Fire + Wealth, Part D | Dr. Mike Woods, Sr.

So again, in every assignment, there are problems that show up to stop the work. In every assignment also, you got to realize there are places where you are is just as important as who you are or how well you do what you do. You need to make sure you're in the right place. I don't have time to teach these. Thirdly, in every assignment, there are particulars, there are specifics, and because God is a God of specificity, specificity. He specifies exactly how he wants a thing done, how he wants the work to look. See, I'm trying to help you get positioned as a commander of wealth because places are important. It's important, it's important because God wants to assist you, but he cannot give you maximized support if you're not in the position that he ordained. If you're just out here doing something because you can. All right, so you make it a lot harder when you do that. Fourthly, in every assignment there are periods, there are time frames, dispensation seasons, good days, bad days, and you have to learn to navigate through the periods. But finally, in every assignment there is provision. Where God guides, he provides. So if God tells you to do it, he already has plans and the resources necessary to get it done. Matter of fact, if God brings it to your mind, no matter how big it is, he's got enough to finance it because he owns everything. So you have to work the work, and you have to use the fire of God, hallelujah, to consume everything that will come to cause you to waste time, cuz you got to work while it's day. Because the night is coming, which means time is short, when no man can work. I want to say something here that was echoed a lot as I was growing up in the church and coming up around Christianity, particularly as a classical Pentecostal. I would hear a lot, Jesus is soon to come, and that we needed to get our house in order because he was coming back to take us with him. Well, here's the reality: we're closer to that than we've ever been. I, I just need you to be very clear, uh, I need you to hear me, uh, volitionally, apostolically, and prophetically on this, because the reality is every person— and as we start talking about mountains, you're going to understand this— every person in the kingdom has a distinctive assignment to establish something, to set something up so that the kingdom can operate throughout eternity. We, we're going to, we're going to deal with that, glory to the name of God, later. But I need I need you to understand, you got to start doing the work. No longer can we just afford to be religious again and have good church. And again, I, I just— and when I say religious, I want you to understand, I'm talking to you people that operate in high levels of gifts, and you make a lot of noise, and you go through all of those things just like we do. I'm talking to you. Too, because it's not just, uh, the traditional denominational churches that are religious. You got some religious charismatics who go through the same process every week and never show up in the world and never make a kingdom impact outside of their building. And I'm not talking about you feeding people. I'm not talking about you having a little school next to your church. I'm talking about literally deploying people into the world, into the systems, where everywhere we are as humans, someone for the kingdom is being represented. Listen, that is so highly important, ladies and gentlemen. So I need you to grab that, that God wants to provide, but you got to work. I need you to hear this about time, so you need to use fire to burn out everything that will distract you and that will try to cause you to waste time. Why, Michael Woods? Because time— hear me— is one of those commodities that once you lose it, you'll never get it back again. I'm gonna say that one more time. Time is one of those commodities that once it is lost, you will never ever regain it back. You can never get back lost Time. So that's why you gotta, oh my God, manage your time effectively. And one of the greatest keys to time management, I learned this from Stephen Covey years ago, is managing your distractions. So I heard Stephen Covey say, if you want to be a master of your time, you must become a master first of your distractions. Makes a lot of sense. So if you use the fire of God to consume the thing that distracts you, I don't care how fine she is, if it's a distraction, you need to set it on fire. Come on, church. Yeah, yeah. I, I don't care how much you enjoy doing it, uh, if it's a distraction to the assignment, to the work that you need to be spending your time doing, you need to set it on fire. Lord have mercy, Lord have mercy. I'm, I'm going to work on you today, I promise you. I'm going to work on you this morning. The reality is when you set it on fire— hear me! Mm-hmm. Glory to God! And consume it by the consuming power of God, you can maximize your opportunity to use the days, every 60 seconds you have, to fulfill the assignment. And even the friends you run with, the things you do for fun, the businesses that you start, the ministry ventures that you decide to do—you don't do them to be popular. You don't do them to make money. You don't do them for any of those things. You do them because it is a side. I need to— I need to get— I need to keep moving. So to achieve real kingdom success, we have to allow our assignment to define every moment— hear this— of our time. I'm gonna say that again. We gotta allow our assignment to define every moment of our time. Glory to God. So we'll have time to waste. So if I'll have time to waste, let me give you a principle, very simple: avoid time wasters. I'mma say it again, I'mma say it again. Avoid time wasters. People who waste your time, you need to deliberately, on purpose, avoid them. Because all they're going to do is create distractions that will cause you to not maximize your opportunity to fulfill the assignment, but minimize your opportunity because now you're going to be focusing on what they want to do with you. Don't waste time with people or things or ideas or blanket dreams that do not connect with who you are and where you're going. Because listen, you need all that prophetic discernment you have. I need you to use it when you dealing with people and know from the door who showed up to waste your time. Now, I had some people, uh, coming to our ministry last year, and they stayed about a year. And then I knew when they came, the God— God spoke this so clear to me— they're only going to be here a year. And so everything I did with them, how I handled them, it was because I had already discerned that they were going to be time-wasters. So I wasn't going to get too deeply involved with these people, and I wasn't going to open up my world because there's a lot of ways I really could have helped them. But because they were not there to be there for the long haul, I had to not allow them to waste time or waste my time. And I wasn't going to do it because I knew my investment had to be from the pulpit. It had to be when they needed something spiritually. It had to be prophetically when I prayed for them. I, I couldn't draw them in as intimate as I really desired to because they were only there to— for a year. And so I knew it would have been a waste of time to try to treat them like longevity people. Oh, y'all ain't gonna get that. That just— that's for grown people. And you got to be able to discern who's a time waster and who's on board for the long haul, who really comes to bring value to what you're called to do. Some people are just looking for what they can get, and once they realize they can't get it, you know, they're going to jet anyway. So you got to learn how to use that prophetic clock you got and discern why people showed up. All right, you, you got to make sure that people showed up to give, just like you show up to give. Because watch this, in, in every covenant relationship, everybody should show up to give. If you didn't come to give, you came to take. I'm gonna say that again. In any marriage, if you didn't come to give, you came to take. Listen, if you're dating somebody, single people, and that person is not giving in the dating process, That is an indication you need to put up your Baptist finger. You need to go somewhere else. Because every person— in order for relationships to be successful, spiritual covenants, uh, marital covenants, business covenants— there has to be a table that everybody puts something on. You can't have one or two people putting everything on the table, you got three or four people doing nothing. It doesn't work that way. If we're going to achieve success, we got to spend our time with people who are connected to the assignment. Remember, every assignment has people. I don't have time, I don't have time, God. But you got to work while it's yet day. Avoid time wasters. They create distractions. They are costly distractions too. They'll— watch this— time wasters will make you pay more than you want to pay, and they'll make you stay longer than you want to stay. And they'll create distractions, delays, and ultimately destruction if you tarry with them too long. So you gotta use the fire to consume every distraction so you can stay focused again. Hallelujah. And you can lock into the assignment. Finally, if we're gonna achieve kingdom success, kingdom prosperity, kingdom wealth, to fulfill the covenant of God, to bring the covenant of God to pass in our life, We got to use the fire of God to consume all work that's not purpose, assignment, kingdom-driven. I'm gonna say that again, because honestly, if you check your life, you're gonna find that there's some work— and I had to do this, I had to take an introspective, I had to look around me, I had to look at all the stuff I had my hands on and realize— matter of fact, I was in a meeting, one of my clients yesterday, uh, and we actually shot a documentary. My film company did for him, and, uh, awesome film that we're creating for them. Um, you're going to be able to watch it soon on Netflix. Glory to the name of God. Well, I'm excited about where this is going. Um, but I was in a meeting with him yesterday, and, uh, he asked me— he, he knew I got— I had got sick earlier in the spring, and, uh, he asked me how I was doing, you know, and wanted to make sure I was taking care of myself and I was resting, because that's one of the things he advocates. That's what this, uh, documentary is about, uh, you know, taking stuff off your plate. And I began to share with him how, you know, I've made adjustments to making sure all the work I'm doing has a significant end that connects with who I am and what I am assigned to do. I'm gonna say that again. Your work needs to be connected to who you are and what you are assigned to do. I want y'all to get this, man. God have mercy. So when you're doing things that don't tie into that— so let me give you an example. I can only use me. I probably could use others, but it's easier to use me, so I'm gonna use me. Um, So the Rada Group has these companies under it, right? And, uh, but every company, you know, from the marketplace companies, the ministry companies, the, uh, municipality companies, everything we do, all right, it leads back to one purpose. And I was praying this, this morning, that God will continue to give us resources to build these entities not for my glory, you know, because I watch a lot of people out here, man, and they do things to bring the attention back to them. But ultimately what we want to do is bring glory to God and transform lives in the process. So when we reach that billion-dollar valuation in our companies, the reality is that money is not for Michael Woods to just be a billionaire. I'm going to be a billionaire, but at the end of the day, glory to God, that billions in revenue that flow through our entities are going to be to help empower others to do what they were born to do. The saddest thing in our generation is that we've seen, uh, especially, uh, especially men and women who have become successful of color. I need you to hear this. Um, I can only speak to this because I am a man of color. Um, I'm— I know it's happening on the other end, but I'm going to speak with authority right here because I've been around this so long. But in particular, it appalls me and it's hurting, really. It grieves my spirit that when I see men and women, particularly of color, and who are men of faith or women of faith, achieve success, whether it be in ministry, marketplace, government, municipality, how many of them have refused to reach back and teach someone else how they did it. That's, that's a dangerous piece because We have been given the multiplicity of ministry, and when we don't multiply what God has given us and reach back and help someone else— hear me— we're creating a death trap for the future generations. And what it says is, you know, the only interest is, is, is your personal success, and once you've achieved that, it doesn't matter even if the people that helped you get there don't get there. But a great leader— hear me— teaches people how to do what they did and do it better. Matter of fact, a great leader works themself out of a job. Oh my God, oh my God, I, I'm just— I'm excited when I watch my sons and daughters doing things that I was able to reproduce in them to do. The reality is it gives my heart joy. I'm not jealous. I want every last one of them. Yeah, and if— and some of them are probably watching this. I want you to be better than me in that place of influence because that's why God gave me what he gave me, so I can pass it on to you. And I'm always available to continue to help. See, the reality is we need reproducers who produce reproducers so that we can create continuity throughout the generations. I got to get out of here, man. Let's go to, uh, let's go to 2 Thessalonians 3:10. The Bible says— this is Paul talking to the church at Thessalonica— he says, for while we were yet with you— this is the apostles— he said, we were with you, we gave you this rule and charge. Here it is: if any man does not work, he should not eat. Let me define what work is. Work is any effort that is exerted mentally, physically, spiritually, emotionally, that is a means— watch this— to a permanent end. There's a vast difference in labor and work. Labor is any effort that is exerted physically, mentally, that is a means to a temporary end. Most people labor on a day-to-day basis. Matter of fact, they spend 80% of their time doing things that are laborious to create finances. But if we learn to work, oh my God, and take the rule of measure and do the right work, we can really eat. Oh my God. Oh, Shia, he said if you work, you can eat and not labor. But God says, I want you to really eat. Or just type in the comments, it's time to eat, it's time to eat, it's time to eat. I'm telling you, it's time, it's time to eat, y'all. And, and, and God wants you to eat in finances. That's why you got to use— y'all thought I forgot— you got to use the fire of God to consume. Hear me, you got to use the fire of God to consume everything single thing that's not like God. Glory to Jesus. And you gotta make up in your sanctified mind, oh God, that you're going to work the assignment that you're supposed to be working so you can really eat. Because guess what? God wants to give you sweatless victory, not laborious victory. Labor is under the curse. Work is under the blessing. It's a blessing to do the work of God versus being laborious trying to make something happen. And you got people all the time, you ask them how they doing, oh, I'm just trying to make it. Who gave you that authority? You have no authority to make it. God already made it. You— that's what you got to do is live the life, hear me, that God made for you. Oh, That's what you got to do, child of God. You gotta live the life that God made for you. So Paul says, listen, this is the metron, the rule, this is the standard. If you don't work, you don't eat. So a lot of the— eat, you will not be made fat and be made to prosper if you don't work the right work. You gotta, you gotta work your dominant gift, your dominion assignment. You gotta work it so you can eat in alignment, in collaboration with heaven. Oh boy, and that's what the fire comes. So real work is working in your area of assignment and purpose. That's real work. Anything else is labor. Anything else is an exchange for survival. And work brings fulfillment, not survival. How it, it, it caught— Maya Angelou made the statement, and it's very powerful, that we should thrive instead of survive. The reality, that's real. Most people are just surviving. How do I thrive? The way I thrive, I gotta find the work that God called me to do, and I gotta do that work. I'm telling you, you got to do that work, man. You got to get in the spirit. You got to spend some time in the fire so it consumes every desire to do work that ain't even connected to who you are. Oh, say this with me. Say, in the name of Jesus, I decree and declare according to your word, if I decree a thing, it shall be established. So I declare now In the name of Jesus, that I shall work the works of him that sent me. Glory to God. While it's day, say, in the name of Jesus, I decree and declare. Oh my God, today that I will work in the area of my assignment and I will have good success in Jesus' name. Glory to God. I, I want you to hear that. I want you to consume every desire with fire to do work that doesn't pertain to God's plan. I only want what he gives. Can I submit to you tonight, my friends, or this morning? Don't take what God did not give you. If God didn't give it to you, don't take it. I want nothing that didn't come from the Lord. So real work also— and I'm almost done— gives the glory back to God for what it accomplishes. Real work never glorifies you. Labor will, because you feel like you're worthy to get glory because you labor for that. That. But when you're working in collaboration with God, you understand this work is so huge, it's so big, it's so much bigger than me, um, allowing people to see me do it and celebrate me. No, I want them to celebrate God. I want them to celebrate how he could use me and see that because he used a wretch like myself who got saved and gave his life to God, he could also use them. And the glory goes back to God that if God can accomplish it through a kid that grew up in poverty most of his life and create wealth and riches and, and, and power and anointing and fire and glory through this life, I want them to see that God can do it for them. Are y'all here? Oh God. See, false work is a distraction to kingdom success, and it is a destroyer. Watch this. It's a distraction to kingdom success. You having good success in— because really, again, you're not successful unless you're doing what God created you to do. Oh. Oh boy, I'm gonna say that again. You're not successful unless you're doing what God created you to do. Oh my God, today. So what happens is you get distracted, and a lot of time if you get— do some labor and you have success at that labor, the temptation is so high to keep doing that because you had success doesn't necessarily mean it was God because you had good success at it. Oh God, because you labored well, because you were smart, because you studied somebody else and you were able to do it. Congratulations. But now what I want you to do now is discover the real plan and see how sweatless victory can work when you tap into what God wants for your life. I got to get out of here. So here's the last thing: you got to dump these distractions, burn them up, burn up the distractions, and make up in your mind, it's time to eat. I got to eat, I got to eat, I got to eat, I got to eat. I got to live in abundance. I got to become a commander of wealth so that I have everything I need to get done what I need to get done. Go to 3 John 1 and 2. He says, beloved, that's you and I. Touch yourself, say, I'm God's beloved. Say, he loves me. Listen, if you're saved, glory to God, you're his beloved. And watch this, if you're not saved, he's— you're his beloved. He loves you. For God so loved the world, not the church. He loves the church after we get saved, but he loved us when we were worldly, when we were cosmos, when we were in the systems of the world, when we trusted in their systems. He loved us. Glory to God. But God so loved the world, oh, that he gave his only begotten Son. So beloved, he says, I wish above all things. And so he's stating desire. I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper. Prosperity is the accumulation of material good, land, or money. That's prosperity. God never talks about prosperity without posterity. So also connected to prosperity is posterity. So when God says, I would above all things that you prosper in your land, in your resources, in your Oh my God, professions and in money. He's also saying, I want you to have posterity for the future. So I want you to leave an inheritance to your children's children. He's saying this prosperity is not just for you, it's to go from generation to generation to generation. Watch this. He says, I want you to prosper and be in health. I want you to have also good health. This is God's desire. It's not his desire that you be sick. He said, above all things, I want you to have Good health. Watch this. Even as devil, you're a liar. I declare it. We're healed by Jehovah Rapha in the name of Jesus. Matter of fact, I release that over you right now in the name of Jesus. I declare with his stripes you are healed in the name of Jesus. Be healed right now. I command your bloodstream to be made whole. I speak to diabetes now and I say Rapha heal you now in the name of Jesus. I speak to your heart. I speak to your cardiovascular system, and I command your cardiovascular system to be made whole. I speak to cancer, and I command it to be dried up now in the name of Jesus. For it is God's will that you prosper and be in health. Here's the catch: even as thy soul prospereth. I said it Thursday. Part of the reason we don't have what we need, we got soul issues. Your soul is your mind, your will, your emotions. Inside of your soul is your intellect. It's the seat of your passions. It's the 5 senses are in your soul. What you see, what you hear, what you taste, what you touch, what you feel. These These things are in your soul. We gotta adjust the soul problems so that we can accept the culture of heaven being our source and our resource. God says, I want you to have fire, and I want you to balance this dimension with wealth so you can take the fire into the world and bring about change. Let's pray. Father, in the name of Jesus, Jesus, I thank you sincerely from the bottom of my heart today for your goodness, your mercy, your grace. I thank you for your people, and I thank you that no weapon formed against us can prosper. I thank you that everything that rises against us, oh God, you shall condemn it, you shall show it to be in the wrong. And so, Father, in the name of Jesus, I thank you for the glory dimension of fire, and may it burn in the lives of those who have listened to us today. I decree and declare, God, that that fire will consume everything that's not like you, and it will help your people and myself to continue to navigate through crisis. It will help us, God, to stay focused on your plan. It will help us to use our time effectively. It will help us, God, to work the correct work. Works and not to do false work. And God, we give you praise that as we maximize our time and operate in this glory dimension of fire, that wealth will be our portion. We thank you for wealth because you— oh, we thank you that you always hear us. And we thank you that the ability to command wealth is already in us, just like it was in Jesus. So we give you praise for that, and we thank you. That we have the supply that we need to do what you've created us to do, and we do not lack a thing, and neither do we have a care. In the name of Jesus, all of our needs are met, and we have the desires of our heart. In Jesus' name, amen and amen. Glory to God. Listen, I love you guys, man. Y'all be blessed. I want to I want to challenge you to get seed in the ground. If you're watching me, if you're still here, I want to challenge you to sow into ministry. Glory to the name of God. There are several ways you can give to Rhoda Church. The ways of get to give should be on the screen right now. Glory to God. However you choose to give, I want you to get a sacrifice in the ground. And matter of fact, what I want to do is command that seed that you put in the ground right Right now, I want to command it to multiply 1,000 times more than it is. God, matter of fact, in Deuteronomy, God said it in Deuteronomy 1, he said to Moses, he said, look, you dwelt in this mountain long enough, get away from this mountain. He said, I'm going to multiply you 1,000 times more than you are. I want to release 1,000 times more blessing blessing on you today. Get your seed in the ground, and I'm gonna trust God that as you sow, he's going to multiply your seed sown 1,000 times. Well, Father, I give you praise, and I release the thousand times more blessing on this, your people. I decree and declare that they will never be the same. In the mighty name of Jesus, I say it is so. Amen and amen. Listen guys, I love you. Thank you for your gifts. Thank you for your support. Thank you for watching. Listen, y'all are great, man. I want you to enjoy your day. Make sure you tune in to Sunday Night Live tonight. It's gonna be phenomenal. I love you. Y'all be blessed. Peace.