Charisma without Character, Part 4: “Discipline” | Dr. Mike Woods

Well, praise the Lord everybody, and welcome to our Thursday night Bible study. Listen guys, if you're here Do me a favor and just say hello. We're streaming to several places tonight. Uh, we're streaming YouTube, Facebook, uh, in a few places on Facebook— the church page, uh, my other Dr. Mike Woods Senior page, uh, personal page. And we're also streaming to YouTube tonight. So if you're here, uh, please say hello. God bless you, Pastor Jeffrey Jasper. God bless you tonight. Good to see you, sir. Uh, God bless you, Miss Rhymes. Thank you for being here. Listen, I need every one of you to like this video, uh, comment below, and please share it. We're going to get started in just a moment. Uh, I'm super excited at the opportunity to share with you. Glory to God. I believe that God is going to do something very, very, very, very important for every one of us tonight as we prepare Uh, we're rushing. I'm telling you, I've been, I've been trying to get you guys ready since, uh, really the end of September for 2024. And every message I've taught, every series, uh, has been to, uh, shift the mindset and change the trajectory of your thinking as you go into this year of what we believe is going to be the year of the elected, where it's going to be the year of commencement and graduation and forward movement for God's people. So I really, guys, want you to grab these messages. Uh, the Bible does say that we are blessed to be a blessing. So do me a favor, guys, uh, like Pastor Jasper is doing, tag someone in the comments. Uh, please share this with someone in their inbox, share it on your page. You know, if it's blessing you, you shouldn't be ashamed to be a blessing to everyone. God bless you, Minister Sims. Good to see you all tonight. God bless you, wife. Good to see you. Uh, you guys, again, say hello in the bottom in the comments. And do me a favor, wherever you're joining us from, I need you to share this. And we're going to get started in just one moment. Glory to God. God is so good, he's so mighty, he's so wonderful. I'm going to share it with a few people, uh, right here on my iPad, and I just want you to follow suit, guys, and just do the same. Glory to God. I believe God will be glorified. Hallelujah. And I believe the devil will be horrified. Thank you, Jesus. Hallelujah. And we will be edified and blessed, uh, because of our obedience. So please, guys, help us out tonight and, uh, let's get this word out. Uh, last week was absolutely phenomenal. The numbers that we had, uh, was just simply amazing. So I'm going to share this to another list while we're waiting. Uh, we're going to get started about 5 minutes. I think last week we broke the barrier, about 3,200 people who were live on, uh, YouTube. And then on Facebook, I think we had like 2,800. Um, I'd like to believe the Lord, glory to God, that we can, uh, uh, at least get close to that tonight. So I'm gonna, uh, I'm gonna send the links out to a list because I'm trying to find out what's the missing link here. So I'm trying to— I'm going to send it out to a list that, uh, we normally don't use all the time when we go live for our Bible study. But you guys, while I'm doing this, can you please kindly— yes, Lord, uh, share this for us? Glory to God. I promise you, uh, you'll be glad you did. Praise God. So let's find the list. All right, so we're gonna go to Um, this list here, let's see, what do we need? Let's go to the link. Yeah, you guys share. If you're just joining us, we're asking everybody to share. I'm doing the same. We're gonna get started with the teaching in a moment. I'm excited to share. You don't want to miss this, uh, message tonight, um, because I promise you guys Uh, this particular word is going to be something that you're going to need to carry you through next year if you're going to fulfill your dreams. Uh, we've been teaching on charisma without character, and tonight we're talking about the power of discipline. I started a little this in the DMV last week. I plan, glory to God, uh, to get through discipline tonight, so you need to stay with— discipline is a powerful tool. You and I need it if we're going to have good success, if we're going to fulfill kingdom purpose. You will never ever be able to do it, uh, ladies and gentlemen, without being disciplined. So, uh, this is what we're talking about. This is what we're going to, uh, share tonight. So I need you guys— glory to God, uh, we got a few people on YouTube, few people on Facebook, uh, but we want— we're gonna— we're gonna send out this link to this other email list. Glory, I think this may be the missing link, and I think we— I need to really make sure we engage these people, uh, every single time we go live. Amen. So y'all stay with me, stay with me, stay with me, stay with me. Glory to God. And, uh, I promise you everything is gonna be all right. Praise the name of Jesus. Glory to God. Wonderful Savior. He's a mighty God. Beside him there is no other. Hallelujah! We love him. You guys come in, we're gonna get started in a moment. We're just trying to get everybody to get engaged and to share. And if you're coming in, it's just nice to be nice, so please say hello down in the comments. Glory to God! And let us know that you are here. Praise God! And we will— we would certainly and absolutely and kindly appreciate that. Praise God! Uh, it's again, it's just nice, uh, to nice. Praise God. And so, uh, say hello. And guys, do me a favor, please tag someone, share this with someone. Uh, we're gonna get started directly in a few moments. Praise the Lord. I love you all. I love you all. You're so wonderful. Thank all of you that are being obedient and sharing. Glory to God. Share. Whether you're coming in here live or if you're watching this tomorrow by replay, I need you to— glory to God— share this. Praise God. I promise you, it's going to be worth the share. Glory to God. It's going to be worth the share. Praise the name of Jesus. We give God praise. Amen. We love him, right? We love him because he's worthy to be glorified. He's worthy to be magnified. He's worthy to be praised. And beside him, there is no other. We bless you tonight, God. I'm just, I'm just, I'm gonna hit another list, one more mailing list we have. We're gonna hit it. Glory to God. Praise God. And we're gonna trust God that, uh, we're gonna see, uh, some results tonight. Amen. Y'all with me? Amen. We want to get this word out to as many people as we can. That, that's important. Praise God. That's so important. Glory to God. I'm just checking YouTube really quick to see where we're at. Amen. So let's, let's— we need, we need to share so we can get some viewers on. I think we got 6 watching on YouTube. Glory to God. So let's share, let's share the links to the videos, and we're gonna get this. I love y'all, man. Glory to God. Thank y'all that are coming in. We're just trying to get people on. People are bouncing in and out, but glory to our God, he is so good. Praise God, he's a good God, and there's beside him there is no other. Praise the name of Jesus. We bless him, we honor him. Glory to God. Hashetoboshie. We give you glory, God. We give you honor. We give you the praise. You're good and you're good all the time. We glorify you. I'm just sending this message, God. Y'all pray. Glory to God. We're going to get these numbers right tonight again. I want— I want— I believe if we did it last week We can at least get close to where we were last week. Are y'all hearing this? Yes, God. Thank you, Jesus. Hallelujah. Y'all in the— y'all dialogue with us really quick while we're doing this. How was your day? How was your Thursday? Glory to God. I pray that everybody had a great Thursday. Again, we got about 3 more minutes. We're gonna start right at 8:15, I promise you. Just sending out these emails. I got email list and text list everywhere. Glory to God. And I think this is the missing link right here, and maybe we might have— should have sent it out earlier. Glory, glory to God. Thank you, Jesus. All right. We gonna see what happened. Praise God. All right guys, I love y'all. Welcome everybody tonight. I pray again, glory to God, that everybody had a super Thursday. By now everyone should have shared, glory to God, and everyone should be on. Let me see what we got. God bless everyone that's here that's commenting. I love you all. God bless you, LQ. God bless you, Josephine Marsh. Welcome. God bless you, Donna Bailey. God bless you, Prophetess Sharon. God bless you, Minister Mia. God bless everyone that's here. Glory to God. Hallelujah. I love y'all. I love y'all. So let's, let's see how we can get this word out tonight, and I believe God's gonna bless us and we're never going to be the same. Let's pray. Praise God. Father, we give you praise. And we give you glory, we give you honor. We thank you for your goodness, your mercy, your grace. We thank you for your favor. And Father, beside you there is none other. You rule and you super rule. Heaven is your throne, the earth is your footstool. The heavens declare your glory and the earth your handiwork. Father, move by your spirit tonight. Let us experience the light, the illumination, and the intelligence of the Holy Ghost. May someone be blessed. And I decree and declare tonight, God, that your people will be blessed by you and never impressed by me. I thank you, God, that lives will be changed. We will be pushed into a new dimension, and I give you praise for that now in Jesus' name. Amen. And thanks be to God. We give God praise. Now see, now see, see, I opened my eyes and I saw this number clicking. God have mercy. I'm telling you, God is good. Welcome to the 725 that's— that I see watching right now, whether you're on Facebook. Glory to God! I'm telling you, God is looking out for us. Y'all ain't got to say nothing to me. Glory to God! Hey, Tam, Dr. Tam, God bless you. Hallelujah! We're at 727. Y'all keep sharing. Let's see if we can hit 1,000 tonight. But I'm gonna get started in this. I believe this word is necessary. I believe that there'll be change. God bless you, Bernice Lohman. Welcome here tonight. I believe that as we cross over into 2024 like never before, it's not gonna be enough for you to be skilled. It's not gonna be enough for you to be gifted. It's not gonna be enough— watch this— for you to be anointed. I'm gonna say that again for the anointed people that think that that's all you need is the anointing. I'm gonna say it one more again. It's not enough for you to be anointed. You're going to have to begin to align the anointing on your life with discipline, with work. And discipline and work requires strong character. Again, it's not enough for you to have— hear me— a lot of gifts, a lot of anointing, and you have no character to back it up, a lot of charisma. So this is part 3 of this message. Go back and watch the other messages. I, I spoke first about Uh, glory to God, Charisma Without Character. We got into the wisdom piece. Then secondly, we began to kind of unlock what charisma was, and we talked a little, uh, about in the second message about habit, how habits are formed through discipline or the lack of discipline. And I realized when we left off in that message that we needed to continue in that. Hear me, that we need to continue in that line. We need to continue along those lines. Hear me, the reality is, guys, my God, today you can have skill, you can be gifted, but the lack of discipline also is formed by bad habits. And I just want to share something with you off the rip, and we're going to get into this again. I talked about this in, in the DMV, and we, we talked about the fruit of the Spirit. God bless you, uh, Darnese Williams, welcome. We talked about the fruit of the Spirit when we were in the DMV, and we talked about the works of the flesh and how it takes discipline to really defeat the works of the flesh. We got into breaking down what those was, because many times people jump right over Galatians 5:19 3 through 21, and there are actually 21 works of the flesh, and we jump right to 9 fruit of the Spirit. The reality is we must defeat the works of the flesh, and it takes discipline to do that. Matter of fact, touch yourself tonight and say, I have discipline. Type it in the comments and just type these words so that when people show up on this live, when they're scrolling Type, I am a person of discipline. And even if you're not, I want you to get that in the atmosphere. Glory to God that you operate at a high level of discipline. I need you to say it, I need you to write it, I need that to come alive in your life because discipline is going to be key. Glory to God, to moving to this next level, to this next dimension. Me personally, watch this, with all the things that I have achieved in my life, uh, whether it be in ministry, business, whether it be as a husband, as a father, no matter what I've achieved, glory to God, whether it's educationally, any achievement I had, I had to defeat— watch this, and I'm gonna start here because this is important, because I believe this is going to help somebody, and I'm going to be very transparent with you in some areas that God delivered me from. I had to defeat the spirit of entitlement. I'm gonna say it again. Most people who are lazy and who don't move in discipline, who have a, a very poor work ethic when it comes to their dreams, they walk around— hear me— with the spirit of entitlement. They feel like people owe them something. And I want to tell y'all something. I used to be that guy. I felt like because of, you know, some of the things I went through when I was a kid, some of the stuff I went through growing up, some of the things I had to endure because I gave my life over to ministry, I felt like, okay, well, God is just gonna bless me because I'm me. Because I mean, I'm owed this, I'm entitled this. And the reality is Just because you're saved, hear me, and just because you're gifted, it doesn't make you entitled to receive what God has pro— oh my God, I'm going to say it, I'm going to say it, and I hope you get it tonight. Listen, some of you may not like me when I'm done, but the reality is, if you get this message and don't ever listen to me again You would have gotten the message that could change the entire trajectory of your life, and you could have good success because you chose— hear me, hear me— to move in wisdom, to move in discipline. Okay, just because you're saved, just because you got gifts, just because you're smart, just because you got a degree, just because you had a bad past and now you're born again You feel like you're entitled for blessings just to drop out of the sky. I'm sorry to tell you, I'm the guy that's going to tell you the truth. It's not going to happen. I'm so serious, it's not going to happen. It's not falling out the sky. You have to have a strong discipline and work ethic. The only place blessing and success comes before work is in the dictionary. I'm telling you right now, I've never cashed a check that was drawn on the Bank of Heaven. Every check I've deposited was always drawn on the bank in the earth. And the reality is, is because I moved in discipline, even, even having enough discipline to back away from something when it's not working, to stop beating a dead horse, and to have enough courage and, and watch this, faith in what God said to me about me and what he told me to do to back up from a mistake before it buries me. Oh, I'm gonna help you tonight. Matter of fact, while I'm talking, I'm working on you. Quanitra Rhymes is watching on YouTube. Minister Mia is watching on YouTube. Uh, Mia, tell us how many people we got watching with you on YouTube. Glory to God. I just want to monitor these numbers. Glory to God. Listen, You, you gotta understand something, guys. The reality is it ain't just— and I had to say to myself, I remember this at 32 years old, Michael, no one's gonna rescue you. Michael, you're not entitled. Michael, nobody is your backup plan. Michael, the blessing is not falling out of the sky. Michael, nobody will write the business plan for you. Michael, nobody will walk by faith for you. You're going to have to do it yourself, Michael. And I say it to you tonight, glory to God, you need to hear me. Oh my God, choose to get it done. Watch this, you are your own hindrance. Nobody's gonna— to say it again, I have discipline. My God, today, my God, today. Glory to God, glory to God, glory to God. Glory to God. Glory to— ish ketamandoroboshi. Glory to God. You got to say it. I got discipline. I got discipline. You, you got— nobody's— there's no boats gonna come by to pick you up. There's no magic. You're gonna have to do the work. You're gonna have to discipline yourself to move toward The dream. You're gonna have to work hard. You're gonna have to ask yourself questions every morning you get up. Do you hit the snooze button, or do you get up early enough to go take a walk or to run, or get up early enough to pray and lay before God? You have to put the work in. Or do you get up early enough to study your word and write? Do you get up early enough to research what you need to get done for that business, or do you hit the snooze button? You don't get to quit when you're disciplined because you're tired. I'm smiling, but I love y'all. You get to quit when you're finished. You don't get to stop because You're tired. You only stop when you're finished. Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God. Somebody say, I'm tired, it's too much, I can't do it anymore. People who win don't make those kind of excuses. Okay, somebody said, uh, Apostle Woods, uh, please take us to the word. Oh, let's go! I'm going through it right now. Thank you, Jesus. Somebody just tell him thank you, Jesus. So you've been waiting on somebody to come and rescue you. You've been waiting for someone. Glory to God. To come and make it easier for you. It's not gonna happen. I'm sorry, I'm sorry, it ain't happening. It ain't happening, y'all. All right, all right, let's go, let's go. So go to Luke 8:14. Let's go there. Luke 8:14, man. Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Jesus. The Bible says, and that which fell upon thorns are they which, when they have heard, go forth and are choked with cares and riches and pleasures of this life, and bring forth no fruit to perfection. Now, this particular text it's all about bearing fruit, right? Now you have to propose a question when you look at your life and it's not bearing fruit. If you go back and read this entire chapter up to verse 14, it's going to start— it's going to talk about sowing. And we're not talking about money, we're talking about your talent, your time, your work, all right? So it takes work to till the ground and get it ready for planting, and then it takes work to actually, as a farmer, get out there and sow seed. Sow seed. The reality is many of us have not, first of all, taken up the time to break up the fallow ground. We're trying to sow Watch this, on old foundation. Oh, preach to yourself, Michael. Praise to yourself. God just spoke something. I'm, I'm gonna have a quick meeting with the people in Jackson after this, because what we can't do is sow on old ground. We can't sow on memories. We can't build that church on who Michael Woods was in the past. God knows we can't. Do that. That's in the past. And we're sowing among thorns if we could— if we do that, if our expectation is that— can't do it. We're working against ourselves. You got to do the work and get the ground ready. You, you've been planning your time. Watch this, sowing your dreams and ideas into the minds of people and locations and cultures that have no idea who you are, and you'll never bear fruit like this. So ask yourself the question: if you're not bearing fruit, has your seed actually been sown, or has it fell among thorns? Oh my God. Oh my God. Oh Jesus. And because it's being choked out— watch this— because you take pleasure— this is whole— that whole verse is about taking pleasure in what people think. So when you put your energy in what people think and what they want of you and not really what God wants of you and what you're sowing for them Oh my God, this could be equivalent to sowing your life into a job. I'm saying you need to quit your job. What I am saying, you need to figure out where you need to be planning your time, because maybe that job is not going to bring forth the fruit that you were created to bear. Oh my God, fruit doesn't come forth when it's felt— when it falls among thorns, the fruit doesn't ripen. Oh my God. So really what happens when you are fruitful, because you're commanded in Genesis 1:28 to be fruitful, because we can never have dominion unless we're fruitful first. So what this does is create an issue between you and God. Oh, you thought the issue was something else. You thought it was you and people, or another person, or somebody was holding you back. No, your lack of work, your lack of discipline, your lack of focus, your— you're always being distracted and never can be disciplined to stay locked in. That ain't other people's fault. That's a problem that you have with God. Because God ultimately is the one that holds the blessing. He holds the manifestation of the promise, and you out here crazy trying to do it yourself. You're dreaming, trying to build something without God, and you'll never build it without God. You'll look up 20 years because it's a God dream, and you'll be in the same place. You're making it harder than it needs to be. Oh God, oh God, you better sow where God is telling you to sow. You better put your time and your talents and your gifts in the right ground. You better do the work and be disciplined. Glory to God. So someone said, well, why is it You said it got an issue between me and God? Yeah, yeah, it's a case there because God desires us to live in this, in a, a realm of continuity where his blessing constantly is flowing. And if his blessing is not continually and constantly flowing out of the realm of continuity because we're continuing in the work, we're faithful, we're loyal It's something going on between you and him that needs to be corrected. Oh my God. Okay, okay. So we looked last time at one of the definitions of discipline. Tonight we're gonna look closely at another one, and it's order structure that is based on submission to authority. So you order and structure your life based on being submissive to authority. I'll give an example. When you go to school, uh, believe it or not— some of you may believe it, but believe it or not, um, early part of my life as a student, uh, second grade, third grade, fourth grade, I, I got in trouble a lot. I did. I mean, I got in trouble a lot. I wouldn't sit down. I talked all the time. I was just an issue, uh, smart but always bothering people. But at the end of the day, it's because I did not submit to the authority in the classroom as I should. But one day I got home, my mama said, now either you gonna go in that classroom or sit down. Now she had something that my uncle had gave her called a 2x4. Now, 2x4 ain't no light board, and it was sawed into a 1/4 piece of that 2x4. And she held up that board and she said, if you don't start tomorrow going in that classroom and sitting your gluteus Maximus down. That ain't what she said, because my mama cuss. That ain't what she said. She said, if you don't go to the classroom— I'm just telling you now, glory to God— and sit your butt down— she didn't say butt neither— I'm gonna apply this board of education to your seat of learning. I knew exactly what she meant. She didn't have no more problems out of me at school. You know why? It wasn't teacher authority, because authority perceived is authority achieved. I saw that board, and every time I went to school, I just thought about that big old thick 2x4 and my mama face hitting my butt. Now what you need to understand, your life's purpose, your dream, needs to be an authority. It needs to be the loudest voice. Ooh-wee! It needs to be the loudest voice in your life. So instead of hitting that snooze button, saying, when your bed feels like a warm cocoon and you don't want to get up, instead of hitting the snooze button so you can get up and work on your dream, work on your weight, work on your life, work on your business, hear your dreams speak to you versus You saying to yourself, I can just get another 30 minutes, another hour. You got to find that authority. Hear God saying you got to put in the work. Good God from Zion, are y'all here? Are you here tonight? Glory to God. Hallelujah. Thank you, Jesus. Me, where we at on YouTube? I'm trusting God that we gonna get past that 5. I just kind of ignored it when you typed it, but I believe we're gonna get past that 5. Glory to God. Listen, I need you to hear me. Hear me when I tell you, you must come under the authority of your assignment and make up your mind. I'm gonna discipline myself until I finish this. So the question then becomes— it's twofold, there's dichotomy in this. We at 880, look at God. Glory to God, I love Jesus. How about you? I love him, I love him. Listen, listen, the question becomes, is a dichotomy in this? Listen to me. Hallelujah. Thank you, thank you, Minister Mia. Glory to God, I love God, he's a good God. Listen, the question becomes, is a dichotomy? Two questions, here we go. Is your discipline— hear me— based on outside control or inside control? Based on what I just said, are you disciplined because of the assignment, the dream that's in your DNA, the destiny that God has planted in your life, or are you disciplined so you could please people? So you're, you know, you're not disciplined so that you can get accolades, so you can get popular, but you become disciplined so you can please the Lord, so that God can get glory out of your life and your assignment. Glory to Jesus, man! We had a thousand on YouTube. Somebody give God glory and honor. Praise God! Oh, God is so good. We love him. He's good. Thank you, Jesus. I love the Lord. How about you? Y'all love him? Glory to God, he good. Thank you, Jesus. So again, is your discipline controlled by the outside? Let me give you an example. So outside would be, are you controlled by a boss, a time clock, or like punishment? Glory to God. I think it took me a couple of grades to realize, okay, I'm really here to, to, to learn and get what I need so I can be better in life. Glory to God. So I want discipline in my head, in the classroom, no more by what I saw my mom. There ought to be something on automatic that says this dream is big. You know, I'm disciplined today, glory to the name of God, because I'm one with the Spirit of the Lord. That's the, that's the other half of that. Internally, are you one with God? Do you know his heart? Do you know his wisdom? I do this, number one, for the Lord. I discipline myself in prayer and study. I discipline myself— watch this— even there's something I like to do like golf. I discipline myself in my golf game. Glory to God. Because at the end of the day, it's what I love to do and I want to do it well. I'm one with it. Glory to God. And so that every time I play, I win. Like, I played today and people playing me, so, okay, they are— they know they playing with me. So we walk on the golf course and they holler out, okay, uh, losers gotta buy lunch. Okay, I don't even say nothing, I just start playing. And I know I'm eating free after the round. You know why? Not because these guys can't play golf, but I know the work ethic in the game of everybody there. So one may say, well, Apostle, you probably should have bowed out gracefully and not just took their lunch. No, they, they offered it. It was— I mean, really, I mean, they already know. So you got to discipline yourself so you are the best, so that you are effective, so that God can get the glory out of everything you do. Lord have mercy. Let's go to 1 Corinthians 6:12. Let's, let's see how that looks. 1 Corinthians 6:12. Somebody type that in the comments. 1 Corinthians 6:12. Glory to God. I pray y'all getting something, man. Thank you, Jesus. 1 Corinthians 6:12. I love the Lord. He's good. Watch this. Watch this word, y'all. Paul says, all things are lawful for me, but all things are not expedient. Let's break that down, okay? Let's break that down. The word lawful is exesthai in Greek, and it literally means this: it means as a human I could choose to do what I want to do, and watch this, God is not going to stop me because we are human beings, so we have a will. We have to choose God. So he said, all things are lawful. I can do this if I want to do it. God won't stop me. And it could be— it'll be sin, but he ain't gonna stop you because he's not in the business of making people serve him. Oh boy. But watch what he says. All things are lawful but not expedient. Syntharo. Wait a minute. But not in alignment, not one with God. So you gotta discipline yourself to reject what may be humanly lawful so that you can stay one, stay in alignment with God. Okay, total transparency about something. Something happened to me earlier this year and I had to take the route of discipline. All right, a lot of things happen, but I'm gonna give you this testimony, but this, this stands out. And, uh, and I, I don't do this to gloat in me because again, I'm a human. So I was again out playing golf, and praise God, I was playing. A matter of fact, I was on a golf trip, um, this summer with Alex, my son Alex, and another one of my golfing buddies that, you know, I had been playing with from time to time. And so he came down to Florida to play with us, and so we were out on the course one day And people don't like to lose, right? So I'm, I'm just being me. I'm playing. Uh, if you know me, and we're competitive, I talk a lot of trash. Uh, my last name is Woods. All of us talk trash. Uh, I'm going to Orlando for Christmas with my family. Me and my baby boy have been talking trash back and forth for the last 3 weeks about one-on-one. This dude is 15 years old, I'm 54. He should beat me. I'm not gonna let him beat me though, glory to God, because at the end of the day it's too much trash anyway. So we— this is our nature, we talk trash, it's all healthy fun. So this dude had been talking all this trash before he got to Florida about what he was going to do to me when he got to Florida. Now mind you, You ain't never beat me before we went to Florida, all right? But okay, first day I beat him real bad. I didn't talk too much trash. But the next day I, I said, okay, I got to get him back for that trash he was talking. Beat him real bad again, but I was talking trash every hole. By the time we got to the 16th hole, he gets mad, gets angry, start driving his golf cart crazy, throwing clubs. Cussing at me, forgetting that I'm the preacher, forgetting that I'm his friend that has so graciously allowed him to come and stay in our condo and be with us. Glory to God. But at the end of the day, he gets so angry. And, and so I said, you know what, I'm not gonna— the old me was tempted to exercise what was lawful because he was cutting up in front of my child. And you know, I'm thinking, you know, my son looking at me, he never seen me in no situation like this. He probably looking to see if Daddy gonna take care of this dude. So I'm like, I might need to just go and take care of him. But the Holy Spirit said, no, you don't. That's lawful. God would not be pleased. You need to discipline yourself and do not react at all to what he's doing. How about I didn't get to say nothing? And Felicia Woods is on this live. She'll tell you that's hard for me not to say nothing. How about I said nothing? I politely asked him to stop acting that way in front of my child and asked him if he would just leave the game and cool down. He did that. And when I got— he was so embarrassed by the love that I showed him. When I got to the condo, he was packing his stuff saying, I just got to go, I'm just going to leave, I, I, I'm really sorry about how I acted, da da da da da. And he left. It was lawful. I could have humanly waxed him, but I didn't, right? I chose— somebody say Apostle. Yeah, I'm human. I mean, somebody's pushing your buttons, calling you outside of your name, yelling, going crazy. You know, thinking they might do something stupid, your child is there. Oh yeah, I'm gonna protect mine. So yeah, he was, he, he was rugging up the wrong tree. Yeah, but at the end of the day, I had to calm down and exercise— my God— what was expedient, what was sefero, what was law, in line and lawful to God. Somebody say, I have discipline. I can't— I can say it, I have discipline. It ain't all— listen, he'd have caught me 10 years ago. He'd have been in— we had— I was born in Grady Hospital here. He'd have been at Orlando Grady. I'm just telling you right now, that's where he would have been. I'm just being totally transparent, honest with you. But I'm free, I'm delivered. I could talk about this because I'm free. Glory to God. Felicia is saying amen to that and laughing because she know her husband. I'm free, I'm whole. I could talk about this, I could talk to you about it because I've been there. I mean, just, God, just from shorties trying to holler at me. I don't know what it is with these little young girls trying to holler at older men. I'm always— I'm too old for you, leave me alone, because the reality is I'm not giving you my money. That's not expedient, that's not one with God. I'm telling you, you can be disciplined. Glory to God. God, I love you. Oh, I love him, I love him. I feel like running. So Paul disciplined himself. He said all things are lawful but not expedient, but I will not be brought under the power of any— none of these things that are lawful, I will not allow it to have power, exousia, authority over me. So you got to make the choice that laziness won't have power over you. You will be disciplined. Temptation won't have the power over you. You will be disciplined. You're human, you're gonna be tempted. The Bible said Jesus was tempted and tested on every point, yet without sin. So if Jesus was tempted, certainly you will be. And I want to share with you, you're not going to be tempted by things that you don't want. You're going to be tempted by things that you would desire. Even is it something as being lazy, laying in the bed, not pursuing your dream, complaining, making excuses. You'll be tempted, but you got to choose to not allow the temptation to have power over you. Okay, let's go to the same chapter, 1 Corinthians 9. 1 Corinthians 9, for you preachers. Come on, preachers, you preachers that's on here tonight. Glory to God. Hallelujah, you preachers that's on here tonight. Oh boy, glory to God, because one of those lists is nothing but preacher lists. So a lot of these people are preachers. But so you preachers that are here, glory to God, and you leaders that follow me that are here, glory to God. 1 Corinthians 9:25, let's go there. The Bible says, and every man that striveth for mastery, touch yourself, say, I'm called to be a master. Come on, say it again, I'm called to be a master. Write it in the comments, I'm called to be a master. Yes, Lord. Glory to God. I'm telling you right now, you're called to have mastery. Woo! So that's why you need apostles in your life, because when apostles show up, apostles first of all measure where you are. Nobody likes that. That's why people can't stick close to apostles, because apostles have a metron on their life that measures you, that tells you where you are, what you need to do, where you need to sit down, where you need to shut up, where you need to pray more, where you need to study more. That's what apostles do. Where you need more discipline. People don't like that because no one wants to be measured because everybody thinks they're already a master. But I'm telling you, this is why you have me in your life to measure you. Listen, to date, I still get measured. My spiritual father, who will be with us on January 7th and 8th, every time I listen to him, either on the phone, texting, or listening to him preach, I'm being measured. I always see something in me that needs to come up. He's a master at pushing people into growing. I'm growing more personally in my life since he's been in my life than ever. I'm going at a more rapid speed. I have more clarity and insight on how to grow my business and ministry being connected to him because he is the epitome of what growth and maturity looks like. So you and I both need apostles. This is why God sent you to me, because you just cannot have a regular pastor. He gave some apostles. You are the some because you have some greatness in you that requires proper measurement so you can enlarge. Secondly, you have to go through a management stage. Management is where discipline takes place. You have to learn to discipline yourself and manage your gifts, manage your skills, manage your life, manage your manage your anointing. Apostles help you with that. They help you measure, they help you manage, and then they deploy you or release you as masters. Oh God, God wants you to be a master, not mediocre, not coming short. He wants you to master who you are. You cannot do it if you don't go through measuring and management. Yeah, individual management. You need external management. And then mainly, you cannot influence others in the area you're called to influence them in, and you become a castaway yourself. Let's read. He says, and every man strive for the mastery is temperate in all things. So if you're gonna be a master, you got to be disciplined in all things, right? You got to be managed. That's what Temperance is. Okay, let me— y'all don't believe it, let me just break it down like I know I know to do. So Temperance there, the Greek word, uh, glory to God, is incretae urundai, and it literally means to be in control, to be disciplined, to be subject to authority. To be managed. Self-management, where you manage yourself, manage your time, and you allow yourself to be managed and led by another. Yes, you still want to be a master? Say it again: I am a master. Lord have mercy, I got 7 minutes. Let me get through, let me get through, let me read, let me read. He says, now they do they, they do it to obtain a corruptible crown. But we do it, we're disciplined not because we want a crown that's going to perish, but we want an incorruptible crown that comes from God. We're not crowned to again give majesty and honor and glory to God. It's an eternal crown that we wear through eternity. Verse 26, let me read. He said, I therefore run not as one that is uncertain. Listen, so fight I not as one that beateth the air. In other words, my running toward the goal, my discipline, my fight to get what God has promised me, it's not to beat the air. Paul is saying, I'm doing this so I can accomplish something. Can I tell you something? Your— this is the power of discipline. Your discipline is not in vain. You're disciplining yourself, you're working hard Glory to God. You're not quitting, you're not giving up because you're trying to accomplish something. You're not beating the air. I'm going to tell you something, your discipline, it's not for nothing, it's for something. But you got to discipline yourself. Help us, Jesus. Help us, Jesus. Lord have mercy. Lord have mercy. Are y'all with me? Oh, listen, you gotta submit to his authority, his power, his glory, his anointing. And you gotta decide, I'm in it to win it. I told you earlier, you don't get to quit because you're tired. You quit when you finish. You quit when you've won. The only guarantee that you will lose is if you quit. But if you keep going, it's a guarantee, my friends, that you are going to win. My family and my friends that are joining us Let me keep reading. Verse 27: But I keep under my body and bring it under subjection. Somebody say discipline. He said, I bring my body under subjection. You know, these— there are things out there lawful again that I might want, but he said, I bring this body under subjection, lest by any means I have preached to others, I myself himself will be a castaway. Paul is saying, if I don't bring me under control and, and stay disciplined and true to me and under God's authority, he said, I can preach to others and end up a castaway myself. That's what you don't want, preacher, is to get everybody else right and you wrong. God. To get everybody else on the right path, but you wrong. What you want is— hear me— is to be a living example, a model that can be imitated. Go to Hebrews 12:11. I'm moving quickly, I'm almost done. Watch this. It says— I'm reading out the Amplified this time— for the time being, discipline brings joyfully-yam, but seems grievous and painful. But after— watch this— but afterward, it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. God says eventually Your discipline leads to the fruit of righteousness, or diasuni, or accuracy. So when you're disciplined, you can accurately manifest God's plan for your life. Are y'all still with me? Glory to God. When you're disciplined, it's a peaceable fruit. And it may seem hard now, it may seem tough now, Oh, somebody said one time, no guts, no glory. I say it like this: there's a story behind all glory. If you're going to see the glory of God in your life, in your ministry, in your business, in your family, you're gonna have to be a part of the process inside of a journey that creates a story that validates you for that glory. The story qualifies you for your life to give glory to God, because you can look back and others can see there's no way you could have done that without the Lord. Lord have mercy. 1 Timothy 3, verses 1 through 5. I'm not going to read it, but you can go there later. Put in the comments, somebody, 1 Timothy 3, verses 1 through 5. It's basically saying that every effective leader, every productive leader has to be disciplined 100% of the time. See, this is about doing the thing every day, every time. If you're going to win big, You're going to have to be disciplined every single day. Oh God, you gotta do the thing every day. You don't get the clock out, you don't get to take breaks, you don't get to make excuses. You gotta do it every day. This is for those of you that want to achieve big, those of you that want to be powerful leaders. You got to be disciplined all the time. No shortcuts. Discipline says there are no shortcuts. I'm closing. So stop, guys, looking for the easy way out. There is no easy way out. You got to go through it. You got to discipline yourself through it. Discipline cultivates punctuality. It makes no sense to be late for everything. It shows you're not disciplined when you are. Don't kill the messenger, I'm just telling you. And if you want life on another level, you got to be punctual. Watch this. There are people who could be on time for work, but they're late for everything else because they understand their livelihood in that sense is connected to that check. and if they're not on time, they'll lose their job. But can I tell you something? Your life's purpose, your life's assignment is connected to everything you do, and you got to do the thing every day. Oh my God, discipline starts in the mind. You got to gird up the loins of your mind according to scripture, so you got to discipline your thoughts. Most of the time you're out of control because your thoughts are out of control. I was talking to someone last night that I love so dearly. I love this person with everything in me. Not talking about Felicia, someone else. I love them with my whole heart, man, my whole life, and I want nothing but the best for them. But I was talking to them yesterday and I said to them, I said, hey, This starts in your mind. I said, the reason you keep going down the same road is because you got to get out of your own way in your thoughts. I said, watch this, you even think what you're doing is right. And I told them, I said, there's a way that seems right, but the end of that way is destruction. And I told him, if you don't change your mind, you're headed for death. Can I tell you something? You gotta check your thoughts. Get your thoughts lined up with the mind of God. Stop thinking this crazy stuff, buying into crazy philosophies that are not godly. Thank you for staying with me, guys, those of you that are still here. I'm almost done. Discipline changes what you look at. It changes your association. It changes how you entertain yourself. Disciplined men don't go to strip clubs. I'm gonna say that again. I, I heard some men talking Um, on a, on a supposed to be a saved podcast, these men supposed to be saved, talking about they go to strip clubs just to balance out the relationship they have at home with their wives. Listen to me, disciplined men don't go to strip clubs, period. Disciplined men, disciplined women don't listen to book. Oh my God, music that challenges their thought process to sin. Disciplined people don't associate with people that hinder their dreams. Ooh-wee, ooh-wee, ooh-wee, ooh-wee. You know the dream killers in your life. And you have to learn how to handle them, even in your family. You have to— you have to not talk about certain things with them because they don't get it. And when you're disciplined, you learn how to do that. Oh my God, Jesus, I gotta go, man. Proverbs 4:23 says, keep and guard your heart with all diligence, and above all things guard it, for out of it flows the issues of life. Be very watchful, be very diligent in how you guard your heart. I'm gonna stop there. I'm not finished, I'm just gonna stop. I'll revisit this Sunday, but I, I want to pray for you guys really quickly, man. Um, I thank you for staying with us. We're an hour and 4 minutes in. Listen, you gotta discipline yourself. Um, it just is what it is. I hope you got something out of this, you know. I hope that you've made up your mind to put in the work. Again, success and blessing only precede discipline in the dictionary. Only precedes work in the dictionary. You got to put in the work, man. Let's pray. Father, in Jesus' name— because I can keep teaching this— close your eyes, stretch your hand towards your phone, your screen, wherever. Let's touch and agree. I pray that this word tonight, God, has landed on the good ground of every heart, and that that this people would reap it in due season if they faint not. I decree and declare that they will be blessed and highly favored in everything they set their hands to do. I decree and declare that no weapon formed against them will ever be able to prosper. I release the spirit of discipline on our lives like never before as we cross over into 2023. 2024. May we be disciplined every single day. I declare that for 365 days straight, we will move in what is expedient, what is in alignment with you, what derives from your mindset. And I thank you, God, because of that, we won't miss it to the left nor to the right. And Father, we give you praise. And we give you glory, we give you honor, and we thank you for what's to come. And we declare that what's to come is better than what has been. In Jesus' name, amen. And thanks be to God. Glory to God. I love you guys. Let's walk in discipline, guys. Listen, there is no real way around it. If you're gonna have good success, you gotta walk in discipline. Amen. I want to take this opportunity to challenge you to give tonight. We— anytime we're online on Thursday night, it's like if we were in Bible study in church. You know, the Bible says if I communicate to you spiritual things, you should communicate your natural things. Let me say this right here. In light of us being in the DMV last week. And, you know, I want to just appreciate every person, uh, at Rhoda Church Jackson and, uh, Rhoda Church Atlanta, that in spite of us not having church, those of you that still took the time to give your offering, to sow your tithes, man, that speaks volumes to your maturity and your discipline. And when it comes to the things of God concerning your giving I want to challenge everybody. I'm not going to tell you what to do, but I need every person under the sound of my voice right now. The ways to give are scrolling at the bottom of the screen. I'm sure by now, uh, Pastor Jeffrey has put them in the chat. Glory to God. Um, again, yeah, there it is. Cash App, uh, is Rother Church. Glory to God. Uh, rotherchurch.com/donate. And of course, if you want to use Zelle Uh, please feel free, uh, to do that. It's info@rodderchurch.com. But however you choose to give tonight, be liberal, uh, be free in your giving, and trust God that he's going to bring increase, uh, because you choose to sow and be obedient. I just want to pray really quick over your seed as you're preparing your hearts to give. Father, bless every gift. God, we're obeying the word. You said if we are communicated spiritual things, that we should respond by communicating our natural things. So out of obedience tonight, uh, everybody is sowing, everybody's giving. And I thank you for this group. I thank you for these people. I thank you that our needs are met and we have the desires of our heart. In Jesus' name, amen. And thanks be to God. Amen. Glory to God. Thank you for your giving, guys. Listen, just a few announcements. All right, so here we go. Y'all ready? I want you to take note of this so that you can know what's going on. All right, number one, we will be in service on Sunday at Rhoda Church Atlanta at 3 PM. I need everybody, glory to God, to be in place. I need you to be on time. We're going to get in and do what we got to do. And I'm, I'm not going to hold you all day because I know this is your last week to shop for Christmas. But so I want you to have enough time, and I want you to say, I kept you in church all night Sunday. So please be there on time. We're going to do what we got to do. Glory to God. Let the Holy Spirit have his way. 3:00 PM on Sunday, uh, we'll be back in 5:00 prayer the following Tuesday. Glory to God. Make sure you meet us in 5:00 AM prayer Uh, we'll be right back here on next Thursday. On— glory to God, hear me— Christmas Eve, Christmas Eve, we will have service. Okay, so on Christmas Eve, 3 o'clock, we're gonna have— again, we're gonna get in, get out, we're gonna give Jesus what's due him. Glory to God. And we're gonna have service. Listen, you guys, please pray for us. On Christmas Day, we'll be traveling to Florida. We'll be in Florida until Sunday the 31st, where we will be back in Atlanta for our New Year's Eve celebration. Glory to God, uh, which will start at 6 o'clock PM on New Year's Eve. So I pray you got all those things. I'm looking forward to this new year. Uh, there'll be some other announcements that will be forthcoming. Just govern yourselves, as the old mother used to say in the church I grew up in, accordingly when you hear them. Amen. All right, ladies and gentlemen, I love you guys. I gotta meet with our Jackson group, uh, glory to God, briefly after this study tonight. But I love every one of you, um, I'm telling you, I need you in my life. We need each other. Let's keep doing what God has called us to do. 2024 is going to be great. It's the year of the elected, and I'm telling you, the elected is going to soar in excellence and, oh my God, evangelism and edification. We're gonna see so much kingdom change that's going to come forth in this year to come. So if you're elected by God, which you are, you got to take your place so you can come forth and do what God has called you to do in this year to come and beyond. I love you guys. Y'all be blessed. Have a smile on you is my prayer. Peace. We love you. God bless everybody. Have a good night.