Balanced, Part 3: Life in the Black | Dr. Michael Woods, Sr. | 23 April 2026

We give you the glory, God. We give you the glory, God. We give you the honor, Jesus. We extol your great name. Beside you there is no other. We love you, God. We magnify you. We lift you up. We exalt you. We glorify your great name. Beside you there is no other. You rule and you super rule, God. The heavens is your throne. The earth is your footstool. The heavens declare your glory and the earth your handiwork, God. God, we lift you up. You're the light of our salvation. Whom shall we fear? You're the strength of our life. Of whom shall we be afraid? When the wicked, even our foe, came to eat upon our flesh, God, they stumble and they fail. God, we glorify you. We exalt your great and mighty name, God. We honor your name, Jesus. We honor your name, Jesus. Come on, just a few moments, just lift your voice and worship Jesus. We give you all the glory. Come on, he wants to hear the voice of the corporate man. Open your mouth and worship the Glory to your name, God. Glory to your name, Jesus. You're high and lifted up, God. Hallelujah, Jesus! You're the King of Glory! You're the King of Glory! Let your glory be revealed in the midst of us, God. Rest on us tonight, God. We open ourselves up to receive you, God. We give you the glory, God. We give you the glory. We give you praise. Thank you for your grace, God. Thank you for your mercy. Thank you for your kindness, God. Thank you for favor, God. We say thank you, Lord. Thank you, Lord. Thank you. Thank you, Jesus. If it had not been for you on my side, God, I don't know where I would be. I say thank you. Thank you, Lord. We lift our voice and say thank you. We open our mouth and say thank you. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Lord. Oh, give thanks unto the Lord, for he is good. We give you all Hallelujah, hallelujah! Sweet wonder in my soul, I bless your name, God. Ah, shaman de kasiya, ikunta tabansa e breke sakondo siai. Oh, we give you the glory, God, on our ears tonight. To hear God, what the Spirit will say to us. There's something unusual in this room, something man cannot do. God bless us indeed, God. Those of us that ever made the sacrifice to be in this room, God, let there be a special blessing. Just bless us for the press, God. And we give you the glory. Bless those that listen, God, and receive your word tonight. Lift burdens, destroy yokes, God. Cast the devil out of the mind. Break down every stubborn will, every rejecting will to truth. Break it down and remove it in the name of Jesus. And Father, thank you for the faith to apply what you should share. And we give you praise for it now. Thank you for the intelligence, the light, and the illumination of the Holy Ghost. In the name of Jesus, we glorify you, we honor you, Lord. In Jesus' name, would you clap your hands and bless Jesus? Hallelujah! In this building tonight Glory to God. Hallelujah. So glad to see y'all out on a Thursday night. Glory to God. Glory to God. It just have to become a part of our lifestyle. Amen. To want to assemble when we supposed to assemble. Glory to God. We don't get it one day. Glory to God. And I'm, I'm gonna be so— I'm gonna, I'm gonna rejoice when it happens. Glory to God. For real, we're gonna get it. I'm gonna jump right into this tonight. I want to make sure that we cover everything the Lord has given us for you tonight. Um, glory to God. Last Thursday we, we talked about self-preservation being a counter-course uh, to praise God, the divine nature of God to balance. Uh, we talked about imbalance in the kingdom, and, um, glory to God. And I'll have slides tonight, Pastor. I just got the title there, so we, we good. Glory to God. Unless you want to watch that camera in place I move, since we have no camera person. Glory to God tonight. But, um, I'm going to try to stay in this spot. If I do this, we'll get out pretty quick. Amen. Amen. We going to see if we can make that work tonight. Hallelujah. I'm going to try, but I can't tell you what Holy Spirit is going to do. Glory to God. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Jesus. Tonight, uh, this is Balance Part 3A. Amen. And, um, tonight we're going to talk about living in the black. Say that with me. Say, living in the black. And, uh, so we, we, we started teaching this as an approach that you could really start taking a close look at balancing yourself financially. Uh, it's important because one, we read in Proverbs 11:1 that a false balance is an abomination to the Lord, and a just weight is his delight. Say that with me. Say, a false balance is abomination to the Lord. I want you to remember that because at the end of the day, he detests that. Because how can we be so super wonderful and supernatural in other things but out of balance financially? We'll never achieve the things that God has for us if we're out of balance financially. So when I first started teaching this, I'm gonna try to use this mic to balance this tonight, um, but I told you there are 3 principles of balancing anything, whether you're balancing, um, glory to God, an object, whether you go to the circus and see acrobats balancing on a tightrope, these 3 principles apply. The first one was there has to be a central point of focus. I don't know how this is going to work tonight with this little mic. Okay, we're going to get it. So if you focus on a central focal point, it'll stay balanced. But as it starts moving, the second principle is there has to be constant adjustments. But you don't even know what to adjust if you're not looking at your central focus. And then the third thing, glory to God, was to discipline yourself— watch this— to stay balanced. You gotta want to stay balanced. Say that with me, say, I gotta want to stay balanced. A lot of times financially we don't stay balanced because we don't have a central focus point. And I talked about this in the second message, we don't know where our money's going. And I think I told you, you got to spy on your money. You got to watch your money. Say that with me. Say, I need to know everywhere my money goes. You shouldn't get money and then look up and don't know, well, that money— I just had $10,000. Where did all that money go? Are y'all here? You should have a system where you're able to track your spending, where you're able to track what comes in and what goes out. A lot of times we pay attention to what comes in because most of the time we already have plans for what's coming in before we even get it. Either the bills done pre-owned the money for you, got it? Are y'all hearing this? Or something you desire to do has pre-owned the money. But balance says my money doesn't— what comes in doesn't control my outcome. Watch this. What controls my outcome is my discipline to use what I have been given properly. Okay, so it don't even matter because what I'm gonna teach tonight It doesn't even matter what you have. If you appropriate that correctly and purpose in your heart to do the right thing with it, then God says, I see your heart, so I'm gonna bless you with what you need because you really want to do right with your money. It's easy. Hear me, family. To try to keep up with the Joneses. And let me be the first to admit, I love tech, I love new stuff, I love big skinny TVs. But here's what I've learned: not to go in debt to get those things. All right, because if you got to go in debt to get it, you really can't afford it. Are y'all hearing this? I grew up in an era, and that's what we're going to talk about tonight, is living in the black. The black is opposite of the red. Most people are living in the red. They have a mortgage, they have a car note, they got credit cards, they got personal loans, they owe somebody. So there are two sides to this coin. One is supernatural debt relief, and the other side is the discipline you exercise to make sure you stay out of debt. Because again, if you see that $1,000 pair of shoes and your credit is good, it's easy to sign up with your card to get those shoes. I'm just using shoes, and maybe shoes ain't your thing, but I mean, no matter what it is, you have to have the discipline to say I ain't going there. Are y'all hearing this? So tonight I'm gonna talk about the supernatural side first. Next Thursday I'm gonna talk about the practicals. As a matter of fact, we're going to give you a workbook actually so you could track your money and follow it that's connected to this series. So this week coming, I've been really busy. I've been meaning to get the documents in TK's hand where she could put the PDF together. It's going to happen this week, so before you get here next Thursday, you're gonna have that document. But let's look at tonight how we live in the black through supernatural debt cancellation. Let's go to Luke, the 4th chapter. I don't have no, no scriptures, so we're gonna have to do the old-fashioned way. Get out your Bible. Luke, the 4th chapter. Glory to God. Luke chapter 4, we're going to be again reading at verse number 14. All right, the Bible says, then Jesus went back full and under the power of the Holy Spirit into Galilee, and the fame of him spread through the whole region roundabout. So that's, that's a good indication for us as believers and those of us that follow Jesus that we don't have to do nothing except be under the power of the Holy Ghost and be led of him everywhere we go to create popularity and fame. Are y'all hearing this? We ain't got to lie, we ain't got to compromise, we ain't got to get on Instagram naked. Y'all hearing this? There's a lot of naked Instagram hoes. I mean, I'm sorry I said that. There's a lot of them out there, okay? Yeah, I'm just telling the truth now. Yeah, it's a lot of them out there, but you ain't got to be that. And they'll call these people influencers. Are y'all hearing this? And the only reason they got a million followers, because they ain't got on nothing. Okay, y'all ain't went past them pages. Okay, apparently. All right, let me keep reading. And he himself conducted a course of teaching in their synagogues being recognized and honored and praised by all. So now watch this. So this says that— I'm going somewhere. This is— that's connected to that. This is our foundation for this. He instructed them in the religious system. He uses fame to influence them. And watch this, these religious people recognized him honored and praised him. So you got to be willing to go to places that aren't— one of my sons called me and said, well, I got invited to go to such and such church preach, you think I should go? I'm like, yeah, you're an apostle, they need you to go and open your mouth. That's a religious system that needs what you carry. So we have to be open to go wherever God tells us to go. Matter of fact, that's why he gives us the fame. So we can go into places that we otherwise couldn't go, not to build ourselves up so we can become men pleasers. That's not why he gives it to us. All right, verse 16. I'm gonna keep going. So he came to Nazareth, he taught there, left there, went to Nazareth where he had been brought up. Now he leaves the religious system, goes to his hometown. The community where he was brought up. And he entered the synagogue there, as he was accustomed, on the Sabbath day, and he stood up to read. This is important. So a lot of time, because when you go into places that are familiar with you, no matter how popular you are— watch this— they're not going to be open to you teaching a new thing. Are y'all hearing this? Notice what Jesus did. He stood up and read the Bible. He stuck with the word. He didn't try to impress them with new revelation and show them how deep he was. He simply stood up and read. Now watch what happens. Verse 17: And there was handed to him the roll of the book of the prophet Isaiah. He opened the unrolled book and found the place where it's written. He read— he reading the word. He says, the Spirit of the Lord is upon me because he has anointed me, the Anointed One. I'm reading out the Amplified, the Messiah, to preach the good news, the gospel, to the poor. He has sent me to announce release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, and to send forth as delivered those who are oppressed— here we go— who are downtrodden, bruised, crushed, and broken by calamity. Verse 19: To proclaim the acceptable and accepted year of the Lord, the day when salvation— watch this— and free favor of God profusely abound. Verse 20: Then he rolled up the book and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all the synagogue were gazing attentively at him. I love this. Verse 21: And he began to speak to them, today the scripture has been fulfilled while you are present and hearing. Now, why did I read all that about this teaching? Because When you're anointed, when you have a kingdom assignment, whether it's in religious systems, to your family, to your hometown, or globally to the world, guess what? We have to be an example of what we teach and preach. Are y'all hearing this? We can't be bound preaching freedom. It won't help. We can do it. But it won't have effect because you won't have the conviction or the revelation of it because it's not working in your life. Are y'all hearing this? I'm just, I'm just teaching you something I know for a fact. I've been there, done that. Matter of fact, I've been preaching to people and it becomes quite frustrating, and God has given me a word for them and the stuff wasn't working in my life. and I seen it keep working in their life. And I'm like, why is this working for them? But God, I can't even get this to happen for me. And then he goes on to tell me, he says, because you are still bound in these areas you're talking about, and you need to get free so freedom when it comes out of your mouth is effective. Are y'all hearing this? That's why you have a lot of bound people in church, because the people that's teaching, they bound too. Are y'all here? And that ain't the will of God. So my concern for us, because I need all of us to be free— notice he said he sent me to proclaim deliverance to those who are oppressed, those who are enslaved. That includes not— that's not just from the sins of your past, it's also from debt. The Bible said the borrower is slave to the lender. Every time you sign an application and go in debt, you become a slave. And why would you want to be a slave to anyone? Are y'all hearing this? So God wants to supernaturally provide debt cancellation, but we got to first purpose in our heart, like any deliverance, that we want to be free. Say that with me. Say, I want to be free. Come on, say it again. Say, I want to be free. Again, because, because we in the church, we could put such emphasis on getting free from other demonic forces. But you know, the slave master of debt, it's not of God. And some people say, well, Apostle, we got to have some debt. We got— but that's not the plan of God. Well, we got to have a mortgage. You know how much a house costs? Yeah, I know how rich my God is too. Are y'all hearing this? And he wants us free. So watch this, so we can be more generous to the kingdom, so we can help other people. Most of the time we can't help nobody because we got so many bills we got to pay. Are y'all hearing this? And by the time we get through paying our stuff, ain't nothing left. Are y'all hearing me? So how does God provide supernatural debt relief? I'm glad you asked. So there's 3 ways I'm going to talk about tonight that he removes supernatural— through, through the supernatural, he removes debt. Number 1, write it down: he provides the money. That's a good way, right? We're gonna see in scripture how God really will provide the money and how that happens. Number 2, he'll remove the debt. I've been a benefactor of all 3 of these. Glory to God. He'll supernaturally just move something you owe, and you'll look up and your balance is zero. Are y'all here? Thirdly, he'll move upon others. Watch this, he'll never put pressure on anybody to bless you or give to you, but he'll move upon others to bless you. I've been a benefactor of all these. So let's look at he provides the finances. Go to 2 Kings, we're going to start there, um Glory to God. 2 Kings chapter 4. And let's start at verse 1. The Bible said, now the wife of a son of the prophets cried to Elisha, your servant, my husband, is dead, and you know that your servant feared the Lord. Here we go. But the creditor has come to take my two sons to be his slaves. Verse 2, Elisha said to her, what shall I do for you? Tell me, what do you have of value in the house? She said, your handmaid has nothing in the house except a jar of oil. Then he said, go around and borrow vessels from all your neighbors, empty vessels and not a few. So now notice he didn't tell him to go borrow oil. Get the vessels that store the oil and get as many as you can. And interesting enough, the prophet didn't panic when she showed up. Look, your servant, my husband, he dead. These folk want to take the house, they want everything. How we gonna pay this bill? The prophet immediately gives her a supernatural scenario. Listen, verse 3— verse 4, I'm sorry. And when you come in, shut the door upon you and your sons, and then pour out the oil you have into all those vessels, setting aside each one when it is full. So she went from him and shut the door upon herself and her sons. Lord, I thank you. Who brought to her the vessels as she poured the oil. Verse 6: When the vessels were full, she said to her son, bring me another vessel. And he said to her, there is not one left. Then the oil— listen to this— stopped multiplying. Then she came and told the man of God. He said, go sell the oil. And pay your debt, and you and your sons will live on the rest. Well, the key to this one was recognizing that the prophetic is real and that prophets really can give you prophetic instructions on how to shift your finances, but you have to be willing to obey when the instruction comes. Now that— this is a crazy instruction. And most of the time, prophetic instructions are crazy. They are weird. They don't line up with what's in your mind because you, you thinking about, I need to pay this debt. You're telling me to go out here and get some empty jars? What we gonna do with empty jars? But she never questioned She obeyed immediately. Y'all hear? She obeyed what the prophet said. Somebody say obedience. So if I want to see supernatural intervention in the relief of my debt, I got to obey what the prophet says. Oh boy. Now here's, here's a challenge in this hour, because there are a lot of prophets out here who have abused this process and it only benefits them. Are y'all hearing this? But notice, this was specifically to pay the widow's debt. The prophet got nothing out of this deal. He said, go get the vessels, take the oil you have, pour it in these vessels. And when you run out, you're gonna have enough. Long story short, she sold what she had and paid her debt and had enough to keep living on what was left. You talking about— so we're worried about debt, and God says, I have supernatural solutions. So when I make a statement like, we're gonna pay off our million-dollar building in a year, I'm totally trusting that God is going to provide supernatural instructions for us to do so, and that he's going to move supernaturally in the lives of all of us so that we are potentially able to make it happen. Amen. Are y'all hearing this? But you can't do it if you ain't willing to do something unorthodox if God says it. I mean, if God tells you to go get some vessels and start pouring oil in them, then you might ought to do that. Are y'all hearing this? The reason we don't see the supernatural or ridiculous blessings— because we're not willing to do ridiculous things. But if you want a ridiculous blessing, it requires ridiculous action. Sometimes the principle you got to follow makes no sense. Oh God. Oh boy, y'all here? Let's go Luke 5. Okay, matter of fact, you ain't— we ain't got to read that. I don't talk about it, but Luke 5, verses 1 through 11, write it down. Simon Peter, who is a master fisherman, the Bible says they were at the Lake of Gennesaret. And they were fishing. They toiled all night and couldn't catch nothing. Jesus shows up in this text and says to Peter, look, let me have your boat. Thrust it out a little from the land. He steps on Peter's boat, starts— here's this teaching thing with the word again— he starts giving instructions. He's teaching. Jesus tells them after he gets through teaching, now go back out here, let down your net for a drought. Peter says, respectfully, we've been out here all night, we took nothing. I know you, Rabbi, you do miracles, you turn water to wine, all this stuff, but we are fishermen, sir. We caught none. Jesus said, I know that. Let down your net for a drought. He obeyed. He said, nevertheless, at your word. Anytime you read nevertheless in the Bible, it means God's option is never less than yours. So you may have these options on this side and say, okay, I'm gonna try this, I'm gonna try this, I'm gonna try this, but then God speaks something. That's why it's important— we talked about this last week— to have a relationship with God where he's speaking so you don't get on a counter course. So when he gives you the instruction— are y'all hearing this? You can— it's even— it may sound crazy. These guys are professional fishermen. They don't toil all night. Jesus said, no, go back out here and fish again. And listen, guess what happened according to this text? Their fishing business avoided bankruptcy because Jesus told them exactly where to drop their nets. Jesus told the fish, now you can go in the net. See, I just— because Gennesaret wasn't a real big lake, so I think Jesus was talking to the fish the whole time because he needed to tell this story. Told him, hey, get under the boat. And here where they fish, you You're not going to be able to go in that net. Just hide on the boat till I tell you otherwise. And once they went out the second time in obedience, God said, okay, they caught all the fish in the lake. The Bible said they had so many fish that their nets break, and they had to beckon for their partners to help them bring it in. That's what God wants. He wants to break our nets where we have so much we got to get somebody to help us with it. Are y'all hearing this? That we can't manage it all because it's so much. God wants to bless us so that we have no concept how to manage what he blesses us with. Are y'all here? But it— again, he wants to provide the finances through obedience. See, Peter could have got arrogant and say, hey man, we're not doing that. But he, he obeyed and avoided bankruptcy. Are y'all here? All right, Matthew 17, let's go to that one. Just want to show you how he provides the finances. Hallelujah! Say that with me, say, God will Provide. Hallelujah. Watch this. The Bible said, verse 24, when they arrived in Capernaum, the collectors of the half shekel, the temple tax, went up to Peter and said, does not your teacher pay taxes? Verse 25, he answered, yes. And when Jesus And when he came home, Jesus spoke to him about it first, saying, 'What do you think, Simon? From whom do earthly rulers collect duties of tribute? From their own son— from their own sons, or from others not of their family?' Verse 26: 'And when Peter said, 'From other people, not their own family,' Jesus said to him, 'Then the sons are exempt.' Here we go. 'However, in order not to give offense So in other words, Peter, we're not arguing about this. We're not going to offend this tax collector. We're not going to ask for the supervisor. Y'all hearing this? That's what we like to do. Can I speak to us? You know you owe the money. Why are you trying to talk to a supervisor? You know, I mean, you owe the debt. I mean, ain't no need in having a discussion. So, so let's not give offense and cause them to stumble. That is to cause them to judge unfavorably and unjustly. He says, go down to the sea, throw in a hook, take the first fish that comes up, and when you open his mouth, you'll find a shekel. Take it to them, pay the temple tax for me and yourself. So this is so powerful that Jesus provided the tax money through the fish's mouth. Again, this further confirms Jesus' ability to speak to fish. Fish just ain't swimming around eating money. Are y'all hearing this? Jesus speaks to another fish, go eat that shekel. There it is in that part of the lake. Come up, Peter's going to take it out your mouth and pay our taxes with it. You're talking about supernatural provision, how he'll take care of debt supernaturally. Are y'all here? And again, I've been benefactors of this kind of supernatural stuff. I've told y'all before, I won't get into it. Well, how God has paid my rent supernaturally, he's paid car notes supernaturally. Touch yourself, say God God will supernaturally provide for me and eliminate debt. Yeah, that's good. Secondly, I told you tonight we're going to talk about how he removes the debt. Let's go to Nehemiah 5. Glory to God. Nehemiah 5. Man, verses 1. Let's start at 1. Now, somebody say now. Now there arose a great city of the poor people and of their wives, driven to borrowing against their Jewish brethren, the few who could afford to lend. That's what happens, really. So when you borrowing— watch this— it's not a sign that things are well. If you got to borrow money to take care of a bill, you got to borrow money to satisfy your desire for something, then that ain't a sign that you're where you're supposed to be. I want you to use that as a a focal point. If I got to borrow money for this, there's more that God requires of me. There's more that God— if I got to borrow money for this house, then I need to get to another place so I can buy a house cash. I didn't get to another place where I can buy my cars cash. Are y'all hearing this? Well, I have no debt. I can buy them shoes I want cash. You ought to have some clear goals about how you spend your money, right? You shouldn't be driven like these poor people to borrow. Are y'all hearing me? Verse 2: For some said, we, our sons and daughters, are many, and therefore allow us to take grain that we may eat and live. If we are not given grain, let us take it. In other words, we're hungry, and we— unless you let us borrow some grain, we're not gonna eat. Watch this, verse 3. And also some said, we are mortgaging our lands, our vineyards, and our houses to buy again because of scarcity. Sound like what a lot of people do? They take out seconds on their houses, creating more debt. I've seen people 29 years in, got a year left on their mortgage, and turn around and pull all the equity out and get an equity line of credit against that equity using their house as collateral. You don't almost paid it off and only really just to do things they want to do and splurge. That's not wise. Are y'all hearing this? Verse 4: Others said, we have borrowed money on our fields and vineyards to pay the king's heavy tax. Although our flesh is the same as that of our brethren and our children as theirs, we are forced to sell our children as slaves. Oh my God, listen, they're selling their kids as slaves to make it. Some of our daughters have already been thus sold, and we are powerless to redeem. We don't sold our daughters, he's saying, and can't even get them back. Oh my God. For others have our lands and vineyards. Verse 6, I, Nehemiah, was very angry when I heard their cry and these words. Here we go. This is how God starts removing debt. Watch this. Verse 7, he said, I thought it over and then rebuked the nobles and officials. There's always got to be a prophetic type, a voice. Nehemiah was a prophet. He heard the cry of these people that Watch this. This is why prophetic people have to be stable enough that people will come to them for— watch this— financial solutions when they got financial issues. So Nehemiah hearing this, but if you got someone unstable prophet that's prophesying and they mess out of order— are y'all hearing this? How the pastor can run the church and he got a 400 credit score? Are y'all hearing this? And his bank account is always in the red. That's a problem because you're passing that thing off to the people. Somebody said, well, he pray, he real anointed. But yeah, why he ain't anointed to get that credit score from 4? Are y'all hearing this? I need that same anointing to get that credit score Double, get it to 8. Are y'all here? Because impartation is real. Transferring of spirits is real. Are y'all hearing this? Okay, he said, I thought it over and I rebuked— glory to Jesus— the officials. I told them, you are acting exacting interest from your own kinsmen. And I held a great assembly against them. You know, the word of the Lord has to be respected here for these kings and nobles to even hear the prophet out. So that means we got to preserve apostolic and prophetic integrity so that kings, politicians will hear us. We can't align with their agendas and do what they doing and call them Jesus. Okay, and they ain't Jesus. Yeah, one preacher recently said Trump is equivalent to Jesus. He ain't Jesus by no stretch of the imagination. So we can't even make that comparison. But because she values her job as the director of the faith department at the White House, she gonna always pump him up when really you are there, ma'am, to be a prophet. The reason God opened that door so you could spend some time in God's face, and because you got an audience with him, he put you over the faith office not so you can be in his cheek-kissing club, but so you could prophesy to him. Are y'all hearing this? And tell him the truth. Yes, sir. But we'll never get the respect if we align with what politicians want, and we're not stable. That's why we got to carry our own wealth. Well, we don't need them. Are y'all hearing this? Well, we don't need governmental funding to run the things that God has called us to run. That's why I've been doing this research and work on our school, because we're going to start the school when we get in the new building. We're going to take a portion down and start actually having our K through 4 school, and we're going to eventually build it up to K through 12. We got the options of being a charter school, but being a charter school says I have to subjugate myself to what they want us to put in the curriculum. I can't do that because we're a church, we're a kingdom academy. We got to be able to teach our children kingdom from an early age. And if you're telling me I can't pray in the classroom, I can't teach them about the Holy Spirit, I can't teach them the word of God, that's a problem. So that means God's gonna provide that $1.8 million a year we need for our staff and our team to run the church. I mean the school. Oh, somebody say the Lord will provide, because we can't compromise to be a charter school. Are y'all hearing this? And then I was talking to somebody, said, oh well, we do, you know, we, we, we, we, we do talk about Jesus, we sneak and pray. Well, you ain't abiding by the law if you're a charter school. And you— I don't want to be tiptoeing around that. If my teachers have an anointing that hits them in the class and they need to lay hands on a child, I want I'm gonna be able to do that. Are y'all hearing this? You can't do that if you, you know, trying to tiptoe around and trying to pick and choose what child ain't gonna tell. What child you know ain't gonna tell? I mean, for real, you don't know no child that's not going to tell you lay hands on them or you told them something God said. And the first thing the parent gonna want to do, because they see dollar signs, is want to put in a lawsuit because you violated. So no, we have to align with the kingdom and trust God to provide. Amen. Verse 8, he said, I said to them, we according to our ability have been brought back— bought back our Jew— have been bought back our Jewish brethren who are sold to the nations. But will you even sell your brethren that they may be sold to us? Then they were silent and found not a word to say. See, we have to be so anointed and confrontational to systems that they have no rebuttal. You know why? Because they knew this was God. They knew the prophet was speaking from God, so they had no rebuttal. Prophet wasn't making up nothing, trying to get brownie points with the king. I know we need our brethren back. Are y'all hearing this? Okay, I'm gonna keep reading. Verse 9: Also I said, what are you doing? What you are doing is not good. Should you not walk in the fear of God to prevent the taunts and reproach of the nations of our enemies? Verse 10: I, my brethren and servants, are lending them money and grain. Let us stop this forbidden interest. So not only did the prophet prophesy, but the prophet had enough money and enough grain to pay for the people to be released. That don't sound like modern-day prophets. Monday prophet, first of all, I'm going to charge you for this prophecy. I need 365, I need 1,000 for this property. That's what they gonna do before you even get the word. That's crazy. That's why we got to build stability in the marketplace so we can relieve debt for other people. Yeah, I envision our church, and once I envision this in this building we're going in, I believe God's going to use us where we're going to be able to have people bring their debts to the church in our community, and we're going to have enough to help people who are connected to our church resolve all their debt. That's the vision God showed. I'm talking about for real, not just certain bills. There were churches that have done this type thing before. I've seen it. Well, bring your credit card statement and whatever, we'll pay that out. No, we're going to tell them, if you connected to this house Bring all your bills. You talking about generosity at another level when people are free from debt. Of course, they're going to be some prerequisite training and discipleship to go before that debt get pays off, because we want to make sure you do the right thing with that freedom. Are y'all hearing this? And don't go get right back in debt. Hallelujah. Are y'all here? All right, say, God will relieve the debt. Come on, say it again. Say, God will relieve the debt. Hallelujah. That's right, son, he will do it. Glory to God. Hallelujah. All right, here's another one. Go to— yeah, shabandi aso. I believe God, y'all. I'm just seeing it in my mind, burning the debt of a community and liberating people from the slave master of debt. Watch this. There are no more white slave masters, but the Fortune 500 companies that own the debt have enslaved many of us. Hi. Okay, all right, so that's, that's too much, right? Okay, someone said, Apostle, that's too much for Thursday night. I'm sorry. Glory to God. Go to Matthew 18. We're gonna go there. Matthew 18. Y'all getting something so far? I'm almost done. Matthew 18. I'm trying— y'all see I'm standing in this spot, right? Yeah. Matthew 18, start at verse number 23. Glory to God. It says, therefore the kingdom of heaven is like a human king who wished to settle accounts with attendants. Verse 24: When he began the accounting, one was brought to him who owed him 10,000 talents, probably about $10,000. I'm reading Amplified again. Verse 25: And because he could not pay, his master ordered him to be sold. Ain't that something? He can't pay, the master ordered you to be sold. Pay your debt with yourself. My God, he said, often, and with his wife and his children and everything that he possessed, and pay. So not only you going, buddy, but pack up your children, get all your possessions. You can't pay this back, you're gonna come, you're going to work, you're about to become a slave. Natural debt is no different. It's no different because many times we get stressed out. We— folks start working 3 and 4 jobs to pay bills. They don't spend time with their family. Stuff starts suffering when you accumulate too much debt. Are y'all hearing this? Because you're a slave to the— the borrower is slave to the lender. Okay, verse 27, he says— I'm sorry, verse 26, he says, so the attendant fell on his knees. I bet he did, begging him, have patience with me, I will pay you everything. Here we go, verse 27. And his master's heart was moved with compassion, and he released him, forgave him, canceling the debt. Notice this is a parable of the kingdom. So God says, I will cancel your— what you owe if you humble yourself. Part of humbling yourself is admitting you got a problem going in debt. God, just because you can get approved for it don't mean you should get it. Are y'all hearing this? Some credit card companies, especially when I was in school, they would give cards to students and we didn't have no sense. I got every card I can get and we're running it up and wasn't paying nothing. Y'all ain't got— like, man, I'm gonna get these Jordans, I'm gonna get— I was buying everything. And when it came time to that bill, like, okay, I don't know what to do with that. Well, that's what mama taught, but that wasn't the right thing to do. Put it back in the mailbox. No, the reality is we, we cannot overwhelm ourselves. Are y'all hearing it? Yes, sir. So I gotta humble myself so my debts can be relieved. Watch this. Sometimes humility means understanding you don't know more than God. Watch this. And that God's way is better than your way. Are y'all here? I'll say it again: God's way is better than your way. I'll say one more time: God's way is better than your way. I know we think our way is better, but sometimes you got to know, okay, you know what, I ain't gonna even worry about this. I'm gonna do what I can I'm gonna humble myself, repent. Sometimes it means get on your knees and God, I'm sorry that I've accumulated all this debt that I couldn't handle. I've had to do that. Are y'all hearing this? Sometimes it calls for repentance so you can get relieved. That's okay, I see your heart, but you really ain't proving you want to get out of debt if you trying to get in more debt to get out of there? There's some people that do that. It's not the way to do it. Go to Matthew 6. Hallelujah. And verse 12: And forgive us our debts, as we have also forgiven— remitted, let go of the debts— of others. Others. How can you expect God to relieve your debt and you still holding debt over somebody else's head? Man, there's some folk in the church— owe them some money you want to, they'll see you 20 years later, man, you owe me some money from 1999. But how you gonna— some, some stuff you just gotta let go. I've come to this end, man. If I give somebody some money, most of the time I ain't looking for it back. I don't really expect you to pay me back, even if you saying it. If I'm giving it to you, I probably should not be saying it public, because people might lie and say I— but I really honestly am not expecting the money back. That helps me stay free, so if I need God to forgive me. So that means too, I ain't gonna loan you no more than I want to loan you. I had somebody call me one time, Doc, I'm going through it, man. I need this, I need this. I said, well, just, you got to go through all that. What's the bottom? What's your number? What you need, man? I want to try to help you. He said, man, yeah, if you can give me about 10 right now. I said, $10? He said, no, Doc, I need $10,000. I said, I'll tell you what, I got $1,000 for you and we gonna pray about the rest. He's like, nah, man, I need the whole 10. I'm like, dude, first of all, do you need me to just keep my $1,000? Because first of all, I'm comfortable giving you $1,000, because based on what you just said, I'm not getting that back. You ain't gonna even pay me that back. Ain't no way I'm about to give you 10. Even though I could, I ain't getting it to you because I ain't gonna get it back. Oh yeah, dog, I'm gonna pay you, I got you. No, no, you don't. Guess what? I gave him the $1,000. I ain't seen that $1,000. It's been 7 years. I wish I could report him to a credit bureau, but, but I would be blocking my blessing. I had to let that debt go. And I'll be seeing them on social media flossing, traveling, going everywhere, new people, posting everything new he get. Yeah, that's my thousand right there, dude. But you gotta let it go so you can be forgiven when you need your debt forgiven. Are y'all hearing this? The key point is forgive us our debts. As we forgive our debtors. So if they owe it and they ain't paid it yet, don't lose no sleep. Pray this prayer right here. Say, Lord, I'm letting that go so you can relieve me of my debt. Jesus, that's the love of God, man, that you can release somebody that don't even deserve to be released. Are y'all hearing this? Watch this. And see them being blessed and still rejoice with, even though they did you wrong. Oh God. Okay, all right, go to Colossians 2. Say, he removes that. Colossians 2. Man, I'm doing good standing in this spot. 2:13, Amplified. The Bible says, and when you were dead in trespasses and uncircumcision of your flesh, your sensuality, your sinful carnal nature, God brought to life together with Christ, having freely forgiven us all our transgressions. Watch this, verse 14, having canceled and blotted out and wiped away the handwriting of the note bond with its legal decrees and demands, which was enforced and stood against us, hostile to us. This note with its regulations, decrees, and demands, he set aside and cleared completely out of our way by nailing it to his cross. So Jesus canceled and blotted out the note. Are y'all hearing this? That includes your house note, that includes your car note, it includes your credit card bills and notes. It's nailed to the cross, it's canceled. We just got to accept that. And we got to start praying this. God, well, God, you said my house note is canceled. Are y'all hearing this? So that you can get a zero balance on that mortgage statement. Amen. But you got to pray it. You got to trust that God can actually do this because you've got some legal contracts that you financially obligated to. Are y'all here? Say this with me. Say, in the name of Jesus, say, I decree and declare through the blood of Jesus, every note, every demand, every debt has been canceled. Say, in Jesus' name. That includes credit card debt, mortgage debt, house debt, car debt. Say, in Jesus' name, I owe no man nothing but to love him because the blood has removed my debt. Say, I expect any day now my mortgage to be paid off, my car to be paid off. My credit cards to be paid off in the name of Jesus. I declare student loans paid off in Jesus' name. It is so. Come on, give God praise if you believe that. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Glory to God. Sometime even in the midst of reducing, removing debt, he'll reduce the debt. That's a part of removing it too. See, sometimes you can have a debt that's— this has happened to me. I have a debt, $7,500, $8,000, and out of nowhere the creditor called me, said, look, we don't want to carry this paper no more, we want to reduce your debt. If you'll pay it all right now, we're going to reduce it to $1,800. Well, when that happens, that's a blessing. 'Cause they ain't got to do that. Now, unless you negotiating that 'cause you behind. Some creditors get tired of you not paying. So like, look, at least if I can knock this off, they might pay. But now that ain't what I'm talking about. I'm talking about you in good standing and they just say, okay, we want to relieve you of this interest that's connected to this note and reduce it down significantly. Are y'all here? So it's easier for you. Are y'all hearing me? Okay, y'all don't believe that. Go to Luke 16. I got to read it to you. Luke 16. I got to read it to you. I want to show you. 16 and 1. Also, Jesus said to the disciples, there was a certain rich man who had a manager of his estate, and accusations against this man were brought to him that he was squandering the master's possessions. Here we go. And he called him and said to him, what is this that I hear about you? Turn in the account of your management of my affairs, for you can be my manager no longer. He fired him, right? And the manager of the estate said to himself, what shall I do? Seeing that my master is taking the management away from me, I'm not able to dig and I'm ashamed to be. In other words, all I know how to do is manage his affairs. This is my skill set, this is my expertise. I can't get out here and dig no holes, I can't dig no wells. I am a manager of affairs. Verse 4: I've come to know what I will do so that they, my master's debtors, may accept and welcome me into their houses when I am put out of management. Him. So he summons the master's debtors one by one, and he said to the first, how much do you owe my master? He said, 100 measures, about 900 gallons of oil. And he said to him, take back your written acknowledgment of obligation and sit down quickly and write about 450 gallons. Here we go. After that, he said to another, how much do you owe? He said, 100 measures, about 900 bushels of wheat. He said to them, take back your written acknowledgment of obligation and write about 780 or 700 bushels. Watch this. And his master praised the dishonest, unjust manager for acting shrewdly and prudently. For the sons of this age are shrewder and more prudent and wiser in relation to their own generation, to their own age and kind than the sons of light. This— that is so— he was getting fired. Guess what he did? He kept being a manager. He kept operating in his expertise so he wouldn't get fired. So to collect the debt that was owed— again, these guys weren't paying nothing— he said, now write this out. In other words, I know my master, he gonna take something over nothing. And the master said, okay, because you did that, I'm not gonna fire you. But notice the parable here is the debt was reduced. Are y'all hearing this? Say, God will reduce the debt. Here's the last one. So, so, so we, we've learned tonight that these three ways— one, he provides the finances. Say, he provides finance. He removes the debt. He removed it. And lastly, he moves upon others. He moves upon others. Go to Philemon 18 and 19. Now Philemon is one of them books in the New Testament you got to fast and pray to locate, but it is there. Ain't but one chapter. We looking at verses 18 and 19. Philemon. The Bible says this, verse 18: And if he has done you any wrong in any way, or owes anything to you, charge that to my account. Oh my God. Paul says, I write it with my own hand, I promise to repay it. Here's the significant part about this. Paul was an apostle. Again, apostolically, we have to be in position of stability to help people relieve their debts if God moves upon us to do it. Are y'all hearing this? He said, that is to say nothing of the fact that you owe me your very self. He said, I'm gonna repay you, you, but you, even though I know you owe me everything, I'm gonna still get you out of this debt, Philemon, because Philemon had a work to do and he didn't want the debt to be in the way of the work. So the apostle says, okay, let me tell them Whatever he owes you, I got this, so that he could be free to do what he's assigned to do. That is so good, that God will move upon others to bless you so you can freely do what you're called to do. Can I tell you something? As we continue to build what God has called us to build, even in this church, God's gonna move on not just people to bless the church, but he's gonna move on people to bless you. So you could be a blessing to the church. Are y'all hearing this? So that things can be moved out of your way, so you can operate at a level of generosity that cannot be denied. But you got a purpose in your heart, you want to do that, right? All right, let's go to Luke. He said— let me just go back for a little bit. He said, look, this man done any wrong to you, if he owe you anything, charge it to my account. That's some powerful stuff that somebody shows up and say, look, don't charge him nothing, charge it to my account. That's good stuff. I'm telling you, I, I, I perceive this in the spirit that people are coming that are going to utter those words in your life: charge it to my account. Are y'all hearing this? Glory to God. I got it, no worries. You do the work of the Lord. I love it. Praise God. Luke 10:30, let's look at that. Hallelujah. Lord, we love you and adore you. The Bible says Jesus, taking him up, replied A certain man was going from Jerusalem to Jericho. Y'all know this story. And he fell among thieves who stripped him of his clothes and belongings and beat him and went their way, leaving him half dead. As it happened, there's some stuff in life— watch this— that'll hit you so hard it'll leave you half dead. Half dead means your heart still work, your lungs still work, Everything in your body still work, but you feel dead on the inside because that blow hits you so hard. Well, maybe I'm the only one that's been there. I done got hit so hard. Glory. And I don't even understand how I stood through. I understand it now that it was God that when the enemy hit me with his best shot, I'm still standing. But when, when you're on that rope— and watch this, this man is on his way home. He's on the Jericho Road, which is a winding and the anthering road that he took this road every day. Thieves and robbers always hid out on this road to rob people because there was a lot of places they could hide. There's always someone trying to take what God has given you. Are y'all hearing this? There's a thief that doesn't want you to get home. But can I submit to you, there's no wrong way to go home. You're— this man is innocent. He's going home. There's no wrong way to go. He's trying to get to his house. Robbers interfere with that process. Watch this. Many times you're just trying to live life. And debt shows up. You ever been in the mall and you see all these signs that say Instacredit, just fill it out right now? That's that kind of thing. You just trying to get to where you going, but then that thing pulls you in. You gotta decide, I'm not gonna let debt rob me of getting to my destination. Okay, because it'll leave you half dead if you're not careful. Verse 31: Now by coincidence, a certain priest was going down along that road, and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. Interesting. The priest, the rabbi, saw the man half dead. Because I ain't got nothing for him, the priest did this. And kept going. A lot of times people paint a bad picture of the priest because he didn't stop to help. He could have stopped and prayed, if at least, but he didn't do that. I think this priest didn't have the financial capacity to help him. And he knew it. And he probably felt in his heart, I— if I pray for him, that really won't be enough. I need to help this man. So probably embarrassment made him go to the other side. I'm just trying to defend the case of the priest because everybody always talks about the priest. I'm just saying, that's another perspective. It ain't that he was just this bad guy that he could have really had him a conscious himself. And sometimes there are some people that can't handle not being able to help other people. It psychologically debilitates them because they can't help. Are y'all hearing this? And it becomes a trauma to them because they cannot help somebody. You got to be careful of that because that can cause debt too. Are y'all hearing this? Because you can go in debt yourself trying to help other people and you neglect what you're supposed to do. Are y'all here? Okay, verse 32. A Levite likewise came down to the place and saw him and passed on the other side. He did the same thing. Now, the Levite is the worshiper. The Levites were the singers. These people that led folk to God, they rejoiced and praised up in front of everybody else, but crossed to the other side. Perhaps the Levites had the same story as the priest. Maybe they just financially were not capable of helping. What am I saying in that? We have to become stable enough in our gifting, whether it's priest or singer or worshiper. Wherever we serve in the kingdom, we got to be stable so we don't run from opportunities to give assistance. That's why God wants to get us stable. Y'all with me? But a certain Samaritan— one translation calls him a good Samaritan, but a good Samaritan, certain or good, a profitable Samaritan. Watch this. He had money, he had resources. As he traveled along, came down to where he was, and when he saw him, he was moved with compassion and sympathy for him. And he went to him, dressed his wounds, pouring oil. He had oil and wine. You had some oil and wine back then, you were balling. He had both, which means he had, uh, oil harvest from grapes. Are y'all hearing this? He had wine harvest from grapes. He was doing the thing, man. And so he had both, and he set him on— he had a beast, he had a horse or a donkey, and brought him to an inn and took care. He even had a room at a hotel. Again, quite— perhaps the Levite and the priest didn't have this kind of stability. I want y'all to think about that, you know. Maybe that's the reason they didn't stop. I mean, we've been teaching this in Sunday school forever, and we, we beat up the priests. I mean, I've seen preachers come to a close and preach the Levite and the priest into hell and lift up this Good Samaritan. But the Good Samaritan was able to be a Good Samaritan because he had it. This is the point: we gotta stay out of debt. So we have it. Are y'all hearing this? So he moves upon us to help others. We got it. Took him to an end. Verse 36: Which of these three do you think proved himself a neighbor to him who fell among the robbers? First, he answered, the one who showed pity and mercy on him. Jesus said, go and do likewise. So if I'm gonna do likewise, I'm not just gonna have pity on him, I'm gonna also create stability so I can be properly moved with compassion. I hear that. So I'm gonna just do half of it because I can't really effectively help him if I'm unstable. Okay, all right, I'm gonna move. So here we see in all three of these packages— Philemon 18:19, Luke 10:30-37— both of these passages that God— here, this is the one that moves upon the person. I want to say that real emphatically, seriously. Let God move upon you to help people, and let others be open to receive when God moves upon them to bless you. I was over here today meeting with somebody, and, um, God moved upon them to be a blessing to me. And I told him, I said, well, you get to the church, you want to say, no, I'm blessed you with this. Are y'all hearing this? The reality is when people are led of God to bless you, you got to be open to receive what they give. Are y'all hearing me? Somebody said, oh, I ain't got no problem with receiving. That means it. But if you get in that mindset, you'll never feel the need to put pressure on people. To give to you. It shouldn't be a— you shouldn't have to pressure people to be a blessing to you, because God has people that he will move on their heart to do it. Guess what? Faith actually puts pressure on the word and the covenant. So when people move, you use your faith to put pressure on the word to perform in their life, because because they did follow God. Are y'all here? Yeah. So you— that means you got to pray for people that give to you. Faith always says— and I'm done— that God is my source, not debt, not Amex. Are y'all hearing this? Not a black card. God's our source. And that has to always be the attitude. Did y'all learn something tonight? Everybody stand. I'm done. Glory to God. We give you glory, God. We sing praises to your name. Oh Lord, praises to your name. Oh Lord, for your name is great and greatly to be praised. We sing praises to Your name, oh Lord, praises to your name. Eshatanansia. Oh Lord, for your name is great and greatly to to be praised. Come on, y'all, help me. We sing praises to— come on, everybody, sing. Oh Lord, praises to— sing. Oh Lord, oh Lord. For your name, and greatly to, to be praised. Come on, one more time we sing praises. Come on everybody! Oh Lord, praises to. Oh Lord, oh Lord, for your name is great and greatly to be praised. Say this with me. Say, Heavenly Father, in Jesus' name. In Jesus' name. Say, I receive the word. I receive the word. And I decree and declare that you can and you will eliminate my debt supernaturally. Say, I believe that you will provide the finances, so I sit in expectation for supernatural finances. To break into my life. My heart is open to receive far more than I have expected. Say in Jesus' name, say I believe you will remove the debt. Say I thank you that through your blood the note has been canceled, and in Jesus' name, my debt has been removed. Say, I declare I'm debt-free. I'm debt-free in Jesus' name. Say, Lord, I believe you'll move on others to be a blessing in my life. I receive it now because you, God, are my source. In Jesus' name. Man, if you believe what we just taught, give God praise. God, we repent for debt. We repent, God, for mismanagement in any area. God, have mercy on your people. That we may be good stewards over what you've given us. In Jesus' name, clap your hands again and praise God. Come on, come on, bless his name. Oh, your name, I'm greatly— come on, for your name. For your name, for your— greatly too. Well, thank you, Jesus. Come on, one last time. For your— Clap your hands and bless the Lord. Hallelujah! Glory to God! Tonight I want you to get your best offering and give unto the Lord. Uh, please do not use PayPal again. Something is wrong with our PayPal. Uh, if you will use our Cash App, and there are two that pop up. One says Rother Leadership One. Do not use that one. Uh, use Rother Church. Uh, Rother Leadership One is a separate account for just leadership things that we created. Use Rother Church. Glory to God. Uh, Zelle is info@rotherchurch.com. Uh, if you want to give online Go to rhodochurch.com/donate and get your seed in the ground. God bless every giver. Give it back to them a thousand times more. We're standing, we're going home. Glory to God. Oh, your name, your name, your name. Yes, God. Oh, your name is great. And greatly. How great is your name, Jesus? For your name is great and greatly to be praised. For your name is great, and great be to be praised. Father, we thank you and we give you glory, we give you honor, we give you praise. Thank you for this teaching tonight. And again, we repent for any area where we've held debt against others. We release people. And Father, even wrong they've done to us, we release them in Jesus' name. And so Father, we thank you that you will forgive our debt. And as we leave this place, we thank you for a debt-free people, supernatural money finding us even as we go into the weekend. Thank you for blessings that cannot be denied, and we praise you for it now in Jesus' name. Bless us as we go, and even as we return to this place on Sunday, may your glory meet us here in Jesus' name. Amen and amen. Hug somebody, tell them you love them. Y'all, please pray for me. I am flying to Chicago in the morning, our night, fly back home on Saturday. Keep us in your prayers. Glory to the name of God as we travel tomorrow.