Created to Worship, Part 4: "Presence VS. Personality, PT. B | Dr. Mike Woods, Sr.

Oh Lord, we love you, Jesus. We love you, Jesus. You're so worthy of glory. Hallelujah. You're so worthy of honor. We praise your great name, Jesus. Leke so rabasa talabakushi andaya. We bless you and we lift you Well, welcome to our Thursday night Kingdom Bible study tonight. I am super excited to share the word. Glory to God! And I'm so excited about this series we've been teaching on Kingdom Worship. Um, it's been blessing me since we started it, and I pray tonight that you come in with your ears open, your heart open, and really with a mindset to apply— hear me— all that you hear. Listen, we are streaming right now over 5 different platforms: 3 Facebook pages, uh, Instagram, and YouTube. Wherever you're watching us from, we want you to do us the kind favor, guys, and I need you to share this. Glory to God. Hallelujah. Shamando Rokushé. Father, I feel— oh my God, I feel the anointing! Glory to God! Hallelujah! Do me a favor, guys, share this encounter. Something great is going to happen tonight. Uh, we have so much fun every Thursday night just walking through the word, and, uh, I hope that we are opening up the eyes of your understanding as it pertains to worship. Glory to God! So tonight, glory to God, if you're here, comment below, let us know you're here. No matter where you're watching from, glory to God. And by all means, I need you to hit that share button, hit that like button, and not so much because we're just trying to get clicks and likes and shares. The reality is we're blessed to be a blessing. So if the word of the Lord that you receive on these live streams are blessing you, or through our podcast blesses you, it's so important that you understand you are blessed to be a blessing and you pass that blessing on to someone else. As a matter of fact, that suggests that a blessing is not a blessing— hear me— until you give it away. I'm going to say that one more time: a blessing is not a blessing until— oh, I feel God— until you give it away. And so tonight I need you to give this away. Glory to God. And be a blessing to someone else. Listen, while you're sharing, glory to God, we're, we're gonna, uh, play really quick, uh, the opener for this series. And after that, I'm gonna come back and we're gonna jump right into this. Let's go. In the beginning, everything had a purpose. Everything was created with intentionality. Every breath every heartbeat designed for one reason only. You were created for something greater than you imagined, beyond your plans, beyond your dreams. There is one reason you exist: to worship. Worship, a response to the Creator. It's not a religious moment, but a lifestyle. It's not just a song, but the cry of your heart. Worship must be passionate, worship must be pure, and worship must be present in every season. True worship requires sacrifice. Just as Abraham lifted his eyes to the mountain trusting God with his most precious gift. We are called to worship with everything we have, to lay down our lives in honor of the one who gave it all. Join me, Apostle Mike Woods, as I embark upon this transformative journey in our new series created to worship. You're gonna discover your true purpose and learn how worship positions you in the presence of God. Listen, this is more than a sermon. It's more than a teaching. It's a call to action that will align your life with your divine destiny. This is what you were made for. You were created to worship. And yes, you better believe that for sure. You were created— I know you thought you created for a whole lot of other stuff, but the reality is the very essence of your palpitation, of your heartbeat, is connected to the idea that you are alive to worship your Creator. And that's in every aspect of your life, not just what we do inside of the church, because worship stands far beyond— glory to God— what we do inside of the church. Matter of fact, we begin to glorify God in our assignment, in our purpose, in our families. All of these things— and we have covered a lot of this already— glorify the name of God. Let's pray. And we're going to jump right into this tonight. I'm excited to teach. I pray that you are excited to hear and you're excited to receive. Glory to God. Let's pray tonight. Father, in Jesus' name, we thank you and we give you praise, we give you glory, we give you honor. And Father, it is our privilege to worship you. It is our privilege, dear God, to create a dwelling place for you. And so, Father, in the name of Jesus, as we teach these principles. I pray that there will be a paradigm shift in our mind, in our perspective concerning what worship really is. Glory to God. And giving us a heart and a mind to worship you for real. So Father, we thank you that as we teach the word, we'll experience the light, the illumination, and the intelligence of the Holy Ghost. Father, have your way tonight. Do something unusual in this teaching, something man cannot do. And Father, we'll give you praise. We thank you that your glory, your authority, your power, your provision, hallelujah, your healing, for you sent your word. Lekison du rambasa. I feel that strong tonight, that healing is gonna happen even as we teach the word. Somebody better catch faith. Glory to God. Hallelujah. And receive the blessing of the word Glory to God. He sent his word and it healed them. Glory to God. I'm believing, God, that cancer will be dried up even as we teach, that pain and muscle issues and nerve issues, glo she ba ba ba ba ta ya, and bloodstream issues will be healed, God. We give you praise, God, in the name of Jesus, that even the blind will see and deaf ears will open and the lame will walk. We give you the glory, God. And we thank you. And God, we thank you for the victory. And we're praying even for the Southeast, those that have been hit by, uh, these back-to-back hurricanes, really. And as they begin to recover and restore, God, we thank you for taking the violence out of the storm, God, because it could have been the other way. But we thank you, God, that now you'll cause the people to restore sweatlessly. And we give you praise for it now in Jesus' name. Amen. And thanks be to God. Would you give God praise? Glory to God. Eshemando lebesunte lebekosia. Would you give him glory tonight? He's worthy to be glorified. Hallelujah. He's worthy to be magnified. Thank you, Jesus. Lebesondorabababasa. He's worthy to be lifted up. We give him the glory. We give him the honor. Hallelujah! And we thank him tonight. Listen guys, welcome, welcome to Thursday night. Glory to God! Hello everybody, glory to God! God bless you everybody. Welcome to tonight's Thursday night teaching. So glad to see you on. Glory to God! God is so good, he's so wonderful. Glory to God, he's so amazing. Praise God! Beside him that is. I'm my God, there is no other. He rules and he super rules. Glory to God. Hallelujah. Heaven is his throne and the earth is his footstool. Glory to God. We give him praise. What a mighty God. Listen, let's jump into this tonight. Uh, this teaching, guys, uh, is based in two basic principles, right? And, uh, The foundational text is Genesis 22:1-5, really 1-9, where we see Abraham taking Isaac up to worship. Glory to the name of God. A command or instruction to worship. Watch this, that's born out of knowing God. We give you praise. Glory to God. And so the two principles that this entire teaching is based on. So everything I'm sharing with you is, is emerging out of these two concepts, right? So in the first message, I share with you two things from Genesis 22:1-9, and actually Genesis 15:1-2. Glory to God. One, you cannot worship God if you do not know God. And two, you cannot worship God— listen without a sacrifice. My God, my God. Okay, okay. Yeah, you cannot worship God if you do not know God, so you have to have relationship with him. Glory to God. And secondly, you cannot worship him without a sacrifice. And I want you to understand something: worship always requires you giving up something. Glory to God. That you want to keep. Glory to Jesus. So that you can have encounters in his presence. I'm gonna say that again. Uh, notice something. It's not— glory to God— you cannot worship God if you can't sing it the right key. Come on. You cannot worship God if you don't know the latest worship songs. You cannot worship— because a lot of times what we do, family, and hear him We worship the process of worship. And so that's when we started talking about this whole presence versus personality piece. We worship the personality of God that's alliterated inside of lyrics, inside of sounds, and we get mesmerized by the lyrics and the, ooh, and the sounds, glory to God, and the instrumentation, and we never really tap in and break through. Oh my God. And worship the— ooh, sha makore anse. And guess what that becomes, family? That literally becomes idolatry. Wow. So wait a minute, wait a minute. When you start worshiping the process of worship, Again, you start worshiping the instrumentation. Glory to God. You start worshiping the lyrics. You start worshiping the personality of God that is infused inside of the process we call worship. We think because we can cut the lights out and turn on, oh my God, an atmosphere, glory to God, that we are actually worshiping God. Worship is born out of relationship. And many people— whoo-wee, glory to God, my God— they are not willing to make the sacrifices necessary to get to know him. Lord, I got to get out here already. I got to go, I got to go, because if I stay on that, it's going to be a problem. Matter of fact, let's just talk about that really quick, and then I'm going to give a quick review of of this teaching. But let's look at idolatry really quick, real quick. Can y'all, will y'all let me do it? Glory to God. So I want you to write this down, write this down. The root of all worship is worth. Okay? So the root of all worship is worth. The word worship, proskaneo, is a word that actually means worth scope. It means to lay yourself down, your life prostrate as an inferior, giving sacrifice— watch this— to a known superior. So again, there it is again. You cannot worship God if you don't know God. Oh boy. Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy. So you got to sacrifice yourself as an inferior, and this is hard for a lot of people. So that's why they fall in love with the process and never really transforming in the place of worship. Because I'm telling you, when you worship right, all things— kind of things can happen. Healing, deliverance, breakthrough, prosperity, which is a whole nother dimension of manifestation through worship. Glory to God! When you worship correctly, but you gotta bow yourself as an inferior to a superior. Y'all gonna get this tonight, glory to God, I promise you. So the root of all worship again is worth. You only worship what is worthy to be worshiped. Now let me write this down: the only one that carries— here we go— enough worth to be worshiped is God. Wait a minute, Michael Woods. Yeah, yeah, okay, so that means you shouldn't be worshiping your spouse, you shouldn't be worshiping your job, you should— oh boy, you should not be worshiping your children. Uh, you know, some people have some kind of twisted reality where they worship feet. They call it feet worship. Come on, man, you should not be worshiping anything but God. The only thing worthy of worship is God. He's the only thing that carries enough worth to be worshiped. Oh, whoa, I, I gotta lay this backdrop to where I'm going. I'm sorry, Holy Spirit took me this way. We're gonna stay here a minute. All right, go to 1 John 5. I hear you, God. 1 John 5. Y'all with me tonight? Glory to God. Hallelujah. Y'all cut that foot worship stuff out. Glory to Jesus. Hallelujah. Oh, what kind of craziness is that, you worshiping feet? Come on. Glory to God. 1 John 5. Glory to Jesus. 1 John 5. My God, I love you, Jesus. And verse number 21. Glory to God. Whoo! I'm excited about what God is doing. Watch this. The Bible says, little children, hear this, keep yourselves from idols. Amen. I'm gonna read it one more time because it's just all right to read the Bible. 1 John 5, verse 21. Little children, which is you and I, we're children of God. Come on, keep yourselves from idols, or idolon. Idolon in Greek means, glory to God, likenesses or objects. Glory to God, here we go. That you give worth to and you worship. So it could be an object of any kind, you give worth to it and then you worship it, then it becomes an idol. So, uh, boy, it's also— edolon deals with this. It means when you place worth more on the means than the end. Oh God, oh God. Again, you, you place more worth on the lights being low and the lyrical manifestations and the woo-wee and the vocal instrumentation of the worship leader and the instrumental. And I'm not saying you shouldn't sing in excellence. I'm not knocking any of that, or you shouldn't play in excellence. We believe in that. But what I am saying, we should not worship the means because if we don't have that then we still should be able to humble ourselves as a superior— oh my God, an inferior before a superior— and worship him. We still should be able to worship in spirit and in truth when there's no keyboard or drums or Hammond B-3, or oh my God, a synthesizer or great worship leader in sight. Oh my God, I'm super excited, uh, glory to God, about the process. I love it. But at the end of the day, it can never be exalted above the end, and the end is him. And that's idolatry. So here's what I want to submit to you tonight, guys. We have to cease worshiping worship. I'm gonna say that again. We gotta cease worshiping worship. We will— whoo, some of y'all not gonna like this because you love how you love the worship service, and it's great, I'm glad you do, but I don't want you to fall in love with that process and miss the fact that praise is the vehicle that gets you to worship and And worship is the vehicle that opens up portals between the heaven and earth and gets you to God. Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy. So here we go. Let's get in it. Let's get in it. I had to go. I had to take that rabbit trail, guys, because the Holy Spirit wasn't going to let me leave it alone. So I had to take it. I had to take it. All right, so tonight again we're talking about presence versus personality. I'm gonna finish this up. We started it last Thursday, took a little rabbit trail Sunday, and we talked about getting our priorities straight because you really can't worship God for real. Glory to God. When you out of order, hallelujah. Hallelujah! Glory to God! So you gotta get your priorities straight. Please go back and watch that message. Listen, when you understand this process— so last time we talked about how culture has made God a novelty item. They really don't know him. And we went through the ideas of how a lot of this stuff is lip service, because I'm gonna tell you something, we know them by the— oh my God— the fruit they bear. So if you know God, there's going to be some fruit evident in your life that you know him. It's not going to just be you're a good singer, you're a good praiser, oh my God, you're a good musician, or you, you do well and cry good at church. No, there's going to be some manifestations in other areas of your life if God is more than a novelty. See, many times we worship personality, again, the idea of God, but we got to get from personality to presence. Here we go. Oh my God. So we talked about that, and basically that was saying to us that God is not interested in just being a concept. Oh my God. Or trend, but he desires deep relationship with the worshiper. Come on, church. Glory to God. And then we talked about last week's superficial Christianity. Now I'm gonna get into it again. Go back and watch it. We talked last week also about God desiring more than you just acknowledging him. Again, the idea here is belief alone is not enough. We read the scripture last week, glory to God, in James 2:19, that when they were crying out, oh yeah, we believe there's a God, there's one God, And then the apostle said, yeah, and the devil believes that too. You need to know him. So you got to go again from belief to presence, knowing. Oh, somebody shout, it's in the knowing. Glory to God. Come on, shout it, shout it. It's in the knowing. Glory to God. It's in the knowing. You got to know him. It's great to believe, but your belief has to have a paradigm shift. A kick in the rear end. Glory to God. And be pushed into knowing. See, it's a religious activity to worship, worship, and not even know God. Come on, man, this thing is about knowing him. You're going after the persona, the personality, and God says, no, I want you to go after my presence. I want you to know me for real, for real. Hear me, family. Hear me, family. And then we also covered last week that God's ultimate desire, again, is relationship over religion. So tonight— and we talked about how God is calling unlikely people to worship him last week, so go back and watch that. So I want to start here because if we want to get from personality to presence, where we're not worshiping the novelty of God, we're not worshiping worship, the process, you know, some churches think they have achieved worship when they do 3 fast songs and 2 slow. That's the formula: 3 fast, 2 slow, or 2, or 1 fast, 2 slow, 2 fast Wanslow. They got a formula, and they think if they follow that formula, because other models who've grown to certain sizes follow that model— hear me— they have achieved worship. No, you've achieved religion. You've achieved novelty. You have achieved worship when heaven opens. Oh, glory! And God inhabits— whoo, Lord have mercy— the worship of his people. And he sits down in the midst of you and begins to superimpose himself upon you. Glory to God! And transformation takes place. That's when you've achieved worship. Woo! Atamasiya, letebabako osi aba, lebanso. Yes, God, that's when you've achieved it. You've achieved worship, hear me, when you have an encounter in your very life. And every single day, again, proskuneo in Greek, you lay yourself down as an inferior to a superior. And so as you live for him and fulfill your purpose and walk out his principles, without worship, even with your singing, you're worshiping him with your life. Yeah, somebody said it right there. Yeah, there it is. They said worship is a lifestyle. There it is right down the screen. For sure it is. Glory to God. Glory to God. And you have to glory to God, not be constrained in a program. Again, that, that you got to be open and let the Spirit of God flow, and you got to allow God to take over your life, your worship experiences, so that transformation can happen. You know why? People leave services sick and they don't get healed. It's, it's not a deficiency, uh, in the preacher so much that he— especially preachers that do lay hands and try to pray for people— it's not so much a deficiency in him or her. The deficiency becomes in a religious attitude that tries to fit God's plan in a box when we should learn to wait in the presence of God until he shows up, until he breaks through, until change happens. I don't care what you say. You know, you could try, you can pack God in 75 minutes and think you're gonna get a move of God. What you're doing, you're being a seeker-sensitive church. And oh boy, you're trying to appease the people so you can get out quick and they'll come back next week, when really every time someone comes to church, glory to God, they need to have an encounter with God. Hallelujah! That transforms their life on a higher level. I, I don't have nobody. Glory to God. It's okay, it's okay. I'm gonna teach it anyway. Praise God. Ha! Shabando rabaya. 75 minutes, hour, 30 minutes, sir, 'cause you want numbers. Just give me God. I'm willing to wait in the presence. I'm willing to worship him until Shiloh come. I'm willing to worship him until breakthrough happens. I'm willing to worship him, glory to God, in the hallway until the door opens. Woo! Hallelujah. You know what? The church is the hallway. The portal between heaven and earth, glory to God, is the door. So I'm gonna worship in the hallway until the door opens. Oh yeah, listen, you ain't had church, glory to God, until you worshiped until the door opened. That's why I am so happy, God, the first week in November we're going in our new space. It is our space. We ain't got no time. Oh, y'all ain't got to say nothing. We worry about nothing. Glory to God. We got— we, we gonna have time. Matter of fact, we gonna start service at 9:00 in the morning, and you know what? We gonna have service until God shows up and does what he needs to do. Glory to God. Because that's what the house of God is for. Y'all ain't got to say nothing to me. Glory. We bless your name, God. I love you. I love him. Glory to God. I love him. Glory to God. Woo! So Jesus, let me go. Let me go. Y'all leave me alone. Jesus has a major role, hear me, in restoring, listen guys, relationship. Hear me, hear me. Let's go to John 14:6 real quick. John 14:6. Hallelujah! Glory to God! Y'all getting something out of this tonight? If you're getting something out of this tonight, just type a thumbs up in the— glory to God— comments. Glory to God! Just let me know you're getting this. Glory to God! If you're receiving this and you're getting something out of this tonight, type a thumbs up in the comments. Glory to God! We give you praise. Hallelujah! John 14 and verse number 6. We thank you, Lord. Glory to God. He's a good God. He's a mighty God. We give him praise. It says, Jesus said unto him, watch this, hallelujah, I am the way, the truth, and the life. Glory to God. No man cometh unto the Father, listen, but by me. So right there we see that Jesus is the way, he's the truth, he's the light. We cannot get in the presence of the Father and have relationship with our Father except through the person of Jesus. So Jesus did not just come to save your soul. And watch this, to be a fire escape where you escape hell. Hear me, Jesus came to restore relationship and the family connection between humanity and the Father. And so you're saved, glory to God, to have connection with the Father. I need you to hear me. Glory to Jesus. You're saved to be one with the Father. Oh, this is what he desires. Glory to God. So I need you to understand, God is trying to reconstruct his family tree, and religion is never interested in doing that. God wants his family tree to be tight. Glory to God. Hallelujah! He wants his family tree to be strong. He wants his family tree to be mighty. He wants his family tree to have influence in the earth. How do we get there? You cannot— watch this— get to the Father after being saved. Jesus says, I'm the way, I'm the truth, and I'm the life. You cannot experience that way, that truth, that life— watch this— without relationship with him. Glory to God. God says, and through your worship and through your time with him, relationship is fostered. Let me slow down and make sure y'all getting this. Glory to God. So if Christ restores relationship, the next way I get from personality to presence Because again, I don't want just this novelty. I don't want just this idea of God. I honestly believe people— y'all hear me good— there are some folk, they got a box of God stickers, right? And whenever they want something to be God, instead of taking the time just to get to know God, they pull out one of their God stickers and they stick his name on there and say, that's God. And that's God, and that's God. And the reality is, 90% of the stuff people are saying is God is not. Because here, watch this. First of all, every act of God is always going to align with his word. Every act of God is always going to align with us having relationship with him. So at the end of the day, glory to God, when you see God's name on something that doesn't align with his word or his way of living, then you know it ain't him. All right, so we just got— listen, if, if there's a way that you want to be, don't put God in it. Just be that way. All right, glory to God. But don't say God approves. God loves me. He does love you however you are, but he doesn't— he doesn't validate that or check that off if it goes against his word. Okay, all right, okay, y'all got it. All right, I'm gonna keep going. So go to 2 Corinthians 1:20. Let me show you this next way of getting from personality to presence. That's where we got to go. I want you to see that when we begin to worship the presence of God and not just his persona, his personality, and the idea of God, and we go away from the idolatry of worshiping worship— hear me— God now can restore promises in our life. Glory to God. The 2 Corinthians 1:20, the Let's go there. 2 Corinthians 1:20. Jesus, I hope y'all getting something. My God, tonight. 2 Corinthians 1:20. Oh Lord, I love the word of God. The Bible says, for all the promises— this word promises is epangelia. Epangelia. This word means, watch this, oh wee, it means all of the good blessings that God agreed to give to you. So there are good blessings— are y'all hearing this? Promised good blessings that God agreed he would give to you in his word. And there are things that he agreed even with you before you were born that will manifest in your life. You won't know what those promises are unless you get to know him and become a worshiper. He says, I've announced this. That's what that word promises deals with. I've announced my agreement. Jeremiah 1:5, for those you wonder, how did he talk to me before I got here? Jeremiah 1:5, it says, before he formed you, he knew you. So, but before you was in your mama's belly, God knew who you were. Watch this, hear me, hear me, family. Before you got in your mama's womb Glory to God. God knew you. So I don't have time to preach on Jeremiah 1:5 tonight, uh, glory to God, but you need to understand there was an announcement made in that knowing, in that yada. There was something placed in your spirit, and there are some promises that have been made to you. Oh, he says, for all of the promises in him are yea, and in him, amen, unto the glory of God by us. So God says, I want to restore these promises in your life when you get in my presence, when you become a worshiper. I want to show you the promises that I made to you, and I want to bring them to pass in your life. And when this happens, he says I'm gonna get the glory through you. He says, unto the glory by us. See, he restores the promises of God so that when people look at your life, they can see the manifested promises operating through your life. Glory to God. That's why you shouldn't hide nothing God do for you. If God gives you a mansion, oh, glory to God, testify to the glory of God. If God gives you a million dollars, testify to the glory of God. If God gives you, oh my God, a great business, testify to the glory of God. The reality is people need to see what God can do and be drawn to it. My God, hallelujah. Oh, this is, my God, for those of you that don't know where I'm at, I am in 1 Corinthians— 2 Corinthians 1:20. And again, we're talking about God restoring these promises. They're yay and amen, which means they're sure. Yeah, they should come to pass. They can't if you don't know what they are, if you can't be in a— in amen with it. You can't agree with something you don't know. Remember, you can't worship God if you don't know God. When I get to know God, I learn his promises. Oh boy, you better stop sleeping on knowing God, I'm telling you right now. Glory to God. I gotta get out of your bed, I gotta go, I gotta go. Go to Philippians 3 and verse number 8, 9, and 10. Glory to God. So Here we go. We're gonna move from personality and we're gonna start pursuing God's promises. Watch this. Philippians 3, he says, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ. I love it. He says, I want to know Christ, yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings. Here's the key point: it's not enough to love the public image of faith, the public image of God. You got to love him for real. You got to pursue him. Paul said here, I consider every— oh my God— everything lost. There's a sacrifice. You can't worship God without a sacrifice. So I'm willing to give up everything I desire for him. That's real worship. You are the inferior, he's the superior, he's the father. I worship him because I can't live without him. Oh, and he says, good God, he says, I got a surpassing worth of knowing Christ, which means knowing Christ is better my God, than anything I can accumulate, anything I can have. Which means I won't compromise for the novelty of the idea of God's personality. I want him for real. Y'all get something out of this, man? I, I need to know you're getting something out of this because You got to decide you don't just want church as usual, you know. Oh boy, you don't just want, you know, a flesh-led spiritual— oh my God— zoo. Glory to God. That never brings you to him because he's the one that brings the change. Oh. Oh, glory to God! I love you. Glory. Hey, Apostle Peterson, God bless you. Welcome. I, I need you to understand something, people. I do. I pray you're safe in Florida, Apostle Peterson. Glory to God. Well, I guess you are. Glory to God, you're online, so thank God for that. Listen, I need you to understand Glory to God that the way it is now is not the way God wants it to be. The way it is in your life right now, in your walk with God, is not the end. Can I submit to you tonight? There is more. There's more. And you gotta decide that you're gonna move from this personality satisfaction, the satisfaction with the process— hear me— and you're gonna break into the presence of God. Hallelujah! So you can know the power of his resurrection. I said— I was about to say this earlier. The reason we have so many worship experiences in the body of Christ that lack transformation is because it lacks the intensity of a pursuit of worship that's born out of a hunger for God. Watch this. Not only are people caught up in the personalities of Hmm. Oh my God, their preacher. Watch this. Many are caught up in the personality of the worship leader and the people working in the church, and they're caught up in the personalities of the culture around them, and they start worshiping the personality. And it's dangerous because the personas of people and even the personality of God, because it's— that's his persona, that's a projection of him, it's not him. Are y'all getting this? I'm trying to get you not to accept the personality, the persona, the perception of God, and to get him. Listen, and that's what the church— how the church has failed. It has taught us to go after Personality. And the church has become so iconolistic. Most of the people show up on Sunday morning because the preacher is popular. Listen, give me a powerful preacher over a popular preacher any day. I'm gonna say that one more time. I'm gonna say it one more time. Give me a powerful preacher over a popular preacher any day. And most people, because they're iconoclastic and they're idolatrous, they show up in the service and based on that person. And some of them, if they drive up to a church and don't see the preacher's car, they'll go to another church because, well, Pastor ain't here today, we're going somewhere else, because they're iconoclastic. Oh Lord, have mercy. Lord, have mercy. Don't scroll, please don't scroll, 'cause in the church we have equated popularity to success in God. And I'm gonna tell you something, most popular preachers— I've been doing this 35 years, I didn't just show up on the block, I promise you, I've been here 35 years full-time and I ain't going nowhere, glory to God, and I'm gonna keep telling the truth. Listen, Most popular preachers, honestly, and I got to say this carefully, most of them have no power. They have a great show and people show up for the show. Oh God, they show up for the hype. Woo-hoo-hoo! They show up for the band, they show up for the singers, never really getting breakthrough. They leave still broke, still poor, still sick. Y'all not talking. Still unsaved, still living in sin, because they can't get delivered because it's not enough worship to cross over. Ooh, Lord have mercy. Glory to God. Oh boy, you gotta understand that God— see, some of you listen to me now, you trying to figure out— even there's some of you on there right now, not even by replay, you listen to me, you trying to figure out how you could still compromise and get what I'm talking about. You can't. You gotta surrender and become an inferior to a superior. And you have to decide that you're gonna worship God with everything in you. And you gotta get to know him. I am no— I am interested in no shape, form, or fashion in church as usual. Watch this. And I've been like this for a long time. I am not interested in life as usual. I should be living a supernatural life filled with supernatural provision, filled with supernatural power, filled with supernatural passion for my relationship with God. And that's what I pursue. Everything else you have to count it loss. And you know what I learned? According to Matthew 6:33, when I seek him first— zeteio in Greek— when I go after him first, all the things or added. Oh boy, good God, I love Jesus, I love him though. Oh God. So, so the main point here in Philippians 3:8-10 is that pursuit of the presence must take precedence and priority over fame, over popularity, over personality. Are y'all hearing me? Over people pleasing. Because God wants to give us a transformative relationship. Now let's go to Matthew 7, and I'm closing. Matthew 7. Glory to God. I pray y'all getting something out of his word tonight, man. Glory to God. Matthew 7. Thank you, Jesus. We thank you for Thursday nights, God. We're learning. Glory to God. We're growing closer to Hallelujah, hallelujah. We're learning to walk with you more nearly, to see you more clearly, to love you more dearly, oh God. And we thank you, God, as we learn, God, we're becoming better, whoo, at being representatives of you in the world. Matthew 7:21, glory to God. The Bible says, not everyone that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven. Here we go, here we go. So not everyone that's religious in the church, going through the motions, going through the process— the Bible says here not everyone will enter the kingdom. So wait a minute, so they can enter the church, right? But it's not necessarily entering the kingdom because you entered the church. Let's just break this down, right? So he says, not everyone that says to me, Lord, Lord— let's look at that. Kairos in Greek, Lord, which means everyone that profess that I am their master. Kairos, everyone that says Lord, Lord, or Master, Master, that says I belong to you, God, not necessarily is that person going to enter the kingdom. Stay with me, I'm almost done. All right, he says shall enter enter, enter, enter. Y'all ready? Uh, aisho komai in Greek. I love that word. That word means, glory to God, to dwell with one and gain the benefits of dwelling. I love it. So it means to not just come in, but it means to move in. And gain the benefits of moving in. Glory to God. Hallelujah. You know, you ever had somebody live, live in your house or move in your house and you were pretty much— you the head of the house, you paying all the bills, they just living, they just getting the benefits of being there. All right, that's what this is. When you move into kingdom, watch this, the basilia, the authority, the rule Ooh, the resources of the king. So God says, everyone that says, Lord, Lord, going through the motions, worshiping worship, saying I'm their master, you are my God, you are my king. Everyone that says that won't move into the kingdom. Let's find out why. They won't move into the wealth, the splendor, the domain, the authority, Oh my God, of the King, the transform— transformative power of the King. Why, why won't they? Oh my God, he says that— here we go, he says, you will not enter into the kingdom of heaven, but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. So the one that's gonna enter into kingdom And watch it, can I submit to you, this scripture is not just about going to heaven when you die. It's also about, there is a dichotomy in the inference in the text that suggests that this is also about heaven on earth. See, this is the goal of a worship experience. This is the goal of living life every day. Is to have heaven on earth. And you know what? The only difference in heaven and earth— watch this— is the presence of God. And wherever the presence of God is, there's eternity, there's eternal blessing. They got gold in heaven, gold on earth, all right? So that's no difference. They got pearls in heaven, pearls on earth. The only difference is the presence. So if I can tap into presence. Kick religion in the butt and tap into the presence of God. Are y'all hearing me? And become a worshiper that is passionate in my pursuit and will be relentless until I grab hold to him. Oh, I got to get out of here, man. Lord have mercy. I gotta go. My time out gone. I got 6 minutes. Verse 22, he says, many will say to me in that day— here we go, here we go— many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, Master, Master, Kyrios, Kyrios, have we not prophesied in thy name? And in thy name have we not cast out devils? Oh boy. And in thy name done many wonderful works? You know why they ask that question? Because they're doing all that activity— watch this— on earth and in the last day when they're standing before him and can't tap in. So you know what? God loves people so much. Watch what verse 23 says: And then I will profess unto them, I never knew you. Depart from me that work your works of iniquity. God loves people so much that he will use you— it's in the Bible, don't shoot me— and then refuse you. Y'all ain't got to talk to me, I'm telling you right now. He'll use you and then refuse you because he wants to get them saved. Paul even said, I could preach to you, but if I don't bring myself under, I myself will be a castaway. Again, in that same dichotomy, you can miss heaven. You can prophesy, cast out devils, get people saved, and still not get in the kingdom in the end. Watch this, there are many who are prophesying, casting out devils, who are not experiencing heaven on earth. Oh boy. Okay, I'm gonna stop. Well, you say, but how? Again, God loves people, but your life— he says, I never knew you. That's the catch. I never knew you. Gnosko in Greek. So there are two words basically translated for new in the New Testament. One is orda and one is gnosko. Gnosko is knowledge that is gained through a process by relationship and experience. So gnosko means I have experience with God. I know him. I have encounters. Glory to God. God says, we ain't— I can't do for you what you want because I don't know you. I don't know you like that. I'll use you because you want to be used, but I'm holy. I don't know you like that. 'Cause you live in a way that don't line up with who I am. Ooh, I gotta go, I gotta go, I gotta go. So we gotta get from presence, from personality, I'm sorry, to presence. And we got, 'cause watch this, Psalm 16:11. We read this in the first message, I think it was. In thy presence, there's fullness of joy, and at thy right hand there are pleasures forevermore. We got to get in the intelligence of God. We got to get inside of who he is so that we can see the power— Lord have mercy— manifested and brought forth. Hear me, in our lives. We're praying, guys. Thank you, God. So Father, in Jesus' name, I thank you for this word. And Father, even as we've been fasting these last 7 days, and God, we've met you several days at 5 AM in prayer, Father, I'm praying that you will take us to another place, another dimension, do something that we've never seen before. I'm asking you, God, for every person under the sound of my voice, that you would deepen their relationship, that you will cause them to know you better, that you will cause them to love you more. And Father, we give you praise for that. We give you glory, we give you honor. We declare that no weapon formed against our life can prosper. Raise up worship worshipers. For your word says you look for such, you look for such, you look for the true worshiper, them that will worship you in spirit and in truth. And so, Father, I thank you that, that we will do, in Jesus' name. Amen and amen. Perhaps you've been watching us tonight, glory to God, and you're not born again. I want to pray with you really quick. If you know your business is is not straight, and if you— hallelujah— then wake up tomorrow, you don't know where you spend eternity. I want to pray with you. The Bible says repent, every one of you, for the remission of your sins, and be baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and be filled with the Holy Ghost, and you shall be saved. I want to do the first part of that. I want to pray that you repent tonight and receive the forgiveness of your sins. I want to take you by Calvary so you can get pardoned for sin and that the blood of Jesus can cover your life. Let's pray. Say this with me. Say, Heavenly Father, in the name of Jesus, say, I repent of my sin. Say, Father, save me. I want to be saved. Say, I believe that you died and rose again. Say, come in my heart and live in me. I declare now, I am saved. Listen, if you said those words, the blood of Jesus, just that quick, and if you believe has saved you. I want to take you through the next steps. Glory to God! If you said that with me, I want you to send us an email at info— info, I-N-F-O— @rodderchurch.com. And when you send that email— or somebody type that in the comments for me, please, whether you're watching live or by replay— just say to me, say, Apostle Woods, I repented of my sins. I gave my life to the Lord. I'm gonna send you the information you need to take the next steps and being baptized, to take the next steps and being receiving the baptism of the Holy Ghost. Glory to God! We're going to give you some material to help you on your new walk with God, and we're going to show you how to get in a good Bible teaching church so you can live your life for Jesus. I love y'all, man. Y'all be blessed tonight. Y'all be good. Listen, I want you to give tonight. Uh, we're, we're getting ready again. I mentioned it earlier, we're moving in our new facility the first weekend. Glory to God in November. And glory to God, hallelujah! I'm believing God for great things that weekend. The ways to give are on the screen. Praise God. I want you to get your seed in the ground. There are 4 ways you can give: through Cash App, you can go to our website, all of it is there. You can use Zelle, or you could text to give. However you choose to do it, I want every person under the sound of my voice to get seed in the ground. Glory to God! Support the ministry. Glory to God! We still got some things we got to complete, and we need your help. We're making progress, We got some things we got to do and we need your help doing it. I'm appreciating all the seeds that are coming in. You guys rock. Keep doing it. You're in the circle. You cannot sow without reaping. As you sow, begin to believe God for the harvest coming back. So whoever you are, wherever you are, if you listen to the sound of my voice, get seed in the ground. The ways to give are on the screen. I love you guys so much, man. I do. I, I really and truly do. Y'all, y'all just don't know. I love you so much. Glory to God. Y'all be blessed. Heaven smile upon you is my prayer. Peace.