AFTER HIS PASSION: WHAT TO DO WITH RESURRECTION POWER | MIKE WOODS | 24 APRIL 25

Well, grace and peace everyone from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. This is Apostle Mike Woods and welcome to Thursday night. I am super excited to be here with you. And I know God is going to meet us here. Please do not scroll. I believe that the Father has something so amazing in store for us this evening. We're going to learn, we're going to grow, we're going to receive revelation knowledge from heaven that we could take right after this live if we want to and apply it and really see instant change in our life. So do me a kind favor, family. I need you to go ahead and share. Praise God! Sharing is caring, sharing is godly. Glory to God, hallelujah! So why are you doing that? Why are you sharing? Tag below, like and comment. Glory to the name of God! Let people know that you are a part of this broadcast on tonight, because you know what, at the end of the day, it's so important that the algorithm see your engagement, so they'll show it to other people. That's how it kind of works. So we're welcoming all of you by YouTube, uh, 3 Facebook pages and 1 Instagram page. So welcome tonight. We believe that God is going to be glorified, uh, from all parts. So please indeed share. Listen, I'm excited to teach tonight, so what I'm going to do, I'm going to pray And then we're going to jump right into the heart of this. While you're sharing, uh, again, please comment below. Let us know you're here. Let us know you're a part of this session on tonight. Let's pray. Father, in Jesus' name, we thank you for your goodness. We praise you, dear God, for your mercy. Father, we declare that beside you there is no other. It's in you we live, it's in you we move, it's in you we have our being. And so, Father, tonight every person that hears. I pray, God, that your word— no flesh, nothing that will hype us up— but your word, God, will superimpose itself upon every soul that's under the sound of my voice. And we will have a clarity about how we are to carry on, how— what our life should look like post-resurrection. And we give you praise for that now, and we bless you. We declare what's to come Yes, God, is better than what has been. I'll say that one more time. What's to come is better than what has been. So no matter what hand the past has dealt, Father, we declare whether it was one minute ago, one week ago, we declare tonight in the name of Jesus that what's coming is better than what has been. So we praise you for it, God, in Jesus' name. Amen and amen. Man, God is good. Would you guys do me a favor? Please share, man. Please share. Let's get this word out. Let's let people know we're here. Glory to God. Welcome to you all tonight. Uh, good evening, Stephanie. Always good to see you. Uh, glory to God. Always good to see you, Pastor Jasper. Good to see you. I'm sure Lady Zion is somewhere around. Glory to God. God bless you all. Uh, glory to God. And my number one fan is on tonight, my wife. God bless you, wife. Good grace and peace to everyone. Glory to God. Uh, do like Pastor Jeffrey. Tag, tag, tag, tag, tag. Glory to God. Uh, we are live tonight again. 3 Facebook pages, uh, 1 YouTube page, 1 Instagram. That's where we are tonight. Please like and share. Glory to God. God is so good. Listen, Tonight we're going to be talking, um, from a subject that I believe is going to be very helpful. We're going to talk about after his passion, what do we do really with all of this resurrected power? Glory to God. And since the same Spirit of God that raised Jesus from the dead lives on the inside of us, I think we might ought to look like it, we might ought to act like it, We might ought to move like it. Glory to the name of God. Uh, if you guys can hear me, please, uh, make me aware of that. Glory to God. I just want to make sure you can hear. Please put that in the comments. Glory to God if you can hear. This is going to be excellent tonight. God is going to meet us here. Praise God. We give him glory, we give him honor. So tonight, praise the name of God, if indeed Okay, you are engaged in this teaching. I want you to stay with me to the end. I'm not going to be long, but I want you to stay here because I want you to get all of this. It's because again, we've been talking about resurrection, especially church folk. Most of your life you've been talking about the resurrection. You've been going to church on Easter hunting eggs and all of that stuff. But what do we do after? So I'm going to play a short video real quick here to introduce the message tonight, and then we're going to jump in this with both feet. God bless. We were not created to live stagnant lives, to be stuck, bound, or broken. We were created with a purpose, a calling, a mandate, a mission. Even in these uncertain times, that calling remains the same: to go into the world, to make disciples, to share the love of Jesus. This is the work of Easter. The greatness of God The power of the resurrection in action. What Jesus did has changed us, made us a new creation, given us an unimaginable hope. Grace has taken root, mercy has flooded our souls, and the promise of eternity has redefined our everything. So why keep all that to ourselves? It's time to put Easter in motion. To make a difference. To share Jesus with the world around us. If your life has been changed, it's time to get to work. Well, amen to that. If the resurrection has truly changed your life for real, it's time for us to get to work and to show the world what God can and will do through us. Glory to God. God is good. So tonight again, we're talking about after— glory to the name of God— his passion. What do we do, glory to God, with all of this resurrected power? What are we going to do with it? How are we going to operate? How are we going to allow the world, glory to the name of God, to experience his passion through us. So tonight, let's start with Acts chapter number 1, glory to God. And somebody type that in the comments for us, Acts chapter 1, glory to Jesus. And, uh, we're gonna read verse number 3, glory to God. Acts chapter 1, verse number 3. God is so good. So again, what do we do with this power? What do we do with this anointing? So let's start here. This text is going to be the foundation foundation. We're going to really walk this entire text out. This one verse tonight is going to pretty much be our teaching. All right, so let's— Acts 1:3. Acts 1:3. Uh, thank you, Stephanie. You'll find these verses. The Bible says, uh, to these also he showed himself alive. Somebody say alive. Glory to God. And if you're writing your Bible, um, underline the word alive. And if you're there with somebody, glory to God, that doesn't write in their Bible, write in theirs and underline alive. I want you to see that. If you're using a digital Bible, uh, highlight it if you can inside of your app or whatever you use to read, because that's a very important piece, and we're going to deal with that in a moment. To those he also showed himself alive. Somebody say alive. After his passion, watch this, by many infallible proofs, being seen of them 40 days and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God. Glory to God. Hallelujah. We give God praise. So, and again, we're going to unpack this, uh, in a few moments. But the first thing, I want you to understand something so you can understand what you can walk away from tonight with this teaching. Because again, I don't want you to scroll, I don't want you to leave. So I want you to understand, first of all, the resurrection of Jesus Christ actually happened. It was a historical event. It's not a figment of our imagination. It's not a part of a book of archaic writings It is a historical event that actually happened. Now, I don't have time to get into all of the topography and all the archaeology that connects to it, but I really want you to be mature enough tonight to understand that just because the Bible said it, glory to God, if you are a believer, just because the Bible said he got up, glory to the name of God, everything you believe about God hinges on that salvation. So the resurrection actually happened. Say that with me. Say it actually happened. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I need y'all to stay with me tonight. This is gonna be good. So Jesus actually got up. Now, because he got up from the dead, right, and he ascended, glory to God, it validates and makes, uh, powerful— watch this— every other part of his passion. His passion is considered, glory to the name of God, his life, how he lived, how he prayed for people, the compassion he had for people. That's part of the passion of Jesus Christ, right? Uh, his passion is also considered the fact that he did what he saw his Father think. He was on earth to obey the will of the Father. He did no thing outside of what God wanted him to perform. And everything he did, watch this, was recorded. This is how we know in fact, 'cause you cannot accept as some religions do, they will accept some parts of the gospel and label Jesus as a prophet. But Jesus is more than the prophet. What makes him God? What separates him from the god of Buddha, the god of Confucius, Confucianism, the god of Catholicism? What separates him from dead man's religion is the fact that he actually— hear me— got up for real. For real. He got up for real. And the unfortunate part of this, and we're going to unpack this tonight, a lot of saints really have not encountered what it means— watch this— to serve a resurrected Jesus. Because a resurrected Jesus heals us when we're sick. Are you hearing this? Yes, Lord, I thank you for healing. I thank you for the times I've seen you do it with my own eyes. I thank you, God, for every prayer I have prayed concerning healing that you have heard and answered. I believe your word, God. I've seen you do it. He— a resurrected king who's resurrected in our life, he operates in, in dimensions of provision. He provides for his people. He takes care of us because we're his family. He loves us. A resurrected king gives you encounters with him. Oh my God, where he shares his love with you. You actually not just read about his love, you experience it on a day-to-day basis. So he got up for real. That's the first thing I want you to get tonight. We're gonna, we're gonna go through this. I'm gonna share this, but this is basically what I'm gonna share. Secondly, we're going to understand that the resurrection of Jesus was not the end. That it actually was the activation of a kingdom agenda, which means it was the activation— we learned this on Sunday— of a king's domain, a king's rule, a king's authority, his agenda to move us forward. Are we here tonight? Glory to God. Amen. Are we here? Glory to God. Listen, so what happens after his passion should become a model for how we as believers should live. Watch this. After our personal encounters with his power, with his purpose, and with his presence. Here's the problem. You got a lot of people that say they believe God or they believe in God, and they never had an encounter. And listen, and I don't want anybody to feel bad. It's okay for you to believe in God and never have an encounter. But the reality is that's not the way he intended your life to be. He intended you to encounter his power in your life daily, to encounter his purpose, not where you make up your own plans for your life as you go. No, he, he really has a plan, a purpose. He really has an original intent for your creation. 'Cause that's what purpose means. It's the original intent for the creation of a thing. God really has a plan for your life. You, you can go through life and make up things as you go, but that's not gonna work out real good for you if you have an authentic purpose from God that you are to fulfill on this planet. So you gotta understand, God wants you to have an encounter. So we're gonna, we're gonna talk about how we get this done tonight. And he wants you to encounter his presence. You can't encounter his presence just by attending church. You ought to attend church. Church is good, right? I have to be careful with this, but you don't have— you don't need to attend church religiously. You need to attend church where you can actually have the tools when you leave church so that you can encounter everyday power, purpose, presence. So you can learn how to tap into his presence through worship, tap into his presence through prayer. Oh my God. So you can learn, glory to God, how to experience his power when you need it in your life. Are we here tonight? Glory to God, glory to God. Oh, we give you praise and glory, Jesus. So when we understand this, this text tonight in Acts 1:3 says, to these he showed himself alive, glory to God, hallelujah, by many infallible proofs. So the first point tonight, I want you to write this down, is the proof of his power. So, so the very fact that he got up is proof of the power that our God holds and the power that operated in Jesus's life. So the first thing he did, and you can write this down, it— we see here in the text by him saying he showed himself alive by many infallible proofs. The first thing we see is is authenticity affirmed. Say that with me. Say authenticity affirmed. So Jesus affirms his authenticity. Glory to God. He affirms who he is. He affirms that he is God by the fact that he gets up again. This thing separates him from every other god. I don't deny that Buddha is a god, but my God is the God of gods, big G. Of little g gods, right? That's how the Bible writes it. That's what it is. And through our experience, we come to understand that Buddhists serve a god that is lower than our God. Hallelujah, hallelujah. I don't deny that Muhammad is a god. He is the god of the Islamic religion. But our God is the God of gods. And what separates him from those two gods and every other god, every other religious entity Authenticity is the fact, ladies and gentlemen, that he got up. Are we here tonight? Am I? Subakiko randese. We give you glory, God. So how does he affirm his authenticity? Well, let's go to Luke 24:39, because what we're going to see is that Jesus didn't rise in secret. Go to Luke 24:39. Glory to God. And we're going to see very clearly that Jesus didn't rise in secret. Luke 24, glory to God, and 39. Somebody type that in the comments. Luke 24 and 39, glory to God. The Bible says this, you'll find this intelligence, glory to God. It says, behold my hands and my feet. Watch this, that it is I myself. Handle me and see, for spirit hath not flesh and bones as ye see me have. So Jesus rose from the dead with the same body they buried. Hear me, the same body they put in the ground. He tells the disciples, don't be afraid. He's publicly there. Glory to the name of God. He says, don't be afraid. This is public evidence. These are eyewitnesses' accounts. Because listen, if you, if you can't believe this, you don't— you can't believe any of the Bible, because this is what gives the Bible authority. Again, this is what makes our God, hallelujah, above all. Glory to Jesus. All right, go to John Real quick, flip over to John, next book. John 20:27. I just want to show you, uh, authenticity affirmed. Glory to God. Say that with me. Say, he gave public repeated evidence. Say that with me. Public repeated evidence. Now watch this. If you see something in public and your eyes see it, guess what you behold that as? Evidence. You behold it as truth. If you, if you go right now down to State Farm Arena and you've never been there, somebody tells you State Farm Arena is in the center of downtown Atlanta on State Farm Drive. Put one State Farm Drive in your GPS, drive downtown, and if you've never seen it, the moment you put your eyes on it, there is nothing that's going to be able to— oh my God— affirm the authenticity that that building exists Why? Because you saw it. Now, the resurrection of Jesus Christ should be authentically affirmed like this in our life. Come on, say it again. Say, repeated public evidence. Listen, and, and guess what? The infallible proofs should be coming through your life based on— oh my God— what you have seen of God yourself. And religion doesn't give us this, ladies and gentlemen. I'm sorry, it just doesn't. Religion never empowers you toward revelation. Religion never empowers you toward relationship, real relationship. We're gonna deal with that in a moment because there's some people that think they got relationship and wouldn't know God if he sat in their lap. Because relationship denotes that you can relate to the person you're in the ship or the covenant with. Relationship. Ship is a small word, a small Greek word, hallelujah, for ship, plural, which deals with covenant or connection. So when you got covenant with God or relation, which means you're in proximity to him, you relate to him, you have communication with him. So it's impossible to have relationship with something you're not in covenant with or have proximity to. Okay, I just want to help you. I just want to help you because anybody that you have a relationship with, guess what? You want to be around. Matter of fact, most people you have a relationship with, you either texting them all day, you're on the phone with them, you send them an email, and that all that communication culminates into shared space. So if I got a relationship with God, I'm gonna spend time with him. So it culminates with shared space. The reason people don't have encounters with God's presence, because they don't communicate effectively with him where it culminates with shared space. Oh, you went to church, you danced, you yelled, you rolled on the floor, you spoke in tongues. But if it doesn't culminate with shared space, you might have just wasted your time. Because that's— because, and I say it all the time, if I sing it, if I worship it, if I preach it, if I teach it, if what we do in a worship service doesn't culminate with real encounters, we have missed the boat. I'm supposed to be reading John 20:27. Y'all forgive me, let me go. John 20:27, Bible said you'll find this intelligence. Okay, it says, then said he to Thomas, Reach hither into my finger and behold my hands. Put your finger in my hands and put your finger and thrust it into my side and be not faithless but believe it. So he told Thomas, who was doubting still after he saw him got up, handle me. Glory to God. Handle my wounds, handle what they did to me in my side so you can know I'm really real. See, affirmed authenticity deals with the fact that our Christianity is not built on myth or mystery. Watch this, but is built on manifestations. Ooh, say that with me. Say, our kingdom life is not built on myth or mystery, but is built on manifestations. Oh yeah. Oh my God. Oh my God. Oh my God. Huh. So that means you can't matriculate, you can't grow, you can't expand in relationship if you, you have not affirmed the authenticity of the relationship through manifestations. Watch this. The text is suggesting that Jesus was a walking manifestation. He was a walking encounter. Now guess what? If he was a walking encounter and you say you're Christ-like, I'm Christ-like, we're saved people, we're supposed to be living like Christ, then we should also be walking encounters. I'm not talking about Bible-thumping, dead religious Christians with no power. I'm saying we should be walking encounters that when people encounter us, something change, something happen. Something happens in their life. Oh, glory to God. Oh, just touch, rub your belly and say, I'm a walking encounter. That, that's the plan. Not to be operating under this mysterion, this mysterious, spooky, uh, mystical thing where nobody never experiences it. God is real. He's relational. He wants to know his people. Oh boy, he wants to know his people. Are we here? I got to get through this. So again, this thing is alive, it's active. So basically Jesus is saying here, listen, I'm affirming my authenticity. I didn't come back just to say hello. He didn't return from the grave just to say hello, to see how y'all were doing. He came back, actually he issued the Great Commission. Glory to God. He came back with a heavenly agenda. He came back to show proof that everything the prophets had prophesied was real and that he was back. Glory to God! Are y'all with me? Hallelujah! So, so what's the application of that? What's the application of the proof of his power? The application is we got to stop living like the resurrection is this myth to be a— that we admire, that we are astonished with and never experience. We got to start living like the resurrection is a miracle that needs to be activated in all of us. I'm gonna say that again. It's a miracle that needs to be activated in you and I. So every day, this resurrection power should be operable. It should be working in our life. I'm talking about every part of your life, in your business, in your profession, in your ministry, in your family. Resurrection power ought to be working. Glory to the name of God. And you have to decide that you're gonna be a walking encounter for your children. You gotta decide you're gonna be a walking encounter for your friends. You gotta decide that the people that look up to you and admire you, you're gonna be a walking encounter for them and activate the miracle of resurrection power in your life. Glory to God. All right, so that's the first thing. Say that with me. Say, the proof of his power. All right, the scripture then says he was seen of them for 40 days. So, so not only do we have the proof of his power, here he gives us the presence of his person. And watch this, presence— people, the church, you know, plays with stuff and they don't study, and, and that bothers me a whole lot. I've been in church all my life, but But it's a terrible thing when you don't study, man. You know, um, the Bible says study to show yourself approved, a workman that need not be ashamed, rightfully dividing the word of truth. And that ain't just for preachers, it's for everybody. Everybody needs to study the word of God. So you— and not just read it, you need to study it so you could be approved. You could understand clearly what it's saying so it becomes a part of your life. So you can work the word and not be ashamed of what you read. The word presence is pre-sense. The Hebrew idea is intelligence. So many times we have misinterpreted presence as that thing that we, we'll say, oh, the presence of God is here. Boy, the organ was going, the drums were beating, presence was here. We'll say, oh my God, we worshiped, we spoke in tongues, we fell on the floor, the presence was here. Well, not necessarily, because the presence is the intelligence of God. It's God's ability to employ his systems of living. Oh my God, through your life. Yeah, we listen, we fall out and then glory come, man, the glory just came and we, we had great church. But that ain't necessarily the presence. If intelligence and sustainability for life is not released. Woo! See, you know you've been in the presence when sustainability, huh, and life in God and systems and structures that come from heaven are released that you can live by. Oh God. Just touch somebody and say, I gotta live by this thing. Glory to God. Touch up, mama, somebody right there in your living room, right there next to you in your house. Just talk to us. I gotta live by this. You— and, and that's when you know. That's why the Bible said, in thy presence is fullness of joy. See, again, we'll study. We took that, so, oh my God, we're getting the presence, we're gonna get joyfully-yam, we're gonna start dancing. That's not what that means. The word joy is shea in Hebrew. It means profit, P-R-O-F-I-T. So if you ask a business person to define profit, they'll tell you what's left over after the expenses of the business have been paid and covered. So profit is increase. So at the end of the day, when we get in the presence, in thy presence, thy presence, and we start operating out of the intelligence of God, we start living a life of perpetual increase. Increase. Okay, that's another message for another day. But we see here the presence of his person. He was tangibly there to give them instruction, and he was seen 40 days. This, this is interesting because the number 40 prophetically is a season of testing and transition. Uh, matter of fact, let's look at that. Let's go to Exodus real quick. Let's go to Exodus. Hallelujah, hallelujah! Let's go to Exodus. I love Jesus, man, I love him so much. Hallelujah. Exodus 24. Thank you, Jesus. 24, and let's look at 18. Hallelujah. The Bible says, then Moses went out into the midst of the cloud and got him up into the mount. So Moses went into a cloud, and the cloud took him up into the mount, and Moses was in the mount 40 days and 40 nights. So he was there, it was a time of testing and transition, and this is a symbol of that because the children of Israel were getting out of control. Moses, as their leader, had gotten really overwhelmed. He needed— watch this— the presence, the intelligence of God. So he went up 40 days and spent 40 days, 40 nights in God's presence, right? So the reality is that God will take us through seasons of testing and transition. Your life has 3 parts. It has a past, has a present, and it has a future, all connected by transitions. I'll say it again. Your life has a past, a present, and a future connected by transitions. The— inside of each transitions are new seasons that you enter into, glory to God, that your assignment flourishes. Watch this, at another level and even a shifting of dimensions where, 'cause inside of dimensions are levels. So as you maximize levels, increments, and you grow and you increase the dimension or your capacity or, your weight changes. Your— watch this— you get more qualified, you get more sharp, you get more keen to do what you've been to do. So, ah, my God, I, I, I really want to teach this. I just don't have time to get into all this. But go to Matthew, go to Matthew, let's go there. I'm gonna give you that one. Go to Matthew 2 and verse 4. Glory to God. No, I'm sorry, Matthew 4 and verse 2. Watch this. So again, remember, 40 is a season of testing and transition. So actually, we're talking about Jesus here. When— and when he had fasted 40 days and 40 nights, he was afterward hungry. So again, it— I just want to show you this for context, that Seasons of testing and transition. Even Jesus had to go through that in his earth suit. Are y'all here? I'll say it again. Even Jesus had to go through that in his earth suit. Are you with me? Praise God. Jesus had to go through that in his earth suit. What makes you think you're exempt of seasons of testing and transition? And here's the key. It's best when you're in seasons of testing and transition to learn the lessons needed in those seasons. And I'm a witness, man. If you do not learn those lessons, you're going to repeat things and you don't keep going through the same stuff over and over again because you didn't learn from the last time. Trust me, I know it all too well. I've been there, done that, got a t-shirt for real. But you got to make up your mind that you're going to learn from the seasons you're in and you're not going to make the same bad decisions over and over again. Are we here tonight? Glory to God. So we see that this is one, 40 days of formation. He's creating a structure. He's teaching the things that pertain to the kingdom, right? He's, he's setting them up for the next phase of their life and ministry without his physical presence. Are y'all hearing this? So he's setting an order in place so that they can operate without his physical leadership. Are y'all here? So we see that again, this is 40 days of— so his presence, the presence of his person is 40 days of formation. Secondly, its fellowship restored. So his presence— watch this— was not random. He came back at these 40 days to reassure, not be random. He, he, he, he strategically and deliberately was reassuring them through him actually being alive. Have. Watch this, that who they were following, number one, was real and really is God and really was the Son of God, and that they could be zealous about carrying this on. Glory to God. So what does it mean for us? Here's the application. After we encounter God's presence, watch this, after we, we go through seasons of testing and transition that introduce us to God, that develop us, that train us, after fellowship with him is restored and we're reassured. Watch this, because in every appearance in these 40 days, he brought peace, he brought perspective, he brought power. So that's what, that's what should be happening for you when, when you encounter God. It should give you peace. But you can't tell me you know God or you in relationship with him when you blow up about everything. There's something about him. The word peace, shalom in Hebrew, means the presence of his assistance. It doesn't mean the absence of confusion. Don't get it twisted. Peace is the presence of his assistance. So if you really got peace, it's the pres— you, you, you, you can be okay with whatever you're dealing with because you know you're not alone. Because his presence gives perspective, his presence gives power, his presence brings peace. Amen. Amen. So after you encounter his presence, that peace-giving, that perspective-giving, that powerful presence of God, you should not be the same. Oh boy, oh boy. Now y'all ready for this? You shouldn't be the same when you encounter God. You know, there are a lot of people saying, man, I've experienced him, I've been walking with him. Oh, shabaya. I've been living for him. Glory to God. You need to understand, glory to Jesus, you weren't meant to be the same. And watch this, most religious folk are a group of wounded watchers. Oh my God, who are wounded in the pews, wounded by the church. Watch this. Got what they call church hurt. It amazes me though, church ain't the only place folk get hurt. You get hurt at the club, you get— okay, you get hurt, you can get hurt at the grocery store, but I never heard nobody walk around holding to my— you never stop going to the grocery store if you got hurt in there. You ain't never stopped going to school if you got hurt at school. I never— you don't want to hear people talk about school hurt. Are y'all hearing this? But everybody play the church hurt card to make an excuse not to connect to the church. The church ain't what you should be connecting to anyway. It should be God you're connecting to. See, you got hurt in that relationship, but you still kept running back to that sorry deadbeat joker. Are you hearing this? No, but, but we again— and until it clicks, I need to leave this alone. Listen, I'm telling you, I'm guilty. I've been there. The reality is You got to understand, you're not called to be a wounded watcher where you just watch everybody else walk in the blessing. You watch everybody else experience God. You watch God, hallelujah, grow other people and increase others in their life. You can't just— that's what religion do to you. You just sit there and you be a wounded watcher. You just show up watching and ain't nothing happening in your life. You, you just as dead as two nails. But you got to go from being a wounded— watch this— watcher to a walking witness. You gotta decide, I'm gonna be a witness to this proof, man. I'm gonna allow fellowship with God to be restored so that I can share the presence with others, so that the resurrection power can be seen through me. See, we're talking tonight about So what do we do after the resurrection? Because guess what? People have big Easter services. I saw a lot of preachers rent out arenas to hold the Easter crowd, all kind of stuff. I mean, we go through the motions. We gave out Easter stuff at the church for kids. People have Easter egg hunts, all this stuff. Okay, we did that. What we gonna do now, right? The world has a real problem. That— watch this, I'm— I don't care what you say, that Jesus is the only answer to. Jesus is the solution to the world's ills and issue. Glory to God. And we need walking witnesses that are walking around every single day to reach these people for God. Who are proof, not just some dead Christian with no power, but we need walking people who will embrace the resurrected power in them to reach out and touch somebody else's life. Are we here? Glory to God. God bless you, Apostle Peter. So good to see you tonight. That's my sister right there. I love you, woman of God. Glory to God. I pray the greatness of God's strength Power rest heavy on your life. I release healing to your body, and I decree and declare with his stripes, even now, woman of God, you are being made whole even as I'm talking. The Bible said he sent his word and it healed them. So Apostle, I declare, hallelujah, that your body even now is being made whole. Somebody ought to rejoice, hallelujah, because I believe right now that angels are ministering to Apostle Apostle's body. Glory to God! We give God praise, we give God glory. God is good. Hallelujah! We give God honor. Hallelujah for his healing power. Glory to God! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! All right, so here I'm almost done. I got a few more minutes. I'm almost done. I pray y'all getting something out of this. So, all right, so we, we found out— glory to God, glory to Jesus, wonderful Savior— we found that this text has showed us the proof of his power because he showed himself alive by infallible proof. So we understand through that, that infallible proof should be working through us. Secondly, we understand that this text shows us the presence of his person. He was seen for 40 days. We understand through seasons of transition— hallelujah, hallelujah— and testing we learn who God is, we experience his presence, we get proof ourself of who he is. 'Cause all things work together for good to them who love God and are the called according to his purpose. That's another message for another day. But I just need to know, need you to know, it's working for your good. I don't care what it looks like right now. I don't care what you're going through. I don't care how hard it may appear, this thing is going to work together for your good. Somebody ought to shout glory to God, because I know it is. See, because Jesus wants to shape your faith, shape your focus through those seasons of traumas, through those seasons of crucifixion. Because we talked about the Sunday— you really can't have resurrection without death. So there's some things in you that have to die so you can experience resurrection power. Are y'all here? Glory to God. So, so, so we see that, we see that, we see again the presence of his person, the proof, hallelujah, of his power. And lastly, and I'm getting out of here, we see the priority— watch this— of his preaching. This is going to be good, stay with me, I'm almost done. Notice the Bible says he appeared to them 40 days, and here's the part that validates his All right, speaking of the things— watch this, oh my God— speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God. Are y'all listening to me? So this is the priority of his preaching. So again, we have proof of his power, the presence of his person, and the priority of his preaching. Hear me, the priority of his preaching was the kingdom. It is really a continuation, a new season of what he was preaching while he was alive on earth before his death. Can I submit to you tonight, as I get ready to close, whoo, that the kingdom is the only message Jesus ever preached? But here's a problem, church. It's the least preached message in the church today. I'm gonna say it again. If you study the scripture, the only thing Jesus preached was his kingdom, the basileia, the authority of the king, the domain and rule of the king, which was himself. Glory to God. Woo! We have to continue kingdom conversations. So that's my first point around this. So what we see here is kingdom conversations continue. This is the priority of his preaching, should be the priority of our life, should be the priority of our testimony, the priority of our preaching. Ooh. Woo! O bahayeshe. My God, I praise you. My God, I give you the glory. My God. Kingdom conversations continue. So after his death, hear me, hear me, I'm gonna go. He didn't shift the subject. He stayed on kingdom purpose. He didn't get up all brand new with a new revelation and something else he gotta teach and something else that he gotta do. He didn't try to impress anyone The same message that got him killed, he kept preaching it after he rose again. Woo! Glory to God. It's the priority of his preaching. Are y'all with me? Glory to God. It ought to be the priority of your— his message didn't change, and his message has not changed. What's the message? Let's find it. Let's go to it. Uh, Let's go to Matthew 4:17. We just was over there, but let's just back up one. Verse 17. 4:17. Hallelujah. From that time, watch this, Jesus began to preach and say, repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Wait a minute, wait a minute. Wait a minute, wait a minute. From the time he opened his mouth, he started preaching, repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Can I tell you something? This message is not changed. There's no new message. Let's bring it out. Repent. Metanoia in Greek. The word metanoia means to change your mind, change your heart. Watch this, change your behavior. So you, if that's what the word means, and you can study, you can Google it, metanoia. Yeah, Google it if you don't have Bible study tools. Google it, the Greek— Google the Greek word for repent is metanoia. It means to change your mind Oh my God. Change your heart and change your behavior. So the thing that you repent about, you change your mind about it, you change your heart toward it, and you change your behavior toward it. So repentance means you stop doing what you asking to be forgiven for. That's real repentance. That's true repentance. Oh, okay. But if you're still doing what you want to do, okay, you're taking a huge risk. And you watch this. So what— let me say this, because there are people who repent of their sin and have accepted Jesus and feel like, hey, I'm going to heaven, and I'm going anyway. I, I believe you. I, I'm, I'm in agreement. But what you not gonna have is heaven on earth, cause you can't have heaven on earth. Because Jesus says it here, he says the kingdom of heaven is at hand. What does that mean? The kingdom, which is— you can't have a kingdom without a king. We talked about that Sunday. So Jesus is the king. If Jesus is inside of you and I through the Holy Spirit, that means the king is here. Earth. Hallelujah. His spirit is what makes heaven heaven. You get enough gold, you can make streets of gold on Earth. Matter of fact, somewhere in Dubai there's a guy, a billionaire, a multi-billionaire with a mansion, and he has created streaks of gold on his compound. It can be done. The only thing that's the difference between heaven and earth is the Spirit of God. So, but you cannot encounter pure, holy, righteous Spirit of God if your life hasn't been cleansed by his blood. So you'll have a life— you can't have one foot in and one foot out. You have to choose to plant yourself in God. Hear me, you got to choose to pursue him, you got to choose to worship him, you got to choose— remember I said to, to have a relationship with him, to spend time with them. Listen, I have met a lot of people. I don't have relationship with everybody I met. I met some famous people, glory to the name of God. I don't have relationship with them because I don't spend time with them. Here's the reality: you can't know anyone without spending time with them. You cannot have relationship if you don't spend time with the object of relation. So if you're trying to have relationship with God, you got to spend time time with him. And I'm not talking about at the church. You need to spend time with him on your knees. You need to spend time with him in worship daily. Because watch this, if you really want to have a relationship, you're going to foster a healthy relationship by doing your part, right? So he said, repent, the kingdom of heaven— heaven, eparaneos in the Greek— is at hand. It is with us. Hand, the word hand. So you got to study the Bible, man. Say, I got to say, study the Bible. In Jizo, Jizo. Glory to God. Hallelujah. And jizo means it's near and upon us now. So he's saying basically, when you repent, you ain't got to wait till you die to go to heaven. You can have heaven on earth by receiving the King of Heaven in your life and behaving as a kingdom citizen. And watch this, operating in the dominion mandate and taking over the world. Wow. My God, my God, today I gotta get out of here. I gotta go, my time is about gone. Woo! Hallelujah! We love you, Jesus. We bless your name, God. We give you the praise. He's so good. So, all right, so here we go. This is the priority of his preaching is— the priority of his preaching is to continue kingdom conversations. That message of the kingdom, to repent, that message to advance the kingdom. Watch this, because the next part of that says to me that this is a commissioning for the culture. So it's Kingdom Conversations Continue, and then it's commissioning for the culture. Watch this, for those of us who are in the culture of the kingdom, so that we can superimpose the culture of the kingdom of God on the world. Notice I didn't say the church. The church really should be Kingdom University. It's where you go and learn Kingdom. I'm gonna tell you right now, if you're going to a church that's not teaching you about the Kingdom and how to operate in the Kingdom, then you're really never going to tap in it because the Kingdom has to be taught. It can't be, uh, it can't be yelled, it can't be screamed. Hear me, it can't be hooped and hollered. The Kingdom has to be taught. And you know, I'm a preacher, I love to preach, I love to teach. I love to do both, but most of the time, if the preacher comes up out of me when I'm preaching, it's because I have already satisfied what needs to be satisfied in teaching. Preaching many times becomes my praise to God when I'm going in preaching. But let me tell you something, the kingdom has to be taught. You got to be taught about Commonwealth. You got to be taught about the King and his dominion. You got to be taught about the resources of Kingdom. You got to be taught laws and principles of the Kingdom. You got to be taught citizenship, how to operate as a Kingdom citizen. And if— and, and some of that sounds foreign to some of you listening to me because you ain't never heard it, because you never been taught it. Now, those of you that follow me and a part of my ministry, you've learned it, right? And, and you should know it, and I'm gonna keep teaching it. And every time I teach, we're going to talk about it because this is the only message Jesus preached. 'Cause we need this culture, man. He wasn't just teaching, he was training for reigning. He was training them for takeover. We should not be second-class citizens. We should— listen, we should have no concern at all about what's happening in the White House 'cause we live under a different system. I'm telling you, it don't bother me one bit. It, cuz my king is Jesus, not Trump. For real. For all of my life, Jesus has been providing for me, and he does a good job at it. It— and guess what? It ain't never matter who the president was, all right? God has always taken good care of Michael Woods. Now, the reality is people have to be trained for real to operate in the mindset of dominion. Union, to, to create a culture where we don't accept second-class citizenship, where we don't accept— glory to the name of God— being— oh Jesus— not having enough, coming up short. We got to start operating as the citizens that we are because our King owns everything, and we got to share wealth with him. So we got to stop accepting just being an employee and advance our businesses and entrepreneur ideals, watch this. And if you really have entrepreneurial dreams and you are familiar with who God is in any way, don't you just think you gonna run out here and try to build a business without him? Because the reason he gave you those dreams so he can get the glory out of it. So while you trying to do it without God, it's not gonna work. I'm, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. It's not. Well, it worked for Elon. It worked for Bill Gates. He an atheist. Well, that ain't you. Because you have an authentic kingdom purpose in you to bring glory to God through your business. So keep on trying to do it without him, it's going to keep on being hard. That's what makes life hard when you transgress against his plan, his ideal for your life. Yeah, okay, all right. So if we to take over these— everybody that's got stuff in them, because everybody in church ain't called to preach. I need you to understand. I know that this day and time everybody think they're a preacher. Listen, we got a lot of preachers, glory to the name of God, and I'm so grateful that new preachers who are genuinely called are coming forth and they're operating in who they're called to be. But I'm here to tell you, everybody ain't called, and you, you need to take an introspective and make sure. Somebody praying, they saw the letters PR. And then they stopped praying. It's, oh, I'm a preacher. No, if you'd have kept praying, you would have saw P-R-A-Y. Keep praying. Glory to God. Keep praying until you see clearly the authentic why that's over your life. I got to get out of here. Listen, what God did in this local group, this small grassroots group of disciples, he planted in these 40 days a global vision. Go to Matthew, let's go real quick, 28. And y'all know this one, glory to God, because when we was on the evangelism fast, we rocked this one a minute. Glory to God. 28 and 18. Ah, yeah. And Jesus came. So again, this is after the resurrection. He came and spake unto them, all power is given unto me in heaven and earth. So Jesus said, look, check me out. I told y'all I was gonna get up. All power is in my hand. The big homie has risen. Are y'all hearing this? He said, I'm here, I'm alive forevermore. More. I'm your God, I'm your King. Glory to God. All power in heaven— wait a minute— in heaven and earth. And, and you won't serve him? Why? So if— wow, yeah. So if you're an entrepreneur, why wouldn't you yield the ideals, the concepts, the faith that's necessary for your business to God, who has all power on You need his authority to do what you got to do. Listen, man, I'm telling you, there's some doors God has blessed me to walk in. There's some doors I'm in right now. There's some tables I'm at right now that I know it's his power that's opened those doors. I ain't that smart. It's his power that anointed my mind. It's his power that gave me— oh my God— the faith to trust him, and his power that gave me favor with others. I gotta go. He said, verse 19, go ye therefore— again, he got up out the grave to tell us this— go ye therefore, teach all nations, baptize them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost, teaching them to observe all things and whatsoever I command you to do. And lo, I am with you always unto the end of the world. Y'all heard that? He with us always, even now, unto the end of the age. He with us. We're not alone. He just wants obedience. He wants us to obey what he says. Are y'all here? Glory! My God, today we love him. I'm almost done. I'm almost done. I'm almost done. Oh, shatta! We bless you. He planted a global vision, global, that extended upon this day and time to us in a small group. That's why don't be frustrated if your group is small, your ministry is small, man. If you plant the right things in those people, they will go and change the world. This thing has become a boomerang. This is why you and I say today, because of this message that Jesus taught the disciples after he got up. Just think if we did this consistently. Watch this, I'm closing here. What's the application of, of this? What's the application of the Priorities Preaching, Kingdom Conversations Continued, Commissioning for the Culture? What's the application of that? Glad you asked. I almost The application is this: we gotta shift from church— ooh wee— from church-focused language to kingdom-focused living. Oh my God, oh my God. See, we, we, we got the lingo, we know how to sound church. Churchy. Hallelujah! We know how to look churchy, but we got to shift from that and we got to live like kingdom citizens. How do we do that, Apostle? I'mma tell you. Here's the call to action, and I'm gone. First thing, number one, number one— I'm over my time, glory to God— number one, we got to be the proof. So in order for me to shift from just where I'm a churchgoer talking the lingo, got the look. I gotta be his proof. What does that mean, Michael Woods? That means I gotta live a life that demonstrates his resurrection. Say that with me. Say, be the proof. Oh God, I got to go. Go to Romans 8 and verse number 11. Glory to God. You got to be proof. Watch this. He says, but if the Spirit— listen to this— of him that raised Jesus from the dead dwell in you— here we go— he that raised up Jesus Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you. So he said, I want to resurrect you too. So all the dead stuff in you— glory to the name of God— that needs to come alive, those purposes, those dreams, his plans, his agendas— God says, when I come in with resurrection power, I I want you to be the proof that I can resurrect a dead life and people can see me working through and in you. So that— say it with me— be his proof. Number 2, you gotta host his presence. This is an important piece because hosting his presence means that you have an awareness that God is with you at all times. And when you're hosting anything, if you are hosting someone in your house. You know, you're not going to host somebody if the house looks a certain way, right? You're gonna clean up before people come over. Are you, are you, are you hearing me? Glory to God. You, when you're hosting, you want to make sure your guest has the best experience possible. Best way I can, um, okay, so an average about 300,000 people people a day go through all of the Disney parks in Orlando. So that's a lot of people, but they plan in advance to host these people. They do a lot of things, but one of the things I want to share with you that they do, which is so amazing to me, because they know people are coming and they want to make sure when people come through the gates, the experience is the exact same as the first day they open. So watch this. What they do is every night when the park shuts down, they have a crew that comes in and all of the buildings are touched up with fresh paint so it looks as if it's new, because they're planning to host another 300,000 people the next day and they want them to have the same stellar experience that the last group Watch this. They're aware they're coming. When you host God, hmm, you might have to put some fresh paint on. I ain't talking about makeup. You might ought to get yourself together because you're hosting him. And watch this. If the Spirit of God is like a dove, this is another good example. You should live like there's a dove on your shoulder, and one wrong move, that dove will fly away. Because the Bible does says he's symbolized like So if you think of it that way, that I got a dove on my shoulder, one wrong thought, one wrong decision, one wrong word will cause separation between me and him. So I wanna host him. I wanna keep a life that he can live through. Oh my God. I wanna host him through daily fellowship in his word, daily fellowship in prayer, daily fellowship in worship. So I got to be the proof. Holy Spirit's presence. Thirdly, number 3, I'm almost, I'm almost done. You got to pursue his priorities. The Bible says in Matthew 6:33, seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness. Just that part, just that a-clause, ought to be in the forefront of your mind daily. Hallelujah. Because, because I'm trying to show you how to live after his passion. You got to pursue what's a priority to him first. First, the word first is paraiso in Greek, which means to give superlative, supreme priority to a thing. So you put God first in rank. He's above everything else in your day, and you seek his plans for your day. Seek, zetaio in Greek, which means to pursue hard after. You go after his way of doing and being right. All right, number 4, you got to declare his dominion. Don't just speak about salvation, you got to expand his territory. Yeah, you got to be a witness first in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, the uttermost parts of the world. People need to see that you are the proof. And number 5, I'm done, you got to walk in resurrection power. You got to walk in miracles, signs, and wonders and be transformed transformed in your mind. Watch this. You cannot accept— oh my God— what the norms of your mind have declared to be normal. You got to be transformed by the renewing of your mind and allow God to use your mind. And I'm done, this is the last statement. He needs to use your mind to manifest the exceptional. You don't want the normal, you want to manifest the exceptional. Hallelujah! Oh my God, do I have anybody on here tonight that wants to manifest the exceptional? Hallelujah! The kingdom is the commission, cross was the climax. But the kingdom is the commission. He rose to raise up people that are walking dominion, devotion, and demonstration. I need you to understand tonight, and I'm done. Glory to God. You're his proof, and after his passion, you should be operating in infallible proof. Listen, I want to challenge you to take these next 40 days after you've heard this teaching and walk out the principles we've laid out tonight. Go back and watch this again so that you can use the resurrected power that's in you appropriately and properly. Let's pray. Father, in Jesus' name, I thank you for this word tonight, and I give you praise and glory for what you're doing. I thank you for resurrected power that works in all of us. I thank you, dear God, that we don't lack a thing, neither do we have a care, that all of our needs are met because resurrected power works on the inside of us. We are fully supplied with everything we need, and I declare it in the name of Jesus. I thank you that every person on the sound of my voice has been raised up above lack, and I thank you for abundance and goodness in our lives. And I glorify you, God. Hallelujah for resurrected power, that we will be the proof that you are alive, and the world will be different because we are the proof. In Jesus' name, amen. He lives, man. He lives. Christ Jesus lives today. He walks with me, he talks with me along life's narrow way. He lives, he lives, salvation to impart. Ask me how I know he lives. He lives within my heart. I love you guys tonight, man. Y'all are amazing group of people. Thank you so much for joining us. We're going to sign off. Glory to God. But if you want to be a blessing to this ministry, the ways to give are at the bottom of the screen. The Bible says that when— and Paul said it so clearly, you know, you can't listen to people about giving that's broke. Broke people can't tell you nothing about giving. They ain't got nothing. But the people that— I'm a giver, I'm blessed because I give. Glory to God. Everything that God does through me is because I'm a giver. Glory to the name of God. Okay, listen, folks, about giving— they ain't got no money. Glory to God. You need to listen to people who have put this principle into action and it works. Listen, and I know you know some people around you, and I'm talking to you now. Get seed in the ground. The ways to give are scrolling to the bottom of the free. Find your way and give unto the Lord. I love y'all, man. Y'all be blessed. My time is gone. Heaven smile upon you is my prayer. Peace. Hallelujah! We give him praise.