CONFIDENCE PART 2, "CONFIDENCE W/O CONCEIT" | DR. MIKE WOODS SR. | 18 SEPTEMBER 2025

Nobody like you, Lord. Nobody like you, Lord. There's just nobody like you, Lord. Nobody like you, Lord. You are the You are deliverer, God. You are deliverer, God. You are deliverer. Oh, hold me, Jesus. Hold me, Jesus. I want you to hold me, Jesus. You are my healer. Lord, I want you to hold me, Jesus. Oh, hallelujah. Rock me in the cradle of your arms. Oh, there's nobody like you, God. Nobody like you, Lord. When I don't understand it, God, there's nobody like you, God. When I don't understand, there's nobody like you, God. I just can't thank you enough. I just can't thank you enough. Nobody like you. You've been a healer, God. You've been a protector. Nobody— there's nobody like you, God. You kept me from danger seen and unseen, God. I thank you, God. I thank you, God. Oh, there's just nobody, there's just nobody, nobody like you, Lord. Oh, nobody like you, Jesus. Nobody Oh God, I want more of you! I want more of you! I want more of you, God! Give me more! Give me more! Give me more! Give me more! Let my cup overflow! Hallelujah! Oh God, I thank you Lord! I thank you! Nobody like— there's just nobody like you, God Jesus! Ooh ooh no one else can do it for us but you! Nobody, nobody. Oh, I reverence you today, God. Hallelujah. Oh God, I thank you, Lord. I thank you. Nobody like you. There's nobody like you, God. Yes, Jesus. Nobody, nobody like you, Lord. Oh God, Lord, help me, help Nobody like you, Lord. Nobody like you, God. Nobody like you, Lord. Lord, I searched all over, I couldn't find nobody. Oh God, I thank you, Lord. I thank you, Jesus. Oh, nobody, nobody like you, Lord. You're a healer, God. You're my deliverer, God. You're my purpose, Jesus, nobody like you. Hallelujah! Oh, nobody like you, God. Nobody like you, Lord. Nobody like you, Lord.

Come on, say it again. Oh, oh, nobody, nobody, nobody like Nobody like you, Lord. We cry, oh, nobody, nobody like you, Lord. Searched all over, couldn't find nobody, nobody nowhere, nobody nowhere. Nobody like you, Lord.

Everybody sing. Oh, say nobody like you. Searched all over, couldn't find nobody.

Couldn't find nobody, nobody, nobody, nobody. Nobody like you, Jesus. Nobody like you, Lord.

You're the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords.

Nobody, nobody, nobody like you, Lord. Nobody like you, Lord.

Nobody like you, Lord.

Nobody like you, Lord. We cry, oh. Nobody like you, Lord! Nobody like you, Lord!

Singo—

there's nobody like you, Jesus! There's nobody like you, you.

Nobody like you, Lord.

Searched all over Jesus and I couldn't find nobody, nobody greater than you, nobody wonderful, more wonderful than you. We cry Oh, nobody like you, Lord. Nobody like you, Lord.

Nobody like you, Lord.

We sing, oh, nobody like you.

Nobody like you.

You're the only wise God. You're the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords.

Your ways are past finding out. It's in you we live. Yeah, it's in you we move and have our being. You are the strength of our life. You're the joy and the lifter of our head. There's none like you, God.

Oh! Nobody like you Lord— nobody like you Lord—

nobody like you Lord—

nobody like you Lord— oh!

Nobody like you, Lord.

Father, we love you, we adore you, we praise you.

Nobody like you, Lord.

For certainty, there's none like you. You're perfectly and absolutely wise. You make no mistakes. You're God. And you're God alone. None like you nowhere. You're the God of gods. You're the King of all kings. You're the Lord of lords. You're Alpha, you're Omega. You're the beginning, the end, the first, the last.

You're everything, God. You're our healer. You're our deliverer. You're our way maker. And we declare there's none like you. There's none like you. It's more than a song. It's a truth. There is none like you, God.

Oh.

Nobody like you, Lord! Nobody like you, Lord!

Oh—

nobody like you, Lord!

We worship you. Even those of you watching us at home right now, just slip your hands up and worship. Hallelujah.

There's none like him, I declare. If you would take a moment out of whatever you're doing, trying to watch this and do what you're doing, and just worship. He will come in the room where you are. We bless your name. There's none like you, Jesus.

There is none like you. There is none like you, God. We bless you, God.

Nobody like you, Lord.

Nobody, nobody Nobody like you, Lord. We cry, oh, nobody, nobody, nobody like you, Lord.

Hallelujah.

Father, bless your word tonight. Let your anointing that destroys yokes be upon this teaching. And God, as we disseminate it in this room, as it goes through the lens of this camera, and to every person that will tap in tonight, I pray that they will be different, they will be changed. That their confidence would increase, and they'll trust the person you made them the more. And we give you praise and glory for it now, in the mighty name of Jesus. Thank you for the light, the illumination, and the intelligence of the Holy Ghost. Have your way in this room, and we'll forever give you the praise. And the glory and the honor shall be thine, in Jesus' name. Amen. Hallelujah, hallelujah! We praise God for his goodness. Hallelujah! Glory to God. I don't know about you, but I'm always excited to come to the house of the Lord. David said, I was glad when they said Glad unto me, which means that something happened in him when he heard he was going to the house of the Lord. He got glad. Hallelujah. Some people don't get glad when they hear about that. They reject it. Glory to God. But I'm super excited whenever I have an opportunity to come together and worship corporately again. Like I said, something— just something that can happen in this room that won't happen in your room because you have to press through too much other stuff trying to tap in. But I'm so grateful that we are here tonight. Glory to God.

And I'm not going to hold you long.

We're going to continue in our series tonight. Those of you just joining us live, please do me a favor since you are at home. Do me a favor and share this. Glory to the name of God. Please press the share button. Press the like button. Please tag people below, uh, since you're at home and not here with us. We want you to do some work, work on sharing this live. Glory to God.

Hallelujah.

Press that button and let people know this word is here. Glory to God.

Hallelujah.

We gonna talk again tonight about confidence. Hallelujah. And I'm just gonna review real quickly, um, some of the things we discussed on Sunday.

First of all, we, we discussed that confidence—

we gave a working definition of confidence, so I think it's a good place to start tonight.

Confidence is a quality or assurance that leads one to believe that they are both able and acceptable to undertake—

watch this— anything.

When you have confidence, you believe you are able and acceptable to undertake anything. Hallelujah! Say, I have confidence. Say, I have the belief, I have the assurance that I am able and acceptable to undertake anything.

Hallelujah!

That's really Godly confidence. And watch this, when you got saved, God gave you confidence. Matter of fact, we read Sunday in 2 Timothy 1:7.

I'll read it here again.

Uh, the Bible says God has not given us the spirit of fear, timidity, but of power, love, and a sound mind. Now, them three things right there— power, love, and a sound mind— don't give you confidence. Nothing will. The fact that you have been given a power source outside of your personal power, outside of black power, money power— you got a power that, watch this, is omnipotent, that is all-powerful, and that's been deposited in you. Touch your belly. Say, I got a power in me that's greater than any power.

Glory to God.

Say, I have omnipotent power inside of me, and because of this, I have the assurance that I'm able and acceptable to undertake anything. Man, that ought to give you some confidence right there. Hallelujah! Glory to God! You got the power of the living God inside of us, and it ought to bring confidence.

Then we got love, unconditional love, agape love.

God loves us more than we love ourselves. So powerful. And when you know somebody loves you, it'll give you confidence to know that you can undertake what they're telling you to do because they love you. And he's not a dogmatic dictator type leader. He leads us in love. He loves on us as long as we'll receive it. Rub your bellies. I got love in me. And because of because of this, I'm unstoppable. Say, I have the assurance that I am able, I am acceptable to undertake and accomplish anything because he loves me. And that's so powerful because if people stop loving you, guess what? He gonna always love you. If the person you're looking for love from don't love you no more, he— hallelujah— is going to always love you. He's going to be there when everybody else is gone. When people walk out on you and decide their love is over—

and people will do it, trust me, I've lived long enough to see it happen—

people will decide, I'm— yeah, I might— they might love you from a distance still, but they won't love you enough to be coveted with you anymore. But watch this, God loves us enough that he's always confident in the potential that he's put in us. So he says also, I gave you a sound mind. A sound mind, sophronismos in Greek, is a well-balanced, intelligent— watch this— confident mind. So you had— you got that when you got born again. He imparted a sound mind. You're not crazy, you're intelligent, you're balanced.

You have a confident mind, you just have to use it and you have to feed it.

And so my goal in this series is to not only help you have confidence in God— and what I was doing Sunday in introducing this series was trying to show you how to have confidence as an individual. And one of the things I share with you on Sunday, and this is very important, is that a believer without confidence will always accomplish less. Y'all hear me? Less than a a non-believer with confidence. And if you don't believe that, you just check the world right now, really, because most of the things that are being achieved, uh, in the financial realm or in any of the kingdoms of the world are being advanced by people who are not in faith, who do not have belief in God. And you have to ask yourself, why is this? We can't just accept that the world is ruling in areas we should be ruling in. The dominion mandate is a mandate, it's not a suggestion. He said when he tells us to have dominion, he's not suggesting something that is optional. He's actually telling you what he desires from humanity. And so just keeping it all the way around 100, no matter how large our church is or how small our church is, if we're not showing up in the world dominating and taking authority, taking rulership, we've missed God somewhere. And most preachers don't preach dominion, preach rada, because because they feel it's unachievable. But with God, it is achievable. If we tap into him, line up with him, walk in relationship with him, we really can achieve the beauty. Y'all believe that? I mean, we really can rule and have the leading influence throughout the earth, not just in the church. We ought to be leading in more than just church. We all be leaving in business, economics, military, education, media, entertainment.

We—

business, we ought to be on top. Medicine, we ought to have leaders in every field of influence.

Don't look like that because most believers don't operate in a level of confidence that they can accomplish. But again, you're able, you're acceptable to undertake anything.

We just have to raise our vision and shift the paradigm in our mind so that we can see God in a different way. Because sometimes, I said this Sunday, we are so good at church, we good at worship, we good at praise, we, we good at going through church activities, but we're not good at all at showing up in the world carrying out the tenets of the word. This is a hard one because we're in a time now— promise you, if you don't know God and if you're not tapped into what God is doing, things gonna be really hard.

Glory to God.

It's gonna be hard for people that don't know it. And as a believer, you gotta make sure you're in his will. So you gotta have some confidence in yourself, and you gotta know that God has given you a purpose, a gift, so you can carry it to the world and be dominant in that area. So again, an unbeliever with confidence will accomplish more than a believer with confidence. That's the truth, whether saved folk want to believe that or not. I'm not taking it back. I'm crushing you. I'm ready for you. Glory to God. The reality is, you saved, sanctified, shouting, jumping, speaking in tongues, rolling in the floor, going through the motions church, and your hands is holy and your pockets is empty. Yeah, and that ain't God. You, you're holier than thou in the church and your body is racking with pain because you don't have the confidence to trust the scripture.

Are y'all here?

Not what I'm saying. Trust what he said. Because guess what? If what I'm saying is a lie, we need cut the lights off, cut the mics off, close the building, turn the alarm on, and never come back in. Because we don't believe it. We're wasting time.

Are y'all, are y'all with me?

I mean, you got believers gathering every Wednesday night, every Thursday night, every Tuesday, whenever they go to Bible study, every Sunday, and we're leaving every meeting with no confidence. Can talk in tongues real good, but ain't got no confidence to conquer in the world. Are we here?

Watch this.

When I— so let me, let me move. I'm on—

because if I start reviewing this too much, I'm gonna be in it too long.

So here's the reality.

Basically, last week, as I was talking about purpose and things that relate to you and your personal confidence.

I said it a lot of different ways, but all I was saying was get your eyes off other people. Sometime watching other people rob you of your confidence, cuz you watch how easy they might make something look, and then it makes you feel like you can't do it. But what you need to do is concentrate on you and who God has called you to be. I gave y'all an example, uh, oh glory, uh, Sunday on how I was playing golf with one of my golfing buddies who never beats me. And I start watching him swing because because he was hitting the ball so good and broke my focus on what I do when I'm at the tee box.

And he beat me.

But you better believe I went and played with him again a couple of days ago. I was stunned how he was hitting the ball. You love me looking at the ball, say good shot, man. I wasn't saying nothing. I was quiet because I was locked into me and what I had to do with me and the golf ball in the golf course. So, so you got to take your eyes off other people. Watch this. If you don't trust yourself, you can't trust God.

Oh, well, okay, okay.

All right, let's go to John 17:10.

Let's just start right there. Yeah, because John 17:10—

because some people think they could just all be in all in love and confident and have faith in God and don't have no trust in theyself. That, that is erroneous and it's impossible, because if you trust God, you're gonna trust you. Hallelujah. John 17, verse number 10. Folks be talking about how much Holy Ghost, how much God they got, and then they can't trust who God says they are. Watch this. The Bible says, and all mine are thine, and thine are mine, and I am glorified in them. Sounds like if you can't trust you, that belongs to you, it's impossible to trust him because your life is designed to give glory to God. Let's say this with me. Say, I'm alive to give glory to God. So God says every person belongs to him. Every gift that's in them, in you and I, belongs to him. So if I don't trust what he put in me, I don't trust him. 'Cause he gave me the gift.

Oh my God.

So what are you saying, Apostle? You got to give yourself totally to God and trust what he says you are. I told the Lord, I remember about 24 years ago now, and I was— again, I've been doing this full-time for 36 years, but by 24 years I told the Lord, I said, Lord, I'm gonna put all my confidence in you. Because I had got— I was doing ministry and stuff wasn't looking like I thought it ought to look. It wasn't coming together fast enough. And I started doing some stuff on the side trying to help God. And God told me, I don't need your help. He said, If you put your confidence totally in me, I'll put my confidence in you, and the stuff you ask me to do, I'll do. And when I did that, I haven't missed a bit. God takes care of me because I trust him with every minute of my life, every gasp of breath I take.

I trust him with— are y'all here?

Glory to God. So you got to put all your confidence in the Lord.

Watch this, let me give you an example.

Moses had a rod, right? It was— the rod belonged to Moses, but when God took over that rod because Moses trusted him with the rod, God filled the rod with power. The rod wasn't significant until God connected to it. So what you got, you got to totally trust God with it. Whatever that gift is, you got to give it to him and say, God, I got this. You put power on it, you put favor on it so it can give me what I need in life. And watch this, so it can help other people.

Okay, are y'all here? Listen, I mean, that was the time in my life, I promise you, man, y'all probably say you still I do, possibly still do. But there was a time in my life I really had a big mouth. I talked cash trash, man.

I don't even know what I was doing.

I played basketball.

If you were sorry, I was gonna talk trash to you. Watch this. If you were good and I knew you were good, I was gonna talk so much trash to you, thought you wasn't as good as me.

Are y'all hearing this?

I had a big mouth. I'm talking about, I, I didn't want to silence— I'll be coming down the court in a regulated basketball game talking trash, and the ref be like, I mean, Lem, you need to calm down. I'm like, no, I don't. I, I can talk because I, and I wasn't cussing or nothing, but I was talking. Oh Jesus. But watch this, God using that same big mouth now. Hallelujah. And filling it with words, filling it with power, filling it with anointing. Because I gave this big mouth to God. Are y'all hearing this? See, people, I didn't understand then all I was going to be doing, but at the end of the day, now I know why I was talking so much trash. Some people You didn't even want to play against me.

And I don't—

can you, can you not talk? I'm like, no, I'm gonna talk to you, bro. Uh, go to, go to John 17. Glory to God. And 21, drop down to verse 21. He said that they all may be one. As thou, Father, art in me and I in thee, that also may be one in us, that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.

So watch this, you believing in what God has given you creates unity with God. It creates a connection between you and the Father.

Watch this, that causes others to believe because you you're operating under the auspices of what he gave you, and you're trusting in that ability that God gave you. Matter of fact, the ultimate level of unity with God is trusting the gifting, the purpose, the anointing, the assignment that he's put in your life. If you really want to be one with him, trust the abilities that capacity, the things he's given you, and operate in it so others can believe because of what they see you do. Are y'all here?

Glory to God.

Hallelujah.

So tonight we're going to talk about confidence without conceit, because you— I want you to have confidence in yourself, but some people can get out of balance and get conceited. Hallelujah. And that's dangerous. And I want you to be clear, you can have confidence without conceit. Say that with me. Say, I can have confidence without conceit. And conceit is worldly, is carnal, it's devilish, it's destructive, it's It's pride, it's arrogance, and that's not the will of God. I've told you before that all arrogance leads to aloneness. Nobody wants to be around someone that knows everything.

Are y'all here?

That can't be told something or taught something. Nobody wants to be around— even God doesn't. The Bible says He rejects the proud, he resists the arrogant. So the reality is, if arrogance leads to aloneness, then I think we should really try to practice humility and operating in confidence without the arrogant piece, because you can do it.

Watch this, uh, let's go to Isaiah really quick, the prophet Isaiah, chapter number 30. I'm going to look at a few things here tonight, uh, starting at verse number 1.

Are y'all ready?

He says, whoa. To a rebellious children. I'mma stop right there because obstinate children, obstinate or rebellious people of God, are basically arrogant people of God. Because at the end of the day, if you know right and you consistently choose wrong, that's arrogant to say, I know this is wrong, but I'm gonna keep doing it. You're deliberately being obstinate and saying to God, what you're saying, I do not trust. And I'm gonna do things my own way. This is dangerous because as a believer you cannot afford to operate in rebellion. Another word for this word rebellion is stubborn. To be stubborn, to be stiff-necked, to be hard. Watch this, to reject truth. There's no way you can move in confidence when you consistently reject truth. Matter of fact, the Hebrew word karar, or C-A-R-A-R, karar, it means to withdraw from truth, which means you hear it and you know it's right but you choose to withdraw yourself from obeying that truth. Are y'all here? So you have to understand that God has not called you to withdraw from truth.

Are we here?

God has called you to be connected to tied into his truth, his peace, his way of doing things. But when you know you're wrong and you keep doing it, and you operate in rebellion— watch what the New Testament said.

It said rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft. So no candles, no dust, no chain letters, no witch flying on a broom.

No, it's— you're, you're controlling outcomes through disobedience. Your disobedience becomes a medium where you control things because— watch this— maybe obeying the truth is not comfortable. Oh boy. Maybe doing what God says is not something, uh, that is easy for you in certain areas, so you keep rebelling.

And God says, no, you can't do that.

He says, says the Lord, that take counsel. Watch this. He said, these people are being rebellious. They're taking counsel. They're listening to other people. They're taking their note from other systems. Watch this. Rebellious people are often people with divided ears. They listen to truth in one space, and they'll leave that space and go get another truth in another one. They'll scroll their timeline and get a truth, and then they'll buy into whatever they see and take counsel from a post, from a YouTube video, from their favorite TV preaching, when in reality you better make sure your ears are aligned with things that are coming from the mouth of God.

Otherwise you could possibly find yourself in rebellion.

He says, so woe to these rebellious people. Watch this, are even taking counsel from the ways of the world— Fox News, CBS News, ABC ABC News, CNN, all of the news, taking counsel, governing your life based on the news report. He said, woe to you. He said, you take counsel, but that counsel is not of me. And that cover with a covering, but a covering not of my spirit. Whoa, that they may add sin to sin. He said, wait a minute, you're already in sin because you're living beneath your privilege, because you're living outside of truth, outside of confidence, won't trust me. But then you put your ear to a system— watch this— that has no power, that doesn't love you and could care less really about your intellect. And how they want to use it. So we listen to this counseling, and a lot of times the voice outside of God's voice, if we listen to it long enough, it becomes bigger than God's voice because you get comfortable obeying that voice that is outside You're outside of God's plan. Let me just, let me just use this one example: a non-tithe. You know that the truth is, is you— the tenth is holy unto God, and that you should bring your tithe into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house. And prove me now herewith, said the Lord, that I will not pour you out a blessing you won't have room enough to receive. But here you go with your rebellious self. As soon as you get your check, you start analyzing what you have to do. And if you get any increase every month, you need to give God what's his. And you wonder why the word don't work in your life. Is it because you're in rebellion? And you're constantly going to be saying, God, why am I still stuck right here financially? Why am I still going through this? Why am I still— because you're not being honest and giving God what belongs to him. You've given God what you want him to have, okay? And he gonna honor his word. The Bible said tonight— that's why you ain't got no confidence in in money, because the Bible say you cursed with a curse.

I don't know why. Well, yes I do.

The reality is we have to do better in these areas. So, so, so listen, I want to help the non-tither out there, all right? Let me help you. You got money issues because you have received a truth that you refuse to obey. You say, well, I'm on a fixed income, Apostle. Well, you become a tithe, God will unfix your fixed income. It's fixed because you move in disobedience. But no matter, the first fruits of all— somebody say all. Your increase belongs to God. So you should be giving him the first fruit of everything you get. So you have an accident, you get a settlement, you owe God 10%.

Y'all ain't got to say nothing.

They give you a million-dollar settlement, you owe him a hundred grand. It ain't yours, it's his. And if you want to see the rest of that money multiply reply, give the man what he wants. Somebody say that. Say, get a man what he wants, not what you want to give him. I'm trying to help somebody. You wonder why your money funny, your change is strange, because you're cursed. And God says that's not his way. You're adding sin to sin.

I love that.

Listen, I don't love it, but I love what he's saying. You're adding habitual sinfulness to a habit of sin that already exists by receiving counsel from yourself or another sister. That's rebellion. My God, let me keep reading. He said you're taking counsel soul, and you got a covering that ain't my covering. Watch this, there are people that, you know, they wander from ministry to ministry, ain't got no real connection to nothing.

And that's a whole problem.

Y'all hearing this? Because accountability says a lot about your maturity. You can't be bouncing all over the place and commit to nothing. And then you claim these spiritual fathers that don't even know your name. You are number in their system. When they pray for you, they say, bless all the people connected to me. They don't even know your name to call it. Watch this. If you're an apostle, you need a pastor. You need another leader over you. If you need a prophet, you're a prophet, you need a leader. You're a pastor, evangelist, teacher, you need authority in your life. You can't be covered by something that God didn't ordain. Just touch yourself, say, I need covering. It's important, man. Growing up, we, we knew the value of our pastor, man. Listen, I A lot of times I didn't understand it, but it was just anything could happen. I mean, we get a new set of curtains, let's call Pastor over here, pray over these curtains. And I'm like, okay, I know this man got other things to do than bless these curtains, but at the end of the day, Pastor be right there with, with oil on the new curtains. That's crazy.

The curtains are new, you got oil on the curtains. So listen, me tell you something.

But, and then, and then you want to fuss about it after the man of God— no, you called him over here to put the oil on there, so you shouldn't have called him anyway. But I'm just saying, it showed me the value of the covering. Got a house? Let Pastor come over here and bless this house. I got new babies? Come, let's dedicate these babies. These people that they have babies don't care nothing about dedicating them back to the Lord. Are y'all hearing this? We need to make sure we on the godly covering because— let me keep reading, let me keep reading. He said, you have sinned the sin that walk to go down into Egypt and have not asked at my mouth. In other words, he's saying you're going to take counsel for people that's not even in me and you won't even come to see what I have to say. You just going after all of this knowledge and wisdom that doesn't proceed out of my mouth, said the Lord. He said, you're doing this to strengthen yourself in the strength of Pharaoh and to trust in the shadow of Egypt.

In other words, you're thinking you can become a king like Pharaoh and take slaves and overthrow him if you listen to the people he listened to, if you tap into his system—

watch this— we don't have to conform to the Babylonian system to win Babylon. We don't have to conform to the world to win the world. We have power, love, and a sound mind that's been given to us, and we have the wisdom of God that we can actually show up in the world and win the world without complying to their way of doing. We ain't got to look like the world, act like the world to win them. We ain't got to be in their shadow. Matter of fact, they should be in our shadow. A shadow is something that happens as a reflection of being in light. So when we're in God's light, the reflection that comes off of us is him. This is why when the Apostles would walk by, their shadow would heal people because they were that much in the light of God and it reflected God and they would get healed.

Y'all hear this?

See, we have to get to a place where the shadow, the reflection, it's not us, it's God. How do we get to a place where the shadow in our life, in confidence, is not us but is God? Well, it comes through discipline and time with God, spending time in the light, bathing in light. You know, there are a lot of people that like to tan, so much so they done created even locations indoors. You lay in a tanning bed and get a tan.

Glory to God.

The reality is you talked people that do it though, they'll tell you the greatest benefit is not what happens to their skin, it's the solace that they get in laying out. It's the peace of mind they get laying in the beach, laying by the beach, by the water, the escape from reality that's happening there. While they appreciate what's happening on the outside, the act of tanning for most is an escape. Watch this, you should constantly escape to life, so much so that you're reflecting the shadow every time we come out of his life. Oh Lord, that's what he wants.

Watch this, so much that our countenance even begins to shift because we've been in this place.

There ought to be some distinction about you as a believer. We shouldn't have the shadow of the world.

I mean, a woman that says she shouldn't wear her dress up above her thighs— are y'all hearing this? I mean, you just shouldn't.

It's just, it's just not modest. It's not becoming. Somebody said that's legalistic, Apostle. I can wear what I want. No, I'm just telling you the truth. That's not reflection of godly character. Well, you got everything out. Your cleavage is just busting through your shirt. I mean, when I see you in public, the first thing I see is your cleavage.

It's high, high cleavage.

It's meeting me before you do. Something's wrong with that. I'm like, listen, no, you— especially in the house of God. You definitely don't need to come in church with your cleavage. Yes, now I understand if you're an unbeliever, you don't know no better, it's your first time, you just getting saved, you trying to get yourself together. Yeah, I get it. But some folk been around the church too long and the first thing coming to though is your cleavage. Tell me, I need a seat for one. No, you need a seat for three. Telling the usher, one? No, you need three, because all that is coming in the door with you.

We ought to be reflecting a shadow of God. Are y'all here?

Because watch this, some people are too comfortable. I mean, you guys are folk that— listen, you all, you need to put on clothes anyway, but after you go over a certain size, there are certain things you just ought not to wear anyway. Last time I was in Hawaii, we was out by the pool, I saw some women who had no business with a two-piece on, on no day. I mean, you got two-piece, two piece, one here, one here, and then when your back turns around, it looks like a cinnamon roll. I'm like, what is going on here? So listen, I'm just trying to help you. You put you on a a one-piece and a cover-all, 'cause ain't God there.

Okay, all right.

I wanted to take my own towel, just wrap her up and say, "Get your tail back in that hotel." Too much confidence, and that's confidence we can see. I guess she said, "I'm in Hawaii, I'm gonna let it all hang out." The devil is a liar. All right, verse 3. Let me read, let me read. I'm trying to get somewhere. He said, therefore shall the strength of Pharaoh be your shame, and the trust in the shadow of Egypt your confusion. So he said, when we lean on these systems that are not kingdom systems, he said ultimately what they're going to do is bring shame to you. Because as a believer, you should be trusting God. He said this thing is going to confuse you because you're going to think the world's way again is better than God's way. Verse 4: For his princes were at Zoan, and his ambassador came to Hanes— not the undergarment— Hanes. Hear me. Means grace has fled. The word hangs in Hebrew means that the grace has fled, which means that now the grace that was once sufficient ain't there no more because you've overdone it. You've added so much sin to sin. You're falling away. That's not of God. And watch this, the only time you really serve God is when you come in a church. Oh my God, here, this, this is, this is crazy because this is what the world looks like now. People are trusting in the way of Egypt, way of Pharaoh. Watch this, he said the princes are in Zoan. Zoan, oh my God, this, this word means the place of departure. So he He says the kings lead you to a place— the kings of the earth, the princes of the world, the prince of the power of darkness, which is Satan— leads you to doors, leads you to places and down roads that causes you to depart from the faith because you give heed to a seducing spirit, a seducing counsel that's not of God, and you start following this way.

It's a dangerous piece, y'all, because there's so much stuff out there.

Watch this. That's what the Bible said.

When a man sins, he is first drawn away by his own lust.

Nobody makes you sin.

You thought, I fell into sin, they tempt—

no, you might have been tempted, but you were drawn to the temptation. The reason he tempted you, because you want it. When you're drawn away of your own lust, then sin, when it is full-grown, when it matures, when you get in it, it brings destruction. It starts with you wanting it. These people were rebellious. They wanted systems that wasn't of God. You know why? Because God brought them under the— from under the bondage of Pharaoh into wilderness. They didn't cross over into the promise because of their own disobedience. But watch this, when people are not getting what they think God is supposed to give them, they are looking for someone to blame.

So they'll blame God.

Watch this, they'll blame Moses, they'll blame the pastor.

Are y'all hearing this?

And it's their own disobedience that's keeping them out of the promise.

You got to take responsibility for your own stuff.

Are we here?

The Bible said, verse 5, they were all ashamed of a people that could not profit them, nor be in health nor profit, but ashamed. Name, I also will reproach. Now drop down to verse 15. I'm going to just skip over it because this is where I really want to get. He said, well, thus said the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel, in returning and rest shall ye be saved. So basically, in repentance and rest, sitting down somewhere, being still, not all over the place, You got to learn how to rest your spirit.

You can't be at everybody's meeting. You can't be at everybody's church. Well, I just visit.

I heard the lady tell me, I just visit. I just goes around visiting. No, you are out of order, lady.

You need to get somewhere and sit down and rest so your soul can be fed. This word rest is equivalent to being at peace to receive. Watch this. If you take a baby who's trying to latch on to be breastfed, or even with a bottle, if that baby is hollow, it's going to be hard for that baby to receive. But once that baby rests and is at peace, that baby can latch on or receive the bottle and eat. That's what this word rest denotes. You got to get somewhere where you're calm so you can receive, where you're not always looking for the mic, you know, always looking to get your name called, you know, always looking for somebody to give you a word. But you got to get to a place where you really just want to receive and grow. Ultimately, once the baby realized what feeding does for him. He stays calm throughout the whole feeding. I ain't never really seen a baby—

after you start feeding them, they start hollering, because the feeding itself generates peace. Are y'all hearing this?

And they can— oh boy. So when you get like this in the spirit, you humble yourself as a child. Come before God, he can feed you, he can download to you, and he takes pleasure in continuing to do it because you ain't unlatching and hollering and complaining and trying to— well, this milk don't taste good— and run somewhere else. We—

with people, okay, go to Romans 12.

Let me get out of here. No, let me finish reading this. Watch this. He says, in rest you shall be saved. Watch this.

In quietness and in confidence shall be your strength, and you would not— so in other words, you ain't gonna get strength nowhere else but in quietness and in confidence.

Sometimes it's good to just be quiet.

Matter of fact, the Bible says study to be quiet. Let me tell you something, people that talk all the time, most of the time, are the least confident people on earth because they're using their voice to deflect their insecurity.

But a person— see, when you— when you could— I can go anywhere to church sitting in the back and not need to talk, not need somebody to say, we honor Apostle Woods for being in the building.

I don't need that, cuz I'm clear on who I am.

And first of all, if I'm there anyway, I'm there because there's a purpose for me to be there, and it ain't for my name to be there.

Are y'all hearing this?

And I take pleasure in the quietness, and I'm not afraid offended if nobody notices I'm in the room.

Are y'all hearing this?

A person that lacks confidence needs to be acknowledged. We thank the Lord the bishop is in the room. God bless you. They want to hear that, and it just— something changes about me. Listen, we, we have to get past that. In quietness and security, confidence, knowing that you're able and acceptable.

If nobody ever calls your name, he said, that has to be your life.

You ain't got to bust in the door and say, I'm here. Some folk in church, the devil use them one time. I'm talking about one time. Don't you—

I'm—

God use them one time in their whole life, and then they come up, come to church. Every time they come Tell the devil I'm here.

They ready to do something. God just use you once.

They don't even be overcoming it in that one time. Let's go pray some more so he can use you again.

Are y'all hearing this?

Oh boy, I wrecked house today.

Oh God, we can't to do that. We have to be humble so God can get the glory.

Amen.

Is it—

because this is dangerous, man, to operate in conceit. I told you, it's carnal, it's devilish, it's destructive.

Why confidence?

I want y'all to remember this, and I'm about to go.

It's right.

Say it's right. Because we just read in the Bible, okay? It's necessary.

Why is it necessary, Dr. Michael Woods? It's necessary because the Bible said here, in quietness and confidence you'll have strength. So in order to mature and grow and maximize your potential and optimize your purpose, You got to have some quiet confidence.

You ain't going to never have it building ladders for yourself and trying to make it happen on your own.

It don't work that way.

So it's right, it's necessary, it's commanded by God. It's not, it's not something that God is suggesting of you.

Verse 15 is a command.

It's a prophetic command out of the mouth of Isaiah saying, I need you to operate in quietness and in confidence. Y'all ever heard the term quiet storm? That's what you want to be. They don't even know you coming. You come up and do what you doing, they go, whoa, what was that? Of, because the quietness and confidence you are—

y'all hear?

Watch this. Nothing can be accomplished for God's glory without quiet confidence. You got a lot of people in this day and time who are getting in front of God, taking his glory. I was talking to my little son the other night, Ben. He's living in Chicago. He moved out of his mom's house and he's on his own. And so he's like a fish out of water, per se, because he's gotta, you know, now be a man, do things for himself.

And part of that, because he's a spiritual man, he knows he needs cover. Because he needs a local church.

So he was telling me some of the places he was visiting. I was like, I was like, okay, we'll keep looking.

Because at the end of the day, just because it's big—

are y'all hearing this?— that doesn't mean it's God. You need to be in a place where God is, where you actually can grow.

You don't need to be in a place where some things are just obvious when you see it. I mean, you know it, but you try to ignore it because the person is— because you can be gifted. You watch it. Okay, let me just say it. You can be a gift. Let me say it like this. You can be a gifted whore monger. You can be a gifted lesbian. You can be a gifted homosexual. And a lot of times when people push gift before character, they are walking in the confidence of the gift and not God. And many times they're getting the glory, they're getting likes, they're getting things. People are following them because they're popular.

Are y'all hearing this?

Because they put their gift before him, and we should never do that. Say confidence without conceit. That's what we're talking about tonight. Go to Romans real quick. I'm almost done. Somebody say Apostle.

Yeah, you said that a few minutes ago.

I want Romans 12.

Are y'all getting anything out of this?

Y'all still with me online?

Or y'all scroll because it hit you? Yeah, put on that one piece with a coverall next time. I won't have to say that.

That was for somebody.

That wasn't just for the Hawaiian girls. Somebody cover yourself up in the name of Jesus.

All right, Romans 12:16. The Bible said, be of the same mind one toward another. Mind not high things, but condescend to men of low estate. Be not wise in your own conceits. That is so good. Basically, he said never overestimate yourself or be wise in what you think you are. Or watch this, and don't gravitate to people who are operating in this spirit. You don't need to be in a culture where a person has overestimated made it themselves. Let me give you some wisdom: always be where you are. Always be where you are and who you are. Never forget that your location is important, your identity is important. Don't ever try to make them anything but what they are.

Listen, this text is basically telling us that first you gotta know what you are not before you can know who he is. Is—

I'm gonna say that again, that was good.

You gotta first know what you are not. See, a lot of people are unwilling to really examine themselves and see what they're not.

And see where they come short and see their inability to perform a task that only they can do through God.

And once you do that, he'll fill you with the confidence to do it through him.

But nobody really wants to take a closer look at them.

Everybody looks at everybody else, but can you really take an introspect and see what you got and see where you can use his help and strength to be better? Or do you just think you're okay?

Let's go up to verse 3.

Let's, let's look at real quick. Just sound wise. The Bible said, for I say through the grace given unto me to every man that is among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly. Okay, sober is the opposite of intoxicated. But watch this, sophronismos. This is sophronio in Greek, and it means to think with a sound mind, well-balanced, intelligent, confident. So don't think more higher, you think balanced.

Think confidently through God.

Think intelligently through God's spiritual intelligence, through his word.

He goes on to say, he said, you think soberly according as As God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith. There it is.

Be where you are.

Hallelujah.

Galatians 6:3.

Let's go there real quick.

Galatians 6:3.

As the old preacher say, I'm getting ready to blow this. Galatians 6:33. The Bible says, for if a man think himself to be something when he is nothing, he deceives himself.

So you ain't fooling nobody, really. But here's the crazy thing about deception: as you mature in deception, because the more you lie to yourself the more deceived you become. And as you mature in deception, you start believing what you think you are. And now we got a big problem, because when someone challenges that, you're offended because you're deceived.

The Bible said, no, be where you are. Don't think yourself to be something when you're nothing.

Because guess what?

We got to resolve that we really are nothing without Christ. Are y'all here?

If y'all feeling that, because I'm trying— because in the next couple of messages I teach on this, we're gonna hit hard on walking in confidence, but we got to deal with this humility piece because it can be misconstrued that we're being arrogant, but we're nothing except God. Oh boy, I gotta get out of here. Glory to Jesus. Uh, so, so don't think you're too superior. Watch this. Galatians 6:3 is just saying you ain't too superior to do certain tasks.

Some folks say, I'm not gonna take out no trash, I'm the apostle, I'm the prophet. That's crazy.

Anything that we're assigned to do, we should do it. Like, no, none of us are above any task.

I'm not above vacuuming.

I'm not above sweeping the floor, cleaning the bathroom. I'm not above putting up a thing in the bathroom to hold the paper towels, even though it's crooked.

I did it.

Y'all hearing this?

I'm not above that.

We're not too superior to perform task. Because none of us, regardless to title, perceived anointing, or spiritual gifting, we're all servants of God. All here. So let's keep that in our mind. All right, go, go to Romans 12. Back to Romans. Romans 12:5.

We going to get out of here. Amen.

So we being many are one body in Christ, and everyone members of another.

That is so good. I read this Sunday, but I'm, I'm reading it again now because I want to clarify that real membership It's not really about being a member of a church. Real membership is being one with each other in the body.

We can join church and still not be connected.

Are y'all hearing this?

I've seen it all my life and all of my ministry. I've seen people join the church and not really be in the church. That's not God's will. We are to be the body of Christ.

No matter what local assembly you are connected to, we all are connected to each other.

And you know what that means? We need each other.

My body is not going to work correctly if my heart's not working. Are y'all hearing me?

So, and end of the day, we have to decide if I'm the heart or the man of the streets the heart, the lady down the street the heart, then we going to pump blood into the rest of the body. We're going to do our job. But equally important is the foot, cuz your heart can be working and your foot broke, you can't walk. So the foot is important. It's just as important as the hair on your head or the hairs in your nose. No matter where we are in the body, we equally a part of each other. That right there ought to kill Conceited. And you ought to be able to be confident and be the best foot you gonna be.

Are y'all here?

Thank God for your feet.

Thank God for your hands. Important.

Your eyes. Lord, I thank you. These are things that we take for granted so many times, and even in the body of Christ, we take for granted the people that don't even carry titles. Watch this. James 4, the Bible said, from whence come wars and fightings among you? Come they not hence even of your lusts that war in your members? So he just told us we're members of each other, right? And whenever something is fighting against the other, that's lust in the members of someone trying to get out of place and be something they're not called to be. He says, verse 2, you lust and have not, you kill and desire to have and cannot obtain, you fight and war, yet you have not because— watch this— you ask not. Oh my God. So we'll fight over— fight someone about something they have. And be jealous about a confidence someone else walks in. Well, God said you're fighting and don't have nothing because you ain't asked for it. A lot of time our lack is connected to our inability to ask God for what we want. Verse 3: You ask and you receive not because you ask amiss. He said, so that you asking for stuff that is amiss, that's out of alignment with my word. So he said, if you're going to pray, you need to pray my will, pray the word. He said, and I can perform it in that. Watch it. He said, you're asking amiss that you can consume it on your— it's a waste of time in prayer.

To pray for things that you want to use on your lust, because God ain't listening to you. He's not going to hear you.

You praying for money to take your side piece on vacation. God ain't hearing you. You better get your own money to take her, because God ain't going to bless you to take her, because you're in sin. You adding sin Saying to sin, that's asking amiss. A man can see my wife all he want to say, I'm gonna pray that she leave him and be mine.

The devil is a liar.

That's asking amiss. God ain't listening to that foolishness.

Are y'all hearing this?

I, I, I even had one I married.

He was a little intoxicated when he said it, and I just kind of let it slide. And, you know, he just made a statement, oh, she's still my wife.

No, I just went the other way because that could have went a thousand different ways.

So I just let him have it because he was a little tipsy, but because it was at a family Christmas party, and you know, he came to the family gathering.

Well, you ain't in the family no more, so if I'm here, you don't need to show up. But that's a whole nother message for another day.

Uh, but the reality is he was talking amiss.

No matter how confident he was in what he thought was right.

That was wrong.

And there are a lot of people who ask God things amiss.

Oh my God, make sure we praying in the will.

Glory to God.

And not according to our lusts.

Verse 4, he said, you adulterers.

See, y'all look at Apostle James.

Y'all thought I was something. He just straight up talking. You an adulterer. An adulteress. You know not that friendship with the world is enmity against God.

He said, whosoever therefore will be a friend with the world is an enemy of God.

Verse 5: Do you think that the scripture said in vain, the Spirit of the Lord that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy? But he giveth more grace. Somebody said more grace. Wherefore he said, God resisteth the proud and giveth grace to the humble.

That's powerful. That God sets himself against—

against pride.

He resisteth. Arrogance leads to a loss. Guess what? Because of this verse right here, Aloneness leads to abortion. You end up aborting the purpose, aborting the assignment, and because you don't have no God support to carry you out.

We don't want to be there.

We need him, so we, we might ought to humble ourselves. And know that whatever happens in our life, it happens because of grace. Pride is dangerous. It was Lucifer's sin. It got him kicked out of heaven. Guess what? The pattern still works. You operating in pride is going to get you kicked out of heavenly places. It's going to get you kicked out of access to heavenly things.

Proverbs 16:18.

Hallelujah! Bible said pride goes before destruction, and the Holy Spirit before a fall.

That's the word.

Pride goes over what? Destruction. We definitely don't want to end up destroyed, right? We don't want our business affairs destroyed, our work destroyed. We want to see things stand, so we need to operate in humility.

And a haughty spirit—

say haughty. A haughty spirit— this, this word is Gobar in Hebrew, and it means you believe you are higher than others. It's a spirit that leads you to believe you are better and higher than others. And people—

you really believe people must look up to you because of your Holy Spirit. There are people with titles that don't feel like you gotta bow down to them because they got a title.

It's crazy, but no matter how grandeur you think you are, you got to humble yourself under the mighty hand of God. So here's the key, and I'm closing, cuz these next few teachings are going to be interesting. You have to listen to me, have humility. Watch this, without self-depreciation.

How do you do that?

You got to understand, you're not supposed to lift yourself up, but you ain't supposed to tear yourself down neither. So you got to be able to operate in humility without appreciating your value. I said a lot— that a lot of different ways tonight, but that's basically what I'm saying.

You understand? Thank you, Jesus.

We give you glory.

Still with us?

Stay with us. I want to pray for you that arrogance will not ever be a part of your life.

That you'll move in the things of God and you'll humble yourself before his hand.

Thank you, Jesus. I'll be true, Lord Jesus.

I'll be true, I'll be true, Lord Jesus. I'll be true, for there's a race to be run. There are victories to be won every hour. By thy power, I, I'll be I'll be true, Lord Jesus. I'll be true, I'll be true, Lord Jesus. I'll be true, for there's a race to be run. There are victories to be won every hour.

By thy power, I'll be true.

Father, I thank you for this word tonight. I pray it will land on the good ground of every heart, that they may reap it in due season, that they faith. God, I thank you for the spirit of confidence. But God, I pray that even as we begin to walk in supernatural confidence and godly confidence, that we will have confidence without conceit, and that we'll humble ourselves.

And Father, even as we heard tonight that rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, I rebuke rebellion in the name of Jesus, and I release to tonight the spirit of obedience in the midst of this church, in the midst of the body of Christ. I declare that we will walk humbly in obedience to your instructions.

We won't lean to counsel this of the world, but God, we'll trust what you say.

We'll follow your plans and we'll trust the integrity of the word, for your word is true and it cannot lie. And even as the song said, God, we will be true. We will run this race and be true so the world will know that you are God and that you live in our life.

In Jesus' name, amen and amen. Glory to God.

Where perhaps, glory to God, you are watching tonight and you're not saved, I just feel in my spirit to pray.

Maybe some I believe someone was watching this live tonight and you were not born again. God wants to save you. He wants to give you Godly confidence. He wants to take your life to a new place in him.

If you're not saved and you heard this word tonight and you say, I want to move in confidence, I want to give my life to God, I want you to say this with me.

Say, Heavenly Father, in the name of Jesus, I repent I repent of my sin. I open my heart and invite you in. Say, Jesus, come in and live in me. Say, I receive you as my Savior.

I believe you died and rose again, and I declare tonight, I am born again.

I'm saved. Listen, if you said that prayer, you're born again. You have a new life in God. Listen, if you have— listen, if you said the prayer, you need a church home, I want to invite you to worship with us here at Rhoda Church, 410 Santa Fe Trail in the city of Ellenwood, Georgia. Visit our website to get more information at rhodachurch.org. Come and we'll be glad to serve you any way we can. Glory to God.

Listen, we're done tonight. We thank God for his goodness.

We thank God for his mercy.

We're going home.

Glory to God. If you desire to give, the ways to give are scrolling at the bottom of the screen. Glory to the name of God.

Get seed in the ground tonight.

He gives seed to the sower and bread to the eater. We bless your name, Jesus. We honor your name, Father.

We thank you tonight for this service, God.

Even as we leave this place, may your spirit go before us, make our way smooth, successful, and prosperous in the mighty name of Jesus.

Thank you that we'll move in confidence. And Father, even when we return to this place on Sunday, I declare that your people will find it not robbery to assemble themselves together. For your word says, forsake not the assembly of ourselves together as the manner of some is. So Father, I thank you that as we assemble on Sunday, we'll assemble in glory, and your anointing will be in this place.

And we bless you now in Jesus' name. Amen and amen. Glory to God.