CONFIDENCE, PT 5: "DO IT AFRAID" | DR. MIKE WOODS, SR.

All right, the Bible says, for if the first fruit is holy— somebody say holy. Now the word holy there is hagios in Greek, which means if the first fruit is set aside— say set aside— set aside and sanctified for God's usage. Okay, he said the lump is also holy. All right, so if you set aside the first fruit to make it You purify the rest of it as well. We're going somewhere with this. Y'all with me? And if the root— say the root— is holy, also are the branches. So wait a minute, the fruit don't determine their essence, the root does. So if you want to change fruit, you have to change the root. So if you don't like what you're manifesting or what you're getting in your life, you got to change what you're doing. You don't like your paycheck at the end of the week, change what you do during the week. Are y'all here? You don't like the harvest you get, change the seed you sow. All right, y'all here? If you're not giving enough love back in your life, maybe you're not sowing some. Are y'all here? So if you want love, you got to give some. Give and it shall be given unto you. So you give love, you get love back, good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over. You want some joy? You ain't got no joy? Maybe you ought to give some. Are y'all with me? So let me keep reading. He says, and if some of the branches were broken off and you being a wild olive tree were grafted in among them and with them became a partaker of the root and the fatness of the olive tree. He says, do not, verse 18, boast again against the branches. But if you do boast, remember that you do not support the root, but the root supports you. So in other words, if you choose to break off and follow a branch that's not in God Are y'all here? To follow a kingdom or a system that's not the kingdom of God. He said, now don't talk against the roots you broke off from, which is God, because that's the one that really made you anyway. But now you're choosing to follow another way and made it hard. Okay, are y'all hearing this? Amen. So where I wanted to get with this was In order to actually operate in confidence without fear, and that's what we're going to talk about today, you got to be uprooted and replanted. Y'all hear? Say that with me. Say uprooted. Uprooted. And replanted. And replanted. There's some systems in our thinking. There's some systems in our mind. That have to be uprooted, and then we got to be planted again in the right pot so we can take root in the right kingdom system, all right, so we can come up and become what God has called us to be. Old thinking will hinder you in new systems. You cannot bring a kingdom system— oh my God— into a worldly system and expect it to work. Because the kingdom way is going to emerge every time. Same way you can't expect— oh my God— to be in the world and— oh God— and the kingdom to favor you because— and you chose the world. We scared of 1600 Pennsylvania. Okay, I'm just trying to help because we're getting ready to go into some hard times. It won't affect you if you plan it. That's right. Are y'all hearing me? Everything is about to go crazy. Real estate market about to go totally backwards. The economy, everything's about to really be jacked up. But with government shutting down, with recession coming— I'm telling you, it's upon us— if you're planning, it won't affect you. Touch yourself. Say, it won't affect me because I'm planted in a different kingdom, and my God shall supply all my needs according to his riches. Now watch this. This first thing about this I want you to understand. When you got saved, you were planted in the world system. I'm sorry, when you were born, you were planted in the world system. You were born in sin and shaping in iniquity. When you got saved— this is the right thing— you were translated out of the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of our dear Son, our brother, our Savior, Jesus Christ. So we move from one kingdom to the next, but now just because we moved, it takes time now to cultivate the new kingdom system. You got to be taught, right? You say, I gotta be talking. So we get uprooted from the world system, transplanted in Christ. Into his kingdom. Now, if you're taking notes, write T on your paper. I want you to do this because I want you to see this. We're going to get into this. No fear. Once I get there, I'm almost through. Write a T on your paper. On one side of that T, I want you to write world. It's two columns. And on the other side, I want you to write Christ. I want to show you what this looks like. So on the world, number 1, I want you to write acceptance based on performance. So in the world, we are accepted based on how we perform. I told you last week that most preachers, when they show up on Sunday, they are reapplying for their job every week because they, they perform to be accepted by the people that listen to them, and they want to make sure that They perform just how everybody wants so that the people keep coming back, right? The devil is like, that's way too much work, I'm not doing it. I'm trying to just— I'm gonna follow the leading of God every time I teach, every time I preach. I'm sorry, because in the kingdom my acceptance is based on my faith in God. So you— we try to perform in the world to be accepted, but in the kingdom, all you got to do is honor and trust God and believe God. He accepts you. Are y'all hearing this? There's no works, it's faith. Number 2, write it down: the world— in the world, you are rejected if you're not pleasing. That's right. If you don't please people in the world They'll reject you because you don't dance to their music. In the kingdom, you're never rejected if you keep trusting God. Say that one more time. In the kingdom, I'm never rejected as long as I trust God. That's good stuff, man. Why would he reject the same person that he elected, selected, and protected to be a child of God? You realize the very fact that you say it's by election? Yeah, you didn't just happen to get saved. He elected you before the foundation of the world to be saved. What a privilege, because you could have been elected to go the other way. My Lord, y'all ain't got to say nothing. You got elected to have eternity with God. That's right, that's good stuff. You got elected to have heaven on earth. How great is that? Number 3, I ain't got time because I got to get to this, right? Number 3, you're loved if it's merited. So if you do the right things to get somebody to love you in the world system, they love you based on works, based on what you do. But that's not real love, right? Right. In the kingdom, you're loved for love alone. You ain't got to work to receive God's love. That's right. I need you because I'm trying to build your confidence. God loves you, so you ain't got to work for his attention. Some folks that say they love you, they should have said, I need you, right? Because as soon as you stop doing what they need you to do, they go. Come on, y'all ain't got to say— but love endures every storm. Love goes through the highs and the lows. Love will be with you when you're healthy and strong, and if you happen to catch Alzheimer's, love will stay with you. Are y'all here? Love doesn't leave when things get bad because love is a free gift. He loves you for love alone. Number 4, in the world— here we go— nothing is free. Yeah, we know that, right? Even if they tell you it's free. I want you to always know there's always something coming behind free. Somebody telling you, okay, this is free, come get it. It's something else. Read the small print, because nothing in the world is free, but in the kingdom everything is free. Glory to God. I heard one pastor say, I'm gonna start— these folk won't give, I'm gonna start charging them at the double. I'm gonna have to pay it out at the double. They had to give to get it. I said, they gonna go home. You're gonna do it. Ain't nobody gonna come in. That's stupid. Are y'all hearing this? Because everything in the kingdom is free. That doesn't make sense. He said, I don't care what you say, Woods, I'm still gonna do it. And I said, like Paul said to Corinthians, if they be ignorant, let them be ignorant. I gave them our church address. I said, as soon as they decide they ain't coming in your door Tell them, come to our church because we, we gonna let them in free. Are y'all hearing this? Yeah, you shouldn't have to pay $499 to go to a church conference. Y'all ain't got to say nothing here. I know registration, we want to bring in these speakers, but I think if you bring in people, the church should be spiritually and financially ready before you even invite them to bring them in. Glory to God. I had somebody text me last week, and it's my daughter, so I'm gonna do it. And I love her. Her anniversary— the church, her church is giving her an anniversary in Jackson. And she said, Apostle, we want you to come and be the speaker. We ain't got no money for honorarium, but we want you to come. Well, first of all, she's taught better than that. So I'm like, you ain't got to have no money. You didn't even have to mention that. I'm coming. Right, okay. I'll be there. I'm going and I'm gonna preach, and I'm not charging her a dime. Now, if she remembers her teaching— are y'all hearing me? Understanding who I am in her life and the fact that I've traveled 6 hours to do that for her. Because the Bible said you should forsake the Levite that's in the gate or without the gate. So you'll forsake the preacher that's in the church Y'all go, boy, okay, here we go. People don't want to take care of the leader. We'll take care of buildings, we'll buy schools, we'll pay off debt for the church, but forget about the man. True. I'm not just saying that because I need something from y'all. I'm just saying that's what church folk do. But the man is the one that make the whole thing work. You don't take care of him, what good is to have a debt-free building? Are y'all here? Okay, all right, I'm gonna keep on because that's— I hit a hard spot right there. But the Bible said if I communicate to you spiritual things, you should communicate to me naturally, right? Okay, so, but on the— so if that's the case, she'll remember, okay, I got a blessing, Apostle, so I'm not even worried about it because I know that At some point during that whole thing, the teaching's gonna kick in. But I'm not so arrogant to say, well, I can't come because you said you ain't got no money for honorarium. I've had folk that make— see me demand lists, man. Pastor Jeffrey be dealing with this when we be inviting folk to come here and do something, whether it's to preach and sing. I'll be like, look, I ain't got time for that right there. How you going to make demands and you ain't in demand? You can't make demands if you not in demand. I understand you, when your presence show up, we guarantee we folk going to be lined up outside. You asking me for, for $2,000 for one day to sing a song. are y'all hearing this? I'm like, no, our praise team sings pretty good. We'll let them do what they do. Are y'all hearing this? Because at the end of the day, that's ridiculous. You ain't made a record in 20 years. You made one 20 years ago. I'm trying to give you a chance to get back out here. Are y'all hearing this? And you want to charge me all this money? Okay, I'm just saying, that's, that's personal. But the reality, I'm trying to make a point here. In the kingdom, everything is free. God gave you the gift free. That's right. Oh boy, somebody said, well, I'm an artist, that's how I make my living. No, freely you have been given. Are y'all hearing this? So freely give that gift. The artist ain't gonna like me because they said gospel artists got to make money. I understand, you sell the CD, but when it comes to coming to the church, do a concert and do tickets for that. Yeah, but don't do it at church. Rent a venue and sell tickets. I understand you got to pay for State Farm Arena. So we're going to support you. But if it's in church, let's have a system where we can trust one another to bless each other. And see, what this artist didn't know, I would have gave them more than what they asked me for anyway. Y'all ain't got to say that because that's just how I roll. Because I'm not going to bring you in and not bless you. Are y'all hearing me? Amen. See, we got to have a system where we know who we dealing with. I know some folk you got to probably protect yourself, either just them, because some folk will use you. And again, so I'm— oh God, it's been way too long on that. Let me just move. Say everything is free in the kingdom. Number 5, in the world, write it down, you got to work your way to the top. Okay, some people in the world, you got to work your way to the top. That's right. Some folks do it all kind of way. They don't work their way, they work something else. They sleep their way. You know, I've seen women and men climb the corporate ladder sleeping their way to the top. That's a dangerous piece, man, because whoever puts you there can always take you down. In Christ, here we go, y'all ready? It's not by your work, it's by grace. The grace you receive already puts you on top. Number 6: in the world, you compete with others to be first. That's what everybody trying to do, get first chair, become the boss, be the manager. And most people are cutthroat, especially in corporate America. They'll smile in your face and be talking to the people that promote behind your back. Better watch what you're doing. You be at work telling folk the little secrets you got to cut corners, they telling somebody because they want you, because they want your position and they want to go higher than you. Got to be careful because everybody wants to be first. But in Christ, here we go, I love this, the first will be last, the last will be first. So just because you come as a servant and humble yourself and say, I'm going to take this low place, God says, I'm going to exalt you. Go ahead now, Lord. Yeah, go ahead. Number 7, write it down, then we going to jump into the days, okay? I just want to give you this because I'm trying to give you some confidence. In the world, you're more valuable if you look right, do right, know the right people, and are talented, and etc., etc., etc. You look good, talk good, got the degrees, dressed the part, looked the part. That's the world. The world will— they looking for that. But in Christ, your value is in nothing outward. Oh boy, watch this. No good thing comes out of the flesh. We're three parts, we're trichotomy: body, soul, spirit. Your spirit is Zoe life, which means that's God, that's the God kind of life. He controls that life when he comes in. Your soul is psuche life, psychological life, your will, your mind, your will, your emotions. Your taste, your intellect, your senses, your ability to make decisions is in the soul. So all of the things that flow out of your life really flow from the first two entities: your innermost man, which is your spirit, your inner man, which is your soul. Your body is just a conduit to manifest the invisible. So it ain't what you see on the outside. You gotta learn to slip past packages and get into the heart of a thing. See, we'll be looking at the package and like, oh, I want that. You better— I'm telling you, you've been single ladies, I'm Y'all got to be careful, especially in Atlanta. It can look like a man on the outside. Y'all ain't got to talk, but on the inside, he a bigger girl than you. Okay, I ain't got no help here, cuz nothing comes out of this outer case. You can look at a man that has biceps, triceps, six-pack, swole, just walking around like this. I'm like, oh Lord. But you better slip past them six-packs and make sure you got 66 books working in there. Y'all hear this? Make sure you got God working in there. That's the truth, cuz he can go to bed— so the older people going to know what I'm about to say— he can go to bed looking like Billy Dee and wake up looking like E.T. You be want to say, E.T., phone home, go home, cuz that dude, everything about him comes out. Because nothing good comes from now. You gotta learn to seek the contents above the package, because that's what God does. Man looks at the outer, but God discerns the heart. So you got to be like God when you're dealing with people. Slip past the outer casing of a thing and get to the heart of what's going on. See, this is like I tell you all the time, when people come into this ministry, if they lack discernment, if they flow in what they visually see— oh, this is a little church, right? And don't slip past the little church and see really at the core who God has made us to be. People will start deducting and analyzing based on our Y'all ain't got to talk. Not realizing that the greatest blessing of what they can gain from this ministry is in the core. Y'all ain't got to talk to me here. Of us being a praying church, being an apostolic church, being a prophetic house. But they'll stop. Oh, it's too low for me. Yeah, we'll miss it every time doing that. Are y'all hearing it? And it's not just this place, that's any place. Sometimes you can go to a place, oh, this is too white for me, but what you might need is in that white place, right? Are y'all hearing this? So you gotta always do and be where and what God wants you to do and be. Are y'all here? All right, let's get into this. Look at it. All right, now, Mario, I'm ready. We're talking about fear not this morning. Glory to God. Yeah, God is good. So fear is the arch enemy of confidence. Remember I told you confidence means that you are able and acceptable to undertake anything and everything God assigns. Fear will stop you from undertaking it. Are y'all here? Most people will stay stuck in their life because they have no confidence and they're afraid to do something they never did before. They're afraid to test the limits. Go ahead now. You can't— you'll never test the limits in fear. Fear, say it with me, is the enemy of confidence. Say it. Fear is the enemy of confidence. I want you to think for a moment, for real. Have you ever been stopped by fear? And there's some things you know you needed to do, you didn't do them because that was his fear. I mean, it could be something as simple as learning to swim. Are y'all here? Uh-huh. I mean, seriously, has it ever stopped you from undertaking something you knew that you needed to do to better your life? Yeah. Let's go deeper. Have you ever disobeyed God? Because of fear. Some people won't— oh my God— because they're— and me and my wife talks about this all the time. People say, oh, I got church hurt, and I got hurt in church, and I'm just traumatized by what the last church did to me. So they won't commit to a new church. Are y'all here? But I'm, I'm just curious because Church ain't the only place folk get hurt. That's right. Folk get marriage hurt, they stay married. They get hurt at the club, club hurt, go back to the club. I mean, are y'all hearing this? But get hurt at church, stop coming to church. First of all, God didn't hurt you. The church really didn't hurt you. It was somebody or some entity in the church that hurt you. Let's call it what it was. So if you got hurt by another person in the church— watch this— and this happens all the time, you get hurt by a human on your job. Job hurt? Guess what? You're going to work because you want that check. So we got to make sure we don't allow fear to cause us to be disobedient, right? Watch this. You ever started something? I mean, you started doing it, then you backed down. No, because of fear. It's the enemy of confidence, because at that moment, fear robbed you of your confidence. Fear is infeasible. In other words, it causes things to not exist. It creates an infeasibility. It tells you that what you're trying to do can't happen. Fear will hamper your ability to do and be in life. Fear will whiten your hair and shatter your health. Most people that end up sick with cancer, they feared getting it. Y'all ain't got to talk. They sit around worrying because they see other people in their family getting it, and they start worrying whether they gonna get The word disease, break it down, dis-ease, which means you get worried, you get fearful, you lose confidence. And God says he's a God that heals you. So your confidence is, I ain't gonna never get cancer. Your confidence should be, I'll never get dementia, I'll never get Alzheimer's disease, I'll never have a terminal illness. Apostle, that's normal. But not for me. It's normal for folk that don't believe. The Bible said he Jehovah Rapha, the God our healer. He said he will not put none of these diseases upon you that he brought upon the Egyptians. He's the Lord God that heals you. So I declare in this place this morning that my body is a cancer-free zone. Your body is a cancer-free zone. I declare in this place this morning that this building is a cancer-free zone. Y'all ain't got to talk to me here. It's an Alzheimer's-free zone. It's a sickness and disease-free zone. And that means if you don't have it, you'll never get it. And it means if you got it, you're already healed by his stripes and by his Power! I wish I had somebody to give God praise! Oh my God, eternal healing! It trumps terminal illness all day. We ain't got to claim that. That's in another system. Amen. It ain't in our system. Go ahead now. Eternal healing. We claim cancer because everybody else getting it. Me and my wife was looking at a house yesterday that used to be owned by oncologist. And walking through the house, praying about, you know, buying it, trying to see if this is what God wants me to do. And the Lord began to show me different things. He was— the man has moved out of the house, gonna move to Miami. But the Lord The Lord showed me stuff about him. Amen. And how passionate he was about making sure people became healthy from cancer. And he believed in the system that taught him, but he kept hitting these blocks. He could never figure out certain things because he wasn't spiritual. He was totally— he was a good man, good heart, wanted to see people healed, but he didn't realize that the missing link was his connection with God that would have gave him insight about the body, about cancer, that he didn't have. He could have brought healing in a deeper way than just with his— oh my God— earthly tools. His earthly intellect, his Harvard education. Are y'all hearing this? We need a— which shows me we need more than what we think we need. We need everything the King has to offer. Are y'all here? Yeah. Glory to God. I'm almost done. Stay with me. The word fear, let's just break it down. Usually there are two words transliterated for fear. The first one is dehilia. Say that word, say dehilia. Looks like Delilah when you write it down, but it's dehilia, D-E-H-I-L-A, dehilia. And this word means a cowardice from fright, which means something frightens you you, and you become a coward. You lose courage. You back down. You tuck your tail. I say, I'm not fooling with this. Are y'all here? It's a coward. Watch this. God didn't call any cowards. We are here to be bold, to be confident. And to defeat the enemy at every turn. The other word is phobos in Greek. So we get words like phobia. It's— oh my God, this means to take flight because you're terrified or have become a coward. So this means to run away. So you can have the hylia which is counteraction, right? To be afraid. But once you get that feeling, because you're human, it'll come upon you. You got a choice now to forge forward in faith and go against what's causing the fear, or to do phobos and take flight. Let me show you what that looks like. So let's look at the etymology and show you what it looks like. Etymology, study of words. So let's look at what it looks like. So there's a word called trichadecaphobia. That's the fear of the number 13. You got some crazy folk that anytime they see 13, they go to rebuke it, go to squint their eyes. They're afraid of the number 13 because they said the number 13 is bad luck. And guess what they do? Because they feel that cowardice They see 13, they react in a phobos way. They walk away, like, I gotta get away from that. Your birthday on the 13th, they ain't gonna be friends with you because you bring bad luck. But that's not really how God rolls, man. Let me give you a number. There's one called Oh my God, hydrophobia fear. Hydrophobia is the fear of water. Now I'm working with my wife because I'm going to teach her to swim. I done put it on her bucket list. It wasn't on it, I put it on it, and I'm going to teach her to swim. But we have to believe God now to break that fear of water. Now she ain't got as bad as some people because she do bathe, all right? I can attest to that. All right, but there's something that feel water so bad they don't even bathe. There's some people that feel water, they won't get on a boat, a cruise ship. Said, no, it's too much water to drink, I ain't getting out there. The church is doing a cruise to Dominica next year in September. You want to go with us? Break the spirit of fear now. Yeah, that's right, cuz there's a blessing on that water. Matter of fact, the Bible said the Spirit of the Lord is upon the water. That's something that happens in the connection of water that don't happen nowhere else. I need you to hear me. God, when he visits earth and just floats around, he does it in oceans. Y'all ain't got to say nothing. Glory to God. That's where he fellowships with the earth before he He even encounters man. He spends time upon the water. All right, all right. Don't be afraid of it. I mean, it's a blessed water. It's a blessing. Even though I, I'm, you know, I'm kind of biased because I started swimming as a real little boy. I was a Navy officer, so I've, I've been around water most of my life. Yeah. Here's what I want you to understand: my greatest blessings have come through my connection to water. God has spoke to me so clear when I'm walking along the beach by water. Is there something different that happens? Yeah, yeah, by water. I understand why— I don't even understand why Sheree and her sister decided to move to Georgia. All that water they were living by, beautiful water in Miami. Yeah, are y'all hearing this? So I'm telling y'all You gotta deal with your hydrophobia. So what people that have a fear, guess what, they don't get on the ship. Now, Apostle, y'all, I see y'all when y'all get back. Y'all hearing this? All right, let me give you more. So let me give you one, let me give you one more. Zoophobia, fear. That's the fear of animals. Some of y'all are so afraid of animals. Dog can be this little, I'm talking about he this big, and you is jumping and hollering, won't go in the house. God didn't give you that. I said, I'm so all in, you know. I don't care what it is. It's a snake, I'm trying to figure out how to pick it up by the tail and kill it, or how to step on it. Some folks see it and run. My wife see a little toad at the door and she's like, get that. And she's just such a girly girl. Get that. But here's reality: God don't give us the spirit of fear. You— so that's what I'm talking about this morning. You got to do it afraid. When you— because he didn't say you wouldn't feel the feeling. He's trying to give you the feeling. But when you feel it, don't run. Go ahead now. Trust what he says. I ain't telling nobody any else in here to be handling those snakes. Now that's not what I'm saying. Because somebody said, well, Apostle told us to handle snakes. We don't have no snakes, we ain't got no faith. I didn't say that, because there's a group of folk out here that handle snakes, so I have to be careful. All right, so we understand. Say, fear is not for me. It's not of God. Now there's a type of fear that you need called reverential Which— this is not a cowardice from fright. It doesn't cause you to run, but it's a reverence that says, I honor you. It's a fear in honor. Are y'all hearing this? It causes you to obey. It causes you to be careful in dealing with other people. I went to my cousin's, uh, I'm just a stickler for honor. I know, you know, it didn't really mean that But I'm with my cousins, uh, my auntie's husband's funeral this past week, and my daddy did the eulogy. My dad been preaching over 50 years. So I looked at the program and they had him listed— this is just me, I'm not telling y'all to be like this— I looked at the program, they had him listed as Minister Freddie Woods. Now, for all practical intents and purposes, he is a minister. He's a servant. But these folk know he's a pastor, he's a prophet. Let's honor— because they family though— but let's honor the man in the position he's held and proven that he is. So I— he was good. I felt some kind of way. I hit my stepmom, I said, "What is this?" She said, "I know, that's all they know. They don't understand." I said, "Yes, they know." I'm sitting there for about 5 minutes, I had to get myself together because they wasn't honoring like— so again, here's what I'm saying. When you know people carry something, you honor them. So let me use Shannon. I know Shannon Carey is a prophetic man. I don't just casually greet her, and especially over the pulpit, and call her Shannon. I say, Prophet, and I address her by what she is. That's honor, right? My wife could be talking to people, she don't call me Michael. When in reference to my office, she called me Apostle because she understands honor. I'm not saying you got to call me nothing. I'm just saying you ain't gonna call your mama by her first name, right? Right. Are y'all hearing this? That's reverential. Mama, I honor you. Yeah, even with the stuff my mama dealing with. If I call my mama Carol, she gonna grab her purse and something else. Y'all hear me? Say, who you talking to? Right, right. Because it's honor, right? Yeah. So we got to give honor, reverence to God. Now I think the church took it too far because this ain't even in the Bible. Or we start calling the preacher Reverend. Rev. It ain't in scripture. But if we want to honor him, let's call him by his title. If he's a fivefold ministry gift, let's honor him as a pastor. Are y'all hearing this? This Pastor Such-and-Such. If you got a pastor friend, don't, don't introduce me to your pastor friend. Hey, Apostle Mike, this This is my buddy Robert. No, that's not how you introduce him, even though y'all live buddies. Okay, I'm going to keep moving. Go to Proverbs 14:26, cuz— go, come on Mario, let's go. Son, 14:26. The Bible says, in the fear of the Lord one has strong Confidence. That's good. So you reverence God— here we go— he gives you strong confidence. Let me show you what this verse is saying. If you're not confident in some areas, that means you have not honored God in that area as you should, because the Bible says here, in the fear of the Lord, you got strong confidence. You know why? Because you don't want to let him down. You don't want to displease him. You want to make him smile. You want to be found pleasing in his sight. I got to get out of here. So many times, strong confidence, he knows I can do it afraid. Wait a minute, he speaks to your legacy. He tells you what confidence does to your legacy and in your children. Watch this. Is. You will have a refuge. So your children aren't even safe because of your confidence. Even if some of your children not living like you think they ought to live right now, if they're not aligned the way you think they ought to be aligned, if you put confidence in God, God said your children will be safe. That's why, parents, the best thing you can do for your children is live for God. The best thing you can do for your children is display confidence in God before them. And when you do that, the Bible said your children will have a refuge. Amen. Children don't need some parent that's always doubting and always in fear. That's why I think, man, babies don't need to have babies, right? It happens, but it shouldn't. Okay, again, this is just me. It's my opinion. It's like a toothbrush, everybody got one. Oh, all right. But if you are immature and a child yourself You don't need no children. You need to grow up so you can be a parent enough to show them confidence in God so that they can win in life. Yeah, but if all your children see— watch this— if your children see you with a halter top on with your stomach out, y'all ain't got to talk. And yoga pants. Hump top, yoga pants. Okay, y'all, y'all get the picture, right? Guess what your little girl going to wear? She going to put on the exact same stuff. Are y'all here? Cuz she going to do what she see Mommy do. You got to decide. You don't have confidence in the Lord, and be an example. And these young people that have these children, most of the time the grandparents end up doing more raising of the children. Y'all ain't got to talk. And teaching the children at the young age is what they need to know than the parent does, because the parent is too caught up in themselves. I don't want to hear that. Okay, y'all quiet this morning. Okay, I'm, I'm going to take that as you're listening. Hallelujah. You go next slide. Look at somebody, say, do it afraid. Do it afraid. Come on, say it again. Say, do it afraid. Do it afraid. So when you feel fear, go forward. The moment you do that, the fear is going to lift. True story, testimony of a woman. I want you to hear this, of doing it afraid. This lady in conversation, just thing after thing, tied down her time, down her life. Everything she went to do, she was stopped by fear. And intelligent, smart entrepreneur, could have easily been a multimillionaire in her 20s, but every time she went to do something, fear stopped her. Here's the interesting thing. She was fearful about everything, and she began to tell me, "Well, I have been robbed by fear at gunpoint all my life, and I wanted to stop." I looked at her, this is 10 years ago, and I said, "Do it afraid." Because everything you just told me, clearly you don't know how to handle fear when it shows up. And it's this fear of rejection and failure that keeps you from going forward. I said, so one time I want you just to leave this office and do it afraid. The next thing that comes up, don't analyze before you believe, just do it afraid. And I told her, I promise you, you're gonna have the success. She did it. 3 years later, she had this idea to start this floral business. She did these arrangements, these soaps. She made soap from like scratch, some kind of way, good stuff. And she made these beautiful baskets. So in Mississippi, there was nothing really like this. That was a stationary place people can go and get this kind of customary stuff. She did it afraid. She got a place, start manufacturing stuff, put it in the building. To date, so 2 years after she opened, Sears in Jackson, Mississippi was still open before they went out of business. They came to her and said, look, we want to feature these products in the store. Can we license certain products to be sold in our store and you don't sell them here? They pay her a healthy amount of money, put the products in Sears. Today she still is in business because Sears went out of business. She got her license back. Now she's selling the stuff that everybody fell in love with through Sears. They would go to Sears to get it. Are y'all here? And, and they knew if they couldn't get nowhere else, they'd get it from Sis. But when Sis were out of business, they found her because she was the person that created it anyway. And now she can't keep the stuff and stuff. So you gotta do it afraid, right? If she would let fear grip her again, she wouldn't be in the position she is in now. Are y'all here? Oh my God, you got to fear not. There's one theologian that says fear not is in the Bible 365 times. That's right, Pastor, one for every day of the year. So every day you got to decide, I ain't going to fear nothing. Go to Joshua 1. Starting verse number 3. Glory to God. Y'all ready? Yes, sir. Y'all getting anything out of this? Yes, sir. I mean, serious, you getting anything out of this? Yes, sir. Yes, sir. I said, y'all quiet today, man. Joshua 1:3. Hallelujah! I feel God. Amen. Amen. The Bible said every place that the sole of your foot will tread upon, I have given you, as I said to Moses. Watch this. God is not a respecter of persons. I'm gonna say it again. God's not a respecter of persons. Amen. So if he did it for Moses, then he said this to Joshua. Guess what? This word also applies to me and you. Watch this. So everywhere your foot puts. Everywhere you put your foot in, when you put your foot on it, he said it belongs to you. Amen. Oh, that— can I prophesy to you? Yeah, I heard the Lord say, put your foot on it instead of standing on the outside looking at it. Put your foot on it. And God said, wherever you put your foot, he said, I'mma already give it to you. It's already yours. You already have the victory. Stop thinking about it. Stop contemplating. Stop dreaming about it and put your foot on it. Say it over— I got to put my foot on it. That means you got to take action. You've been sitting up thinking about it, thinking about how your business can blossom, how your dreams could come to pass, how God could do new things in your finances. God said, yeah, I want to do all that, but I can't do it until you put your foot on it. So you've been putting your foot in negativity, you've been putting your foot in the opinions of other people, but God said, put your foot on that business, put your foot on that stock, put your foot on Crypto. Put your foot in that River State. Put your foot on it. I wish I had a church here. Just hit somebody and say, put your foot on it. Put your foot on it. Verse 4, he said, from the wilderness and this Lebanon as far as the great river, the River Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites and the great sea toward the going down of the sun shall be your territory. In other words, Joshua, there's nowhere you set your feet that does not belong to you. All right, watch this. In your fear of dominion influence, there's nowhere you put your foot in that realm that's not yours. I wish somebody shout, it's already mine! Say, all I need to do is put my foot on it. Oh my God, glory to God. Verse 5, he said, no man— I love this— shall be able to stand before you all the days of your life. Lord, I love you. Hallelujah. As I was with Moses, so shall I be with you. So not only do you need to put your foot on it, but when you put your foot on it, you need to be confident. That there's no human, there's no entity, there's no weapon formed against you that will be able to stand before you all the days of your life. I'm trying to help somebody. You are going to win if you step out. Stop sulking, stop being depressed, dry the tears from your eyes and put your foot on it. And know that when you put put your foot on it, there won't be nothing that can stand before you. There won't be a witch, there won't be a warlock, it won't be a hater, it won't be a— oh my God— a friend, a family member that tries to stop the move of God in your life. No man can stand. That's why I'm here to tell you, I'm gonna keep preaching in this little church because I put my foot on this region, and I decree and declare, while we're yet small, while we're yet in our small beginnings. And the Bible said, despise not the day of small beginnings. I put my foot on this region and I declare souls will be saved, men will be delivered, women will be set free, businesses will be born, new churches will be birthed. I put my foot on it, demons will be cast out. You got to make up in your mind nothing will stop you. What God told you he'll do through you. Uh, just, just, just grab back and say, I'm unstoppable. I'm unstoppable. I got to get out of here, y'all. He says, he says, I will not leave you nor forsake you. Verse 6: Be strong and be of good courage. Very courageous. For to this people you shall divide as an inheritance the land which I swore to their fathers to give them. Now all that is saying is you have legacy in your belly, and there are people that will come behind your anointing, that will come behind your gift. That will come behind your abilities, that will come behind your identity, who will benefit from you putting your foot on it. See, if you don't put your foot on it, there are generations that will suffer because you— Revival God! Because you refuse to stand, because you refuse to go forth, because you refuse— to operate in boldness. Put your foot on it! Somebody needs you to do it afraid. Somebody needs you to do it without fear. Oh my God. He says, verse 7, only be strong and very courageous that you may observe and do according to all the law which which Moses my servant commanded you. Do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left. Here we go. That you may prosper wherever you go. So God said, when you put your foot on it, you put your foot down and you stand on the word. He said, don't let this word go out of your mouth. Put your foot down and keep quoting the word. I'm the head and not the tail. I'm above and not beneath. I'm a lender and not a borrower. I'm going in blessed. I'm going out blessed. I am God's chosen. Just keep quoting the word. He would above all things that I prosper and be in health even as myself. Keep the word in your mouth. Glory to God, cuz I'm more excited than y'all. But the reality is, I'm telling you, the word works. And you keep this word, he said be strong and very courageous. In other words, there's some stuff that's going to come up against you, there's some people that's going to try to stop you, there's some words that'll be spoken about you, but God says keep putting your foot down, keep opening your mouth and standing on the word, because God said you'll prosper in everything you do. You'll never lack. Oh, y'all need to hear that. You'll never lack. You'll never go without. I'll get somebody shouting, I'll never lack, I'll never go without. I need you to open your mouth and say, I'm blessed in the city. Say, I'm blessed when I come, when I go home. Say I'm blessed in the field. Say I'm a lender and not a borrower. Say I'm above and not beneath. Say I'm the head and not the tail. Now stomp your foot and put your foot on it and give God praise for what's coming. I'm just trying to give you confidence. God can't lie. His word said it. So shall it be. So shall it be. Thank you, Jesus. He said, watch it, wherever you go, you going to prosper. Yes. Come on now. Thank you, Jesus. Because you put your foot on it. And open your mouth and spoke the word. This is his promise concerning you. Verse 8, the Bible says, this book of the law, the word, shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it both day and night and do according to all that is written in it. Wait a minute. For then you will make your way prosperous. So prosperity is in your hands. The wealth is in your hands. The riches is in your hands. You make your way by keeping this word in your mouth. Notice the word meditate there, though. He said, I'm gonna meditate on it day and night. Word meditate is hagi'ah in Hebrew, which means you take the word, you chew it up, swallow it, regurgitate it, chew it some more. Someone said that's nice, but no, I'm talking about the word. Pull that same word back up, keep chewing, swap, because you're breaking it down until it's engrafted in you, until it replenishes you. In what it is, and you decide there's no other way but this word. For you to regurgitate something and keep eating, you have determined this is the only thing I can eat. This is the only thing I need for survival. Father God says, I want you to swallow this word and keep eating it over and over again until it becomes your way of life. Watch this, till you have no room to be negative. You have no room to doubt. Make your way prosperous. So wait a minute, stop complaining when you in lack, cuz it ain't nobody's fault but yours. I gotta go. We gotta take a minute, man. God, he— listen, he says, have I not commanded you? Verse 9, be strong and of good courage. Do not be afraid. No fear, no fear. Fear not, fear not, or be dismayed, for the Lord God is with you wherever you go. Say, fear not. Fear not. Say, the Lord is with me. The Lord is with me. So I can't lose. I can't lose with him. With him. I'm gonna borrow these— this quote from Reverend Ike. Hallelujah. Reverend Ike, you say you can't lose with the stuff I use. He was talking about something else, but I want to tell you, you can't lose with the stuff I use, which is the word of God. You can't lose with the Holy Ghost. Y'all ain't got to talk to me here. You can't lose using the word. You going to have good success, cuz your confidence is in the book. Yeah, same thing. I mean, another, another pastor— I ain't going to go there. Jeremiah 1, you can read it later. But Jeremiah was struggling. Jeremiah 1, he was struggling. God had called him to be a prophet. He was struggling to prophesy. God told him, look not at their faces. He said, listen here, fear not, Jeremiah. What seest thou? So what replaces fear and gives you new confidence is vision. Vision of God and his vision for your life. It'll make you step out on something you afraid. Jeremiah said, look, man, I don't want to talk to these folk. I'm just a little boy. How can I speak to these people? God said, fear not. Don't look at their faces. And then God began to reassure him in verse 5: Before I formed you in your mother's belly, Jeremiah, I knew you. Wait a minute, so he didn't say after you got there, but before you got there. So first of all, Jeremiah, you're not a mistake. There was no oops. You're supposed to be here. Can I tell you in this room, you're not a mistake. My mama was 15, my daddy was 17, and I tell them all the time, I don't care what y'all say, y'all wasn't trying to have me. But at the end of the day, I'm not a mistake. I'm supposed to be here. I needed what was in her DNA and his to be the person I am. And God formed me before— oh my God— I got formed in their belly. The Bible says he knew me. The Bible, the word new is yada in Hebrew, which means he had intimate relationship with you. Not sex, but God spent time with you before you got in your mother's belly. You and God was hanging out, and God was depositing dreams. God was depositing secrets. He was giving you visions. He was putting the destiny of your life inside of you before you ever got here. See, the next time you lack confidence, you didn't realize I'm supposed to be here and the Father hung out with me before I even got— which means you and him talked, you and him spent time. So instead of trying to get prophecy, you need to tap into your Genesis place and go back to the before and say, God, what did we talk about? What did you say to me? What should I be doing? Everybody want a word from the man, but the man is only seeing what God talked about when you and him talked before you got here. So you got to spend time with God so he can tell you what he said. He knew you. He was putting seed in you, cuz when you came to this earth, you came packaged with potential, full of purpose, manufactured with a destiny that you're designed to complete. Matter of fact, you came to this planet pregnant, cuz God put a spermatic word in you, a spermatic destiny in your spirit, and you came to this world pregnant. And I want you to understand, you were pregnant, and God's the daddy. Oh my God! And God's not a deadbeat daddy. God takes care of his babies. He takes care of his dreams. He takes care of what he has decided. He already has a plan. I dare you, holler at somebody on the other side of the church. Say, hey, hey! Tell them I'm pregnant, I'm pregnant, and God's the daddy. God's the daddy. Some of y'all folk over 40, leave it alone. Glory to God. Talking about in Spirit. He said, before me I knew you and I ordained you, sanctified you. You may not be a prophet like Jeremiah, but you were sanctified and ordained for something. Amen. And you are here to put your foot on and get it done. Philippians 1:28. Yes, yes, yes. Glory to God. Next slide, Mom. Yeah, so you can't be intimidated. This text is telling us you can't be intimidated by your adversaries, by your enemies. They're coming, but you can't let them intimidate you. You can't let them make you feel bad about who you are. You know, when people don't have purpose and they lack revelation who they are, they'll immediately try to steal from you what you know about you. They'll try to make you feel bad that you found out who you are. And most of the time, they'll become your enemy because you got clear revelation. I posted it yesterday and— well, not yesterday, I think it was day before yesterday. I posted it Saturday, maybe Friday. It was Friday, day before yesterday. Yes, yesterday was Saturday morning. I'm drunk, y'all, please help. This is just— pray with me. But I posted a video and I was talking about when people have a revelation of you, they will ascribe to who you are. Because they clear what's in you can help them. Oh, come on, that's good stuff right there. But when they lack revelation— I want you to hear this— they will never fully ascribe to you. And guess what? You got— you got to be okay with that. Yeah, yeah. I've been doing this 36 years. I've learned to be okay when people don't know who I am. Well, watch this. Where there's no revelation, there's violation. Where you have not been revealed, now the people that see you, but they have— you haven't been revealed, now they're violating something in them that they need from you. So you have to take a posture of prayer and let God work on them. Because you can't make them subscribe. And guess what? You don't want them to subscribe if they can't see you, right? Because guess what? If they do, they're gonna violate you. Because watch this, people can handle you from blindness. They're blind to who you really are, so they don't ascribe to what you bring. Not knowing if they fully ascribe, their life will be changed forever. Yeah, but if they don't, they're gonna stay where they are. That's it. And it's just true because there are some people you assigned to who will never see you and they'll never move because they didn't tap into the revelation, right? Watch this, and I'm gonna leave this alone. You gotta demand that people not just recognize you. Sometimes we tolerate people because they recognize— oh, I recognize them, I recognize what they're saying, I recognize what they're doing. But you've got to make sure you have been revealed. God can't even be recognized, right? He has to be revealed. You can recognize him through religion. This is what we do in church. This is how we pray. This is how she sound. But you never really tap in because you didn't get a revelation of who he is. And it's just like there were people— you ought to demand that people pray about you, or pray. In other words, keep them at a distance. That's right. Until you've been revealed. That's right. That's right. Are y'all hearing this? I do it with everybody, family, friends. I have learned, cuz I'm not going to let you violate yourself, nor me. Cuz where there's no revelation, there's violation. I can love you and not let you close. That's it. Are y'all hearing this? Let me read verse 28. I gotta go. He says, Philippians 1:28, and not in any way terrified by your adversities. So when you move without fear, your adversities, your adversaries, adversaries do not intimidate you. They do not make you feel like you can't do what you're called to do. Watch this. Which is to them proof of perdition, but to you of salvation, and that from God. So if you fear, it's proof to your adversaries that you really ain't what you say you are. Go ahead now. It's okay, they ain't all they talking because they're giving in to what I'm doing. But if you stand your ground Put your foot on it. It's proof to you that you really got salvation. You really have salvation here. Soteria in Greek, which means you've been rescued by God. He's coming to get you. He's made things better. I'm done. Amen. I pray you got something out of this Yeah, I'll do that. God told me to do it. I'm going to ask your permission. Can I give you one more scripture? Exodus 14. See, I tried to close. Holy Ghost, uh, one more, one more. Glory to God. We give you praise, Jesus. We give you all the glory. Start at verse 10. The Bible says, and when Pharaoh drew near, the children lifted up their eyes, and behold, the Egyptians marched after them. 2 important entities in this verse. One, Pharaoh. So Spirit of Pharaoh represents a principality that rules over bondage. So now the people of God, when they sensed this principality drawing close, the Bible said they lifted up their eyes and they saw his— watch this— demonic troops. The Egyptians, those that actually enforced Pharaoh's orders, the Bible says they were very afraid. But watch this, they cried out to the Lord. So the reaction is, when you see something coming that can destroy you or take you down, first of all, your reaction should not be to flee. When we talked about in the beginning, to run but you should cry out to God so you can move forward. Remember that, that's important to these verses. Verse 11, so say it with us: I gotta cry to God when all hell breaks loose. That's basically what that verse is saying. When stuff is coming up against you and you can't handle it, cry out to God. Don't be a punk. Know that God is with you. Are y'all here? Somebody said, the apostle just said— yeah, I did. Don't be a punk. Cry out to God. Amen. Verse 7: Then they said to Moses, because there were no graves in Egypt, have you taken us away to die in the wilderness? Why have you dealt so with us to bring us out of Egypt? And this is always the attitude of a person who wants to live in their fear. They're going to complain. And they're going to try to blame somebody for what they chose to do. As a matter of fact, they did not have to follow Moses. If you read the text, you'll discover that there was some Israelites that stayed in Egypt, but the ones that followed Moses did it by choice. But it's amazing how people will make a choice and then blame somebody else. For the choice they made, right? Listen, you, you gotta understand, when you're in a situation where you got to trust God, instead of complaining and trying to find somebody to blame about why you're there— blaming somebody ain't gonna change the situation. It's not gonna change. So what you got to do now is trust God that he can change you and change the situation and give you the breakthrough you need. I love you. So Pastor Jeffrey, bless his heart, I love him. It's my son. I love him with the love of the Lord. He moved from the DMV to Atlanta, Georgia, packed up his family, sold his house. In the midst of that— listen, this is the only person I ever seen in my life buy a house online. A lot of stuff you buy online with a house. Yeah, this guy, his faith— he bought a house, got a house online, ain't seen nothing but the pictures. So I come to him and I said, you done pulled the trigger on the house? Yeah, everything's in motion. I said, tell you what, man, let me just drive by this house, make sure everything in this house is So I went by the house, said, okay, yes, it's congruent to the picture, so you should be saved. Make a long story short, he came here because God told him to. He was in the DC area working a great government job, going to work every day. When he got here, Trump took office, okay. Clean out the government. Are y'all hearing this? So he had to make a choice whether he's gonna try to stay on to see if he can just hang on to his job or take severance. He worked that out with the government. He ended up making his decision. Long story short, he has trusted God to be here in hard times. If things go a way that he ain't expecting, which I think some things have, he's maintained focus on God. Yeah, but he has a choice. They said, well, Apostle Prophet, he could have saw this, what I'm going through, and told me to stay in DC. But I ain't had nail gun to his head. I said nail gun to his head. I prayed with him. I trusted God. I knew God wanted him to move, but I left it to him and his wife to make the decision on their own. And now he's trusting God to navigate him through the rest of this way. And guess what? God's gonna do it. Somebody stretch your hand toward Pastor Terry and say, no fear. Say, you've already won. Say, you got the victory. So you're gonna be better than you were before. Come on, prophesy to him. Say, God is going to give you a thousand times more than you had before. Said, ways are being made. Said, doors are opening even as we speak. So shout, a new thing is being done in your life. In your finances. So you won't lack a thing, neither will you have a care. Tell him God's got you in Jesus' name. If y'all believe that, praise God with Pastor Jack. Come on, praise God for victory. So be it. Glory to God. But he could have been like these folks. He said, Apostle, how you gonna bring me out here in this Atlanta wilderness to die? Are y'all hearing this? But he chose confidence in what God has said. Lord have mercy. Verse 12: Is this not the word that we told you in Egypt? Leave us alone so we can serve the Egyptians. In other words, don't take us out here, we want to stay in bondage. Don't push me further, don't stretch me, don't push me into deeper dimensions of my purpose. Let us stay right here with them. I'm trying to push y'all in confidence this morning to step out on who you are, to not keep serving the systems of the world. The systems of Satan, the— oh God— the kingdom of darkness, the kingdom of man, and allow God to get the best out of your life. But guess what they said? It would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than that we should die boldly in the wilderness. And these black folk, and that's what we do. We like to complain about what we permit. I'm gonna say it again, you can't complain about what you allow. If you wanted to die in the wilderness, I mean, stay back there with Pharaoh, you should stay back there. But you saw us getting all this gold, purple, silk, and everything we were coming out with. You said, well, let me get on this bandwagon. I ain't got to make bricks out of straw no more. You saw something, but then when it got hard, you got afraid, and instead of going forward, you went backwards. Verse 14: And Moses said to the people, do not be afraid, fear not, stay still. And see the salvation of the Lord. The rescue— there it is again, the Septuagint transliteration of the word soteria, which means he rescues us. Salvation means he rescues us. He came and got you. He pulled you out of bondage. But the requirement for seeing that rescue is being still. That means cease your activity, cease trying to fix it yourself, cease trying to lean on your own understanding. But in all your ways acknowledge him, become acquiescent to his will, and he will direct your path. And in that direction, your eyes come open. Bam! You see the plan of action to rescue. Can I tell you something? There is a plan to bring you out. There is a plan to turn your whole life around, not just to get you out of hell. Salvation ain't just an escape from hell, it's also an escape from hell on earth. God doesn't want you living in hell on earth, but you got to stand still and trust his ways. Put your foot on it. Bam! Your eyes are now going to come open and you can see the plan. And once you see the plan, confidence— he— okay, this is God. God's going to do this me. God will even let you walk around in the plan and behold it in its fullness. I'm telling you, I've been there, I've seen it in my life several times. God put me over— in 3 different occasions in my life, he took me out of my body, out of my conscious mind, into his plan, and I was walking around handling it, living it like I was doing And God said, this is you, this is who you are, so don't be afraid when this happens because this is going to come to pass. There's a plan for your rescue. There's a plan for change. Last verse, 14. He says, for the enemies you see today you will see again no more forever. Amen. Hallelujah. I'm going to say it again. The enemies you see today, you will not see them again forever. Amen. So the last time you saw that enemy that was trying to stop you, God said to tell you this is the last day you will see him. This is the last tear you will shed about that, because he said you will see that enemy no more. Never again. But you got to choose to stand still and trust him. Verse 14: The Lord will fight for you. Amen. Hold your peace, for the Lord will fight. I don't even believe that song Jehovah Is His Name was was in the repertoire this morning, wasn't it, please? Y'all rehearsed that one the same day? Y'all playing? I didn't know. But the prophetic word that came forth was that if you worship, he'll war. So that's part of your posture of standing still, to worship. And while you worship He fights for you. He brings you the victory. Listen, the victory actually has already been won. You just got to stand still, worship, so you can see the victory. Matter of fact, our fight is from victory. The biggest fight we have is against fear, which is the enemy of confidence, which is the fear of actually trusting God to bring us out. I'm done. Everybody say—