Freedom Part 6: The Mystery of Management | Dr. Mike Woods, Sr. | 15 JAN 2025

Well, praise the Lord and grace and peace, family. This is Dr. Michael Lyris Woods, and no matter how you found me tonight, I'm glad you're here. And please do me a favor, don't scroll. I'm super excited that tonight I get to share with you a great message entitled The Mystery of Management. This is part 6 of a series entitled The Mystery of Freedom. You know, freedom is not something that just happens. As a matter of fact, It comes through keen responsibility and very deliberate and strategic living. You really have to decide to be free. And so tonight we're going to talk about that. Do me a favor, man. Share this message. Get it out to as many people as you possibly can. Matter of fact, I invite you to do exactly what someone did for you. If it was shared with you, share it again and again. This is literally going to change somebody's life tonight. Again, We're talking about the mystery of management, of being responsible, managing what God gave you. The Bible says if you're faithful over few, God will make you ruler over many. Listen, share this. I love you, and make plans now to join us at Rhoda Church on Sunday. Let's go into the teaching. It's going to be phenomenal. Peace. Well, praise the Lord and God bless you and welcome again to Thursday Night Thirst. This is Dr. Michael Lyris Woods and I'm super excited to teach this. Let's pray and we going to jump right into the heart of this teaching tonight. I want to welcome everyone that's Listen again, if you're joining us live right now, please share it. If you're watching by replay, hit that share button, like the video, comment below, let us know you're here. But I really got a lot to cover tonight, so I'm gonna take my time. I'm gonna teach, but I want you to stay with me. Do not scroll. This message is going to be absolutely and categorically life-changing. Praise God. So let's pray. Father, we give you praise. We thank you for another opportunity to disseminate your word. Thank you for your anointing. Thank you for your grace and your mercy that's sufficient for us, God. And Father, tonight, even as you give us the grace to teach, to preach, to share your word with those that will hear, God, I pray, God, in the name of Jesus, one, that those that receive won't be selfish, that they will literally share this with someone else. God, I thank you that you have a desire to see us, your citizens, your family, your people move in true freedom. So I give you praise. I give you glory for the liberty and the freedom, the liberation. Dear God, that you bring into our life now. And we thank you that what's to come shall be better than what has been. And we declare that 2026 shall be our best year ever. And God, we thank you that every weapon the enemy forms against us, we declare it is already defeated. It will not prosper. We win in the name of Jesus. And Father, as we open the word tonight, let us experience the light, the illumination, and the intelligence of the Holy Ghost. And we give you praise and glory for it now in Jesus' name. Amen. And thanks be to God. Hallelujah. God is so good. He's so good. All right, guys, let's get into this. Glory to the name of God. I wanna start by reading one of the foundational verses of our Freedom series. Glory to God. Matter of fact, I'm gonna read two. Luke's Gospel chapter number 4, and we're gonna look at verse number 11. Glory to the name of God. No, I'm sorry. Let's go first, praise the name of Jesus, to, glory to God, let's go to John 8:36. Let's do that. Let's go to John. 8:36. We love Jesus. Glory to God, he's good. Let's read that one first. Praise God. Let's read that one first. Y'all good tonight? I pray you've had a blessed week. Glory to God. The Bible says this, it says, if the Son therefore shall make you free. And the operative word right here in this first clause of this text is if the Son. If the Son. This, this is the operative phrase. 'If the Son shall make you free, you,' you and I, 'shall be free indeed.' So if the Son makes you free, you're free indeed. And the word indeed here indicates that when liberty actually shows up in your life, you are free in Every area, not just walking around. Glory to God. Not just existing and being saved, 'cause, and I've said this in the series already, you can actually be saved, hear me family, and bound. And listen, just because you got saved doesn't necessarily mean you are free. Your sins have been forgiven, you've been delivered from bondage, and we've already discussed the difference between bondage Deliverance and freedom. So this year we've declared that this is going to be a year where we actually walk in true freedom. We've learned that there's a responsibility that goes with that. So you got to walk in freedom in your family life, you got to walk in freedom in your finances. You ought to be free to dream, free to vision. You ought to be free from the vestiges of the past. Nothing in your past should hold you hostage. Listen, All of us have a past. There are things we've done, there are mistakes we've made since we've been saved, but true freedom says we'll never return to that. Listen, I know I've made some mistakes in my life. I've fallen, I've done things that I know didn't please God, but the reality is I've determined I'm going to live free and I'm never going back to those places again. Watch this. The spirit of Pharaoh— we talked about this On Sunday is a spirit of limitation, and I'm really gonna teach in depth on this spirit of Pharaoh through in this series, because reality is the spirit that limits you and tries to hold you hostage to the past. And that's what happened to the Israelites when they were delivered from wilderness, delivered from Egypt into wilderness. I'm sorry, when they were delivered from bondage into wilderness. They weren't freed, they were delivered. Glory to God. Again, I'm not gonna teach that again, just a little a little review here. They had still the Pharaoh limiting mindset in their mind, and they could not fully accept— hear this— where God was taking them, what God wanted to do through him. Freedom comes through responsibility. It's to respond to the ability that is in you, to manage it effectively. Glory to God. So that the results that go with freedom can show up in your life. Glory to the name of God. Listen, many people go to church Sunday after Sunday. They attend Bible studies. They follow preachers online. They have great praise breaks. They worship. They fall on the floor from all walks of church life. Hear me, but yet not tapping into the dimensions, the dimensions of dominion and power and authority that God has assigned to them. And I'm telling you, The rest of my days on earth, I'm going to spend them making sure you and myself live out every ounce of dominion purpose that we have assigned to our life. Hear me good. You're not here just to exist. You're here to dominate. So tonight, we're going to look at another mystery because the Bible says it's given to us to know the mysteries of the kingdom. And that's what I was going to read first. I'm just going to read— I'm just going to quote it because I really— I want to jump in this. So God wants us— Mysterion— and we defined before a mystery as something that was previously, previously hidden but now revealed so that purpose can be fulfilled. And problems can be solved. So when you unlock mysteries, there are keys that open new doors that relate to who you are in purpose, the assignment you have on your life. Glory to God. And when you do this, what happens? He glory— what, what God begins to get the glory out of his authentic creation of you. And you're not an imitator, you're an innovator. I posted something to this extent this week. I wrote it on one of my pages, I think on X and Facebook and what's the other one, the new one, Threads. And I simply said, you know, you were created as kingdom citizens to not be an imitator, but to be an innovator. And you are a creator because the Holy Spirit lives in you. Matter of fact, right here, stop what you're doing. Touch your belly and say, I am this. And some of you may not do it. And this is why you never create nothing. Touch your belly. And say, I am a creator because Holy Ghost lives in me. So if you have the creator God in you, you ought to have the ability to innovate and create something. All right. Glory to the name of God. So let's get in this. So freedom then is sustained by management or faithful stewardship. All right. Now, one of the dimensions of apostles is that when apostolic ministry shows up, when you encounter authentic apostles, all right, like this encounter we're having with one another tonight, I'm not screaming at you. And the reality is I'm not really concerned about doing that or entertaining you. I want to give you apostolic revelation and instruction that you could take away from this live tonight apply it to your life tomorrow. Hear me. And begin seeing the results of a year and a life filled with freedom. But one of the dimensions, and it's threefold inside of this dimension, uh, of apostles— when, when apostles or apostolic ministry, authentic apostles, I have to say that because there's so many people who have just called themselves to be apostles and they are not. But the reality is, when authentic encounters with apostles happen, 3 things are going to occur in this dimension. One, you're going to be measured. Somebody say measured. All apostles carry a governmental metron on their life. So when you encounter them, it's something innate in them that they, they're not judging you, but they are measuring where you are. Because the reality is you cannot move into the next phase of your life until you adequately assess where, where you are. You got to know and accept where you really are. Matter of fact, tonight I want to drop this on you. Always be where you are. Never try to be anywhere else. Never try to do anything else but be you. Be where you are. I'm going to say it again. Always be where you are. And you got to make up in your mind that you want to do that, right? That you want to always be where you are. Glory to Jesus. You don't want to be in front of yourself, you don't want to be behind, you want to be right where you are. Because when you know exactly where you are, you can get to the next place. Let me give you an example. I walked in a mall and I was looking for a store. I didn't know where it was. I went to the directory. Somebody say directory. The directory was this big huge thing, and there was an arrow pointing to where I was standing, and that thing said, you are here. Once I established my position where I was, I could accurately map where I was to where I needed to get. And so I mapped my way from that point to the store with with ease. Why? Because I knew exactly where I was leaving from. And some of us are trying to be where we're not, and we get stuck, we get lost, and we go in circles because we have not adequately established where we are. So apostolic encounters measure you. So as I'm teaching tonight, if you feel measured, I'm not trying to offend you. I'm actually trying to, uh, glory to the name of God, release something out of my spirit that's coming from Heaven to make you take an introspective of where you really are. Secondly, when you encounter real apostles, you're going to be managed. And this is the dimension of management we're gonna talk about tonight. All real apostles are gonna help you manage life properly because management is key. Glory to the name of God. Management and development of your gift, becoming excellent, And what you are called to do, it takes development and time. Apostles are going to teach you the road to make sure you're doing that correctly. Hear me tonight. All right. And then thirdly, you are deployed from the apostolic presence as an apostolic vessel and maybe not an apostle unless that's your call. But wherever you're called to in ministry, the marketplace or the municipality, you're released as a master in that dominion sphere of influence because of The Encounter. So tonight, this teaching is a road to mastery. Matter of fact, touch yourself again and say, I am becoming in this moment a master in my fear of influence. Come on, say it again. Say, I am becoming in this moment a master in my fear of influence. I want you to receive that right now in the name of Jesus. It's happening as you take the position of a learner tonight and receive what I'm about to disseminate. So again, true freedom is responsibility, is to respond to the ability. Two words: response and ability. To respond to the ability in you, and watch this, to operate in a level of power an authority that you have never operated in before. And, and watch this. Sometimes this challenges you to higher heights, deeper sacrifices. See, you have to sacrifice at another level when you're trying to go to another dimension. You have to be willing to make the sacrifices necessary. And instead of complaining, sacrifice, because you're never going to get there if you're not willing to make the sacrifices. I know some of you would rather be watching your favorite show than listening to this teaching tonight. But the reality is you have to make sacrifices to learn, to grow. Some of you would rather do other things on Sunday morning and on Sunday night and on Thursday night. But the reality is you got to make the sacrifices daily, really, to get the things you need so you can grow. You got to dismiss old patterns. The reason you are at the same place you were last year is because you have had the same patterns that have produced the same results, my friend. So let's get into this, all right? So God— watch this. So let's just start this. Let's go to Luke 16:10, all right? The Bible says, he that is faithful— King James— in that which is least is also faithful in much, and he that is unjust in the least is unjust also in much. So basically, Jesus is saying here, if you do one thing one way— watch this— you do everything that way. My wife, she says this a lot, and when she's talking about people who move around church to church and they move from job to job, and she, she makes a statement that If you leave one place and you have not fixed or transformed the area in your life, you are going to be the same person that shows up in the next place, which is so true. You could leave a church and go to another church, but if you don't change, you're taking the same person and you're going to really run into the same problem when you get to that next place. So you have to really evaluate yourself so that you can bring about the proper changes. If you're jumping from job to job, you can't have no stability from— watch this— from wife to wife or from husband to husband. Maybe the problem ain't the person that's divorcing you. Maybe the problem is you. And because you're showing up in all of those relationships, and it's not ironic that you end up divorced every time, or you can't keep friends. The reality is you need to check you, because let me, let me help you. God and then we're gonna get into this tonight, is more interested in your character than your comfort. I'm gonna say that again. He's more interested in your character than your comfort. So management— and that's what we're talking about tonight— it's not about convenience according to this text. It's about faithfulness. So when you're properly managing what God gave you, you decide, you make a decision, you're going to be accountable Responsible, faithful. And no matter what comes, you're going to do what you got to do to make sure, oh my God, that you remain in good character. Because guess what? If you don't change what you're doing, even at the next place, you're going to do everything the same way. And then what? Guess what God does? He says, I can't even trust you to go to this next place. Hear me. Because you ain't even got this right yet. Are we here? Okay. All right. So let's look at some of these principles of management. Let's look at this. So management is God's divine plan for stewardship. It's his divine plan for maturity and growth. And watch this. You cannot do management alone. So the first piece here, and I want you to write this down and I want you to think about this closely, is creation without claim. All right, so watch this. Is there some several depths to this? The first piece is God owns everything. He created everything, but he put humans, you and I, on earth to manage what he created. So God created everything, but he gives us the assignment to steward or manage what he created. I want y'all to hear this. So the earth was always intended to be a colony or an extension of heaven. Watch this. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. He created both, right? And his desire was for Earth to be an extension. Watch this, on Earth as it is in heaven, of heaven. And so our job as stewards is to bring, oh my God, the heavenly principles that God has put inside of us, the heavenly innovations, oh my God, and creations that's in us to the Earth so that God's glory on Earth mirrors his glory in heaven. Ooh-wee! I'm gonna say that again. We are designed to birth out innovation, creation, to bring glory to God, not ourselves, so that the glory on earth mirrors the glory in heaven. And I know some of y'all get lost when I say glory, because all you have been 'Cause, you know, listen, so I was in a meeting this morning. I've been in the church most of my life, and I've been in ministry knocking on 40 years, man. Now, I have seen glory in great manifestations in the church, and I'm grateful for that, and I want to continue to see that. But the glory of God extends beyond the church. It should show up at your job, in your business, in your house. And there should be a glory, a doxa, an express presence of God that guides every single thing you do. Ah, boy, I think our behavior will be a lot better if we really lived in glory. Glory is not just falling on the floor. It's not just laying hands. It's not just somebody getting healed. Glory is also the splendor and wealth of God. It's the— oh my God, it's the express presence of God that supersedes and prioritizes over everything else in your life. So you should be birthing out supernatural creations. This is too much for somebody, Lord. Listen, I hope y'all get this tonight. Listen, I hope you're really in the position of a learner because this year I want you to be different for real. Because it don't make no sense when you have all these praise breaks and and you really— you can't create nothing. You can't innovate in any area. I want you to understand it's not good for you to just fall on the floor and then you get up and you can't do nothing. Your life is still stuck. That, my friends, is a problem. And again, I'm not against being slain in the spirit. Again, I've been doing this and teaching this all of my life, but I want to see you show up in the world. If someone proposed a question to you tonight, if you was on CNN sitting on the couch next to one of the interviewers on CNN came in and they asked you the question, what is your name and how do you show up in the world? I am quite sure everyone under the sound of my voice would answer the first part of the question perfectly because you know your name. I am equally sure that most of you would not be able to adequately answer how you show up in the world. Now you need to get that answer though. And that comes from taking responsibility for what's in you. Let's look at Psalm 24:1. Let's get some scripture on this. The Bible said, the earth is the Lord's, yeah, and the fullness thereof, the world and they that dwell therein. So this whole earth belongs to God. Everybody on earth, hear me, belongs to God. Are y'all hearing this? Glory to the name of God. Everything on the planet belongs to God. We're just here to manage it. Now I have to say this here. Here's a problem. While everything belongs to God, watch this, most of the tongue talking, praise breaking, floor falling out in, glory to God, folk, own nothing or manage nothing. Matter of fact, most of the praise breaking, falling out on the floor, and oh my God, tongue talking folk work for folk that's not even in God, that's not even born again. Glory to God. But we say we serve the God that owns everything. So that tells me if I'm his son I'm in his family. I too am an owner. So it'll be your goal to tap into true freedom this year and start managing your life correctly so you can tap into ownership, so you can manage the area of ownership that God has demanded of you. Oh my God. Go to 1 Corinthians 4:2. I know it's going to be a few scriptures tonight, And this, this is more scripture probably tonight you're going to get that many of you have read all year last year. So let's just stay with me. Glory to God. 1 Corinthians 4:2, the Bible says, moreover, it is required in stewards that a man be found faithful. So the first requirement in stewards, in being a steward, is to be faithful. And part of being faithful is understanding you cannot take claim to what's not, what doesn't belong to you. Watch this. Even if you create it, The idea, the ideation of that creation comes from the Creator. He put the idea in you for you to create. Now you got to tap into realms and dimensions of glory and dimensions of the Spirit. Hear me, family, so you can create like he creates and what he wants you to create, not just so you can feel good and cry on the floor and, and be in your prayer time and you come out and all you experience the glory, but You don't do anything. Faith or being faithful cannot happen without works. It's dead being alone. Okay. All right. So creation without claim. You can create, but you can't claim it. He gets the glory. It's his. Let's move. Here's a second principle of management. So the first one was God created everything. Stewardship is not ownership, right? Creation without claim. The second one is God organized, watch this, before he gave his best. And to put that in short, oh, glory to God, it's order before offering. Ooh, God. So before God gave us, oh my God, his best, he brought order. So let's talk about that in twofolds. So in, okay, in Genesis 1, Verses 2 through 4, God brought order to chaos, right? Before creation advanced, before he created man. Man was his best. So let me read it, let me read it, let me read it, let me read it. And the earth was without form, Genesis 1 and 2, and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the waters And God said, let there be light. And there was light. And God saw the light and it was good. And God divided the light from the darkness. Now we see there the account where the earth was without form, without void, and darkness was there. If it was without form, if it was void and darkness was there, this is an indicator that whenever God did create Earth, it was with form. It was not void. And there was no darkness. This chaos happened. I don't have time to teach this tonight, but in Ezekiel 14, when Lucifer fell to the earth, glory to God, because he is without form, because the Bible said he comes as an angel of light. Oh, but he is void. He is empty. He has no God in him and he is dark. He is, he is the prince of darkness. Glory to God. So when he hit the earth, the earth, God's creation, became without form. It became void and darkness was upon the face of the deep. The very thing that happened in verse 3, God said, let's begin to correct this. The first thing we got to do to get correction We got to turn on some light. He said, let there be light. Phew! So he turns on the light so he can begin to advance creation. And once he brought the world back into order— so this account of creation is not really creation, it's recreation. Glory to God, because he had already created the earth in the beginning. In the beginning doesn't denote that verse 1 was the beginning. It's just a prepositional phrase that says whenever the beginning was, God created heaven and earth. There's a gap between Genesis 1 and 1 and 2. Ezekiel 14 happens, Satan falls, and now the earth is without form, void. Darkness is upon the face of the deep. Order in your life comes through proper management. Are y'all hearing this? Are y'all hearing this? Disorder— write this down if you have to— delays destiny. The longer your life is in disorder, the longer it takes for you to get to the place that God has called for you to be in. Who we Okay, let's go to, uh, 1 Corinthians 14:40. Again, I got a lot of scripture for you tonight. For those of you that don't like the word, you ain't gonna like this, this stream tonight. Glory to God. 14:40 says, let all things, not some things. So no matter what you're doing right now, no matter what it is, it needs to be done decently. Here we go. And in order It needs to be organized because you cannot give your best when things are in disarray, when things are out of order. So I want you to stop for a moment right here. Think about your life. Think about what you're doing. And I want you really to take an introspective. Are you doing it from a decent place? Are you doing it from a place of order? Are y'all hearing this? Decently deals with the idea that it is sanctioned by God. If God didn't sanction it, it's indecent. If it's not in alignment with his word and his purpose for your life, it's indecent. It may be a good thing, all right, but if it's not in alignment with God's word for your life It's indecent. Hear me, family, it's indecent. Order deals with the idea that God has already established a pattern whereby you're to manifest the things in your life. So if you want, you want to see the best emerge out of your life, you got to have order before offering. Some of us are trying to do things before we get things in order. I, I listen again, I go back to the first point. If you do One thing one way, you do everything that way because that's, that's you. That's who you are. So really, I want to challenge you tonight, if you really want to walk in true freedom, to look at yourself, look at your character and those places that are out of order, those places that avoid those things, that those places that are empty, void and empty, those places that are in darkness, those places that are without form, without order. I want you to work on you, work with God to get you in the right place so you can manifest freedom through management. Oh my God, this is management, man. Order before offering. Management is again creation without claim. So again, God organized everything before he gave his best. That principle has not changed. You want— you wonder why I think you're stuck. And you keep going in this circle and you haven't seen the best come forth because things are out of order. I recall times in my ministry, I was great preacher, great prophet, a lot of power moved in my life, man. I helped a lot of people, but just seemed like in certain areas I could never get unstuck. And God's just made it clear, it's because, man, look, your, your life is out of order right here, so you got to bring these things in alignment So I can trust you with what you really have to offer the world. He said to me, he said, what you're doing is nothing in comparison to what I want to do. I'll never forget, I was a young preacher. I had just started. This is 35 years ago, man. I had just started traveling and I was doing a revival for a pastor in Vicksburg, Mississippi. And man, I had been preaching and the revival broke out. We were— I was doing 7-day revivals back then. Then viral broke out, we took the revival into the next week. And but, you know, every day God was moving. I mean, I was prophesying, the word was great, people getting changed, deliverance was happening. And I was— every day I would be out playing basketball, going to the gym, you know, and I had the preacher taking me all over the place. I was doing— and he just said something to me one day. And that thing stuck with me, man. He said, Woods, as anointed as you are, as powerful as you are, he said you would be so much more powerful if you were consecrated. I first wanted to get offended, but what he was telling me was You're out of order. You know, you, you got a great gift. God's anointing you and using you. And this is how the Holy Ghost interpreted to me for the people. But if you really spent some time with God rather than being out on this basketball court— because I was young then, so I'd be going to play ball. I mean, I was just having a good time and go preach at night. Listen, I wasn't in sin, but I wasn't— I could have spent more time in prayer. That's what I'm saying. I could have spent more time in the Word. I could have spent more time fasting and denying me of the things I wanted to do. And it didn't take nothing but him to say that. And I said, God, I want to be all you want me to be. And I shifted my consecration. I say to you tonight, what area are you lacking? All right, don't be a person that operates in order— disorder. And trying to bring your best to people, you're going to always struggle to do that. All right, number 3. I gotta move. So we got creation without claim, which is God created everything and we own nothing. All right, order before offering. God organized before he gave his best. Number 3, I got these are some principles of management now. Number 3, God delegated management over Earth to man. I talked about this a little in the beginning. We're going to unpack it. So delegation with dominion. So we are here as delegates— hear me— not to take sides with people on earth. We are here as delegates. Your heart is beating because there is a dominion purpose in your life. I'm gonna start teaching Sunday on the mystery of dominion. The reality is we cannot tap into true freedom until we understand this. So I'm just kind of hit this right here. God has delegated management over the earth to us. So we got— in order to do that, we got to find our dominion purpose and begin to take charge, not sides. The day of taking sides is over. We got to take charge. We got to take authority. We got to be who God called us to be. In our fear of influence and dominion. We're created to be responsible managers. Dominion is responsibility. Watch this. It's not a privilege. This is why a lot of people don't teach this. And, you know, I'll be saying all the time, God, you gave me this mandate 40 years ago about dominion. And, and Lord have mercy, it's the most least thing taught on earth. But God put that on me early because we are to be in control. It's not a privilege. It's responsibility. We were created to be responsible for our purpose, for our dominion purpose, for our sphere of influence. Genesis 1:26-28. Let's read it. The Bible says, and God said, let us make man in our image. So after— let's just start here. Let's start here. So everything God created before man, whether it was fish, whether it was birds, whenever he wanted something, he spoke to the source and it produced what he wanted. He wanted birds, he spoke to the sky, the firmament, and it produced birds. He wanted fish, he spoke to the water and it produced fish. Are y'all hearing me? Uh, he wanted herb bearing fruit and plants. He spoke to the ground to bring those things forth from their seed. Watch this. When he wanted his best, he spoke to himself. That's why there had to be order, because God doesn't move where there's disorder. He spoke to himself, said, let us make man. He spoke to himself, all right, spoke to himself, the whole fullness of the Godhead, said, let us make man. In our image and in our likeness. We, here we go, are image bearers. Oh, glory to God. We are image bearers. We're called to bear the image of God. When you look at yourself, you should see, oh my God, something great, something mighty, something powerful, because you're made in the image and likeness of God. Anthropomorphically, that means if we have hands, God has hands. If we have a mouth, God has a mouth. If we have a head and eyes and hair, God has those things because we're in His likeness. But He's been an image bearer, means I carry also, oh my God, His potential. I'm not Him. But when people see me, they honor Him because I I am him. Oh God. Oh God. I'm not God, but I am him. 'Cause I'm in his image. Glory to God. Woo. Woo. Shabbandikosi. He's the god of small g gods. Oh boy. Watch, he says, so at thy likeness and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the fowl of the air and over the cattle and over the earth and over every creeping thing. Some people don't like to touch this now. So watch this. Man should dominate fish in the sea. That's me. That's every fish. Sharks, piranhas. Y'all not talking to me here. Whales. We should dominate every fish of the sea. Why should we be able to do that? Because we're in his image. So when a fish sees us, they should see him. Mm. Not some fearful human that's afraid of a mammal. Or, okay, I ain't got time, I ain't got time. We should have dominance over cattle. We should have dominance over birds. Ooh, shabande kosa tataya. We should have dominance over every living thing that moves upon the earth. We shouldn't be afraid of snakes. We shouldn't be afraid of, oh, y'all not talking dogs. We should have a dominant image because we bear his image. I need you. I'm going to build your confidence right here because you'll never move into the realm of dominion. Oh, God, I'm getting ahead of myself. Until you understand you are an image bearer. Whoo! Glory, glory. He says now I'm going to keep reading because I'm about to get happy. So God created man in his own image. His own image. All right. In the image of God created him, male and female created he them. And blessed them and said unto them, be fruitful, multiply, replenish the earth, subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth. He said, have rada over every single thing. He says, have rada over every single thing that's so powerful over everything. So there's a fear of influence whereby you ought to be dominating, where you ought to be ruling, where you ought to be operating in full authority. Glory to the name of God. So we've been delegated to have dominion. Watch this, Psalm 86. Let me take you deeper. He says, Thou made him man, man. He made man to have dominion over the works of your hands. Thou hast put all things under his feet. Wait a minute. Verse 7. All sheep and oxen, all beasts of the field, the fowl of the air and the fish of the sea and whatsoever passeth through the paths. So everything on earth is under the domain of man. You have been delegated Here we go. To walk in full authority. Now watch this. Authority without accountability creates abuse. I'ma say that again. Authority without accountability creates abuse, abnormal use. And you use things the wrong way when you're not accountable, when you don't listen to others. Glory to the name of God. When you don't align yourself with God's desire, God's plan, accountability, Accountability creates a sense of stability. Watch this. And it leads to responsibility. Many people don't experience the responsibility that goes with freedom because they are not accountable to God or leadership that helps them move in that dimension. Oh God, I got to get out here. I'm almost done. I'm almost done. Number 4, we gotta go. So, so here we go. Let me go back through 'em. We got creation without claim. Well, again, God created everything and we have stewardship, not ownership. We got order before offering. God organized, brought order before he gave his best. 3, we got delegation with dominion. God delegated management over earth to you and I, to mankind. Now, number 4, watch this. This is— these are some principles of management. God gives clear assignments and instructions. God brings instruction with intent. Watch this. There are a lot of people who are saying, man, God told me to do this and God told me to do that. But hear me, hear me, they are not clear. So here's reality: clarity proceeds competence. God gives instruction again with intent. Hear me, he gives clear assignments and instructions. Many are saying God speaks and that he's telling them to do something, but they don't have the how-to. Here's my belief: if God tells you to do something The how-to is going to emerge shortly after he speaks. Hear me, because he's a God of decency and order. He doesn't want you to not know how to do it. What kind of father would give instructions and not make the instructions clear on how to get done what you're trying to accomplish? He wants you to be clear. He wants you to understand clearly holistically. Watch this, without error, so you could be accurate in what you are assigned to do. Are y'all here? So let's look at it, let's look at it, because you can't manage what you misunderstand. Let's look at it. Genesis 2:15, and the Lord took man and put him in the Garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it. Verse 16, and the Lord God commanded the man, saying, every tree of the garden that thou mayest eat freely. Verse 17: But the tree of knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day thou eatest, you will surely die. What is that? What is that? Instruction with intent. God doesn't change. Just like he gave Adam those instructions clearly— you're in the garden, I want you to dress it, I want you to keep it— now he also says to him, this tree you can't eat. But the rest of them you can. He gave clear instructions. It would have been impossible for Adam to carry out the plan of God without clear instructions. Habakkuk 2:2 says, write the vision, make it plain. Watch this, that's— and again, leads to clarity that produces competence. Vision— even those around you need to be able to read and see what the vision is. So we have to articulate instructions— oh my God— with intent, with clear purpose. Watch this, and I'm gonna go— I'm gonna move to the next point. Vague instructions often produce violated expectations. So when the instructions are vague, many a times, family, hear me, Hear me, many times, man, the expectation you have of others, even when you give them instruction, they are not going to meet it if they're not clear. With God, if you don't get clear instructions, you're going to fail. So you got to spend enough time with God, with enough time with leaders where you can get clarity, where your ears can be fully exercised, where you know the voice of God. I know sometimes you can be in a religious environment so long and you think you heard God. Yeah, mm-hmm. Yeah, there are many of you like that. You think it was God, but it's you. Because if you really heard God, you have some clear intent and you would do things that way. See, Liz, or you just being disobedient if you really did hear it, because clear instructions bring about change. It produces real results. All right, glory to God. I'm about to close, so I pray y'all got those, those four, those four major keys of management. I'm gonna go through them again. Creation without claim— God owns everything. Order before offering— God organized before he gave his best. Delegation with dominion— God delegated management to you and I on earth. Number 4, instruction with intent. And now, as I close, I'm gonna close with these, and it's called mismanagement. So when you refuse or rebuke or reject management, all right, you operating now in mismanagement. And that's— glory to the name of God— the oversight of management. It's called neglect, really. Hallelujah. So this is how freedom is. So first of all, number one, here we go, and I hit this a little Sunday, but I'm gonna hit it again because it's irresponsibility to do these things. Number one is a misuse of resources, all right? Misuse produces mismanagement. Abuse is evidence that you lack understanding or that you have a misunderstanding. Abuse, again, is abnormal use. And so abuse— when you're abusing your life, abusing your finances, abusing your body, abuse— oh my God— abusing your children, abusing your spouse, if you're abusing in any way, it is proof, evidence that you lack understanding. Because people that know the purpose of a thing will never abuse a thing. But when you have understanding of what something is, of your life and what you ought to be doing, you will never abuse it. Oh boy. Okay, I'm gonna go, I'm gonna go, because here's a reality. You can get prayer for high blood pressure and then you get healed for your high blood pressure, but then you don't honor your body. And because you got healed, now you go out and mismanage how you eat, and you start eating ribs and ham every single day. All right, every day you eat, you just go back to the same old irresponsible habits of what you put in your body. And then you get sick again, you want prayer again, you want to rebuke the devil. Well, that's not the devil, that was you misusing and abusing your body Oh boy. Okay, okay. You want— you want— you, you know, you— what you have to do to lose weight, you know what you have to do to be healthy, you know what you have to do. Oh my God, to keep your car, you got to pay your car note. If you don't pay your car note, they're going to come get your car. Are y'all hearing this? You want to keep your house, you must pay your mortgage. Are y'all hearing me? Glory to the name of God. But if you don't understand those principles, and some of you understand that better than you understand spiritual principles, because you will do those things. You'll pay your car note, you'll go to the gym, you'll eat right, but then you'll mismanage your life and clock in on a job every day and never operate in the realm of purpose. It's abuse at the highest level. I got to get out of here. I know y'all ready to go. So what you dishonor— watch this— you're going to diminish and ultimately destroy. I'm gonna say that again. What you dishonor you will ultimately destroy because you're gonna diminish it. You're gonna create a lack of value. It says you do not value it because you don't honor it. Glory to God. Luke 15:13, the Bible said, not many days after, the younger son gathered all together and took his journey into a far country and there wasted his substance with riotous living. So, this prodigal son wasted his, substance. He got all his inheritance, went out there, glory to God, and wasted it all. He mismanaged it, he abused it, he didn't know the value of it, all right? He, he misused it. He got it at the wrong time, glory to God. So it was a misuse of resources. Listen, you shouldn't be the sharpest person in the building and it came at the expense of you not paying your bills. All right, you shouldn't dress to impress. Are y'all not hearing me? And you can't afford to dress to impress. You need to manage what God has given you, because remember, if you do one thing one way, you do everything that way. Watch this, when you get paid If you're not a consistent tither, that's a mismanagement of resources. If you're not a consistent giver, glory to God, that's a mismanagement. You're saying you're irresponsible because you don't understand the exchange system. Sowing and reaping and tithes and offerings, that's the exchange system between heaven and earth. And we understand that you'll prioritize that. Most people don't prioritize that because they misunderstand it, so they don't honor the system. And by, as by default fault, they stay stuck financially. All right, okay, y'all ain't got to like it, but it's true anyway. Proverbs 18:9, watch this: He also that is slothful in his work is brother to him that is a great waster. So you are— your first cousin, if you're a mismanager, is to— or your brother, according to Proverbs, is a person that don't even want to work. So you can have the resources, and if you mismanage them The Bible compares you to a person that don't even work to make wages, because in other words, you're going to end up at zero just like them. I'm just trying to teach you how to walk in dominion for real, man. So freedom is forfeited through the misuse of resources. Number 2, freedom is forfeited through the misappropriation with moral costs. Ooh-wee! Misappropriation brings disqualification and guilt. So when you mismanage and misappropriate the things God is giving you, you got to understand something: that wrong use, abuse, always invites consequences. So, you know, you can't rebuke the repo man if you didn't pay your car note, right? You can't rebuke the bank if they foreclose on your house because you didn't pay the note. You cannot rebuke what you receive in a paycheck every week if you do the same thing every day during the week. So you get what you get because you're doing the same thing. But listen, if you don't like your paycheck, you got to do something different. Are you hearing this? You don't like the money you receive, you got to change the pattern so you get a different result. Oh, we— so you got to understand this. You cannot continue to secretly Oh boy, this is— I know I don't want you to get offended, that's why I put this on the end. Glory to Jesus. Don't get offended. Glory to God loves you. That's why he's telling you you can't continue to secretly compromise and think nobody knows that's what you're doing. If you got real authentic leaders, hear me, they see and may never say anything but see you. You can't secretly compromise and expect that it's going to stay hidden. Oh, we— because hidden compromise never stays hidden. That which is done in the dark will come to the light. You're doing things morally. You're doing— you're living. Oh my God. Consistently in a particular sin. And you think your leaders don't know? We know because we pray for you. We know because we want you to be helped. But a responsible, mature person glory to God, is going to deal with that so that they can live out freedom and the responsibility that goes with freedom. I got to get out of here, man. Good God. Romans 14. Uh-oh. Oh my God. Oh my God. I'm sorry. Joshua 7. Joshua 7. The Bible says that Achan answered Joshua and said, indeed, I've sinned against Israel and the God of Israel, and thus, and thus have I done. Verse 21: When I saw among the spoils a goodly Babylonian garment, and took, and 200 shekels of silver, and a wedge of gold of 50 shekels weight, I coveted them, and I took them. And behold, they are hid in the earth in the midst of my tent, and the silver under it. So Achan said, look, I misappropriated, I stole this. But watch this. It cost Achan his life, man. Many of you may not die physically, but you'll kill real freedom. You'll put to death real freedom because you're operating in secret sin. Even if you don't do it and you think it, you got to deal with that, man. Kill it before it kills you, right? You know, at the end of the day, you cannot sacrifice your freedom for a moment of pleasure or for operating in selfishness and the flesh. You, you got— don't, don't scroll. Please don't. Please don't. Please don't go because I'm trying to help you. You can't secretly baby issues and keep living in them because the Bible said, be sure your sins will find you out. The stuff won't stay hidden. It's going to come to head. So, and watch it, especially you, you know, you got this hidden in your life, this thing that is not godly, but yet you still trying to do the things of God and, and platform and be, get likes and create content and do all this stuff. You put yourself, you set yourself up for the okie doke. That's why we have so many leaders that fall. Man, I posted something today. I wasn't going to even address this issue, but I had to because Holy Ghost wouldn't leave me alone. Glory to Jesus. And this comedian Drewski had posted a whole skit about how the megachurch and how the church at large is viewed, man. And that thing grieved me, man. It wasn't funny to me because— not because you know, he was coming against the church is because many a times— and I wrote this in the post and I didn't even— man, I didn't realize how potent this would be, man. Last time I looked, I mean, within an hour it was like 1,000 people had liked it. And last time I looked, like 2,800 people, all these shares. The reality is people want to hear the truth, man. And I said the truth about how if we see comedy, we see satire, the only way he can make that skit is because in some way the church has given him a mirror where he can create that idea. And we got to get right where we can't— where we are not being made a mockery of. Are y'all hearing this? We got to do what we got to do. So stop trying to get out front and you know you got stuff in the closet that you need to deal with. 'Cause the body don't need another scandal. Listen, you're talking to somebody who's been there, done that, man. Years ago, I've done it, right? The reality is it's not a good feeling. You don't want to go through that. Hear me, get yourself together, clean out your closet. You don't need misappropriation that comes with moral costs. The third mismanagement principle— watch this— is non-transferable responsibility. Watch this. The responsibility of management cannot be transferred. Many times we forfeit freedom because we're trying to blame other people for what we're doing. Like I just said about the food, you're blaming someone else for your weight gain, and it's you eating. You're blaming— hear me— you're blaming someone else. Listen, it's not them. You gotta own your stuff. Are you hearing me? You know, if you don't go to the gym, okay, it's not nobody's fault but you. If you won't change your diet, it's nobody's fault but yours. Listen, if you want— make up in your mind, glory to the name of God, that you're going to have good habits, because your habits shape your destiny. They shape your future. They determine where you're going. But you got to decide that you're not going to blame anybody. And I want to say to you in the name of Jesus tonight, stop playing the blame game like Adam. He blamed his wife. Oh my God. But he couldn't transfer that responsibility. He says, the woman you gave me, it was him. And God brought the responsibility right back to him. Listen, the responsibility of management cannot be transferred. Matter of fact, the world shouldn't be managing stuff that God gave to us to manage. We got to take our place. We have literally in our mind resolved that, okay, I won't be a Fortune 500 CEO. I'll never be able to run a company. I'll never be able to do this. I'll never be able to set a standard in this sphere of influence, which in reality You were born again to do it. Oh my God, I gotta go, man. I gotta go. Listen, can I submit something to you? Excuses does not— who cancel accountability? I'm gonna say that again. Excuses does not cancel accountability. An excuse is a well planned lie, and it doesn't cancel out responsibility. Are you hearing me? And you gotta decide— I'm almost done— that you're gonna stop making excuses. It's a well-planned lie, man. Excuses are the nails that houses of failure are built from. And you got to decide you're not going to be a per— you'll never be able to dominate and be a leader if you're constantly transferring responsibility by making excuses. If my parents were different, if I would have went to school. You listen, there are so many people never graduated. I'm just one, 'cause my Steve Harvey never graduated from anybody's college. The reality is he always even said he ain't that very smart. I think he's extremely smart and intelligent, but the reality is he became great in his sphere of influence. What are you gonna do? Okay, for real, what are you going to do this year and in your life? I gotta go, man. I gotta go. Romans 14:12. So every one of us shall give account of themselves to God. So you can't transfer this. You got to give account for yourself. You're gonna have to stand before God. And I said this last week, you know, people are busy talking about, oh boy, you're gonna stand before God for that sin. And people are judged, people for the big sins— adultery, fornication, lying, and all that. But the reality is, if you ain't walking in your purpose and you keep rebelling against what God called you to do and showing up as a dominator, guess what? You're gonna have to give account for that too. So I suggest you take an introspective, spend some time with the Father, and let him reveal to you who you really are. Oh boy, Galatians 6:5 says, for every man shall bear his own burden. So you cannot pass your burden, your assignment, your responsibility on to anybody else. It's non-transferable. It's yours. It's mine. We gotta own who we are and be it. Glory to God. Number 4: Freedom is forfeited because whatever you mismanage, you lose. I call this loss through leakage. Whatever you mismanage, you lose. I go back to the garden. Adam and Eve was in the garden. They mismanaged. Guess what God did? Not only did he curse them and curse mankind, but he put them out and put an angel in front of the garden where they couldn't go back in. God will kick you out of what he created for you to occupy. Oh boy, I'm done, I'm done, I'm done right there. See, many times we don't realize some of the things you have not obtained yet is because you're irresponsible, you're mismanaging. Some single people don't have a husband or a wife yet because they're mismanaging. Oh my God, God's protecting that person from you. Oh, oh, glory, my God. So if you get you together, maybe he'll allow somebody else to come into your life. Oh, oh, okay. I love you. I love you. I love you for real. I just want to help you. All right. Maybe you haven't gotten that blessing you're praying for because God knows if I give it to them now, they'll mismanage it and they'll lose it. That's why all the prophecies of my life that I'm going to be a billionaire, you know, I do every day work on being a better manager, right? Being a better manager in every regard, in every area, because I want to make sure Are y'all hearing me? That God is pleased with everything I do. So I don't want loss through leakage. I'm not gonna have you go here, but Matthew 25:28-29, it basically says that the unfaithful steward or manager, he lost what he had. He— because neglect invites removal, right? He neglected the talents or the— oh God— or the money that was given to him to manage. And the Bible said that— the parable says that it was taken from him and given to one that did something. So God will take it from you and give it to somebody that's going to do something with it. Don't allow that to happen. Get yourself together. Luke 16:12 says, if you have not been faithful in that which is another man's— oh we, oh we Who shall you— that would— who shall give to you that is your own? So in other words, you can't be faithful to someone else and what they're doing and accountable when it's time for you to do, and you need people to be faithful. You ain't gonna have them because you're gonna have loss through the leakage. Watch this reduction. Many a times is divine correction. I've lost enough in my life to be able to teach this, man, and I determined I'll never want to lose again. I've lost cars, I've lost houses. I'll never want to go through that again. So these principles I'm teaching you, glory to God, I'm practicing them every day of my life. I've been for some time. I want you to do the same thing. So you can win. I'm almost done. Number 5, last one: mismanagement may be personal to you, but it's never private. So it's personal but never private. Your decisions affect generations, and your failure as someone that's supposed to be leading in society or a family, or your fear of influence, it always carries collateral damage. That's why you got to think before you do things, and you got to manage things well, because it not only affects you you manage well for your children and their children and their children, so that when you're gone, they can be blessed because your heart was beating. All right, 2 Samuel 12:10-11, it shows us that David's private sin— David and Bathsheba— had public consequences. Again, stuff is never hidden. It's going to always affect someone else and other generations. 1 Corinthians 10:11, the Bible says, is written for our admonition. Let me read the whole thing. He said, now these things unto them are examples. They are written for our admonition upon the ends of the world to come. So when we see David and Samson and people— oh my God— and Adam, these things are written in our— for our admonition, to warn us not to forfeit what God has called us to manage. Listen, and I'm closing. Freedom is preserved by management. Deliverance removes chains, but management sustains freedom. I'm gonna say it again. Deliverance will break the chain, but the sustain— the sustenance of freedom comes through good management of your life. Oh, but I know this one no shoutin' message. The Bible says in Luke 12:48, for unto whomsoever much is given, of him much shall be required. So listen, if you don't want to lead, you need to have a conversation with God. But if you're a leader, and if you're called to have dominion in your sphere of influence, you got to be accountable, you got to be obedient, obedient. Are y'all hearing this? Without complaint. See, y'all be willing and obedient, not grudgingly obedient, not obedient with a bunch of excuses. But if you're called to greatness, and I believe everyone under the sound of my voice is, you got to remember, to whom much is given, much is required. You're gonna always have to be a step ahead and do a little bit more and go a little bit farther. Listen, say this with me. Say, Lord, I align my life to manage what you have entrusted in me so I do not forfeit what you intended. Father, I give you praise. I thank you for the spirit of freedom and management, and I thank you that this word has touched the lives of every person that heard it tonight, and I declare they'll never be the same. In the mighty name of Jesus. Amen and amen. Listen, I'm going, my time is going. I love y'all, man. If you desire to be a blessing to ministry, the ways to give are on the bottom of the screen right now. Listen, I want you to prepare your mind and your heart to be in service with us on Sunday morning at 10 AM at Rhoda Church. We're located at 410 Santa Fe Trail, right in Ellenwood, Georgia. If you're anywhere in the Georgia region, you ought to plan now to be in service with us on Sunday. We're going to have a great time in the Lord, and we're going to continue to teach the word of the living God. I love y'all. Y'all be blessed. Peace.