hours a day, but if you don't believe nothing you pray, it ain't gonna happen, right? Amen. That's the truth right there. You're just gonna be done sat there and wasted a whole lot of time. Because you can't perform for God. Because guess what? You want to say, God, I prayed 20 hours, right? God, I studied 5 hours. He said, okay, where's your faith? That's great, but do you believe what you were studying? Do you believe what you were praying about? Are y'all here? Yeah. So again, this teaching this morning is about developing a thing that pleases God. Not merely just having it, developing it so it becomes a lifestyle. Amen. All right, now Mario, I'm ready. So let's understand the nature of faith. Let's start right here, and I'm gonna give you a chance to ask some questions at the end of this if you have some. So write them down while you're taking notes. And remember, even for those of you watching, take notes, because again, you retain about 65 to 68% of what you you hear when you take notes, only about 34% when you don't. So I want to retain everything, so I'm always taking notes. Are y'all here? All right, number one: faith is the most powerful force you possess. Who? So I said, oh, I got the Holy Ghost. He's the more powerful. Well, guess what? Faith is one of the fruit of having him. But the most active force you can use in your life is your ability to trust God, your ability to totally rely on him for healing, for deliverance, for finances, for resources that you need to fulfill his will. Amen. It's the most powerful force you have. I mean, I don't care if a person has a 6-figure-a-month job— I didn't even say a year, I said a month— that ain't the most powerful force you have. Because you can have that 6-figure-a-month job and lose it the next day, and your faith was in the job. Most people that do that, they jump out of the window or something, they commit suicide, they lose hope. Because their faith was in the job. Whether you're a Christian or not, watch this, faith is the most powerful force people possess. Are y'all with me? Because life operates by faith. Matter of fact, if you sit in a chair, the first time you sat in it, you had to believe it was going to hold you up. Yes, true. Are y'all hearing this? You didn't know what this thing could actually do, but somebody taught you the chair is made for you to sit in. The more you sat in it, the more you believed it will hold you up. That's right. Most time we come in this building, nobody checks to see if the screws are loose. All right. Are y'all hearing this? You are confident that if you take a seat, the chair is going to sustain you. Watch this. The more you walk with God by faith, the more you're confident that he can sustain you. Are y'all here? All right, next one, Mario. Put it up there. So every human Again, whether Christian or not, has a measure of faith. So your conviction and your belief in God produces confidence in God. Are you hearing this? Watch this. I told Felicia, going to church, because I was still getting ready in, in our other car, because guess what? I had confidence that that electric car was going to let me Went outside and nothing, just nothing. I mean, I'm like, okay, Jesus, really? But when you drive a car, you, you get confidence that it's gonna function. I just got out of it last night. Yes. And this morning I assumed, because I've been driving it it was going to work. But, and maybe that happened so I can give this example. That natural thing that I was dependent on failed me. Are y'all hearing this? Amen. But we can easily put our trust in natural stuff, right? But if God says, okay, I need you to believe me for a 7-figure business, I need you to believe me, glory to God, that you're going to leave an inheritance to your children's children, I need you to believe me that you can buy a $1.1 million building cash. And when I was getting dressed, uh, the Lord started talking to me about that building over there, and he said, he said, son, if you trust me, I'll give you the building and you'll pay it off, the whole $1.1 million, because that's the offer we made, the whole $1 million in one year. That's right. He said, I'll do it. Watch this, not just through you but through your people. I'm gonna tell you this. So he began to share with me how he will prosper everybody connected to the vision so we can pay it off. Yeah. Amen. And to confirm that, Roberta Mertens came to me last night and she said, I just want to encourage you, Apostle, what you've been saying is true. She said when Pastor Dollar got ready to build the dome, he started telling us we got to build this $16 million building cash. Are you hearing this? And he said, she told him, she said she was in a small house, Dr. Payne was in the apartment. She started listening to people who were just going through it. She said, but when he announced the vision, the floodgates opened for the people. Yeah. Wow. So they would just pray and say things like, Lord, if you bless me with $5,000, I'll sow it. And the next day they will have it. Are y'all hearing this? This is why you gotta tap into a mindset that God funds what he says he wants. Yes. Oh God, are y'all here? Yeah. Look, I said, so, so I need y'all to embrace that in 12 months God's gonna give us the abundance Notice I said us. Yes, to pay off that building, because we got to pay that off so we can move on to start building this stuff. Yes. Are y'all hearing this? Okay. All right. And it's going to be a testimony today to what God can do. Listen, when faith breaks down, most of the time your life loses meaning. When people lose faith in— like, I could have just panicked when my car didn't come on. Yeah, I'm already late, I can't get in the car. But I just immediately start doing what I needed to do was to make sure I got here, because again, my faith is not really in the car, it's in God. But most times, for people who operate in belief in themselves and in the systems of the world, when it breaks down, they want to compete— commit suicide. They want to give up. They start attacking other people. I want to tell you something. Most of the attacks you receive from other humans are people who are jealous of your belief system. So they— because they can't believe like you, so they come after you because they see how God's blessing you. But the Bible tells us to rejoice with those that rejoice. So we shouldn't just— again, so if you get attacked, most of the time them attacks are coming from people who have afar watched your faith. And the Bible tells us to fight the good fight of faith, not faith against faith. Because if people watch you and see God moving through your faith, instead of fighting you they should take it as an example of how they can actually operate in faith too. Okay, all right, y'all with me? So I have a measure of faith. I have a measure of faith. So here's what I know: every human, saved or unsaved, again, has a measure of faith. Most people in the world have gotten where they've gotten because they put faith again in those systems in themselves. So if I set up here today and taught you about investing or stock market or life insurance, how to take that and create compound interest for your life and all that stuff— and, and we'll have those times where I can just pour into you with that— but if I gave you that and you ain't got faith in God— are y'all hearing this? Amen. You're still not gonna follow his process to invest it. Because what if God speaks to you and says, okay, put $4,000 in this Tesla because next month it's going to go through the roof because Elon Musk is going to come out with this rocket and it's going to cause your stock to go up 1,000% in one month. Wow. You would have to believe God said that to you. Oh yeah, you would, because most people, I would say, no, you know what, I don't like Elon because he was with Trump anyway. But if God tell you to do it— are y'all hearing this? God said, I'm trying to give you abundance if you just drop this money here, and in 30 days you're gonna get 1,000 times more return. So that means you put $4,000 in, in 30 days you have $40,000. You put $10,000 in, 30 days you have $100,000. $100K. But you won't do that if you don't have faith in God. You're talking about insider trading. You know, they say that's illegal if you get it from somebody in the company, but it ain't illegal if you get it from God, right? Because he's omniscient, he know everything. See, we got— and I posted something last week about walking between worlds. We live in this world, but you gotta learn how to walk out of this world into God's world and look at his view of what's going on. And he'll start giving you instructions on how to move in this world. We're in this world but not of this world. That's why we got to visit the other world often so that we can be in this world and act like God while we're in word. Are y'all here? So we got to walk between worlds so we can manipulate systems that are beneath God. Can I tell you something? The stock market is beneath God. Oh Jesus, it really is. Real estate ownership is beneath God. Matter of fact, he owns all of it. So why couldn't he talk to you about how to get you some? So you can create real estate empires to leave a legacy for your family. Are you hearing this? And advance the kingdom. Oh boy. So faith in God— watch this— has to be strengthened by knowledge of God. Okay, y'all don't believe me. Go to Romans 10:17. Let's go. The Bible says, so then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. That's why I always say, instead of trying to find everything else you can do outside of hearing the word, whenever you got an opportunity to hear the word, that's going to build your faith. You need to find yourself sitting in place to get it. Are y'all hearing this? Amen. Because faith come by what? Hearing. And hearing. So hearing and hearing, hearing and hearing. So the more I hear the word, the more faith I get. That's why when you pray, you should even pray the word out loud so you hear it. So when you pray the word out loud, you hear it and it's building faith in what you pray. Faith come by hearing and hearing the word. So even when you hear teaching in the church, like the word Apostle Richardson preached last night, instead of just letting that be it, you ought to find yourself going back watching that word. Are y'all hearing this? And hearing, so it gets in your spirit. Watch this. We got so much stuff available to us online. We scroll, we scroll, we scroll. But I'm gonna tell you something. Instead of watching all these crazy videos for hours and hours, all right, you could take time really for real and build your faith by listening to the word. And I'm not talking about just listening to me. I'm not the only person to teach the word. There are people out there who really teach the word. So if you really want to, because you got it right in your hand Oh, that's, that's, that's real, man. If we're believers and we really want to walk by faith, we got an option, we got an opportunity to do it. Yes. Instead of watch the video about cats. I mean, cats and just crazy stuff. People dancing in their living room. Okay, you can dance, but that ain't building your faith. You've got to be intentional. God's not going to sit you down and say, listen to the word. You got to choose it. And that's why measures are different. People who operate in different measures of faith and different levels of abundance of faith, because they've taken the time to hear and hear and hear and hear the word. Touch your ears and say, I gotta hear the word. I gotta hear the word to build my faith. To build my faith. Say this, say, the more I know about God's character, the more I know about God's character, the stronger my faith becomes, the stronger my faith becomes. So you got to listen to him and what he can do and what he will do. Listen to this, and then we're gonna go to Luke 22:31-32. But faith is not an emotional event. It's not. It's conviction that's built on revelation. So when I hear the word, I get convicted to believe and trust that word. The church is notorious for getting convicted when we hear a word about sin, right? Right. Somebody preach against sin. We get scared, preach about hell. We don't, we don't want to sin because we don't want to go to hell. We get convicted, right? Right. You shouldn't be even doing that for real. You should be living right because you love God. Amen. Not because somebody scared the hell out of you. You need to— I didn't cuss. I'm talking about Haiti. You should be living right anyway, right? So if we can get convicted and start following those rules, why can't we get convicted when the Lord said we ought to be prosperous, we ought to be healthy, we ought to be wealthy, we ought to be rich? Are y'all hearing this? All right, but you gotta listen. To knowledge about God. Let's go to Luke 21:22-31. The Bible says, and the Lord said, Simon, Simon— put your name there, the Lord's saying this to you— and the Lord said, Michael, Michael, behold, Satan desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat. But I am praying for you that your faith fail you not. Because you know what, there's a war against your faith. The enemy is not trying to take you through to get you to hell. That's not his job. Remember, anyone that goes to hell goes because they lived a life outside of Jesus Christ and they got judged at the end and they went to hell with Satan, because Satan is in hell. Are y'all hearing this? He's tormented. He was kicked out of heaven and he's being tormented. He's not concerned about that. His concern is that you don't believe God on Earth. He wants to sift you. Sifting is a separate— to separate you from God in a way that you don't trust him. He said, but I pray for you— this is Jesus talking— that your faith— okay, not your behavior, again, not your prophetic battle. But that your faith— not your money, not your job, not the systems of the world— but that your faith fail you not. He could have prayed for a lot of stuff, but again, faith is the key. And that's what Satan is trying to steal. That's what the war is about. See, the devil's not trying to just attack your possessions, your children, your family. He wants to overthrow your faith. He wants to weigh you down so that you stop believing God. Are y'all hearing this? He wants to build a circumstance in your life that makes you say, is God really real? Hmm. Let's look at this word 'siph' in the Greek. It means to separate, to shake, to violently break in pieces. To discourage, to agitate inwardly until faith collapse. I'm gonna say that again, that's so good. He wants to separate you from God, from God's promises, from God's plan. He wants to shake you violently. I think it's the most evil thing evil for a person to have a baby and then because they can't handle the baby crying and the baby doing something, then they start shaking the baby. Yeah, that's evil. And this is what Satan desires to do, is just shake you until you have no cognizant reality that God really loves you, to break you down and weigh you down and let— make you faint. God has left you and he's never going to do what you, you're believing for. But the devil is a liar. He wants to discourage you, break you into pieces. How does he do that? He uses continual pressure. Anybody ever had some pressure in your life? I'm going to tell you something, anytime the enemy applies pressure, he's trying to shake up your faith. He's trying to get you to stop believing God. He uses discouragement. Stuff happens and you get discouraged, and then you lose your zeal. You lose your— you'll still trust God to a certain extent, but you just kind of really leaning on what you got. And a lot of times he'll discourage you so that you'll resolve that what I have is all I'm gonna have. That's discouragement. When you resolve, I ain't gonna never have more than what I got. Are y'all here? That's— that is dangerous because there's so much more than what we have. He uses disappointment. You know, we'll get hurt, you know, in relationships, and we won't get involved in another one. Say, I just resolve I'm gonna be single. I'm not gonna have nobody because The last person disappointed you. But God takes disappointments and turns them into destiny. Are y'all hearing this? He'll take every time you were— because a disappointment is a misappointment. An appointment is a pre-arranged meeting. Think about it. If you You go to the doctor, you have to call. It's like, me, an appointment, it's a pre-arranged meeting. There is an appointment already set for your life with vision, with dreams, with wealth, with increase. A lot of times life's missed appointments and disappointments will lead us to believe that the things we're trusting God for in the future will never happen. I'm telling you, don't let your disappointments rob you of faith. We've all had them. God knows I can raise both of my hands and both my feet. I've had my share of disappointment. Are y'all here? I've been disappointed, man. But I— every time I can have disappointments, I don't allow discouragement to set in. I get up Dust myself off and I start back out in faith. That's what you have to do. Glory to God. I remember a time— and then we're gonna move— when I was married to Michael, a lot of tests in my life when I was married to her. And I just think, because this is the other thing the devil uses, he uses delays. Just seemed like nothing would come when I pray for it. I'm like, Lord Jesus, I mean, I'm doing what you asked me to do, but why is this taking so long? And many times the delays were not of God. They weren't God delays. They were one, things in me that were not ready to receive what I was asking for. And then secondly, there were demonic attacks on my prayers because of idleness and doubt in my life. Because I was complaining and praying. Are y'all hearing this? Okay. I would pray and then complain about where I was at and try to hurry God. And God, like, dude, you still ain't got it. You gotta wait on me. You gotta trust me. See, the goal of the devil is to get you to retreat. And in them seasons, I wanted to say, you know what, I ain't preaching full-time no more. I'm going to get a job. Because watch, back then folks telling me, thou art not called, go get a job. Wow. Are y'all hearing this? Prophets, thou art not called, go get a job. But these are people she was talking to, though, that was trying to give me a word. Well, you can preach and work. No, I wouldn't know what I know today if I would have did that. I had to trust God through the process. Amen. I had degrees. I could have went and got a good job. I had left a good So the question wasn't whether I could get a job or wanted a job. No, I wanted to please God. Yes, but the delays were trying to discourage me. But you got to decide, I'm gonna lock in with this aggressive faith. Matter of fact, you got to get pit bull size faith. A pit bull will latch on to something. And won't let it go until he know it's dead, it belongs to him. That's what you got to do. You got to latch on to the promises of God and don't let go till you see it. That's right. Are y'all here? Amen. We don't know how to pack this up. Y'all get anything out of this? Yes, sir. Glory to God. All right, go to Hebrews 10:38-39. The Bible said, now the just shall live. Say live. Live. By faith. But if any man draw back, my soul has no pleasure in him. So this, this is good. It says live by faith, not try faith out. Yeah, y'all see that? Most people use faith when they're in trouble, when they have no other choice but to believe. I need God. Okay, because my money done ran out, my job done ran out, I ain't got no people buying from my business. God, I need you. Can you please show up? But really, you should have been living by faith the whole time. Watch this. People get stage 4 cancer. Can you pray for me? I need a miracle from God. Okay. Well, you should have been confessing, I'll never get cancer a day in my life, before you ever got it. That's right. Because it's God's will that I be healed. That's right. The just shall live. This is the lifestyle that we should be living. That's right. Not, I'm gonna believe God when I need him. My Lord. Bills behind, okay, I'm gonna pray hard and believe God for this money. You should have been believing God for that money the whole time, the whole time, because this should be your lifestyle. Are y'all hearing me? Amen. Amen. Bible said if any man draw back from what? Faith. Some people made this about giving. This ain't about giving, this is about believing. He said if you draw back, I have no pleasure in you. Again, we are living to please him. Are y'all hearing this? So that's the first key right there. Faith never draws back, because drawing back don't please God. No matter what it looks like, faith says, I'm gonna keep going no matter how this looks right now. Are y'all with me? Oh my God. So faith that pleases God refuses to draw back. 1 Timothy 6:12. That's what we're talking about this morning. We're trying to develop a faith that brings pleasure to him. Second thing, you got to fight the good fight of faith. 1 Timothy 6:12. Faith got— it has to be fought for because you know what, you got these old systems that was, uh, always arises in your mind. I call it your old friend. And your old friend will come up. Yeah, here comes your old friend again, always comes up to fight against your belief system because you learned the belief system before you got saved and came into God that really sustained you. Are y'all hearing this? You, you were taught self-preservation, to take care of yourself, to do what you got to do. But faith says I got to lean on God to control my life because my times are in his hand. So there's always a fight to get you to revert back to that old system— the job, when God has billions in you that you'll never make work? Yeah, because you don't have time. You've given 8 hours of your life, 80% of your day, to create finances on that job. What if you took that same 8 hours and worked on the God vision that's in your life that he wants to use to create abundance through. Yes. Somebody said, well, I gotta eat. Well, the Bible said any man work, he gonna eat. So you just gotta choose your work. Amen. Yeah, you cannot be working and be laying up in the bed at 8 hours a day. Oh my God, I think God is about to bless you. No, it don't work like that. That's right, that's right. The scripture said if you're going vineyard and work. Watch this, what's right, I'll pay. So if I go into the world, go into the kingdom, and work my dream, work my vision, what's right, he's going to pay me. Okay, come on now, Jesus. Basically, if you take care of God's business, he'll take care of yours. Amen. Are y'all hearing this? Amen. If you run your life like the CEO of your dream, He will pay you like you're the CEO of your dream. But if you're sitting up and scrolling all day, posting all day, again watching videos about cats, you gonna get cat video paid. Glory to Jesus. I mean, it's a lot of cat videos that be popping up and all kind of stuff. People like taking these little— okay, Country Wayne videos, whatever, a video. Okay, the reality is you, you need to be working your dream. Y'all hearing this, right? You gotta fight because everything's fighting for your attention. Yeah, you got people that'll waste your time. Are y'all hearing this? Who really, from the day they show up in your life, had every intention to waste your time? Y'all gotta talk to me. There are folk that show up and they know I ain't gonna committed to this. I ain't gonna be committed to this relationship. I really don't like them. I'm just here to waste their time. My God, are y'all hearing this? You gotta have enough discernment to discern who showed up to be a time waster. Yeah, because part of the fight is learning how to effectively avoid time wasters. We walked in, uh, Spondylitis last night, and we wait for Apostle and his crew to come in. Me and my wife was standing there. Guy was across from me, just kept staring at me with this crazy look on his face. So I just kept talking to my wife, and finally he walked over. He said, your name is Woods, huh? Okay. I said, yeah, who are you? He said, I know you from back in Mississippi from 20 years ago. I said, well, who are you? He never told me who he was because really he wanted to engage in something that would have probably wasted my time. He probably knew me in Mississippi, probably heard something that I did in Mississippi, and he probably just wanted to see if I was going to entertain him. I really didn't know who he was. But the reality is I had to at that moment. I said, she was crazy. So I drew back and just kept minding my business. And he walked off with that woman that had her hair cut so short that you can see her brains and went over there. I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. Listen, but you have to fight, right, right, to not retaliate, to everything that comes to entertain your time. Yeah, I didn't have time for that. And the most time when I see people from my past that are not connected to where I'm going, I go the other way. Are y'all hearing this? Because I ain't got time for no one that don't see who I am now, because I ain't who I was then. Amen. Even in a good sense, I'm not that person. I'm a better version of good. And in the mistakes I made, I'm definitely not that guy anymore. So if you ain't talking 25, 30 years forward, I don't have time. That's right. And that's why there are people that even could try to connect to the vision. They'll come in, especially people that have connected me in some way from in the past. We've seen it since we started this church, not just here, but people come, people move from Mississippi, they'll come, people come and they can't connect because they're trying to make me who I used to be. Somebody even told my wife, well, Apostle ain't nothing like what he used to be. He used to be so hard and aggressive, and— but that's not who I am now. I was learning how to seeds of the apostolic anointing with grace. I was learning. They were part of that me. I'm different. I ain't gonna waste the whole service and I got to teach everybody rebuking you. Are y'all hearing this? It's not that serious. I, I can pull you to the side and rebuke you. I ain't got to do it openly in front of everybody, okay? Are y'all with me? So I gotta fight for my time. So I gotta avoid time wasters. Watch this, you gotta avoid negative talkers. When people show up in your life and all they got to say is something negative, you need to go the other way. Somebody asked me, said, yeah man, I saw last week you were posting, um, what you're about to build and, and what you're trying to do for the kingdom. I just got one question. You know, when the pandemic hit, the church changed. Ain't nobody gonna be able to do church like that no more. I'm like, maybe you can't, but I'm gonna do what God told me to do. Now you do what he telling you. If you think he telling you that the church is different because of COVID It wasn't— it ain't different because of COVID for me. I was online before COVID I'm online after COVID. I never really closed the church during COVID Are y'all hearing? We came to church, we believe God, that the blood was in this— in the building. Okay, watch it, nobody got COVID. Are y'all hearing this? All right, you choose what you're gonna fear. So yeah, okay, whatever, man. But I believe God, and if God told me— and so, long story short, I abandoned the conversation gracefully and quickly. Are y'all hearing this? I left. I did one— everything I just said was in one response. He kept typing. I never went back to the conversation. There are things he said I don't even know, that's right, because I never went back to read any of the stuff he sent into my inbox. Because it's interesting how people are watching you again, and they begin to be influenced by the enemy to try to create doubt in you. That's right. And it's— a lot of this come from people that's really close to you, man. I'm telling you, your family members, because they've been satisfied with where they at all this time, right? See, you trying to expand, okay, all right, they'll try to shut you down from your expansion. The Bible said earnestly contend, fight for the faith. So when someone's trying to create doubt in your world about what God can do, you got to earnestly, intentionally, with integrity. Oh my God, attack the attacker and let them be clear. I'm walking by faith and not by sight. How do you do it? If you drop down in Jude— I got this one in there— but he dropped down Jude 20, it says, building up your most holy faith. Are y'all hearing this? Praying in the Holy Ghost. So if you want to build up faith to fight, you got to learn how to pray in the spirit. For folk that's against tongues, okay, you need some tongues so you can pray in the Holy Ghost, because there are things he knows to say that you don't know to say. Are y'all hearing this? The Bible said he'll make intercession for you. with moanings and groanings that cannot be uttered. The scripture said he intercedes for us to the Father. So if I'm praying in the Holy Ghost, I don't know what I'm praying, but he knows. I'm cool with that. So you should have prayed— watch this— until tongues take over. You pray in faith and let tongues take over that prayer time, and now the Holy Ghost is praying what know to say. Are y'all hearing this? Amen. I, I really— because a lot of times our faith is weak because we don't pray in the Spirit. I know that ain't up there, but look at verse 20. Jude 20. It ain't no chapter, it's just Jude 20. Building up your most holy faith. Build it up. Just like going to the gym. and pumping iron or doing cardio. You got to build up your faith. You got to pray in the spirit. That's why if you don't have the Holy Ghost, you can't be ashamed of that. You need to ask for help in getting it. Even if you need one-on-one guidance, I want to make sure you have a prayer language, because there are times, man, where English just don't work. And you just gotta pray in the spirit, and you gotta let him— because there are times I really physically and emotionally don't want to pray verbally. Are y'all hearing this? And thank God for the Holy Ghost, that he'll step in, and he knows my flesh is weak and my spirit is willing, and he'll pray for me. Are y'all hearing this? Amen. All right, all right, let's, let's move. So let's talk about now the object. Y'all get something out of this? Yes. So we've covered, we've covered under this banner of the nature of faith that faith is the most powerful force you possess. Every human has a measure of faith. And then we've talked about the war against your faith so far. We've talked about the object of true faith now. So watch this. First of all, Faith must be placed correctly. What do you mean, Michael Woods? You cannot have faith in the systems of the world. And I know y'all know this, but I'm just going to refresh you. You cannot have faith in Donald Trump or any president. Are y'all hearing this? It's interesting how Everybody want to blame Trump for the issue, but most of the same folk complaining about Trump were broke when Obama was president. Y'all got Trump and still broke. Are y'all hearing this? Didn't have no job, they have no business, didn't have nothing, but just need to find somebody to blame for your lack of faith. How about stop concentrating on what he doing and do what you're supposed to do? That's right. Are y'all hearing this? That's right. Be the kingdom ambassador that he called you to be on earth. Secondly, oh boy, God does not want you to have faith in works. We'll get to that. Stay right there, Mario. He wants you to have faith in him, in his power, and in his character. People started following Jesus because of the miracles, and he knew it. And he would tell them, y'all ain't here for me, y'all here for the fishes and the loaves. He said, but you need to have faith in me. Are y'all hearing this? Can I get you to understand something? Don't build your relationship with God around temporary acts. Miraculous occurrences. I've given y'all testimony about how money multiplied in my hand, how people bought groceries for me in the grocery store, how God fueled my car when I was going to preach a revival. Those are temporary acts. Those are one-time moments to keep me moving in faith. Are y'all hearing this? Most of the time— oh boy, y'all brace yourself for this one— Most of the time, miracles are a sign that you are unfaithful. Okay, for those who need Bible, an adulterous generation seeks a sign. Adultery, it has nothing to do with unfaithfulness to a married person in that text. It means unfaithful. So it's people who are not walking in faith and faithful to God who are always looking for miracles. Are y'all hearing this? But if I'm walking by faith, I ain't going to never get sick, so I ain't going to need no healing miracle. Are y'all hearing this? Cuz that's my faith. I'm not getting sick, I'm not getting cancer, I'm not getting dementia, I'm not losing my neurological ability to think and process. I'm going to be healthy as long as God has his hand on my life. Guess what? I live under the promise— are y'all hearing this— that he will heal me. Amen. Long as I trust God, then I'll never be broke. You know one of the things I confess every day? I'll never be broke another day in my life. I pray that every single day, and ever since I start praying it I've never been broke a day in my life. I used to be broke a lot. Are y'all hearing this? But you are practicing saying it out of your mouth, because if you being faithful to faith and God, you don't need temporary acts to bring you out. Oh boy. Okay, was that too much? Okay, someone said, Apostle, I got it on Saturday. This is what you're doing. Yeah, I'm sorry, I'm just trying to get you to operate in abundance, man. Are y'all hearing this? Amen. So miracles are temporary, but his power is eternal. His power is permanent. His— go to the next one, Mario. Put it up there so I can see it. Yes, eternal. Go next one. Get this one. God has the power to act and the power not to act. Y'all hearing this? So if you're moving in faith, don't put yourself in a position where you're trying to push God to act, because he has the authority to not act. I heard the preacher say last night, God doesn't talk during the test. Yeah. Are y'all hearing this? Yeah. So he has the power to say nothing. Watch this. Silence is an answer to your prayer. No is an answer. Some say God never says no. No, no answer. Are y'all hearing me? Amen. Because he has to be the object of the faith, not what he can do. Him. He's not concerned about what he can do. He knows what he can do. We're just trying to figure out if he really— we want to test him. And really, at the end of the day, you have no authority to test God, right? Are y'all hearing this? He's God. So what we need to be doing is passing the test he's given us and trust him and make him the object of faith. Go to the next one, Mario. Believe. Oh boy, that's true. Believing in God doesn't guarantee an immediate answer. Because the old mother in the church— I was blessed to hear Felicia sing the old songs when I walked in. The reality is, she's singing, 'You can't hurry God, you just got to wait.' You can't hurry God, you just gotta wait. You can't. It's the truth. That, and that was coming from a mother that prays and had to wait on God. So if you're walking by faith again, you ain't got these urgent requests. Here's the point: if God is important, he'll never be urgent. Yeah, so make him important every day. Not to drive by prayer when you're on your way to work. God bless me on my way in. Lord Jesus, let this day be good and prosper. No, you get up an hour early and pray, and pray your day in. Are y'all hearing this? Make him priority. Here we go, last one. The only thing faith guarantees— are y'all ready for that— is a test. Because guess what? Your faith must stand trial. Say that with me. Say, my faith, my faith must stand trial. Let me get you a word on that. The trying of your faith works patience. Your faith has to stand trial, so your faith has to pass tests so God can trust you at different levels. Are y'all hearing this? Amen. And sometimes he will be silent so he can take you through the test. Yes, here we go. So let's get into this. The test— what is the test that reveals faith? Glory to God. Take us through. Go through, Mario. No, go back, go back, go back. Let's stay right there, stay right there, and we'll, we'll go to that. Write this down. Number 1, Faith can only manifest through testing. Say it again, say it with me. Faith can only manifest, can only manifest through testing. So what are you saying, Apostle? I'm saying don't curse your crisis. When crisis arise, it's testing your faith. Who do you believe? Do you believe in your natural ability to solve the problem, or are you going to believe God? Are y'all with me? How many times have we chosen us over him when crisis came? Oh, we're all guilty of it, even me. But if we're going to walk in this next level of abundance We gotta trust him when we can't trace him. We gotta trust him when we don't see him. We gotta trust him in crisis. We gotta learn how to create in crisis versus depart in crisis. Are y'all hearing this? Abundance follows faith. It follows the right response to test. Write this down. The test— watch this— does not produce faith. You have to have faith before the test, or faith to survive the test. Say that with me. Say, the test does not produce faith. Does not produce faith. Oh boy, that's why you got the test, so you can use your faith to get through it. Faith dominates the test, but the test don't give you faith. Faith is a deliberate choice. Watch this. What faith really does, it reveals your genuineness, because you can say I have faith in God until your bank account is at zero. Are y'all hearing this? What you gonna do then? Let me give you an example. Jesus was on a boat. He told him, we got to go to the other side. Jesus, who is omniscient, who's better than any meteorologist, he knows there's a hurricane in the ocean. He still says, let's go to the other side. Are y'all hearing this? He gets on the boat, goes in the boat, goes to the bottom. The Bible says he goes to sleep. He's in one of those Holy Ghost snoring sleeps. He's deep in it, third dimension sleep. They get to the hurricane, everybody on the boat that's been walking with Jesus panics. They said, what are we going to do? We— the Lord has brought us out here that we may perish. Somebody said, no, we going to wake him up, cuz he got all the power to stop this storm. Here's what they do. They go downstairs, wake Jesus up out of his sleep. Now Jesus, half God, half man, I'm sure he felt some kind of way because nobody wants to be woke up out of good sleep, right? Oh yeah, you know how you feel when your alarm go off and you've got to get up? Yes, Lord. There's some attitude connected to that. Amen. I sure wish I could roll over again, but you know you got to get up. So Jesus gets up, the first thing he says is, where is your faith? If I can rebuke this storm, you can. Because the next thing he said was, oh ye of little faith. Where your faith at? You have dislocated your belief. All you see me do, I told you you could do it, but you had to wake me up to get it done. So the test revealed where they really were. Are y'all hearing this? So when the crisis come, don't panic. Rise up in what you know, just like you sitting in a chair. Are y'all hearing this? Rise up and walk that thing out and watch God do what he do. Jesus got up, rebuked the wind, rebuked the storm. Went back to sleep, and they walk around talking, what kind of man is this? But Jesus was telling them, you got that same authority for the wind and the sea to obey you. But guess how you practice your faith? In crisis, in situations that seem impossible. Glory to God. In situations where natural eyes say there's no way we can to do that. Are y'all hearing this? Watch this. God always controls the test. Say that with me. Say, God controls the test. If he allows the crisis to show up in your life, he has a purpose for it. He's trying to take your faith from faith to faith. He's trying to increase it. He's trying to cause you to grow. Oh, are y'all getting something? Yeah, watch this. Say this with me: He will only allow me to know what he knows so I can overcome challenges, crisis, situations that seem impossible. Impossible. And guess what? He only sends tests that he knows you can overcome. He don't put nothing on you that you can't handle. The Bible said he'll never test you above measure, so he sends faith tests at your level. So if you in it, he already know you can overcome. He already know you got what it takes to come out, that you ain't got to wake him up. Watch it. The strength of your faith is often determined by the tests your faith survives. Oh, write that down, because your faith gets stronger every time you survive a test. Yes. So how strong your faith is is determined by what you get through. My faith's so crazy right now because I've been through so much. I've seen God do so much. I've had to trust him so much. I'm telling you, keep trusting. Your faith is going to get so strong and nothing will be able to move it. But you'll never know if you depart. Remember I told you you can either dominate or depart. You got Dominion Theology and Departure Theology. It takes faith to move in dominion. All right, watch this, and we're gonna move. The greater tests you conquer, the greater the assignment that follows. Are y'all hearing this? So once God— and you can go there, so they can write that down, that's so good, that's why I put it in red, man— sees that your trust remains firm despite the absence of visible results, he then releases resources and greater entrustment. In other words, God can trust you with more. And he will give you resources when he sees that you will stand in faith even when you don't have the visible results of your faith in front of you. Are y'all hearing that? Jesus, thank you. Glory to God. All right, let's keep moving. How do we get from passive faith to aggressive faith? This is the transition part right here. Next slide. We need to make this transition from passive faith to aggressive faith. Why? Because once it's their season— and I'm just, just real talk, for real. Where discouragement can set in. It'll creep in and your faith will get complacent and you'll get laid back. I said this earlier, so now we're going to talk about how to come out of that, right? But you got to get aggressive again. You got to get that pit bull type faith, because in those seasons of decline God will call you out for real, and he'll ask you some questions. Go next slide, Mario. He'll confront you, and if he haven't confronted you, he's confronting you now. For those you're watching, he's confronting you now. Yes, you know, one, are you maintaining or pursuing? Because there are some people that are not aggressive. They, they lay back, they draw back. And again, just accept everything. So the question is, are you maintaining? Are you pursuing? Have you just accepted where you are as normal? Listen, this— let me give you this— church, I, I refuse to just maintain. I have to obey God and pursue what he said. It's easy to just maintain. Are y'all hearing this? Amen. It's easy to stay around the familiar and do what is working. Ain't no stress. We got to believe. Remember, I was talking about what that mortgage is going to be once we get this loan, and I was like, man, we ain't stressing because God is able. Amen. And if he said do it, it's gonna happen. And you know, and the crazy thing about it, it really is minimal to what God has already shown us he could do. He's shown us we can maintain that more. Mark's gonna be right at $11,000 a month. He's shown us we can do that. We've raised that several months in this church. Watch this, you guys did it. We didn't have no massive crowds of people. You did it. Are y'all hearing this? So at the end of the day, God is— he proved the concept. You can do it. So just because it's bigger, just because it's more, don't draw back. Keep pursuing. Because if I was able to give you overflow here, I'm gonna give you overflow over there. Yeah. Amen. Are y'all hearing it? Because that's not the last stop. Say it. Say, I'm pursuing. I'm pursuing. next one. The next question is, are you holding the fort down or taking new ground? Again, are you accepting comfort and the familiar as your final destination, but are you willing to take new ground in your life? Number 3, are you surviving or thriving? You gotta— you can't walk by abundant faith with a survivor mentality. You gotta choose thriving. And then lastly, are you protecting what little you have or possessing what is rightfully yours? I mean, these are powerful questions because you got to decide that what's rightfully yours is God's responsibility to supply, and you got to believe that. Are y'all hearing this? Don't just accept what little you have. That's, that's the enemy's trick. He wants you to do that. Faith that pleases God— this is the bottom line of all these questions— is not passive. It's not a wimp, it's not a punk, it's not a pushover. It's aggressive, it's diligent. Say that with me. Say, faith, faith that pleases God, that pleases God, is not passive, is not passive. Glory to God. Go to the next one. 1 John 5:4, here's your scripture for all that. For whosoever is born of God overcomes the world, and this is the victory that overcomes the world, even our faith. What overcomes the world? Our faith. So if I'm born of God I was born again to overcome the world. Break it all the way down. And the way I get victory to overcome the world is walking by faith. Amen. There are a few things you got to accept though, and you got to embrace in your life to truly walk by faith and truly live by abundant faith. Go to the first one, Mario. Keep going, keep going past that because we missed something. You went past something. Go back, go back, because I want them to get these points. Go back, go back, go back, go back, go back, go back, go back. Keep going back. There we go. We missed all those. Keep going back, go back to 1. All right, start right there. So truly walk by faith, you got to know, number 1, what your limitations are. No need thinking we can do more than we can't. Amen. You gotta respect the limitations that you have. So when God tells you to do something, you understand clearly you are limited. I need to act like you can't. You gotta trust that you need God to get it done. All right, so know your limitations and leave the unlimited to God. Oh my God, leave the limitations and stuff that you can't do to him. Do what you can, let him do what you can't. Oh boy, say that with me. I gotta know my limitations and I gotta leave the unlimited to God. You do what you can, he'll do what you can't. Amen. Number 2, you got to know the things you are not responsible for. Let's stop right here. You got to stay in your lane. Are y'all hearing this? There are things that God has uniquely called you to, and you got to fulfill your assignment and responsibility and not worry about what everybody else is doing. Are y'all hearing this? Amen. Because if you start trying to duplicate what someone else is doing and what you're not responsible for— watch this— you're on your own. Oh boy, there's no way with what we're trying to do at Rada City We're trying to duplicate what somebody else is doing, because that ain't been done in this city. Because most people build kingdoms to themselves. That's a kingdom city that's unto God. Yeah, that's going to support the entire community. I mean, I can say that emphatically, it has not been done in this city. I mean, I, I've searched all over and couldn't find it. I have to do what I'm responsible for. Amen. And I can't apologize for the vision and the mind that God gave me. Are y'all hearing this? He gave me a big mind, he gave me big dreams, and I have to walk them out. Now here's the thing, I know that, but I shouldn't be trying to do what somebody else has done if it's not my responsibility. And neither should you. Do what you're responsible for. Play your role. The thing that God has put you in place to do, even inside of this vision, do it. Take initiative. Don't even wait for me to tell you, start doing it. If I've told you this is who you are, start doing it. Yeah. Oh my God, just, just be proactive. Watch this. Begin with the end in mind. Number 3, let's go. We're gonna get out of here. Know what you are responsible for once you learn it and commit only to that. So good, so good. Go back to 2. Let's show you how they correlate. Know what things you are not responsible for and don't try to do them, but know what you are responsible for and commit to getting it done. Are y'all hearing this? Commit to only that, because distractions are dangerous. Distractions can be fatal. Y'all ever seen the movie Fatal Attraction? Yeah, that chick was off the chain, man. Listen, that's why you have to be careful. She was crazy. But just like that was a fatal attraction, you can have fatal distractions. You get distracted and it can kill your whole destiny. Distractions lead to detours. When you get distracted, you start taking shortcuts and rabbit trails and trying to get somewhere too fast. Then those detours lead to— oh my God— deception. You start believing that the detours are the route you should be taking. Deception is that you bought into a belief because you got detoured to start trusting in a system outside of God, that you start going around the road that he didn't tell you to go. Being responsible things that you're not supposed to be responsible for. Do you realize every need you're not called to meet? Amen. Just because you're saying you can't meet everybody's needs, you got to stay in your lane and do what you— because you'll get detoured trying to build a whole ministry to feed hungry people, and that's not what you're responsible for. Are y'all hearing this? Yes. If you're not responsible for going to Africa— everybody called ain't responsible to go to Africa. Don't go. You might get over there and get attacked by some warlock and witch that you can't handle. Are y'all hearing this? Because you're trying to go because you can say, I'm in Africa ministering to the Africans. But if God didn't call you to that Okay, you got to get off the detours because those, those distractions cause detours. Those detours create delays and deceptions. It takes you longer to do something that God is trying to do because you got distracted. Oh my God. All right, let's go. Number 4: all of those things, 1, 2, and 3, accept before God that you know what you can do and you can't do. So accept it, you know, because it's one thing to say I know what I'm supposed to be doing and then you still keep doing the same thing. But accept before God, hear me, that you know what you can do and you can't do. Accept it. Because guess what? He's gonna always do what you can't, or he'll send somebody in your life who can do what you can't. I thank God for the people that God has sent into my life, which are most of you, all of you in here, and all of those connected to this vision who can do what I can't do. Do you realize I can't do everything we're called to do? In this city. Are y'all hearing this? Amen. I can't plant churches in other places and pastor them. God has to send me people who can do what I can't do. There are things about, uh, exposing my ministry to the world that I just don't know. So God sends people to help me do what I can't do. Are y'all hearing this? Same thing with you. You gotta accept it and accept the help that he sends you. People all the time think when they come to church they're just getting help from the pastor, help from the leader, help from the church. Well, do you realize when you connect with a ministry, you also bring help to the table? You, you are so important to what we're called to do. So you got to accept your role it's like the church accepts its role. A lot of times you go to church and I— God knows I don't want to be this, so I'm accepting the help that is around me. I told Tony Kirby, uh, last night, I said, where you come from with this flyer in the fourth quarter of this meeting? She done put out a flyer. Uh, this time, right here, she don't put out a flyer flyer a week before the meeting starts. That's beautiful. I said, where was this flyer 2 months ago when we started talking about this meeting? Because again, I want to be able to step back from things that other people are gifted to do. And I mean, it's a beautiful flyer. I sent it out in the text. The last flyer that came through the text, I didn't do. She had that done. She took the initiative. I never She didn't say anything, she just did it. I'm just using her example. You have to move in your arena because you have so much to give. All right, now let's go to faith operations. We're gonna close this up. We're gonna show you how this thing operates because we want to develop a faith again that please God. The first thing is that faith takes— stop right there, Mario— it takes Say that one. Say, faith takes ground. Faith takes ground. Joshua 13:1. I don't have it on there, so you can write it down. Joshua 13:1, it says, there remaineth yet very much land to be possessed. There remaineth an abundance of land to be possessed. Say that with me. Say, there remains an abundance of land to be possessed. Of land to be possessed. There's so much we got to take. We can't sit back— this is the faith that pleases God— and wait for somebody to give it to us. We gotta take it. It belongs to us. Are y'all hearing this? Amen. We need it to do God's business. Not just this church, but there's land in your life you got to take. There's things you need for your dream and your vision that you need the abundance of land that goes with it. Let me tell you something, land ownership is spiritual, and it ain't nothing more than you getting another house. Are y'all hearing this? Or getting a piece of property that you build a couple of houses on and flip them and sell them and rent them and turn them into Airbnbs. Land ownership It's spiritual. So a lot— because a lot of times we've been trying to get our credit up and get our money up so we can just buy our own house. You should be thinking past that, because you know if you own land and houses, you will always have an income, because people are going to always need somewhere to live. So I was coming back from Florida, I was going to come— my brother, I was driving, and it's this place I've never seen in my life called Jennings, Florida. And I looked over, I was half asleep, and looked up and saw this sign that said 780 acres of land for sale. Now, Jennings, Florida is right before like the Florida state line, so it really ain't nothing down there. But when you get a little past the Florida state line, about 30 miles, you start seeing these retirement communities. And the Lord said, okay, Since you're doing what you're doing for me, I want you to think about something like this: buying land and developing it and flipping these houses. Are y'all hearing this? So after we do all we can do, I'm gonna find some land of that proportion. That's crazy. 753 acres. Watch this. Right now it's $1,200 an acre. That ain't no money. That's— oh God. That $1,200 an acre, that's less than a million dollars. Are y'all hearing this? 800 acres for less than we gonna pay for this 33 acres around the corner, right? And we could take that and turn it into a whole retirement community with a golf course and everything and sell those houses. Are y'all hearing this? And it's right on the Georgia Lord said it could be a, a city within a city, and we created— it's so much you can do with 800 acres. I'm just saying, land ownership is spiritual. So you got to think about real estate in different perspectives, not just for your dwelling place. Okay, don't let— I mean, if you, if you got the credit where you could buy your own home, then think about buying a second one. So you create an income that'll take care of your mortgage and the second home and have overflow. Are y'all hearing this? Yes, sir. Okay, I'm just trying to give you some words. So there remains yet very much land to be possessed. It's spiritual. Okay, Joshua 18:3, if that wasn't enough. He says— y'all write it down— Joshua 18:3, he said, how long are you slack to go possess land. In other words, how long you gonna be slothful about taking this land? Y'all been wandering around this wilderness 40 years. Are y'all hearing this? Now what you waiting on? I told you it was yours. God is saying that to us this morning. He owns all the land on Earth. The Earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof, them and they that dwell therein. We his children. We are his children and the sheep of his pasture. We belong to him. So that means that land is ours too. So what we gotta do, we gotta take it. How are we going to take it? I think so. I've identified— I saw them 800 acres. That may not be the 800 I get, but I'm gonna do it somewhere because I got to do this stuff first. But when I do it, I already know I'm gonna do it by faith. All the money I need is gonna be in place. Are y'all hearing me? Amen. Glory to God. All right, so faith doesn't wait for the land to be, again, passed on to us or inherited or somebody die and give you some land. No, we gotta take what's ours while folk alive. Yeah, somebody was asking me, well, if something should happen to your father, God forbid, would you take over his church? I said, you know what, I got a brother that's a preacher. I got too much other— I'm not waiting for my daddy to die to get his land, to get his church. That's, that's not anything that's on my agenda. The reality is I got so much stuff that God has called me to do, and I will celebrate my brother taking that and doing whatever God has called him to do with it, and I will support him. But the reality is I'm not waiting for nobody to die to get nothing. Are y'all hearing this? You ain't really, really, really, really— you know, I ain't never really been to the reading of a will anyway. Whenever my family died, they left bills, not wheels. So if, if— and I'm not— my daddy won't do it because my daddy got money. He just— he don't— he got it because he don't spend it. But the reality is, if I go to the reading of the will and I'm not even in it, Guess what? I'm good. I'm so good because at the end of the day, the reality is I'm not waiting for him to die to get what's coming to me. I was over there one Christmas and his grandchildren sitting in the living room talking about, well, talking to each other, oh, you keep talking to Nana like that, you're gonna get rolled out the wheel. They already think about the will. You realize you can't— you need to be doing something with your own life. Are y'all hearing this? Right. Okay, all right. That mean my daddy got to die for you to get what you think you got coming to you. And then you the grandbaby, what make you think you going to get something for the children? Yeah, you, you, you, you are real low on the list. Say faith takes Faith takes ground. Faith takes ground. Watch this, go to 2 Peter 1:3-4, 'cause I want you to see that the provision to take, it already exists. All right, say that one, say provision. Provision. Already exists. Already exists. Martha Monizzi wrote a song and she was singing and it always blessed me. She said, he's already provided. Provided. He's already provided everything you need. Is already provided. He has already provided everything. Watch this. 2 Peter 1, verses 3 and 4. According as his divine power has given us all things. Say all things. All things that pertain to life and godliness. So everything is already provided. Are y'all with me? So faith then takes possession of what's already provided. The reason we don't have what's already provided, because we ain't taking possession of it. All right, that's why we're walking around now talking I'm talking about we are possessing this 33 acres, we're possessing this 4 acres and this $1 million building around the corner here on Boulder Crest. We're possessing it because it's already provided. Amen. Are y'all hearing this? Amen. We ain't waiting for the church to fill up to get the money. I told y'all, all we need is y'all just to become millionaires. Do you believe you can become a millionaire in a year? Amen. I, I mean, really, do you believe you become a millionaire in a year? Amen. It's already provided. And listen, with every ounce of information and knowledge I got in me, I'm gonna help you do it. Glory to God. Because if you serious about it, I'm gonna talk to you about how to do it. Because at the end of the day, I want to see you prosper and live in abundance, so not only you can help advance the kingdom, but you can advance your life. Amen. Are y'all hearing this? Amen. All right, secondly, faith commands. So faith ain't no punk. It takes and it commands. Say that one. Say faith is not a punk. Faith is not a punk. Said faith commands. Faith commands. Watch this, uh, Mark 11, verses 22 through 24. I don't have them up there. I'm just going walking through these now. He says, have faith in God, and whosoever shall say to this mountain, be thou removed. I'ma just read, read it like that because that's the command. You command with your mouth. I was a Navy man in the military, and I'll be very honest with you, I had a lot of problems commands. I stayed in trouble because I wanted to do what I wanted to do. I had to learn quick