Confidence: The Freedom To Be Yourself, Part 1 | Day 10 or 21 Days of Action | Dr. Mike Woods, Sr.

Well, grace and peace to everyone this afternoon. Welcome. Glory to God, we are live at 12 noon. Glory to God, this is day number 10 about 21 Days of Action. You guys, if you're coming in joining us, uh, live or by replay today, I need you to do me a kind favor and please share. Uh, good afternoon, Kiara, good to see you. Glory to God. Uh, please share, ladies and gentlemen. Uh, I need you to do that for me if you're coming in right now. Uh, hit that share button, uh, share it in your story, share it with individuals in Messenger. Share it on your timeline, please, and tag people below. Um, we really want to get this word out today, so do me a kind favor and share, share, share. We're going to get started in just one moment. This indeed, uh, is the day the Lord has made, and we rejoice and we are glad in it. We love him. He's such an amazing God. He's good, he's faithful, he's kind, he's wonderful. You know, he has the best in store for us. We just have to position ourselves to receive it. So guys, as you're coming in, do me a favor, please, please, please. Hey, Dr. Tam, God bless you. Welcome. Glory to the name of God. Come in and do me the kind favor, ladies and gentlemen, and share this, uh, again, whether you're live or by replay. We need you to hit that share button. So you guys come on in, uh, please don't, don't scroll past this. I promise you, this teaching today Uh, is going to be absolutely, uh, and categorically phenomenal. Uh, we're going to start a new series today that the Lord has given us on confidence. Again, we're in our 21 Days of Action. Glory to God. And I think a lot of the reason people don't take action, uh, toward the, uh, purpose of God in their life and the bigger things, I think a lot of times for a lot of reasons they lack confidence. And what we want to do, uh, we want to address that in the word. Glory to God! Because I believe that God wants us confident so we can serve him better. Remember, uh, in this 21 days of fasting, we're fasting for fire. We're fasting for the fire of God so we can seek God better. And as we seek him, we want to be fueled and ignited by his consuming fire. And everything in us that's not like him We want him to consume it. We don't— we want him to get it up out of our life. Glory to God. So we could be better at seeking him, and we want to, we want to develop a habit. That's what we're trying to do over these 21 days of seeking God and putting that as a priority of importance. You know, there's nothing really— hear me, guys— uh, more important than spending time with God. Glory to God. And I'm telling you, you know, this fast should be helping you to do that, you know, through the sacrifice of food, through the opportunities to pray and study the word and hear the word and pray early, uh, together. You know, I just think that's a marvelous thing. Glory to the name of God. So, you know, we, we are super excited. So, but also, not only are we seeking, we're sharing God and serving God. And I believe both to share and to serve requires a lot of confidence. So I think, uh, this teaching is going to be very weighty, uh, to those two ideas as we, you know, we talk about sharing God with fire, as we talk about, glory to God, serving God in the area of our purpose, our destiny, uh, his plan for our life. Again, guys, if you're just joining us, uh, welcome, uh, say hello, let us know you're here. Uh, do us the kind favor, ladies and gentlemen, and please, please share this. Glory to God. God bless you, Bruce, man. We, we love you. Thank you for your support, man. I really appreciate you, uh, for being a faithful listener. And, uh, I'm so glad that the, the things that the Lord uses us to share, uh, is a blessing to you. That's what it's all about, you know. For me, man, uh, it's really not a blessing until I can give it away. Uh, that's my core philosophy in life. A blessing is not a blessing until I can give it away. So if God gives it to me— because that's really, you know, how we teach, how we preach. Glory to the name of God. We, we preach things that we align with, areas that God has, uh, helped us through in the scripture. And so, you know, man, it's just all love, it's all service, it's It's my honor and my pleasure to serve. So, you know, thank you. Glory to God. And welcome to our afternoon session today. Glory to God. God bless my wife. I see her here. God bless you. Thank you for being here. That's my number one fan, y'all. I love it. I love her. Uh, thank you, Felicia. God bless you. Welcome, welcome to everyone. Glory to God. Welcome, Shannon. God bless you. Glory to God. You guys do me a favor, like I said, please take a moment to hit that share button. Glory to God. You know, I know I don't expect my Rada family to do that, this, but I know there are people that follow me, uh, incognito. I, you know, I'm a champion for the, the fact that you're really blessing people that will never admit it. They watch you, they receive from you, they read your post, they read your blog, they visit your website, they, they watch your videos on YouTube, but they never will admit that they are watching you, and, and that's, that's okay. But for those of us, uh, who are really being blessed by it, we understand that we're blessed to be a blessing, so we need to share. So the— and the only way, glory to God, that we could be effective in, glory to the name of God, getting this word out is that we share it. Glory to God. So please, please, family, share, share, share, share. We're going to get started in just a moment. So, uh, you guys come in, I'm going to give you an opportunity to take a moment to share. I'm going to share it, glory to the name of God, with some more people. I shared it, uh, earlier. I'm going to share it again, glory to the name of God, because this, this series is going to be great. It's going to be absolutely phenomenal, glory to God. So we want to make sure, glory to God, that as many that can receive this. Glory to God that they will receive it. Praise God. God is so faithful, he's so kind, he's so good. Glory to God. Wonderful Jesus, wonderful Jesus. What a mighty God we serve. Hallelujah. The angels bow before him. Glory to God. The heavens and the earth adore him. What a mighty God we serve. He's a phenomenal species. Glory to God, he's a deity, and he's so real, man. Oh my God, he's real, he's real. Glory to God. He— and I believe that many of you have experienced his realness. You know it, you could see it in your life, man. And that ought to be something that you're grateful for, because there's so many people that are still searching for him. They, they have questions in their mind. They They're not clear if he is who he says he is, if the Bible is right. And man, many of you have seen the hand of God move in your life, and that's such a great thing. Glory to God. Hallelujah. So let's pray, and we're gonna get into this. I don't want to hold you longer than I need to today. Glory to God. But there is a word from the Lord. Glory to God. Hallelujah. So let's pray. Father, in the name of Jesus, We thank you for another opportunity to teach your word. We thank you for day 10 of this fast. We thank you for how you met us in 5 AM prayer this morning. And so, Father, and we thank you that we're clear now that, glory to God, that our, our season will not be hindered. And we're clear, God, that, glory to God, that our troublemakers have already been defeated, that those enemies that make trouble for us and those, those demonic forces that war against your plan for our life, they're already defeated. And so, Father, we thank you that we walk in this freedom and this liberty to pursue who you are. And because we will not be hindered, because our enemies are defeated, literally, we are unstoppable. And for that, God, we have confidence that the very thing that you have put in us— glory to God— the very work that you have begun in us— glory to God— you are faithful to finish it. Even when the enemy tells us we won't finish, it makes us second-guess our ability, our resources, our manpower. But God, we understand it's not by might, neither is it by power, but it's by your spirit, said the Lord. And so, Father, we thank you that your spirit gives us confidence, it gives us strength. And as we teach this word today, I pray, God, as we teach this series, that We will leave this series confident, glory to God, that there's nothing we cannot conquer, that there's nothing, God, that we cannot handle, that there's nothing, God, that we cannot ascertain, that there's no thing that's insurmountable, God, but that we can jump every hurdle and we can win every battle because you are on our team. We're confident in that, God. And so, Father, I thank you that there will be a supernatural release of Godly confidence. Glory to God. And that we'll know that it's not wrong to be confident. Glory to God. That we can be confident without being conceited. We can be confident without being arrogant. But God, we can be confident in you, and, and we could see your hand move in our life because we simply choose to trust you, God. And it's in Jesus' name we pray. Thank you for the light, the illumination, and the intelligence, Father, of the Holy Ghost today. In Jesus' name, amen. And thanks be to God. Oh my God, God is so good. He is so kind. He is so wonderful. Glory to God. He is so mighty. Glory to God. Good afternoon, Pastor Jasper. Welcome, sir. Glory to God. Welcome everybody again, guys. If you're just joining us, uh, tag someone below, whether you're joining us live or by replay. Tag someone in the comments, share in your Messenger. Glory to the name of God. Share this on your timeline, share it to your story. Let's make sure we are sharing the blessing. Again, a blessing is not a blessing until you give it away. For real, it really— you really can't call it a blessing unless you give it away. Glory to God, we are blessed. I got scripture to back it up, to be a blessing. Glory to God. So when the blessing of the Lord comes in our life, it literally shows up with an exit sign on it because we need to find who we need to help and who we need to bless because we are blessed. Glory to God. And that's really, guys, how the blessing keeps rolling in. That's how it keeps coming in because we understand that premise that we are blessed to be a blessing. Glory to God. So today, let's, let's, let's get started in this. I'm excited, man, to teach this. Uh, we're, we're teaching, glory to the name of God, a series, glory to God, entitled Confidence: The Freedom to Be Yourself. Confidence: The Freedom to Be Yourself. Glory to God. And, uh, this might take us these next 11 days we got left. Because as I was studying and putting this together, glory to God, it's a lot. Glory to God. And I'm gonna just take my time and just disseminate it every single day throughout the fast. And glory to God, I'm looking for you to be full of godly confidence when we get through with this. Glory to God. And I want you to feel like, praise God, you can conquer anything. And so once again, whether you're watching us Facebook, over 3 different Facebook pages, over Instagram, YouTube, Twitter, X as they call it, however you're watching us today, do me a favor and share, guys. Please share. Glory to God. It's so important. It's just nice to be nice. Glory to God. Hallelujah. We thank the Lord. All right, so Again, this series is called Confidence: Freedom to Be Yourself. So if you're taking notes, write that at the top of your page. Confidence: The Freedom to Be Yourself. I believe that so many times people are afraid to uniquely be them, and I think the very reason why they don't is because, my God, today they lack the godly confidence to do so. They feel like they have to please everybody. And at the end of the day, we should be living for the audience of one. We should be living to please him only, and we should be living from this reality. We should be living from the fact that we know and we are clear, we have absolute clarity that God is with us. Matter of fact, the Bible says, lo, I'll be with you always. Jesus said this, even now and unto the end of the age. And even when he left, glory to God, he said, I'm not going to leave you comfortless. He said, I'm going to my Father, but I'm going to send you another Comforter, which is an Apo Parakletos, uh, one that is me, glory to God, in you, one just like me, a Comforter who will be there with you to comfort you, to guide you and lead you into all truth. Man, if that's not enough, hear me. To have confidence. Nothing is. But I really, honestly, honestly, because again, this is not just religious jargon, this is not just religious garbage, this is real. And we really truly have access to the Apokalypsis, to the Holy Ghost, who is Jesus Christ, God the Father. He's God in us. He's just another manifestation of God. And he lives on the— oh my God— on the inside of us. My God, today. So we, we want to talk today. I want to start this out, and we're going to call this message Competence Part 1. Competence to be an individual. Competence to be an individual. Glory to God. Oh boy, listen, you, you gotta write. Hear me. To be you, man. You got it right. Glory to God. To operate in the personality, the, the— oh my God, the character. Uh, watch this. The race that God has created you to be, the gender that God has created you to be. You could be free to be you. Glory to God. And listen, let me just clarify that for clarity, because I don't want nobody taking this— say, Apostle, I can be free to be myself and you just you know, you're a girl and you start saying I'm a boy. No, that's not what I'm saying. You know, if you have a womb, okay, and a vagina, you are a woman. Glory to God. A man with a womb. Glory to God. So yeah, you, you're free to be a woman, your gender. If you're a man, glory to God, you have male parts. Glory to the name of God. And you're free to be a man. You don't have to be something else based on a violation, based on abuse, based on molestation. You could be free to be who you were created to be. Somebody said, oh my God, glory to God, this dude's starting off like this already. I'm sorry, man. I'm sorry. I just don't want you to be confused, right? You know, you don't get— you, you— I don't want you to say I'm free to just do what I want to do, you know, just because I'm free and I'm competent. No. We have to be confident in God and his way and what's right. Okay, so we want to talk about today the confidence to be an individual. I want to start today, guys— Pastor Jasper, I'm not messing with you today, man. Glory to God. I'm not messing with you. Glory to God. Listen, I want to start by, glory to God, defining, glory to God, what confidence is. I want to give you a working definition of confidence off the top of this, from the rip, from the Genesis. Oh my God, I, I want to start this deliberation with clarity about what we're talking about. Okay, so confidence defined, and here it is, glory to God. Confidence is a quality of assurance that leads one to undertake a thing I said it again, it's a quality of assurance that leads one to undertake a thing or leads one— hear this— to action. Oh my God, when you're confident, you don't just sit there, think about it, talk about it. When you're confident, you are about it, you be about the thing. Glory to God, you do the darn thing. Glory to God, when you are confident Oh, glory to God. It means to undertake a thing. It's a belief system. Watch this. Confidence is a belief system that you are capable, able, and acceptable. Oh my God. So confidence becomes a belief system that no matter what you're up against, you are capable, you are able, and you are acceptable to the task. You know what makes us capable, able, and acceptable to every task that is presented to us? It's the fact that we have God with us. Glory to God! And there is nothing— glory to Jesus, glory to Jesus— that can stop us. There's nothing too big. Come here, Dr. Tam, this, this thing gonna bless— this series gonna bless you real good. Glory to God! Because guess what? No matter what, what, what it looks like in that classroom, no matter what all of the coursework you got to take to get that medical degree and what's in front of you. Listen, I want to tell you, daughter, you are able, you are capable, you are acceptable. Glory to the name of God. And there is no way anything is going to stop you. Glory to God. Because that's what the Holy Spirit has ordained for your life. Glory to God. Even in the days where you seem overwhelmed, I wanna tell you, you're able, you're capable, you're acceptable. And to every other person under the sound of my voice, to my entrepreneurs that's connected to me, I wanna tell you, you're able, you're capable, you're acceptable. Your business is no different than Bill Gates, Elon Musk. Glory to the name of God. If they were able to do what they do, I'm telling you, with confidence in God and your business idea and the dream that God has given you, you can accomplish just— oh my God, I feel like running in here— you can accomplish just as much as them. Oh, glory to God, glory to God. You're capable, you're capable, you're capable. Come on, that, that whatever is over your life you got to do, you are capable, you're capable, you're capable. For those of you who are in ministry, glory to God, You're capable, you're able, you're acceptable to do that ministry that you've been called to. Don't let nobody tell you otherwise. Glory to God. You know why? Because he's with you. He's with you. Glory to God. Watch this, watch this. Confidence also causes you to be bold. It causes you to be open. It causes you to just plain old be you. When you're confident, you ain't got to put on no facade, you know. Glory to God. You ain't got to look a certain way to try to please a certain group when you're confident in who you are. Oh my God, today, glory to God, when you're confident in who you are— listen to me, guys— there is nothing that will make you deeter and become fake and phony. Oh my God, to please other people. You should not be living for others. You'll stress yourself out over that because you'll never be able to please everybody. And watch this, if people cannot accept the confident, bold, beautiful, awesome you as you are, then you need to give them their walking papers. Glory to God. Because you should not be in any situation where someone's trying to change you into what they want you to be. This happens a lot in marriage, you know. A lot of times when I've counseled people, uh, who are getting married, and I would often say to them that, okay, what we don't want to happen is for y'all to leave these counseling sessions and y'all go home after the wedding and 4 people get in the bed. No, we can't have 4 people in the bed. You say, well, Apostle, that's crazy. No, stay with me, okay? Stay with me, stay with me. Because what happens is most of the time you marry 2 people, 2 people go home in the physical. But then there's two other people. The man has a concept in his head of what he wants this woman to be, which is a whole nother person. And the woman has a concept in her head of what she want the man to be, which is a whole nother person. And so now what ends up happening, they spend their marriage trying to change that person into that concept, and oftentimes it never works. Matter of fact, 70% of the time that couple ends in divorce because you marry who you marry. Hear me? And you can't change people into your concept. So what you need to do is wait and until that what you want shows up. Oh boy, are y'all hearing this? I mean, waste your time trying to change people. People are who they are, and don't let nobody try to change you, point blank. End of story, period. Glory to God. I'm about to change you. Glory to God. You are who you are. Glory to God. Glory to Jesus. It's too much work trying to please everybody. Be confident, be bold, be plain, be free. Glory to God. See, when you're confident, you're not afraid to be you. You have the confidence to be individual. I want to read this. I gave this to you the other day, but I want to read it. Uh, 2 Timothy 1:7, it says, God has not given us a spirit of fear. The word fear there is dehilia in Greek. It means a cowardice from fright, or timidity, or lack of confidence. God says, I didn't give you that. So you don't have to be afraid of people. You don't have to be afraid of rooms. You don't have to be afraid to stand up and speak. You don't have to be afraid to stand up and carry out your purpose and boldly be you. Glory to God, because God says, I didn't give you that. So if you're in God, God says you should not be owning something he didn't give. Now, he didn't say people don't have fear. He said he didn't give it. So if people lack confidence, timid, on eggshells, That is not no way to live where you always on eggshells around people. You can't be you, you're afraid. Glory to God. Listen, you don't need that kind of life. That's too much stress. That's kind of stuff that raises your blood pressure. Glory to God. You want— wonder why— glory to Jesus— you stressed out, got headaches all the time because you on eggshells, you're on pins and needles. You should never have to be like that way because your confidence is in God. And watch this, God is bigger than anything that could possibly cause you fear. Hmm, are y'all with me? Are y'all with me today? Glory to God, he's bigger than anything. Glory to God, that could possibly cause you fear. My God, today I love Jesus, he's a good God. Glory to God, my God, today Listen, listen. He says, but I gave you power. Exousia. I gave you authority. So if this don't boost your confidence, nothing should, because God says, I gave you authority. I get— watch it. Exousia is the authority to act as I act, in power and in authority, in ability. So we're only limited to how we believe. But God says, I've given you unlimited power, but your discipline determines the release of the power in your life. So you got to discipline yourself to access that ability. Glory to God. So you can walk in the fullness of what's in you. You got exousia, you got authority, which means exousia is also authority that can be seen by others. Let me give you an example. Exousia is like a police car. When you see the police car, guess what you see? You see authority. Because if you driving like a bat out of hell, glory to God, and you see that car with those badges and those lights, guess what you do? You slow down. You can be looking in the rearview mirror and something look like the police— it could just be a car with ski racks— and you start slowing down. Because you recognize the authority, because you're like, oh God, no, I got better things to do with my money than give it to them. So you slow down because it's authority that can be seen. And many times when that authority is seen, it's respected. So you have to have confidence in that, and the enemy backs up when you wake up. The enemy, glory to God, he looks for the exit signs when you get out of the bed because he's, uh-oh, they are up. And they're moving in their authority today, and I'm not bothering them. Now, some things won't even step to you when you got the right confidence. Glory to God! When the right confidence is beheld— my God, today, glory to God, glory to God! I love Jesus. He's a good God. He said, I gave you power, I gave you love, agape, unconditional. That ought to make you confident. So that means that— watch this— God loves you without condition. There's nothing you can do to make him stop loving you. God loves you without condition. He loves you for love alone, because he is love. There's no ability in him not to love you. He loves you. Glory to God. So you ought to be confident in the fact that even if other people have rejected you, even if other people have not loved you as completely as they should. You should be confident in the fact that the agape of God, the unconditional love of God, is consistent in my life. And he loves you. Oh my God, iman shiko toba. Everybody on here right now, just type in the comments, he loves me. Glory to God, he loves me, he loves me. So that even when people come past this, they'll say, who, who is he talking? It's God. God loves you. Glory to God, he loves you. He loves you, and you ought to remind yourself of that every single day. God loves me. He loves— watch this— he loves everything about you. Glory to— he made you fearfully and wonderfully. Glory to God. He may not love some of the things you do because he hates sin, but he loves you. And if you repent, he forgives you and he'll bring you into right standing. Glory to God. And watch this, we, we have to experience God's love on a level that it makes us not even want to come short, not even want to miss the mark. You know, the way to really live a life that's sin-proof is to really fall in love with Jesus, and where you're encompassed by his love consistently, because you're constantly, even with your imperfections, trying to do the things that he loves. You know, you don't want to disappoint someone that loves you. He loves us, man. Thirdly, he gave us a sound mind. Sophronismos. Intelligence. So I don't care what they said to you, what your IQ might have been measured as, what your SAT scores was, you know, what people spoke over your life— word curses, you ain't nothing, you dumb— all that's crazy. People spoke that over me. Listen, they were speaking it over me, trying to discourage me from being smart because I was always the smartest person in the room. It's crazy. Even as a child, pretty much always the smartest person in the room. Glory to God. But because God gave me that intelligence, and because people would be intimidated by it, they would try to speak against it. And I had to learn to be confident in who I was. And not be ashamed of my intelligence. And I'm telling you right now, it ain't because, you know, I done read thousands upon thousands of books. It's because this is a gift God has given all of us. I choose to receive it and walk in confidence. You, every one of us have it. He gave us a well-balanced, intelligent mind. Be confident, man. Oh, Shabbat. We give you glory, we give you honor, we give you honor. You can do it, you can do it. You— that thing that is before you, because you got power, love, and a sound mind, you're gonna, you're gonna win. And you got to have confidence in this fact. Bottom line is, confidence and faith— watch this— yeah, is congruent. My God, today there's a congruency that exists between confidence and faith. Faith is the substance, the stuff that things are made of, and the evidence of what we don't see. Pistos. It is absolute confidence. Yeah, total reliance, total dependence. Oh, on God. It means to leave what you can see and be confident in what you cannot see. So confidence and faith are the same. It's— so again, that's what makes me capable, able, acceptable. It's my faith, my belief system in God. So when I, when I have faith in God, that means I'm confident in God. When I have faith in another person, that means I'm confident in them. Are you hearing that? When you put faith in yourself, that means you have confidence in you. You put faith in a product like this chair I'm sitting in. Glory to God. I got— I had faith that when I sat down, this chair was gonna hold me up. Glory to God. Hallelujah. So, and we, we walk in confidence every day in very minute things, guys, and we don't even realize it. I mean, just something as simple as sitting down. You get in your car, you start driving confident. You ain't no mechanic. You, you don't, you don't know that your braking system is going to work. You, you was just told it works. You just told to push the brakes and the car is going to stop, but you put faith in what you were heard, what you were told. y'all hear this? and you believe that if you put your foot on that brake, the car is going to stop and you're not going to hit someone. And you, you walk by that faith every time you drive. You walk by that confidence. Question is, why is it so difficult to put that same kind of consistent confidence in God's word and what God said? You got confidence in your job if you go to work because you're confident. They told you if you work 40 hours, you're going to get paid. So you confident. Matter of fact, they didn't pay you before you started working. They just told you, okay, yeah, you show up, you do this, do this, do this. And many of you didn't even know how to do the job, but you were confident that if you went and started doing it, you would learn how to do it. You would get it done. And that at the end of the day you will get a paycheck. And so we have put confidence in those kind of systems and they work. But why is it that the systems that have been presented to us in the word, it becomes a struggle? Oh my God, for us to be confident in what the word of the living God says. Uh, that was a question I'm just asking. You ain't got to tell me. I mean, but I want you to answer it for yourself. I mean, because you know the areas you don't lack confidence, man. I'm telling you, you got a freedom in God to be yourself. You got a freedom to be an individual and to pursue his plan for your life. Glory to God. Listen, when you're confident, watch this, it removes a concern or care to feel safe. Yeah, you're not wondering if you're safe, you know. Um, let me use it for example. I know, you know, I know my wife. I know when she is with me and we're out, we're together, she's confident that if something go down, that I'm gonna protect her. She's confident in that fact. Glory to God. She's confident that I got her covered, that I'm gonna pray for her. She's confident that if I lay hands on her, she'll be healed. I mean, just the other day she was having this problem with her knee. It had been bothering her, and you know, she came in and just showed me her knees and said, you know, this is what's going on. I was working, I, I just stopped briefly, laid my hands on it, began to pray. I took me 5 minutes, took my hands off her, she walked out the room. 2 days later she said, oh, I forgot to tell you, when you pray for me, my knee ain't hurt since then. My knee has been made— because it's just, we have this confidence in God and in each other. I have confidence if she cooks food for me, it's gonna be good. Glory to God. I have confidence that I'm gonna eat well when she cooks. Can't say that for everybody, but I could say that when she cooked for me, I got confidence that the meal is going to be solid. Glory to God. I don't have a need or concern about it because I know her ability. So watch this. Can we have the same confidence in God that we're safe with him, that God's got our back, that God's got us covered, that God's not gonna let anything happen to us? Oh my God, today, glory to God, that we're not going to be destroyed, that I— watch this— that our season won't be hindered, that our troublemakers are already defeated. Confidence, man. You got to trust in this fact. Glory to God. Listen, when you stand, when you get out the bed and stand up, that's an act of confidence. You're confident your legs are going to work when you put your feet on the floor. I'm just trying to show you, you've been doing this already. Let's shift it to the realm of the spirit and let's be totally confident in God where we can see the blessing— oh my God— that he has for us, man. Glory to God, you know. I've been looking at buildings for the church, and y'all know the number of people we got in our organization in the church, you know. And I've been trying to look at it through the eyes, uh, because God has been taking me through this season where, you know, I've been having to trust him for everything— for my business, for finance, for money. And he, he provides, right? He's been, he's been teaching me something, God, about confidence is not in my ability, it's in him. So I've been looking at these buildings and I've been looking at buildings that, you know, the mortgage, you know, some of these buildings, the mortgage be like $8,500 to $10,000 a month. And I'm saying, God, you know, if I do this, you know, at first I was saying, yeah, I'm gonna be taking care of most of this. And, and the Lord said, no, where's your confidence in me? So I can't put my confidence in what people give and don't give. I can't put my confidence in none of that. I have to put my confidence in what God said and his ability to provide. I do it with everything else. Glory to God. The things we're looking at in business, trying to accomplish this year— I was just fine-tuning my business plan for some funding that's about to be released to us. Listen, next month, let me tell you something. God have mercy. It's going to take a lot of faith to jump in both feet for that kind of money. But at the end of the day, I'm confident in my God. I just need us to shift so we can experience everything, not just good church, not just good emotions, not just, oh my God, oh my God, not just the hookah Messiah coming in the Honda, leaving in a Lexus. Not just those things. What we want, God, is to see the manifestation of thy power, thy glory in our everyday life, in the things that we have to accomplish. The question becomes, guys, can you be confident in him? Oh God, listen, write this down. A believer with— oh, are y'all ready? Without confidence is like a jumbo jet without fuel. Write it down. A believer without confidence is like a jumbo jet without fuel. You can listen, you can— whether you're flying commercial or private, you can have that huge jet sitting on the tarmac, whether that jet has no fuel you're not going anywhere. So you could be a believer that lacks confidence, because confidence is your fuel that gets you from A to B. It gets you from where you are to where you're going. It gets you from faith to faith. It gets you from glory to glory. But you got to fill yourself with the confidence that me and my God We're co-laboring in this thing. I'm not alone. I'm capable. I'm acceptable. Glory to God, I am able to get this done. And you can soar, you can fly. Perhaps, ladies and gentlemen, the reason you haven't been moving and soaring and you haven't taken off in the thing that God has for you is because you lack confidence. Glory to God. Write this one down too. Here's another point I want to bring out right here, then we're gonna, we're gonna transition. An unbeliever— watch this— an unbeliever with confidence— watch this— unbeliever with confidence can do more than a believer without confidence. Ooh! Ooh! Selah— stop and think about it for a moment. Selah. An unbeliever with confidence don't even have God in their life but have confidence in their ability, in their own intellect, in their own ideals. Can do more than a believer that has no confidence. Somebody said, wait a minute, Apostle, what are you talking about? Let me give you an example. Okay, you've got some guys out here who are billionaires who are 100% atheists. Uh, let's start with Bill Gates. Bill Gates has made it very clear he does not believe in God, but Bill Gates is confident in his intellect. He's confident in his ability, glory to the name of God, to create cutting-edge technology that people will continue to need and buy. He is a billionaire because of his confidence. All right, there are not many believers who created that kind of tech. There are not many believers who are billionaires. Hear me, hear me good, guys. Hear me good, hear me good. That's why my, my drive, my confession is that because I'm confident that God can give me the innovation, the ideas, because I have him. If Bill Gates can do that without God, what will I be able to do with God? And confidence. See, you could be saved, sanctified, full of the Holy Ghost, mighty burning fire, with no companies, and then— and your life will remain mundane. It'll be stuck, it'll be still. Oh my God, oh my God. Somebody said, okay, Apostle, what are you talking about, man? Okay, Elon Musk designed a Tesla, he doesn't confess Jesus as his Savior, billionaire. Okay, I'm just telling you, an unbeliever With competence can do more than a believer without it. Okay, okay. You know, Donald Trump say he's a believer. I, I don't know, but at the end of the day, he got competence, right? He became the president. He's a billionaire and became the president with all that craziness. Billionaire became the president. He was confident. What can you do? I'm just trying to encourage you today. If you get confident in God, what can you accomplish? If you work with the Father who created everything, what could you create? What impact could you make on the world? How could you change the world if you increased your confidence? And your ability and your freedom to be an individual. You know what that means? That means you're going to be an individual. You're not going to be a copycat. You're not going to lean to your own understanding, but in everything you do, you're going to trust the Lord, and you know for a fact that he is going to direct your path. Oh, somebody ought to shout confidence! Oh, shianda bakaya! Branshe tebekun shiay! Remanse tebeku! Y'all excuse me. Glory to the name of God. But I see something. I see God taking us to places we've never been in our life. And I don't care how old or how young you are, if you will grab hold to confidence now, glory to God, there'll be nothing that will be able to stop you. If you'll grab hold to confidence now, there'll be nothing, glory to the name of God, that will be able to hinder you or stop the blessing of God that makes rich and adds no sorrow. You'll see a manifestation of his authority for real in your life. Kushama Adaya, Remansatabaye, Remansetekoya, Rebayakikatansé. We give you the glory, God. We give you honor. We praise you. We magnify you. Let's move, God. So here's the, here's the question. Here's the question: are there things that still need to be done in the body of Christ Are there things that the body of Christ still needs to do to impact the world? See, I gave you the example of that jet because if it's not fueled, it can't do what it needs to do. It has to be fueled up and ready to go. The question becomes, are you as a believer fueled up with confidence and ready to go? I'm telling you, the world is waiting on you. Are you confident? You need to get ready. You need to soar. Glory to God. Hallelujah. Oh my God, I love him. He's such a good God. He's amazing. Good God from Zion. Let me give you some word because some of you might say, well, Apostle, give me some scripture on this. I got 10 minutes. Glory to God. Go to Isaiah 54:17. Isaiah 54:17. Glory to God. I hope y'all learning something today. I hope you— I hope your confidence is already being boosted. I want to show you, you got a scriptural right to walk in this confidence because I want to make sure no demon can convince you otherwise. That you— listen, listen, you got it right. Isaiah 54:17, we quote it all the time. Let's read it. It says no weapon, no weapon, no kli, no kli in Hebrew, K-L-I-Y, kli. That's how it's pronounced. No weapon, something that— oh God, watch this. This is a kli, is akin to a vessel or a, like a tank that's weaponized or a ship that is weaponized. Uh, it is prepared in advance to do battle. So no system that's prepared in advance, no demonic force prepared in advance to do battle against us. Let's keep reading. That is formed against us. Yetzar, which is formed. Glory to the name of God. Which means it's fashioned, it's put together, it's prepared with the intent to destroy. Hear me. So the enemy doesn't play fair, right? So in advance, because he knows there are believers that God has chosen to carry out his purpose, he has strategically created vessels that are connected— watch this— to your old man. And anytime you go back there and start moving in doubt, fear, unbelief, lack of confidence, you open the door for these formed weapons to come in and start fighting you. Well, the Bible says this: no weapon formed against you can prosper. So he's— God is saying these weapons can't work, okay? He's going to tell us why. And every tongue that raises against us in judgment, thou shalt condemn. Notice it didn't say that God would condemn it. It said you and I, we would condemn the tongue. So when people are rising against us with words, so we know the weapons are not going to work. It won't work, it won't work. I'm telling you, it's formed, it's coming at you, you're under attack, but I'm telling you right now, it has no authority. It will not work. You need to have confidence in this. Watch this. Now when people start talking, running their mouth whispering about you. Who cares what they say? You are who God says you are. You condemn it, declare it to be a lie, and keep going. You ain't even got to do it to their face. Just condemn it. To condemn it means literally, uh, rashah means to injure it. It means to break it down to the point that it has no power. So how do you injure words that come against you. You rise up in confidence. You speak out of your mouth, that is condemned, it will not work. And you rise up in confidence and live out the identity of who you are. Who? God. Who? God. Oh my God, today, Jesus. So no matter what they said or what they are saying, you rise up in confidence because these vessels were prepared by Satan to stop you. Because Satan is afraid that if you get confident enough, you'll really mount up in the position you called to mount up in. Oh boy, watch this. He said, this is the heritage of the servants of the Lord. And the righteousness of me, said though— here's the thing, he's saying right here, security. So it's security, that's what this is, confidence. We're securing the fact that no matter what the weapon is, it can't work. No matter what people say, it can't work. So as a child of God, a servant of God, this is a part of my inheritance, it can't work. So why are we getting our bit out of shape about what people saying? That's why I don't care what Negroes say about me. Glory to God. Trust me, glory to the name of God, I'm so confident in who God says I am. I know Negroes gonna talk, I know it. Glory to God. And I don't care. I condemn it, I silence it in the realm of the spirit. I command it to have no effect, and I rise up in confidence because I'm a servant of the Lord. And glory to the name of God, and no matter what they say, it won't work. I'm gonna still keep walking in the blessing. I'm gonna still keep walking in the authority that God has given me. Ain't nobody got time to address that foolishness. Glory to God. And you need to stop paying attention to it. Glory to God. You need— otyanshe katapabaya. Goran sha tababaka. Let them talk. I feel like running. I feel like running. I feel like leaping. I feel like jumping. Shambaki anta dabashi anta baya. This is your heritage because our righteousness is not of them, it's of him. That's what it says. That's what the Lord said. We need to read this whole verse. We'd be, oh, shatabaka, no weapon, no weapon, no weapon. We don't even understand what we're saying. The end of the day, God said this is your security, this is your confidence, that no matter what your enemy do, be confident it won't work. Be confident if you silence it, if you condemn it, if you injure it in the spirit. It will not prevail against you. This is your heritage. Okay, okay, y'all got me? Y'all got me? Y'all with me? Daransiya. Oh God, we love you. God, we adore you. We thank you. I'm almost done. I got 4 minutes, guys. Go to Isaiah 32:17, same book. 32nd chapter, 32:17. Well, that 17 is working today, glory to God. 54 and 17, 32:17. Watch this, Isaiah 32:17, glory to God. You'll find these words, it says, and the work of righteousness shall be peace, and the effect of righteousness quietness. Watch this, and confidence. And assurance forever. Remember, confidence was a quality of assurance that leads one to undertake a thing. So the Bible says here that the work of righteousness shall be peace. Peace is shalom in Hebrew. It is not— here we go, here we go— it's not the absence of confusion, it's the presence of assistance. So peace doesn't deal with the fact that there's no confusion in your life. It deals with the fact that you have God present to assist you. That's shalom, which means you're not alone again. So you ought to be confident in the fact that through your righteousness— glory to God— you're operating in peace. And the Bible's saying, so that's the work of righteousness. It's, it is. So when you're working out righteousness in your life, your covenant with God, your accuracy in God He says you have peace, and the effect of righteousness is quietness and confidence forever. It's eternal. This confidence is eternal. I need you to understand something. The effect— this, this text is clear— of righteousness is confidence. So when you're in covenant with God, when you're in right standing with him, when you're walking out his will, you don't have to be afraid, you don't have to fear. You got an eternal covenant of confidence. You could be confident to win. Let them show up if they want to. You got God on your team. Glory to God. Hallelujah. Listen, that's a fight they don't want. They've automatically lost. Are you hearing me? Glory to God. See, and I'm done. I gotta stop. Well, I wish I can keep teaching this. We'll, we'll continue tomorrow. We got a lot of time to finish this series. Listen, I'm gonna end with this. Write this down, write this down. Glory to God. No confidence— watch this— equals— so no confidence equals a lack of revelation of who you are in Christ. That's all I just said in this part 1. I'm gonna say that again: no confidence equals a lack of revelation of who you are in Christ. You got to know who you are. You got to be clear that he's with you, that he loves you. That you have authority in him, that you're intelligent, you have a sound mind, you're capable, you're accepted, you're able to do what he created you to do. Let's pray. Father, in Jesus' name, we thank you for this word today. My God, I thank you for the confidence that's been released today, and I pray that those that receive this word will begin to walk out confidence. They will begin to move in authority in— I'm Ahi, Father. Oh God, I thank you, and I thank you, God, that as they receive confidence, they will soar and they will have great victories. God, I thank you that they will be fueled up and ready to go filled up and ready to go, fueled up and ready to go. They won't be that jumbo jet without fuel. They won't let the unbeliever with confidence outdo them. For I release, God, in our lives today that supernatural confidence to do more, to conquer the world. Glory to God! So that people will see your glory and your authority on our life. I command our businesses to prosper. I command people like Dr. Tam, their educational processes to prosper. I thank you for the confidence to finish the work. Glory to God. I thank you for the confidence to build our dreams because we're not building alone, God. We're building with you, and we give you praise for it in the mighty name of Jesus. Release confidence in our children, God, to build their dreams. God, let the spirit of confidence be modeled to those that look up to us. So they won't see fear, they won't see doubt, but they will see that we have an assurance to undertake purpose and complete the assignment that's on our lives. And we give you praise and glory now, in Jesus' name. Amen. And thanks be to God. Listen, I want you to type in the comments right now before we go. Just type in the comments, I'm fueled up and ready to go. God is looking for some folk that's confident, that's fueled up and ready to go. Remember I told you, glory to God, a lack of confidence is like a jumbo jet without fuel. I need you to type it in the comments now. I'm fueled up and I'm ready to go. I'm ready to go where God wants me to go. I'm ready to do what God has called me to do. I'm ready to— oh my God— take from the enemy what he has stolen. Glory to the name of God. I'm fueled up and ready to build my business. I'm fueled up and ready to advance the ministry. I'm fueled up with confidence. Glory to God that God has no respect of person. If he did it for someone else, you need to receive it today. He's going to do it for you. Glory to God. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yes, Kierra, yes, daughter, fueled up and ready to go. Yes, Dr. Tam, fueled up and ready to go. Yes, Minister Alexander, fueled up and ready to go. And I ain't forgot you, Minister Alexander, we're gonna get together. This fast just has had my whole equilibrium off, but we're gonna get together because we got things we got to do. Glory to God. Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah. That's right, Shannon, fueled up and ready to go. That's right, wife, we're fueled up and we're ready to go. Glory to God. That's right, Shannon, fueled up and ready to go. Glory to God. Hashimantabaya. Rokushkatabaya. That's right, Adono, fueled up and ready to go. That's right, Tanya, we're fueled up and ready to go. That's right, Pastor Jeffrey, we're fueled up and we're ready to go. We're going to take the world by storm. Glory to the name of God. Thank you, Jesus. We love God, we love him. He's a good God, he's a mighty God. Listen, I want you to give today. Listen, we challenged you yesterday and we're right here again to plant a seed of $21 into the ground. Glory— I meant some of you did it yesterday. Thank you. Glory to God. I want to challenge those of you that didn't get an opportunity to sow yesterday to sow today. And if you feel led to sow again today, sow again. But glory to the name of God. Get your $21 seed in the ground. Glory to the name of God. Give with confidence that whatever you give, it'll be given back to you good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, shall men give your bosom. The ways to give are scrolling at the bottom of the screen. Uh, Cash App is Rotherchurch. Rotherchurch.com/donate. However you choose to do it, blessings and blessings to you as you bless us. To continue to do what God has called us to do. Listen, I want to invite those of you that maybe been watching these prayers and these teachings and say, hey, I want to fast with you. Well, you can. It's not too late. We got 11 days left and you can start today. Just go to rodderchurch.com/gloriethenameofgod. Hallelujah! Fast 24. Glory to God. Www.michaelyriswoods.com/fast24, and you'll be able to join the fast easily. Click the red button, download the fast guide. It's just that simple. Join us for prayer in the morning at 5. Glory to God. We pray every morning at 5 AM Monday through Friday. We teach every, uh, day Monday through Friday at 12 noon. Glory to God. So make sure you join us, engage, get involved. Glory to God. And Father, bless the seed, bless every gift and every giver even now. We give you praise, God, and glory for obedience. We thank you that obedience is better than sacrifice. We give with confidence, and God, we expect a harvest. Oh God, proportionate to our seed. We thank you for a hundredfold return, in Jesus' name. Amen. And thanks be to God. Listen, I love you guys, man. Y'all, y'all are good, great people. Thank you so much. This served as our Thursday Bible class. So glory to God. So there'll be no Bible study tonight. Glory to God. I pray you were blessed by this word today. Glory to God. Um, perhaps you need prayer for something. If you do, glory to God, personally I want to extend that invitation. Uh, I just sensed that in my spirit. If you say I'm dealing with something, I'm going through something, just shoot me a text if you got my number. Shoot, shoot us an email at info@roddochurch.com if you need prayer. I would love to pray with you. If you're not born again, glory to God, and you're watching this, you happen to scroll at this point in this live stream, don't go anywhere. This is for you. You can be saved. You can be born again right now. The Bible says if you confess with your mouth, believe in your heart, that Jesus Christ died and rose again, the scripture declares you shall be saved. Pray this prayer with me if you know your business is not straight with God, and if you died right now, you would not go to heaven. Glory to God. So I wouldn't take the chance, guys. Get your life right with God and get that confidence you need. Glory to God. To soar and conquer in life by accepting him as your personal savior. Listen, pray with me if you want to receive Jesus Christ as your personal savior right now. Say this with me. Say, Heavenly Father, in the name of Jesus, I confess I am a sinner. I need to be saved. I ask you today, save me. Say, Lord, I confess with my mouth that you are Lord, that you are King. I open my heart and I invite you in. Say, Lord, I believe that you died and rose again. I believe now I am saved. Listen, if you prayed that prayer with me, yes, you are born again. Right now in this moment. I want to help you take the next steps necessary, glory to God, to continue your walk with God. I want to help you find a good Bible church. I want to help you, glory to God, get the baptism of the Holy Ghost operating in the fullness in your life. I want to help you discover purpose and God's plans for you. Listen, if you said that prayer with me, please visit rhodachurch.com/contact. Send me a note, say, Apostle Woods, I prayed with you today. I got born again, I gave my life to the Lord, I need next steps. And I'm going to send you some stuff that's going to help you on your journey. Listen, I love you guys. I love you, I love you, I love you. You're so wonderful, you're so great. I love my Rada Tribe. Thank you guys so much, uh, for being faithful, for being committed. Um, I, I'm telling you, and if you're connected to us no matter where you are in the country, uh, whether you're in Jackson, whether you're in the DMV, wherever you're connected. Glory to God in Atlanta, I love you. And then all of our partners from all over the world that support our ministry, thank you so much. We appreciate God for you. Listen, you guys be blessed today. I'll see you tomorrow morning at 5 AM. God bless your hearts. Peace.