Continuity, Part 2. | Dr. Mike Woods Sr | 9-28-2022

Well, praise the Lord, everybody. I pray that everyone is well on this evening. Listen, do me a kind favor, everybody, as you're coming in, I need you to share this. This is going to be a very, very intuitive tonight. It's going to be some intense teaching. I want everybody that you know, please get them on this live. This is very important. Uh, we're going to be discussing continuity again. Uh, we opened this up a few days ago. Uh, actually last week I started teaching this. It's a part of the Apostolic Intelligence series. Uh, but it's very important as we approach October, uh, the last 3 months— October, November, December— uh, that we number one finish strong and that we go into this new year, this new season, hear me, ready and prepared for everything that God really wants to do for us and through us. Hi Bruce, God bless you. Welcome tonight, sir. Uh, I need everybody that's coming in, that's joining us right now, please guys, please ma'am, please sir, do me a favor, speak to us, let us know you're here, say hello. Uh, we definitely want to greet you. Praise God. Uh, let us know you're here. We're going to pray in a moment and then we're going to jump right into this teaching tonight. But I need you to do me a favor, it's just nice man to be nice. The Bible said we are blessed. Hallelujah! We are blessed. Glory to God to be a blessing. So I want to challenge you tonight to please share this live stream. It's going to really be a blessing and touch someone's life. Uh, I don't know about you, but I am super excited about what God is getting ready to do, uh, for his people. And, uh, I'm going to actually share something with you really fast. I want you to grab this because we as the believers, we as people of God, hear me, we are living, I promise you, in the greatest days of our life, man. And I want to challenge you guys to embrace this season, maximize it, get everything you possibly can get because you gotta be ready. Hear me, you got to be ready for what's coming. You must be ready. And the worst thing you could do is get caught off guard, one, thinking you know everything, because you and I, neither one of us, none of us, we don't know everything. So the reality is you need to get ready. You need to take the position of the learner. You need principles to get you ready for what you've been praying for. I'm gonna say that again. Some of you been praying things for things that you have not been preparing for. I'm gonna say that one more time. You've been praying for things that you have not been preparing for. So God wants to get your character in the right place. He wants to mature you spiritually in the right place. And I'm not talking about you just speaking a whole lot of tongues, laying on the floor, all of that stuff. That's great, but I want you to get up out of the floor. I want you, when you stop speaking in tongues, to be able to articulate intelligent English and advance the kingdom and help the people you're called to help in the fear of your assignment. So guys, tonight I need you to get this. I need you to help me share it, whether you're watching us by Twitter, by YouTube. There's several of you watching by Twitter, YouTube. Uh, we see people coming in on our different Facebook pages. Wherever you are, I need you guys tonight to help me share this because this word is going to be absolutely life-changing. It's going to do something for us tonight that we need. Glory to God. And I believe that as God speaks to us, as God talks to us, praise God, we will never be the same again. Glory to God. Glory to God. So please, by all means, guys, share this. We're gonna pray in a moment. We're gonna pray in just one moment, but I need you guys to hear this, man, and I need you to get it. I need you to receive it in your heart. So please go ahead, share this. Praise God. Text somebody, tell them that, hey, you need to get on and watch this teaching with me tonight. It's gonna be an absolute and categorical blessing. Blessing for every person that will engage us tonight. So please, I'm gonna spend— I promise you, once we get started, my plans are to spend about 30 minutes with you, and then we're going to end this broadcast tonight. We're not gonna get this all out, but we're going to give you some nuggets. And I want you, as we teach for the rest of this year, grab it, man, because I'm gonna give you some tools that's going to equip you. Praise God. But where God wants to take you, right? So please go ahead, share it. I'll be back in a moment. Please share this, share this. I promise you, you want to share this, you want to get this in the hands of the people that need it the most. Praise God. Hallelujah. We give you glory, God. We're going to pray when I come back in a moment. We give you praise. God bless you too. Thank you for joining us tonight. Glory to God. God bless you, Lakita Brown. Thank you for joining us. Glory to God. As you're coming in, please guys say hello. God bless you, Pastor Brian Andrews. God bless you, sir. Welcome tonight. Glory to the name of God. You guys do me a favor, share this, because this next season that the Lord has been dealing with me so strategically, it's so important that we be on point, that we have clarity and that we don't miss it to the left or to the right. You know, the Lord showed me, he says, son, as we cross over into this new year, he said, I want you to let my people be very clear that as '23 rolls in, that regardless to what I'm going to do for them, it must be done. This is what he said to me, through accuracy and alignment. So as we cross over into this next year, You're not gonna be able to miss it to the left or to the right. You're gonna have to be operating in a level of accuracy, glory to God, and alignment with God and the things of God that will bring forth— watch this— the seasons of favor, seasons of blessing, uh, that will be perpetual and continual. And this favor will remain with you throughout the assignment, and you won't miss a beat. Because I'm telling you, for a lot of people, 2023 is going to present hardness, struggles, because a lot of people will transgress against the way of God, against the law of God. Hear me. And they're gonna miss, you know, what God really wants to do. So we're going to pray again in a moment. Just give us— I'm giving you a second. Again, I see people coming in Twitter, I see people YouTube. Glory to God. Welcome everybody. Please speak to us, let us know you're here. Glory to God! I see people coming in on Twitter. Wherever you're joining us from, I want you to share this. And whether you're live or by replay, it's vitally important, it's vitally important, ladies and gentlemen, that you get this word out and share it. Hallelujah! With somebody else. I love you guys. Y'all are a blessing, man. Y'all are blessed to me. Thank you so much for being here tonight. About 160 more seconds. 8:10. I'm gonna pray, we're gonna jump right into this teaching, and I'm telling you, we're going to be wide open from there, and God is going to meet us. Listen to me, in this word. Listen, ladies and gentlemen, on tonight, he— that's— you're coming in, please say hello, let us know you're here. I love you all, y'all are such blessings. Glory to the name of God. Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Lord. The blessing of the Lord, it makes rich and it adds no sorrow. And I command that blessing of the Lord that makes rich and adds no sorrow, glory to God, to be manifested in your life even on tonight. Glory to God. We praise you, Father. We praise you, Father. Hallelujah. We give you the glory. We give you all the honor. Beside you there is no other. Yes, Lord, we thank you and we praise you. We thank you and we praise you. We thank you and we praise you, God. And so, Father, in Jesus' name, we thank you tonight for another opportunity to teach and share your word with these your people. And Father, I decree and declare tonight that no weapon formed against us tonight as we teach, as we share, would be able to prosper. God, I'm thanking you in advance, God, that as your people are coming in, they will be blessed by you, Lord, and they will never be impressed by me. Father, I decree and declare that you will have your way in their lives. God, I thank you that no weapon formed against this broadcast, against this word, every diabolical scheme of the enemy that he will plot against us, God, I decree and declare tonight, hallelujah, God, that that plan is canceled. And I decree and declare tonight, as we teach your word, hallelujah, hallelujah, your word declares you sent your word and it healed them. I thank you tonight as your word goes out, let it flow out of my belly like rivers of living water. Hallelujah. Because I believe on 7:38. I believe on you as the scripture has said. Hallelujah. You're my king and my Lord, and you control my life and all of my movement. So hide me behind the cross tonight and help us to equip the saints for this next phase of their journey as they pursue their destiny. In Jesus' name, we bless you for it now. Amen. And thanks be to God. A few more moments. Hallelujah. Hallelujah, Jesus! Thank you, Lord. Glory to your name, God. Hallelujah! Glory to God! All right, I'm super excited tonight to share with you guys. This is going to be absolutely great. Let's get into this, man. I don't have a lot of time, but welcome everybody. Thank you, Lord, for your goodness to us, and we're gracious that you're here. Glory to God. Help us to teach, help us to preach with the light, the illumination, and the intelligence of the Holy Ghost, and we give you praise for it now, Lord, again in Jesus' name. Hallelujah. So tonight I'm going to share very extemporaneously. I want to get into this and I want to give it to you just like the Lord gave it to me, right? Because I truly believe— listen to me— that we're in a time where God wants us to finish— watch this— and complete what he has started in us. But even in the midst of that, guys, What I'm finding, and I'm talking to people every day that's going through this, many, and in particular leaders, are fighting through. They're, they're going through challenges, they're facing obstacles. Many are getting frustrated. I even spoke to one lady who just said, Apostle, I can't do it anymore, I'm just gonna throw in the towel. Well, look, she called the right person because God used me to throw that towel right back at her and tell her she must continue. And I want to talk to somebody tonight. No matter what you're facing, hear me, the spirit of continuity is necessary. The reason the enemy is launching attacks against your ministry, against what your assignment is in the earth and in the kingdom Is it because he is threatened by what God has called you to do? And I need you to take note that these attacks are very diabolical. They're very strategic. They're very deliberate. And I want you to be clear, there is a devil. And anytime you start on a path saying that you're anointed to do something for God and you actually start doing it, the enemy is coming. He does not want to see it happen. Listen, I see people, and it's a shame, they have no prayer life, they spend no time with God. Some of these guys, you know, it's clear the fruit— there's no anointing on what they do, and it seemed like nothing ever goes wrong for them. They never have challenges. Glory to the name of God. But those of us who live the life who pray, who are really sold out to ministry and not in it for popularity, fame, or money, who really are rooted in it for souls and to see the kingdom advance and matriculated in the earth. We have challenges, but God fixes it that way because he's qualifying us to keep what he's designed. So every part of the process— hear me, guys— is qualifying you to keep that which you're trying to finish. So I want to just do a brief review of some of the things I brought out in this last message so we can be up to par, okay? Because I honestly believe, guys, that the enemy is trying to get so many of us to quit and stop so that he can just continue to run rampant. But I believe there's a remnant of people, again, who are really sold out and who are really going to complete this test. So let's go to Exodus 6, and I'm going to read verses 7 and 8. We use this as a foundational substratum, uh, last time, so I want to revisit this just for context in your hearing. And then we're going to just really get into some intense teaching about continuity again. So let's read this. Exodus 6. Somebody type that on the screen if you can. Exodus 6, verses 7 and 8. You'll find these words. The Bible says, and I will take you for me a people, and I will be to you a God. Let me start right there. For every place, I want to say this very clearly, there is a person And for every person assigned to a Pacific region or place, listen to this, there is a people. And for every people and every person in that place, there is a God that will call you his own if you move in obedience to the clarion call to be in— listen to me— a particular place to move in obedience. Listen to me, and do what God says to do, point blank, end of story. All right, he says, and you will know— watch this— in that place, being my people, when I take you as my people, he says, you're gonna know— listen to this, oh my God— that I am the Lord your God. Now here's why I have a problem, ladies and gentlemen. Because there's a whole lot of believers, listen to me, who claim to be children of God, but they really don't know beyond a shadow and a doubt that God, listen to me, really is— here it is— their God. Oh boy, can I, can I, can I say that? Can I say that? That God, listen to me, really is their God. Oh boy, just touch yourself and say, God is my God. And you gotta know that, not that you're guessing, not that you're basing this on what somebody told you, what someone else believes, but you really know this. And in particular, as a leader who's called to be a leader in the kingdom, you got to be very clear that God is your God. He says, you, you got— you're gonna know that I'm the Lord your God, which brings you from under the burdens of the Egyptians. Now, the Egyptians are a type— listen to this— and shadow of people who move in disobedience, people who are disconnected from the covenant. Oh my God. So God says, you're not going to have to live and operate like people who are under slave masters, like people who are in bondage to sin. God says, I really want an up close and personal leader. Be your God. I want to interact with you. I want— oh my God, I want to make it— oh my God— known to you in such a real way that you're not alone. I need you to understand this. Leader, business owner, pastor, apostle, prophet, evangelist, missionary, teacher— come on— prophet, you're not by yourself. So you don't have to consort with the world's way of doing things or the world system of the Egyptians to accomplish— hear me— Kingdom task. Why? Because you're not alone. Oh my God, touch yourself and say, I'm not alone. Oh God, I wish somebody typed that in the comments and just say, I'm not alone. I'm telling you, when you really get to know God and get clarity of this, you'll never quit. Continuity will be your way of life. Because you'll know no matter what comes up against me, I am not in this thing by myself. I must finish. Thank you, God. Thank you for typing it, Laquita. Somebody needs to hear that. You're not alone. You're— thank you, Daughter Sharia. You're not alone. You're not by yourself. I'm not alone. You're not preaching alone. You're not building that business alone. You're not being a wife alone. Glory to God. You, you're not alone. You're not leading a family alone, Father. You're— oh my God, you're not alone, educator. You're not alone, politician. But in order to have that real assurance, you must enter into relationship with the Father. Hallelujah. He says, I— and I will bring you into the land, that's the place concerning the which I did swear to give it to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. And watch this, he says, I will give it to you, listen to me, as a heritage, for I am the Lord. He says, I'm gonna give you this land. Listen to this, as I— so this is a gift. The assignment and the place you're supposed to be is a gift from God, and you have to continue in it until it matriculates and grows into the place that you desire it to be. Lord, help us here today. Help us here today, Jesus. Have mercy, God, have mercy. So let— now it's, it's interesting to me, and I brought this out, and I'm just going to review this really quick. In the last teaching, it's on my timeline somewhere if you follow me on Facebook or YouTube, it's there. I talked about the difference in inheritance and heritage. Now a lot of times these words are often used interchangeably, but I believe there's a difference, a notable difference even. Glory to God. Because heritage deals with legacy, and there's a legacy not just of things and material good, but it is a legacy of spirituality. Uh, the Greeks called it pneumaticos. Pneumatic— pneuma and atikos. Pneuma is the spirit, things of the spirit, wind, breathe, things. Attikos is behaviors, so, or antics. So he says, I give you pneumatics. He says, in your heritage you have a behavior pattern. So when we leave a heritage to our children, we're not just leaving them money, we're leaving them behavior patterns, we're leaving them spirituality. Hear this, glory to God. We're leaving them a way of being and doing. Glory to God. We're leaving them the opportunity— listen to this— to live for God throughout their generation and pass it on to their children's children. See, inheritance is something that they receive in material good, money, wealth, land from ancestors. And hear me, in this day, man, people are so caught up in ancestors and inheritance from ancestors. You got jokers out here praying to their ancestors. Now, you know what, do what you do, but I'm just going to tell you something right now. Why in the world am I gonna pray to my dead uncle or my dead great-great-granddaddy when I got access through relationship to the living Jesus Christ. I, I don't, I don't get that rationale. See, when you're, when you're religious, you don't understand that Jesus lives for real. You don't have that understanding. But when you really enter into a place of intimacy with him again and know him, you don't ever choose the option to pray to an ancestor. If you ever catch me praying to kutikinte somebody, please just slap me and tell me to snap out of it. Because I'm gonna tell you something, my ancestors are dead, and preferably they were saved and with God. But I, I have no time to play games or pray to someone that's gone. I'm gonna talk to Jesus because guess what? He is, he is, he is alive. Glory to God. I don't have time to play them kind of games. And so people need to stop. Then you got people in the church teaching this crap about talking to your ancestors, and they're specifically— and I have time to teach about mediums and dealing with the dead tonight, but that stuff is transgression, it's off limits, it's illegal. Jesus is alive. And he wants to talk to you for real. So I said that to say we have to work on a real heritage, a legacy of spiritual behavior and spirituality and relationship with God that we can leave to our children. Praise the name of Jesus. Are y'all with me tonight? I pray y'all with me. Glory to the name of God. I pray y'all are listening to this word tonight. And Father, right now, in the name of Jesus, I just— it's just hit my spirit. Y'all forgive me, I'm just flowing as the Holy Spirit leads me tonight. But I want to just pray and bind up Hurricane Ian and every storm that's accumulating right now in the Atlantic Ocean and affecting Florida and the Carolinas. I decree and declare, I oshkabah Brusketeh, po, shomande kesi. I speak to this storm now and I command it to change its course. Glory to God. I command it to dissipate and I say, peace, be still, in the name of Jesus. And I decree and declare that the loss will not be tragic. I decree and declare that no death will occur. I decree that the property loss and land damage will be minimal. In the name of Jesus. And I say it is so. In the name of Jesus, I give you glory. Hallelujah, hallelujah. Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Lord. So let me just get back to this. Glory to God. So there's a difference in heritage an inheritance. And I just believe if the focus of today's families and today's ministries remain on inheritance instead of heritage, I fear that eventually the saints of God, the spiritual people in the earth, will eventually become an endangered species because we got to teach people to carry this thing out. Not religion. We don't need another legacy of religion. We need a legacy of relationship and spirituality that puts the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords on display forever. Hallelujah. And eternally, as long as the Earth remains. So we gotta plant that seed. So why is it then that people stop? Why don't they continue? Listen, let me tell you something. The enemy to continuity— listen to me, guys— the enemy to continuity— y'all, please share this, people need it, please share it— is self-preservation. And I call that the countercourse. The course that we should be taking is allowing ourselves to be preserved by God and continuing in the plan of God. But many a times we take a counter course and try to preserve ourself. Hear me, man, hear me. I'm going somewhere tonight. First of all, I want you to be clear Nothing, and I mean absolutely nothing, is hidden from God. Not one thing is hidden from God, our Creator. For real, watch this. He wants to, as I read in the beginning, intertwine with our life because he's transcendent and he's imminent. Transcendent means that He has the ability from his throne to transcend the corridors of heaven and enter into the culture of your life and be involved in your life for real. Imminent means that he can relate as a deity to your humanity because he was once wrapped in flesh as Jesus. So he understands clearly what you go through as a human. But he's willing in his transcendent state to get involved, and he uses the person of the Holy Ghost. That's why you need the Holy Ghost to get involved— hear me— with your life. Are y'all getting this tonight? So what usually happens, because God is omnipotent, which means he has all power, God is omniscient, which means he knows everything. There's nothing that he does not know. Glory to God. Hallelujah. So nothing is hidden from him. Nothing catches him off guard. The trials— glory to the name of God— that you go through, they don't catch him off guard. He knows everything you're dealing with. Everything. He's omniscient. He's omnipresent. He's everywhere simultaneously at the same— he's right here with me in my studio. He's right there with you in your house or wherever you're watching me from. God is omnipresent and he can engage in me and give me an encounter in my studio. And he can give you an encounter right where you are because of his omnipresence and not— watch this— shortchange either one of us because in his full essence, he has the ability to be everywhere at the same time. But this counter-course, listen to me, of self-preservation— listen, saints, listen, listen, listen— this counter-course of self-preservation, it works against God's ability to take care of us on the way to finishing. Watch this. It's the greatest enemy to continuity. You know what it basically is, is you getting in your own way and getting in God's way. The way you do it is that you extrapolate yourself. You extrapolate yourself from God's plan to preserve you as you try to finish your course. You extrapolate yourself from the process God has set up for you to go through to finish, and you remove yourself from his protection. And this is what I call ignorance, because there is something that we all should be exercising called self-effacement. But when we're ignorant to self-effacement— and let me just take a rabbit trail right here, I want to tell you about this— when we're ignorant to self-effacement, we remove ourselves from God's ability and we start operating in our own ability because we're comfortable there. Oh, because it makes us feel good. Because watch this, here we go. Everybody celebrates us in that comfortable space, so we keep moving in that comfort because this is where we're most celebrated. As a matter of fact, God may have— maybe telling you not to even do that anymore, but you're still doing it because you get celebrated from people. So you— oh my God— you remove yourself from God's plan, and now you're not operating in self-effacement. Self-effacement is what the Hebrews and the Jews call the bitul hayesh, B-I-T-U-L H-A-Y-E-S-H, the bitul hayesh. And this is the concept of self-effacement. It is the hebot lot, is what the Hebrews refer to it also as. And this concept and its corollaries— watch this— is attributed to— watch this— the goal of a union with a deity, a goal of achieving oneness. So you efface yourself, you throw away your flesh, you— oh my, you throw away everything, glory to God, that you feel to be right in your carnal mind. So that you can achieve the highest level of atonement, at-one-ment with God. Listen, it's a flight from the flesh, a flight from the body, a flight from carnality. That's what self-effacement is. You sacrifice you. Watch this, it's crucifixion. It's a type of laying on a cross and crucifying the members of your flesh. And your mortality, saying, God, I give you all of me. Romans 12:1, come here. I present my body, whoo, a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable unto God, which is my reasonable service. Lord have mercy, Jesus. Oh my God. So you got to be— you got to die daily. You got to take up your cross and follow him. Oh, oh, you gotta choose that he's the way and the only way. Glory to God. You got to choose to walk with him when everybody else is choosing to do their own thing. You got to choose to follow him effectively. The countercourse— watch this— it causes us— and I want you to hear this tonight, I'm gonna give you a few things, I'm almost done— it causes us develop a counterculture. Because really, in continuity, we should be trying to finish the assignment that God gave us, not the assignment we created. Oh my God, because so many give up because they create the assignment anyway. It never was God that called them to do it, so they started doing it. Oh, oh my God, oh my God. But, but This counterculture goes against continuity. And so many times people die before they're finished, before they have an opportunity to fulfill their destiny or leave a heritage, because they start operating in a way of living or a culture that is counterintuitive to the kingdom way of operating. So let me just give you some things Oh my God, that this counterculture does. So you start developing a culture in this countercourse that number one, deviates from kingdom culture. So kingdom culture, kingdom, kingsdom, the king's domain, the king's dominion, the king's authority, the king's territory, the king's rule, the king's way of dominating. So he has a culture, he has a way of operating, he has a way that he wants to work through his people. But when you develop a counterculture, when you start going on this countercourse where you're preserving yourself— hear me, guys— you start operating in a counter kingdom that is the kingdom of man and the kingdom of darkness. And you don't operate as a person that's been translated out of darkness into the kingdom of his dear Son, because now you've embraced something— hear me— that goes against how he operates, that goes against his way of doing things. And I could call a lot of names of people who are in that place right now. I don't care who you are, every person that is embracing the gospel of inclusion, you're wrong. You embrace it because you never really tasted God. And I say that even for the ones that's leading it, they never really tasted God. The Hebrew says, once you've been enlightened and have tasted for real of the heavenly gift, it's impossible for you to fall away. So they never really had a taste of God in their spirit for real. So they start following false doctrine because again, it was comfortable, it was convenient. It's anti-kingdom cultural, but the kingdom requires a consistency and a continuity that must be embraced. Watch this, to release the light of the kingdom to others so that others can see the manifested blessings and favor that come out of aligning properly with kingdom principles. So again, counterculture, doing your own thing, develops a culture that deviates from kingdom culture. Also, it defies kingdom culture. Oh, hear me good. It defies kingdom culture. Lord, I wish I had some help here, Jesus. I mean, it totally says to kingdom culture, I know what I'm doing and you're wrong. It says— because kingdom culture, again, is just the way of the king. It's the behavior of kingdom citizens. And whenever what you're doing is defying that, the Bible says to be rebellious is as the sin of witchcraft. I'm gonna say that one more time. To be rebellious is as the sin of witchcraft. So witchcraft is control, manipulation, intimidation. So when you start rebelling against kingdom culture and defying God's way of operating and God's way of doing things, What you're doing, ladies and gentlemen, is you are causing yourself to operate in a spirit of witchcraft and control where you're— it's self-witchcraft, it's personal witchcraft. Oh, you're the witch! And it's taking you away from finishing something that God really meant for you to finish because you're trying to do it your own way. You're coming up with ways of doing things that God never told you to do. And I just really wish that you guys would really catch this, especially you leaders. We have enough stuff that's going against the grain. We need a generation to be raised up. We need people to emerge that's actually operating under the authority of the King and really mimicking what he says do. Jesus did that. He said, I do what I see my Father think. Your relationship with God has to be so tight that you have the ability to do what you see your Father thinks. Oh my God, I love him, I love him, he's amazing. Glory to God. Okay, so this counterculture, this countercourse, it deviates from kingdom culture, number one. Number two, it defies kingdom culture. But watch this, number three, it deploys, it releases into the earth chaos. Chaos is the confused, unorganized state existing before the creation of distinct form. So chaos is always there until distinct form or order shows up. And you really can't have order until you align with the mind of the King. And most of you live in chaos in your house, in your church, in your business, because you're out of alignment with the King. Whenever there's chaos, there's a lack of alignment. You're out of order, and a distinct form has not been introduced. Genesis 1:1 is right there, man. The Bible says, in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. We don't know when the beginning was. That doesn't say this is the beginning. It said whenever the beginning was, God created heaven and earth. But watch this, verse 2— that should be, uh, uh, uh, verse 0, verse 1. It said whenever the beginning was, God created. Then verse 1, in the beginning he did create something. But then there's a gap between verses 1 and 2. Ezekiel 14 happens, Satan falls from heaven. Because everything God created was good. And because he got out of alignment, he created chaos. So the first thing God began to do— uh, he said, the earth was without form, it was void, darkness was upon the face of the deep. The first thing God said was, let there be light. Wherever there's a lack of order and wherever there is chaos, the first thing God shows up and does Hear me, is bring illumination, intelligence from heaven. He turns on light so that that light— hear me— can establish direction. See, the purpose of God eliminates chaos, and that's why you need a real relationship with God where he could talk to you for real. Wait a minute, where he could talk to you for real about purpose. Are y'all hearing this? You got to have a real relationship with the Lord so he can talk to you for real about purpose. I got to get out of here, y'all. Some of you are guessing what you think your purpose is, but if you want to eliminate chaos in your life and be in order and alignment, which is going to be required in 2023 I promise you, 2023 is not going to be the year that a lot of prophets are going to begin to talk. It's going to be— and they're going to speak a lot of blessings and things are going to happen. But I promise you, the Spirit of the Lord spoke to me and said it's going to be a year of accuracy and alignment. And God told me to begin aligning people in accuracy now with his purpose, his plan, the potential that Oh my God, he has for their life. Because it's going to be necessary to walk in the blessing, to walk in the favor of the Lord, and watch this, in the illumination of the Lord in 2023. While a lot of people are going to be going through toil and turbulence, those that find themselves in order and in obedience, they'll be the ones that operate in the blessing. You're not going to be able to miss it. And listen, I said, oh, I have grace. Yeah, you do, but it's not going to disdain the fact that you need order and alignment in your life. God will give you grace to stay alive, to keep living through it, but at the end of the day, you won't be able to reach that summit that God's trying to get you to because you're out of alignment. Oh boy. I know we don't like this, but the purpose of God eliminates chaos. And when you start operating in purpose— I'm talking about God's purpose, not the purpose you created in your mind. I'm talking about his purpose for real. That's why you got to talk to him. He manufactured you. He knows what your purpose is. So you gotta talk to him. You got to spend that time with him. Are you hearing what I'm saying? So the purpose of God introduces your life— hear this— to distinct form, to order, to alignment. It shows you what that really is, because now God says, I can trust you because you're clear about purpose and you're actually walking it out deliberately. You're doing what I said do. Are y'all hearing that? Oh my God, he said, now you're doing what I said do. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So order then is achieved when the chaos is subjugated to the word of God. So a person of purpose operates from a place of rhema word revelation, illumination, light. That comes from God. So it eliminates the disorder, it eliminates the chaos. That's, that's why anytime you listen to me teach, I've been driving you guys to him, because it's not about being popular. It's not about— God knows y'all chase these icons. The church is very iconolistic. I see preachers who have no idea who they are, but they run behind T.D. Jakes. Trying to find their identity, man. Bishop Jakes been doing what he been doing for the longest, and if you talk to him, he'll probably tell you himself— matter of fact, I know he will— find your authenticity. You, you can't mimic him. You can't be around him and think you can do what he's done just because you're chasing behind him, trying to be in his presence. You better find out what you're supposed to be doing. I promise you, there's an assignment for every one of us, and you need to figure that out because you're going to be running around in chaos until you do. Oh Lord, help us. Jesus, help us. Father, we love you. We praise you, God. We praise you. This counterculture, it deviates from kingdom culture. It defies kingdom culture. It deploys chaos and it destroys continuity. Just because this countercourse that go— this enemy of continuity is why many of you don't finish. I was in a media business meeting today and I was telling someone, you know what, the greatest ideas, the greatest dreams, the greatest innovations are in the grave because somebody thought they can do it on their own. A wise man or woman is always going to put people around them that can do what they cannot do. But the moment you take on this attitude of self-preservation and feel like you can do it all yourself and you don't need nobody else, man, you are setting yourself up for failure. Self-preservation is carnal, and self-preservation is ungodly. Again, it is counterintuitive to the kingdom of God because the intuition of a kingdom citizen is to trust the decrees of the king. Whatever the king says is law. So as a kingdom citizen, I do what the king says. I don't operate in a self-preservation that is counterintuitive to the King's way of doing things. The moment you take your life in your own hand, you asking for trouble and transgress against the law of the King. I ain't got no help here. Listen, the spirit of self-preservation, this countercourse, it only desires— watch this— to reproduce its own ideologies and its own instruments. That's what it's out to do. It only wants to produce what ideas come to his head or her head, and the instruments, the tools, the abilities they have evaluated that they have, that they're comfortable with. Because oftentimes what the king decrees over your life is going to make you feel uncomfortable. It's going to challenge you beyond your carnality, beyond your intellectual aptitude, beyond your physical capacity. My God, here, glory to God, is going to challenge you in ways that you have to lean on his intellect to get it done. I know that personally. I'm doing some things in ministry and business now. Let me tell you something. I'm not smart enough to do them. I really am not. It's him that's guiding my mind. I have to seek his insight. Oh my God, I have to seek his insight at every turn because I don't understand a lot of things about the space he's dropped me in. But can I tell you something? I'm not afraid. I have no fear because I know he's preserving me. I have no temptations, because I've been there, done that before. It didn't work to lean on my flesh, to lean on Michael Woods' ability. This— what this season I'm in now, Michael Woods can't do that. Michael Woods got doctorates, a master's, and an undergrad that he's earned because just because people said I couldn't earn it, I went and earned it. And I have nothing to prove anymore. Glory to the name of God. I'm so happy. Glory to the name of God, because I, I am a puppet on the string, and I just let God pull me however he want to. Yeah, he puppet master, and I just let him pull me. I just let him pull my strings. I'm telling you, you gotta learn to let him pull your strings. Well, I guess I'll give him credit for that. See, some of y'all new Bishop Jakes fans, I was a Bishop Jakes fan years ago when he was in West Virginia. He preached a message called The Puppet Master. That was one of my favorite message Jesus, he ever preaches. And he, his sub-thought was, let God pull your strings. I'm gonna tell you something, you better learn how to let God pull your strings. You know, when you grow, it's just— I love the man, but you know, I just listen to other stuff now. Glory to the name of God. You know, so there are certain people that I used to love to hear preach, I don't no more. And what happened? I, I grew. I grew. Glory to God. See, the key is You fall in love with someone, you study them, and you study who they study. And then ultimately you discover the person that they're studying and that they're studying is studying God. And when you really know God, oh boy, oh boy, you can get what you need directly from the source. That's for grown folks. Some of y'all catch that later. Okay, so Again, self-preservation is countercourse. It's dangerous. I got to get out of here. I got 6 minutes. Let's go to 2 Peter, uh, chapter 1. I'm gonna read verses 2 through 4. Somebody, I mean just anybody, please type this on the screen for me. 2 Peter verses 1 and 2. Praise God. I pray y'all getting something out of this because again, we gotta finish. We must finish. We must finish. We must finish. Glory to God. Hallelujah. I'm gonna say it one more time. We must finish. Hallelujah. 2 Peter 1, uh, verses 2 through 4. The Bible says, grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God. Listen to this, man. Wait a minute. So grace, which is charis in Greek, which is empowerment toward your gift. Grace is not just a tool to be used— thank you, Lord— for the forgiveness of sin. Grace, my friends— glory to God— this is, uh, 2 Peter chapter 1, verses 2 through 4. Hear me, it is to be used to empower you toward the assignment that you should be flowing toward finishing, toward the gifts and tools God has given you to finish your course. And peace— watch this, man, watch this, oh my God, watch this— peace is Irene or sirene in Greek. It is where we get the words Irene from Irene. Glory to the name of God is a feminine name, but peace here is not the absence of confusion, it's the presence of assistance. And I promise you, if you have the right woman— men leaders, stop being so arrogant that you can't lean on your wives for help. Yeah, I thank God my wife, she helps me out a lot, and she— I think she helps me in so many— in a lot of she don't even know it. But at the end of the day, I could just touch her sometime, and the anointing that's on her life, because she's such an intercessor, such a praying woman, it gives— it fuels me with strength, it fuels me with ideas, it fuels me with revelation. Glory to God. Because she operates in that peaceful place with God. And let me tell you something, it's the presence of his assistance. Peace is the presence of his assistance. You can continue— hear me— because you have the presence of God's assistance with you. Okay, he says, he said, I want grace and peace to be multiplied to you through the knowledge of God. Here it is again. You can't just meet God, you got to know him. You just can't read about God, you got to know him. You just can't hear the preacher preach about God. This season and this dispensation we're going into in the world, you're going to have to know— hear me— who God is for yourself. He says, and grace and peace is going to be multiplied when you know him. Watch this. The more you know him, the more you know he's with you, the more you know he's present to assist you, the more you know him The more grace you have. Somebody ought to shout, more grace, more grace, more grace. That's what he wants to give you. The more you know him, the more grace, the more empowerment, charisma that you have to operate in your gifting. Oh, he said, and of our, of Jesus our Lord, according as his divine power has given us all things that pertain to life and godliness. I want you to understand something. When you're in a relationship with God, there's nothing lacking, there's nothing missing, there's nothing broken, there's nothing deficient. You have everything you need to be who you are and to get the job done. But you gotta know him. You gotta know him. You gotta know him. You gotta know him. Hallelujah. You gotta know him. He says, through the knowledge of him— there it is again, you gotta know him— that has called us to glory. Doxa in Hebrew, and virtue. Not virtual, but virtue. Living pneumatics, Atticus behavior, living a good life. He's called us to be a manifestation of who he is. Glory. To be glory carriers. Thank you, Lord. I love the Lord, man. I love it. Jesus Christ, I love it. Oh my God. He said, whereby are giving unto us exceeding great and precious promises. That by ye these you may be partakers of the divine nature. Come on now, wait a minute. God says here, I have given you opportunity through relationship to be a partaker of promises that exceed your intellect. You can't even think about how great these promises are and how precious these promises are. He said, but through these promises, through relationship, I'm gonna cause you to be a partaker. Wait a minute, of divine nature. Because you operate in continuity, because you're trying to finish what he gave you, because you have the faith to believe that you can finish. God says you're gonna take on his nature. Oh boy, Lord, give us your nature, Jesus. Help your people. Oh my God, I'm trying not to get so excited. To understand that they can partake of your divine nature and they can escape the corruption that is in the world through lust. The world— the cosmos in Greek— brings us so many temptations that we can lust after popularity, money, fame, fortune. And if we lust after them The Bible says a man is drawn away by his own lusts, and then sin is born. And then if he continues in sin, sin matures and it becomes full-grown, and that same sin becomes his destruction. Be careful that you don't get caught up in worldly systems, worldly secular ways of doing things and acting and being. I want to challenge you guys tonight to trust God, man. Don't, don't become corrupt because everybody else is corrupt. You got an opportunity to operate— that's a good word, Lakita— in the place of divinity, that your nature reflects divine power. Glory to God. Listen, we must not digress— and I'm closing— to this chaotic state of need. Listen to this: that we allow self-preservation to overshadow divine nature. See, divine nature is a process, and a lot of times people need— they're so needy, they need so much. Oh my God, I gotta quit, man. That they start operating in spaces and places, man, that God didn't call them to operate in. Listen, we have to put our faith in the promises of God and allow him to preserve us. And to realize— I'm gonna look at this camera and say this— that we're gonna continue on this earth, we're gonna finish the assignment because God is preserving us. See, a lot of times we fall into self-preservation because we have a need to survive, so we start doing things to survive, man. But I'm telling you right now, God's got you. God loves you. I was telling one of my spiritual daughters before I got on here, I said to her, I said, she said, Dad, everybody around me is dying. I'm going through the same thing I went through last year. I lost friends and loved ones. I lost this person. I lost one of my best friends from high school. She told me that tonight. She said, I don't know, maybe God doesn't like me. I said, quite the contrary. He loves you. I said, because your heart is beating, it is an indication that you still have purpose, that you still have a reason to continue. I want to challenge somebody tonight to continue. Don't you dare quit. Don't you dare give up. Don't you dare throw in the towel. I want you to keep going. The only way you're gonna lose is if you quit. I posted a reel maybe a few days ago, but it makes sense. The only way you lose— and I'm closing with this— is if you quit. I played a lot of golf. Everybody knows that, uh, in golf, if you're on a par 4, you can hit 3 bad shots and 1 good shot and still make par. I want to tell you tonight, you can still make par. Your life can be par excellence in his divine nature. You just must continue. Listen, I love you guys. Father, bless your people. Let them continue and finish what you have started in them, in Jesus' name. I want to challenge every person on this live. Be a giver. The ways to give are scrolling at the bottom of the screen. Would you be a blessing to ministry tonight. I promise you, if you do, God will multiply for you a thousand times more. Thank you guys for joining us. Y'all be blessed. Good night. Hallelujah. Thank you, Jesus. Lord, I bless you. Wonderful Savior. Yes, I will continue. Yeah, glory to God. Somebody ought to continue. Glory to the name of God. That we, we just ought to make up in our mind that we're not gonna quit. Hallelujah! That we're not gonna give up. That we will continue. I love y'all, man. Y'all be blessed. Keep going.