Get Grown & Stay GROWN! | Apostle Mike Woods, Sr. | 26 MAY 2025

Well, praise the Lord, everybody! I pray everybody is well tonight. Glory to God! This is the day the Lord has made. I pray everyone has had a great Memorial Day. I pray you got to eat some smoked barbecue, whatever you had— ribs, chicken, hamburgers, hot dogs. I pray you just enjoyed yourself and family and friends today. Listen guys, I'm not going to be long. I took a break from actually watching the game so I can jump in here and share this. Uh, earlier today, Lord just started talking to me about maturity, and, um, so I'm just gonna kind of let you in on a conversation that me and the Lord was having. Right? And, um, he began to share with me that this is actually for every person that will come in tonight. And I know if you're passing this live or by replay, you probably in your own way already believe that, that you are mature. Hear me? And you think that you've arrived, maybe. But I want to submit to you, really, none of us have arrived. So do me a favor, guys, because I, I've posted a video earlier today, uh, and one of the things I share— and we're gonna get into this in a moment, it's only going to take me about 30 minutes to deal with this— but I shared in the video that there's some things you've been praying for that you have not seen come forth yet, because honestly, the reason it is not available to you, or you have not seen it emerge into your life emerge into your life from the heavens and from deep within the kingdom inside of you. Yeah, inside of you. You haven't seen the manifestation of those promises. You've been praying, you've been fasting, you've been giving, and you still have not seen any results, right? Well, part of the issue, guys, is that God can't trust you with it. And I'm just telling you something I've lived. Uh, so you might want to listen to him. I got a little wisdom. I'll be 56 this year. I've been saved most of my life. I've been preaching full-time. This year I celebrate 36 years of full-time ministry. So you might already hear the wisdom. And, and I know some of the stuff you may see on your timeline may lead you a different road, but I'm telling you, you got to grow up. And that's what we're going to talk about tonight, getting grown and staying grown. So guys, do me a favor, family, do me a favor. I need you to do me a kind favor and share this teaching right now, whether you're joining us live or by replay. I need you to share, I need you to like this video, and I need you to comment below. I know it's 10 o'clock at night, I'm not going to hold you long, I promise you. My goal is to be done at 10:30, and, uh, because I want to finish watching the game anyway. But I'm gonna give you what thus saith the Lord. But I know this is not going to take long because I want you to really tonight, as you lay down, as you relax, as you move into the rest of your week. And then plus, you know, at Rhoda Church and throughout, uh, Rhoda Global Ministries, we fast on Tuesday. So at midnight, our fast begins tonight. And we go to 3 o'clock. We'll be praying at 5 AM, so I definitely want to get you off tonight. So please, guys, um, again, uh, I, I'm gonna teach this to people that believe the word of God is important, right? And, uh, so if you're here tonight, uh, you got our text, you're on here, thank you for joining us. If you're scrolling by, thank you for joining us. Please say hello below, uh, like others have done. Uh, my wife is here tonight. Uh, we always glad when she's a part, uh, but of course we won, so she pretty much gonna always, uh, be a part. And we appreciate God for her and how she supports ministry. Thank God for all of you that join us all the time. So please stay with me 30 minutes. Let's pray. Uh, I need you again, follow the instructions, guys. If you come in, say hello below, let us know you're here. Secondly, I need you to share. This is very important. The Bible says obedience is better than sacrifice. So, uh, please, uh, we're blessed to be a blessing. So you're really not obeying me if what I am saying to you blesses you, then it would behoove you to share it with somebody. Well, maybe, uh, you don't want this little man on your timeline, yeah. And if you bounce in and bounce out, you know, maybe again, I'm telling you, you're gonna miss what you need. A lot of times people scroll, and scroll. If you don't— if you're gonna spend the time with the phone in your hand looking at something, make sure it's something that edifies you, builds you up. Um, it's just a sad day we live in, man. People live through their phones, glory to the name of God, through their television apps, and they really don't spend the time, uh, necessary with God to get the results from God that they need to get from him. Praise God. So Share, share, share, comment below, like the video, let us know you're here, amen. Let's pray. Father, we give you praise, we thank you, God, and we bless you for your anointing that destroys yokes and removes burdens. Father, your word declares you sent your word and it healed them. And that word healed in the text deals with the idea that you stitch them back together, you repair them, you fix them, you restore them, you made them whole again. And so while there may be some that may not be physically sick under my voice, but God, they have situations in their families, in their finances, in their lives that need restoring, that need fixing, that need repairing, that need making whole. And so Father, tonight I'm asking you in the name of Jesus that as we teach your word, you will make them whole in Jesus' name. And may we experience the light, the illumination, and the intelligence of the Holy Spirit. Sit Michael Woods down. Hide me behind the cross. And allow no flesh to be seen. Get the glory. Hallelujah. Out of this word, out of this message, let your anointing— let there be a stream that opens. That we'll have clarity of thought and freedom of expression, and we'll get great understanding from what we hear tonight. In the mighty name of Jesus, amen. And thanks be to God. Again, please, family, uh, do me the favor and share. Glory to God. Share. Hey, Bruce, God bless you. Welcome tonight, sir. Glory to God. Thank you for being here. Glory to God. Hallelujah! God is good. Hallelujah! God bless you, Lamonte Smith. God bless you. Thank you for being here. Thank you, Lord. God bless you, Prophetess Greta, who actually, in my absence on Sunday at the church, she preached an amazing message, man. I watched it. Um, I'm gonna make sure— matter of fact, her message and the last message that Pastor Jasper preached, uh, great messages. It's so good to have people around you that can carry ministry when you're not there, and even when you are there. Glory to God. And, um, thank God for people that are learners. Uh, Prophetess Greta has been a learner all her life, and, uh, since I've known her, she's always— I've watched her grow, I've watched God use her, and it's just so much more to come for her. Just great. Glory to God. God bless you, Tanya. Good to see you tonight. Glory to God. Hallelujah. God bless everyone. Thank you for being here. Thank you for being here. Listen, guys, I, I need you. I need you to this. I know it's 10 o'clock, and again, I'm gonna get out of here. I'm gonna get out here so quick, man. Y'all gonna be like, man, Apostle did that thing in 30 minutes. Yeah, uh, I really— I only got 15, so let's, let's jump in this tonight, right? So again, tonight, uh, we're talking, uh, just real quick, man, uh, real quick, real quick, real quick. We're talking, glory to God, about getting grown and staying grown. Amen. Get grown Stay grown. Amen. Glory to God. And really, uh, we're discussing from maturity to manifestation. Say that with me. Say, from maturity to manifestation. And now type in the comments, get grown, stay grown, because I believe it's possible for you to grow up and get some maturity and actually backslide when it comes to maturity because you go back to being carnal and you decide you just don't want to grow no more. But tonight again, we're talking about get grown, stay grown, how to move from maturity to manifestations. And so let me start here, man. I'm gonna just kind of throw myself under the bus a little bit because I'm gonna put some scripture on the end because I'm gonna try to give you before my time is out, which means I can't teach this long, guys. Remember, I'm just letting you in on the conversation, me and God. Was having earlier today, right? So in my 20s, I'm gonna just throw myself under the bus here. And even in my 30s, man, in some areas of my 40s, I actually believed in a lot of ways, man, that I had all the answers. I believed that I knew everything. All right. I move fast. Hear me, family. I spoke quickly. And a lot of times I felt like my good intentions were enough to navigate life. And I want you to understand something, man. Just because you feel strongly about something and you have good intentions, hear me. And just because you assume that you are right, it does not mean you are right. Can I submit to you off the top, the most powerful position you could take in your life is the position of a learner. Oh my God. Oh boy, here we go. Here we go. And most people don't want to take that. Matter of fact, learning dictates so many things in your life. The Bible says we'll be ever learning and coming into the knowledge of truth. So learning is even a thing that will enter into the kingdom of God with you as you move into eternity. Watch this, you will still be learning. When you move into eternity, prophecy will be no more. Come on. The gifts of the Spirit will be no more. I, I need you to hear me. Glory to God. Evangelism will be no more. Pastoring will be no more. Titles will be no more. But one thing that will remain throughout eternity, the Bible says you'll be eternally learning and coming into more truth. So the reality is you will never know everything about God. You're gonna always be learning, and you need to get practice now coming into more and more truth about him. Are y'all here tonight? Glory be to God. I ain't got long, but I— listen, because it's 10 o'clock and I want y'all to grab this, but I need you to understand, you got to get grown. You got to stay grown. Glory to God. And you got to move— that's right, babe— from maturity to manifestation. Because again, you assuming that your good intentions is enough, that ain't gonna get it. And you wonder why some of the stuff you've been praying about, some of the prophecies that you receive have not come to pass, is because God can't trust you with it yet, right? So you got to grow up so that your external reach doesn't override your internal capacity to handle what you're reaching for. And sometimes your maturity level is what's affecting your capacity, your, your maturity and your learning. So learning is not a bad thing. Glory to the name of God. In church today, we want to be entertained. We want to run too fast. Are y'all hearing this? And when sometimes we really need to take a seat and learn, because again, learning affects everything, it affects your earning. You earn what you learn. Oh boy. So if you learn what Bill Gates knows, if you learn what Oprah knows about business, you earn what Stanton knows, my, my guy, my friend, my golf buddy. You learn what these people know, you can earn what they earn. You earn— you learn what a banker knows. You can— you learn what a lawyer knows. You learn what a neurosurgeon knows. You can earn what they earn. Matter of fact, the word earn is inside of learn. So this means in order for me to mature, in order for me to grow, I got to be a learner. It starts with that. That's the substratum. But if you get to a point where you feel you are above learning, You are above influence. You are above growth. Oh my God, you have missed it and you're gonna stay stuck. And a lot of the things that's been spoken of your life, they're not going to happen. They're not going to come to pass. Glory to the name of God. And like my wife typed in the comments, you're not gonna move from maturity to manifestation. Oh my God, I got to get through this, okay? Because, because I feel the Holy Ghost, I feel the teacher standing up right now. But at the end of the day, you have to make the decision yourself to humble yourself under the mighty hand of God. And watch this, those that God sends into your life to mentor, to mature, and to teach you and expand your capacity to another level. But if you're around here thinking you know everything and you've arrived and you're not a student of God, come on, you're never going to go beyond— oh my Jesus, hallelujah— what you've learned. So again, in my 20s, I had it bad, man. I mean, when I was married at the time, when I married Junior's mama I used to tell all the time, you can't tell me nothing, you ain't never been nowhere but church, home, and school. And I used to try to quote my brief resume— was very brief, glory to God— and I didn't have much sense, glory to God. Hallelujah, hallelujah. I'm just telling you the truth, man, because the reality is I, I should— I always have been a learner. I've always educated myself. I always enrolled into classes, the school, whatever I needed. But at the end of the day, there was certain subjects you weren't going to try to teach me about because I thought I knew everything, and I didn't. And can I tell you something? You don't neither. But what I've learned as I've gotten older and over the years as they pass, I've learned something that is deeply humbling. Hear me, guys. I didn't know as much as I thought I knew. And I don't know now, hallelujah, more than God or the people who God has put in my life to teach me. As much as I know, I still require teaching in various areas of my life. In business, as, as blessed as God is giving me with business knowledge and business sense, the innovator, the creator he's made me, the reality is I'm I'm always learning how to be better. As long as I've been preaching, I'm still learning. Hallelujah! I'm still growing, I'm still expanding. But the moment you feel like you have surpassed that, we have a problem. And we got to figure out now that we're going to submit to learning so we can grow. Because guess what? Here's what I know now like never before. My whole life has been about the dominion message, the message of purpose, the message of destiny. I've been teaching that all of my life. That's my life message. And the— so this Rada stuff didn't just come up. Well, here's what I've learned about that. True dominion is not born out of ambition. True dominion is born out of maturity. So the areas where my fear of influence has become dominant and is becoming dominant. What I've learned is the more I learn and the more I increase in knowledge and increase in wisdom from those who have gone before me in those areas, and learning from the Holy Spirit— because watch this, the Bible said the Holy Spirit will teach you all things— what I've learned is, is that as I increase my capacity in knowledge that when I reach for something, that knowledge breeds confidence in doing it. Y'all hear this? See, some of you are not confident in trying to do certain things because you haven't gained the knowledge necessary to accomplish the feat. Are we hearing? Glory to the name of God. Are we listening tonight? My God, I wish you get this. You gotta increase in knowledge. This is Bible, man. Glory to the name of God. And you can't be afraid to learn. Um, and this is graduation season, so I've gone to several graduations already. My niece, glory to God, my son finished his master's. We just got back from Wisconsin. He's now a master of music. Praise God. Uh, and if you— and, and if anybody's heard him sing or watched him perform before he got that degree, you probably would have said— I promise you, if you've encountered his ministry, if you encountered his, his ability to lead worship, his ability to operate in the realms that God has entrusted him with, because when he's released in freedom to be himself, he has a key to unlock things that not many people can— you probably would have said he a master. But I promise you, if you talk to him now, he'll tell you that there are things he learned that enhanced and brought balance to what God taught him in the spirit through that coursework. Even the vocal ability, even the ability to train others that he has, and because he's also a professor at the same school that just graduated him. They hired him because— but he— are y'all hearing this? The learning got him in that position. I need you to understand something. Don't sleep on— I don't care how old you are, don't sleep on learning. Don't sleep on adding to the value of who God has made you by being led by God to learn the things you need to learn to become who you need to be. Lean into the Lord, man. Trust him because you got access to supernatural insight and wisdom and revelation that will lead you where you need to go to learn, to the people that could teach you, to the places that where you can learn in. And you got to be sensitive to that. And watch this, whenever you're learning and growing, that positioning is going to always be tempted and test it to try to remove you out. That's why, you know what, people will walk away from a ministry or a school, they'll drop out of school, leave a church, and many times it's because they get bored with process, because they want to be doing something. But learning is not always a time for you to be doing something. Learning deals with the idea that you need to be steal. Glory to God. So you can focus on what you're learning. Oh boy, it's, it's real. I tell y'all, quiet, y'all sleeping. Glory to God. Nobody's saying that, nobody's typing. I pray y'all with me. I'm just, I'm just trying to help you get grown and staying wrong. Glory to God. Hallelujah. Wonderful Jesus, we love him and we glorify his name. Praise God. So Let's start here. Write this down if you have to, or make sure you come back to the comments. Maturity, hear me, family, listen, it precedes manifestation. You got these people that be running around talking about to manifest something, and some of these people don't need to manifest nothing because one, they don't have the experience nor the wisdom to handle what will manifest if that actually works for them. I think a lot of that becomes very coincidental to process because God is the only authority— watch this— who is able to manifest his will and his plan through your life. The word manifestation is apokalupsis in Greek, and it means that God takes his hand and he pulls, extrapolates, pulls for, pushes for, extrapolates out of you what he brought you to this planet to present. He doesn't put his hand in to pull it out until he's clear he could trust you. And trusting you with that manifestation means you got to grow up. Let's look at 1 Corinthians 13:11. Let's start there. He says, when I was a child, listen to this, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, but when I became a man, I gave up childish ways. This is the Apostle Paul saying, hey, when I was a child, I talked like a child, acted like a child, behaved like a child. Glory to God. Reasoned like a child. 'Cause children do childish things, right? So you need to check for the childish things in your life. But when you become mature, this is what Paul is saying. When I matured, when I became a man, I gave up childish ways. Okay, so stuff like committing adultery, stuff like, oh my God, fornicating, sleeping around with everybody, that's childish. Those are acts of immaturity. And at some point, if you're really a man, You should grow up and you, you won't sleep around. Glory to the name of God, because that's childish. Are y'all hearing this? So what Paul is saying, you got to grow up and put away your toys. That's what this scripture said. Put away your toys and pick up tools. Yeah, I feel like running. I gotta get out of here. Put away your toys and pick up tools. Grown men don't play games. Mature women don't play games. Glory to God. You don't have time to play games with your life when you're clear about purpose, when you're clear about destiny. You don't waste time with the wrong people. You don't waste time in the wrong locations. You don't waste time building relationships with people who you know are not a support system for real for you. Watch this. You, you don't waste time even with family that cannot walk walk with you. You, you love them, you deal with them, but if you already know that their trajectory and their destiny— hear me, family— is different than you and where you're going and what you're trying to accomplish, praise God, you don't waste time with that. When you grow up, you cut that off. So I'm telling you, put away the toys and pick up your tools. I mean, so instead of picking up your game your phone and just playing a game all the time. Pick up your phone and read. Glory to God. Pick up your phone or your computer, get in front of your computer and take a course. Glory to God. So you can mature. Find things that's gonna feed you so you can grow. Watch this, what you feed will grow. I'm here to tell you, if you don't feed it, it will not mature. But if you feed negativity, if you feed playfulness, if you feed pleasure, If all you want to do is have pleasure and you want all the niceties of life without process, those things have no longevity. Those things, oh my God, will not last. Praise God today. Praise God today. Glory to God. You, you got to hear me tonight. Put away, put away your toys. Pick up your tools. And I'm telling you, you already got everything in you to be who you are. Glory to God. God has already equipped you with everything you need to be who you are. Whom he calls, he also qualifies. The word qualification in Greek means that he equips. Equipment lends to tools. So you were born with all the tools you need to operate in your purpose, to move into your dominion plan, to move into the place of being the person that God has called and ordained for you to be. Are y'all with me tonight? Glory to God. I need y'all to hear me. I need you to stay with me. I'm almost done. Glory to God. I'm— I— trust me. So maturity demands more than you just believe in God. It requires becoming. You got to become. That's what the scripture says. It requires becoming. Becoming requires shedding. You got to shed the immaturity by putting away the toys. Time to grow up, saints. Time to get grown. Yeah, time to stay grown. Omansi ante debaya. Time to stay grown. Time to grow up. Time to become. Listen, you don't— watch this— you don't continue to play around with your purpose by abiding and dwelling in situations that you shouldn't be in. Watch this, places that God told you to get out of, people that God told you to cut off. You got to shed that stuff. Oh my God, you got to shed it and you got to get in the place where you can grow and where you can increase. Glory to God. God bless you, Lamont Smith. Glory to God. Hallelujah. We give God praise. So watch this. The reward of maturity is not just you behaving differently, because some people think, okay, I don't do this, I don't do that anymore, and I mature. But it's not just that, because it's the— once you really mature, you get the ability to walk in dominion and steward life well. And watch this, and then you start manifesting your purpose with precision, with accuracy. You don't have a whole lot of missing it to the left and to the right. See, when you're really mature, you're on point. You marry the right people, you go to the right church, you go to the right schools, you got the right friends. Are y'all hearing this? You make right decisions because maturity— oh, shi, my God, agiando si, I got to get out of here. Maturity will cause you— God bless you, Pastor Michelle, good to see you. It will cause you, glory to God, to connect in the right spaces and in the right culture. See, I don't judge maturity by how much you speak in tongues, mm-mm, because listen, you can learn church, glory to God. I don't judge maturity by how much you dance or cry in worship, or if you can breathe on somebody and they fall out. No, I watch how you manage life. Life. Glory to God. Hallelujah. It speaks loudly. Glory to God. As to where you are in God, how do you manage life? Okay, great, great, great. My God, you can blow on people and they fall out. I, I was doing that while I was immature. Glory to God. God was trusting me with that power because you know what? God will use you for the people because if the people there and you're yielded, he'll use you, but it don't mean you mature. Oh boy, it don't mean you true because you could preach good, because you could teach good, because you sing well. Don't mean you mature because you know what to do. But the question is, how do you— that's right, Tanya— how do you manage life? Are you walking in dominion for real, or are you just talking the talk? Come on, man. Come on. Because this is the original mandate for mankind, that we walk in dominion, that we live in authority. Glory to God. That we take influence to the world, and in every sector and kingdom of the world, people can see who we are in God. Man, I got to get out of here. God, I'm past my time anyway. I told you I was gonna be gone. I'm trying to go, I'm trying to go. So let me give you 8 signs and we're gonna get out of here. I ain't gonna be able to elaborate on these long. I may come back and teach this again, I may come back and teach y'all 8 in a series, glory to God. But I want to show you 8 signs that you are, hallelujah, growing in maturity and advancing in dominion. Matter of fact, touch yourself and make that confession. I want you to say it. Say, in the name of Jesus, say, I am growing in dominion and I am advancing in maturity. Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah. Glory to God. So here's number 1, 8 signs you're growing in maturity, advancing in dominion. Here we go. Number 1, number 1. You do the right thing when no one is watching. Somebody type that in the comments. Oh my God, you do the right thing when no one is watching. Oh wee, who are you when we don't see you? What do you do when you ain't knocking folks out on the floor or speaking in tongues or praying with power or oh my God or shouting and dancing around the church or singing in church? What are you doing when nobody's watching? Yeah, I'm gonna date myself, but there used to be a song white group used to sing and it used to go something like this. I always feel like somebody's watching me. Hey, some of y'all as old as me know that. Oh boy, can I tell you, can I tell you, somebody's always watching you. The eyes of the Lord is in every place, beholding that which is good and that which is evil. Glory to God. So, so what are you doing? Watch this. See, you're not really securing your life if you're not walking in integrity when nobody's watching. Proverbs 10:9, let me go here. The Bible says, whoever walks in integrity walks securely. This is reality. Whoever walks in integrity walks securely. So when your life is an integral life where you're walking in obedience and alignment with God every day, when nobody's looking, when it's just you and him, you're living to please him. This is a sign that you are living out the will of God in your life. Glory to God. Hallelujah. Wonderful Jesus. We give God praise. We give God glory. Hallelujah. We honor Listen, again, I'm just— I just have to be totally— hey, Apostle Theron, it's good to see you. I'm not— woman of God, I just been running. I'm going to call you, and I'm saying this publicly, I'm going to call you this week. I thought about it when I was in Wisconsin. I said, I gotta call the woman of God this week, and I'm gonna call you. And, uh, so please count it to my business. It's just been a lot going on, but I'm going to reach out and, uh, have that conversation with you that you requested. Uh, y'all, y'all bless Apostle. She's a blessed woman of God. We got to get in Atlanta so she can preach. Glory to God. Listen, this— Tanya said I'm dating myself. I am. Glory to God. I know it, I know it. Listen, this, this is serious though, guys. When you walk in, in integrity, you create a life of security. And like I was saying, I have been in this place where I was preaching with power, people getting saved, prophesying, casting out devils. Hear me, people getting delivered. But when I was in the presence of people, I was falling and making mistakes. I know, don't judge me, it was years ago, but I'm delivered. So, but I could tell you, some of you still ain't delivered. And so I could talk to you from a place of wisdom that, that affects, hallelujah, how secure your life is. Because that word said— that word in the Hebrew, security, that means that it— there's a fortress or it is protected with a garrison. So God puts a garrison, a spiritual, supernatural, holy stronghold around your life. See, a stronghold is anything that is designed to keep what's in, in, and what's out, out. So at the end of the day, when God builds or erects a stronghold, or umagod, around your life, you're secure because you're walking in integrity. So, but when you step out of holiness and step out of integrity and start doing things the wrong way, God steps out because he's holy. Are y'all hearing this? He's righteous. Hey Ruby, good to see you, woman of God. I love you so much. I pray you're well. Glory to God. That's one of my daughters too. Glory to the name of God. I love it when I see my sons and daughters. Glory to God. It blesses my heart. Glory to God. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Are y'all hearing this? Ha! Shebam tikosia. I feel God in this place. Glory to God. Hallelujah. I feel God for real. Listen, I'm just trying to let you know wisdom is the principal thing. Some of the insecurities in your life are there because your life is not aligned with God's will, with God's plan. But we got to get grown. Hallelujah. We got to stay grown. Hallelujah. Are we here? Shabandi o salabaye. We give you praise, God. We give you glory. We honor you, Jesus. Jesus, you're so amazing. What a mighty God we serve. Number 2, let me keep going because I can't stay there because, Liz, I can say this all day, because your character has to match your calling behind closed doors, point blank, end of story. So that was number 1, you do the right thing when no one's looking. Number 2, watch this, you restrain your words. This is number 2, the proof you are mature. You have the ability to restrain your words even when you feel justified. Oh my God, oh my God, in my life there have been days I just wanted to cuss. Glory to God. And cuss somebody out and tell somebody exactly how I feel. And guess what? In days of my immaturity, I did it. Oh my God, I did it, I did. See, I know y'all gonna judge me. It's okay, I'm delivered. I'm so delivered. Glory to God. But there have been days in my life where there were people that I felt like I was justified in telling them off and cussing them out. I did it. And guess what? I was saved. I had a title. I had the Holy Ghost. But at that moment, I was not mature. Are y'all hearing this? So if— and listen, I ain't forgot how to cuss, but it's maturity that keeps me from cussing out. It's maturity that keeps me from going off on people now. I know y'all don't want me to talk like that because, see, guess what? Uh, yeah, I know, I know. God— I'm a witness that God's power works. If God didn't have real power to deliver me, I wouldn't be talking to you. Matter of fact, I wouldn't even be saved right now. I'm saved because of the delivering power of God. The authority of Jesus Christ that operates in my life. And I'm telling you, it can operate through yours. You know, some people have a mentality, I don't care what you do, I, I ain't, I ain't turning the other cheek. That's what they say, I'm not turning the other cheek. Well, you ought to learn that, because when you mature, you can. Watch this, Galatians 5:22-23. We're gonna pull out one part of this. I'm teaching on the works of the flesh on Thursday night. You need to be in the building at Rhoda Church. Church in person on Thursday nights. We're talking about the works of the flesh, man, and I'm telling you, you need to be there. But I'm gonna pull this one out right here because this is about restraint, right? He said the fruit of the Spirit is self-control. So watch this, one of the fruit of the Spirit is self-control. So again, and watch this, when you read the fruit of the Spirit Those 9 fruits, there are no gifts there. Oh, he don't talk about prophecy as a fruit of the Spirit. Oh, you don't talk about joy— uh-oh, wait a minute— word of wisdom as a fruit of the Spirit, word of knowledge, faith. Yeah, he does talk about faith. He doesn't talk about the gift of faith, he talks about faith though, which are 2 different things. He doesn't talk about none of the gifts in the 9 fruit of the Ooh, so just because you prophesy doesn't mean you're bearing the fruit of the Spirit. Ah, just because you talk in tongues and worship and cry doesn't mean, uh, you're bearing the fruit of the Spirit. Long-suffering, however, is the fruit of the Spirit. Glory to God. Can I teach this tonight? I'm, I'm gonna get you through these 8, I promise you. I'm not gonna take long. But watch this. When you control your tongue, that looks very mature, especially to people around you. Who see you control your tongue. Oh boy, you have no idea how good that looks to people that know who you are and know that you see things that you could really speak to, but you don't. And you could be really rude about what you don't. It lets them know that Jesus has really changed your life. Ah, God, I know you want to prophesy. I know you want to go to the School of the Prophets and be in an apostolic hub where you can get prophetically activated. Okay, let's activate holiness. Let's activate righteousness. Oh, shatta lamandikosiaya. Let's activate right living and self-control. Oh, okay. Because guess what? Real power is never argumentative. Real authority is never loud. Ah, when you really got authority, I ain't got to walk in my house and announce that I'm the man of the house. Guess what? That's very clear. Care. I don't— if you gotta come at home and every time you walk in the house you always tell me I'm the man of the house, I run things, you probably ain't much of the man of the house. Okay, I'm just saying. I was raised by a real one. Glory to God. My daddy was a man of our house for real. He taught me how to be a man. I know how to lead. Glory to Ashanti. We give you praise. God, we give you praise. Hallelujah. I need you to hear this. That's right, Tonya, it's— it is. It's not loud. Real authority moves in silence. Hallelujah. Real authority doesn't have to announce everything they're doing. Glory to God. Real authority moves in silence and gets results. It gets done and you don't even know it's done because the person in authority has made it happen and ain't said a word. Ah, okay, here we go, here we go, here we go. Let me keep moving. Number 3, you know you're maturing. Hear this, when you trust God— listen, family— more than you trust yourself. Are y'all with me? Let's read Proverbs 3:5. I'm not going to read all of it, but he just says, trust in the Lord with all your heart. So hear this, dominion doesn't flow just from your intellect, what you learn. We talked about that earlier. I want to balance this, but it also flows from your intimacy with God. See, the ideas you have may be logical. Hear this, hear this, hear this. Glory to God. Yeah, hear this, hear me, family. What you may be thinking may be intelligent, You may look at it and say, man, I can make a lot of money doing this. You better make sure that it's God, because the rest of that said, and lean not to your own understanding, in all your ways acknowledge him and he shall direct your path. Proverbs 3:5-6. Reality, every idea, though it may be good to you, it ain't always good to him. And you better make sure that if you wanna see the flow of God come outta your life, that you're operating in supernatural ideas that come from the altar. That's why in your home you need to build altars so you can spend time with God and God can speak to you what he is saying. Because I'm just teaching you what I've done in my life, man. I've done it, man. I've flowed in great ideas that were great ideas. And they worked for a season. Glory to God. But now that I've tapped into purpose, and that the seasons I've been in, in these last couple of decades where purpose have been clear, and I've walked according to that realm of purpose— hear me— and trying to build what God tells me to build, whether it be in the marketplace or whether it be in ministry, the reality is I trust him because it's his idea. I said this a couple of weeks ago. This is for you, for my daughter Zion. If it's— she said she loved this statement when I made it. I'm gonna make it again. If it's his will, it's his bill. You don't know what his will is if you don't spend time with him. I'm gonna say that again. If it's his will, it's his bill. If you're struggling to pay for it, it might not be his you, because where he guides, he provides. So you got to trust God more than yourself. And many of you trust systems and jobs more than you trust God. I'm not saying you should not work. What I am saying, while you at work, you need to be listening to the voice of God on how you're going to either own the place you work in— are y'all hearing this?— or are you gonna get promoted to the top of that place and have dominion in that place or how you gonna leave? And once God speaks that, you need to be working on that process outside of that place of employment. Hallelujah. Because instead of just settling and trusting for— I give them 40 hours, they're going to give me $50 times 40— and you trust that. Come on, man, I want you to trust him. Because he own everything. I, I gotta go because I stayed there too long. Number 4, you, you know you're maturing and you're advancing toward dominion when you prioritize purpose over preference. Ah, God. Uh, let me read it. Philippians 2:3 says, do nothing out of selfish ambition. Are y'all with me? Are y'all with me? He said, do nothing out of selfish ambition, but in humility value others— watch this— above yourself. Hear me, family. Hear me, family. Mature believers do let distractions derail destiny. I'm gonna say that again: mature believers do not allow distractions to derail destiny. Here's a reality: even if the distraction is you in your own way, even if it's your selfish ambitions that did not come from God, You know, I know sometimes people may think, oh my God, it's embarrassing, I just started doing this, well, I'm gonna quit now. Listen, if it wasn't God, you need to quit. You listen, you should be living for the audience of one. I'm gonna say that again. You should be living for the audience of one. God. So you, your life should be to please him, not the crowd. Watch this. Israel followed the cloud, not the crowd. And anytime the cloud moved, the Bible said they moved. So you have to decide you're going to follow him. Where he moves, you move. What he says do, you do. You have to obey, and you can't just do things to save face. Oh, I'm gonna just keep doing this and stay here in this place, in this situation, when God done told you to move. He done told you that the location has shifted. The blessing is in this place. The blessing is with this people. The blessing is with this man or this woman of God. Are y'all hearing me? Okay, don't let the distractions derail you. This— I gotta move, I gotta move. Number 5. I can stay there, man. Number 5: You know you're moving toward dominion and advancing toward, hallelujah, maturity when you serve with joy and excellence. But if you doing what you're doing grudgingly and you serving the will of God with grudge and you just really don't want to do it— listen, again, I've been here, man. I've been there, I've been there. Had to obey in some seasons I didn't want to, man. When we, when we We, uh, glory to God, had an amazing church in Jackson, Mississippi. When we— we— every time we've gone to Mississippi and planted, it's been amazing. Even the second time went amazing. Um, God did some great things while we were there, and we fulfilled the purpose for which we went back. But the first time, when I was living in Mississippi, when we pastored, we started a church in 2003 called the Destiny Place. This church grew. Greta's mother was one of the first members of our church. Uh, Greta came shortly after that, and then the church just began to grow. We started that church at 566 Northside Drive in Jackson, took an old Hartwell store that was dilapidated, built it out as a church. God blessed us with a beautiful sanctuary there. Then we moved on to another place and The rest is history. God blessed that ministry. But when that ministry started going through transitions, I wanted to leave. I didn't want to be in Mississippi. I wanted to come back to Georgia. God had told me I was coming back home to Georgia, but he would not release me until he was ready. And I had to show up, keep teaching Bible class, teach, preach, keep preaching on Sunday. In obedience, man. But I learned something because I look at the results of that obedience now. I look at the sons and daughters that were birthed out of that obedience and how they were the ones that remained with me when we went through our transition. They learned how to fall, they learned how to fail and get up. Oh, Shabbat, they learned how to keep going. See, watch this. You better know that just because something ain't working the way you want it to work, it ain't no indication for you to leave. Because in your flesh you feel like, okay, well, they did XYZ, I'm gone. Well, the best way to learn how to get up from a fall is to walk with somebody that made a mistake, to walk with someone that failed and got up. Oh, and kept going. Oh my God, oh my God, are y'all here? Shout out to Lavon Dillard. Oh my God, are y'all here? You have to learn that God's grace is sufficient for you for real. And that doesn't mean you continue in sin. Grace is charis in Greek, means that he empowers you to keep going beyond your So once you repent and he forgives you, now you're empowered to get up, dust yourself off, keep going in spite of what happened. You gotta obey him. Grace eliminates the excuse to stop, and you have to get up. Thank God for the grace that he still speaks to you. Thank God for the grace that you can still get in his presence. And that you can't even hear the instructions to obey. And you got to get up, amaseya, and obey him. Urabasi ataya. Atama. Because guess what? Failure is not final. And when you can accept that reality, you could get up and obey God. Because really, the whole thing was, man, this has happened. We're going through this transition. People are leaving, you know, we're losing buildings. Glory, we're losing land. We're going through— I mean, we're going through it, man. I'm going through marital issues, and I'm like, Lord, nobody wants to hear what I got to say. Why do I need to stay here? He never would tell me why. All he would do is say, obey my voice. The blessing will be seen later. I'm telling you. And I, I had to grab the fact that if I didn't obey, things would be worse. So I obeyed, and I see the benefits of it now in my own life and in the spiritual children that God connected to me during the whole time. Even the ones that left, they, they have the ability to see recovery. Are y'all hearing this? Very transparent teaching. Glory to God. Hallelujah, hallelujah. Glory to God. I love Jesus. He's a good God. He's a good God. He's a mighty God. Hallelujah. He's an awesome God. Oh, shabba mamandi osorakai. I gotta go. The Bible says, hear this, in Ephesians 6:7— let me give you scripture for that— he says, serve wholeheartedly as if you were serving the Lord. See, this is what spiritual maturity does. It leads you to fight from the bottom, to fight through failure, to fight through attacks, and you still serve with joy, with your whole heart, happily-yam, and with joy, because you're doing it as unto him. See, when you're doing it to yourself, you quit. See, really, when it's about you, you quit because you have no preceding voice anyway to keep you there. So you just throw in the towel. But when you have a relationship with God and it's him, you keep going. Number 6, I gotta go. You know you're maturing and advancing toward dominion— watch this— when you can love the unlovable. When you're maturing, love becomes a discipline, family. It's not just a feeling, it's a discipline. When people are difficult, a mature person doesn't make their response to them. Are y'all hearing this? Based on their behavior. See, when people are behaving a certain way toward you, if you're mature, you don't get on their level and behave as they do. You don't respond. You learn to love the unlovable. Oh my, oh my God. Because 1 John 4:8, it says, whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. Oh boy, how many of you know that each of us were unlovable in God's eyes, which is why he sent his son to save us, to deliver us? To make us free. Glory to God. Are we here? Are we? Are we here? Are we here? Are we here? He loved you. He loved you when you were unlovable. Are we here, family? Oh, number 7. Let me go. This is a good one. You know you're maturing and advancing toward dominion when you forgive before it feels good. So something happens to you, someone does something toward you, if you gotta wait, I'm gonna just be mad for a minute about this. Glory to God. That's quite immature. You know what? God forgives you immediately the moment you ask for forgiveness. And guess what? He expects the same of us, right? Maturity forgives quickly. I'm gonna read Colossians 3:13. See, to operate in the fear or the realm of dominion, it requires emotional intelligence. People who operate at high levels of influence and dominion, whether it be in the ministry, marketplace or in the municipality, which is government. They have high abilities to control emotional intelligence, emotional tantrums. Things could happen and they move forward. Are y'all hearing this? That's why, you know, some of the things that the current administration is doing has merit and may work out for this country. But some of the things are being poised from a vengeful or a revenge standpoint, or a trauma that happened to him last time, okay? And he has it out for whomever. So a lot of— some of the things connect to that, right? I hope they don't censor me and block this message because I'm talking about that. But at the end of the day, I want you to hear The reality is, if you're a believer and you want to be a mature believer, you forgive quickly. You let it go. Forgiveness— forgive— it's a gift that you give to the person, and you release them. Hear me, you release them, you let them go, and you can go on with your life. I got to get out of here, man. Colossians 3:13 says Forgive as the Lord— hear me— forgave you. Are y'all here? Forgive as the Lord forgave you. Why are you still walking around holding that? You still offended, you're still bitter, and bitterness is a spiritual cancer. It— when you're bitter and unforgiving toward people, it's like a cancer that eats away at your flesh and ultimately leads to death if there's no intervention from God. When you get bitterness in your spirit and you harbor it and you don't forgive quickly, hear me, you're eating away at your spirit. You're, you're sapping the power and the authority out of your life. But you got to have the ability to move forward free and unoffended from what people do. Last one and I'm out. All right, when you understand— this is number 8— that you're maturing, hallelujah, and you're advancing toward dominion, number 8, you embrace correction and you honor leadership. I saved this one for last because this is hard for a lot of people, but if you really want to grow, uh, my wife and I took Prophetess Greta and her new husband— glory to God, the man of God, hallelujah, I love him— uh, out to dinner last Sunday. And, uh, I was just listening to Prophetess Greta talking about her uh, growth and the things that she experienced under our ministry and how I was as an apostle. And I didn't realize that— I realized I did a lot of correcting, but I didn't realize I did that much. Glory to God. And she talked about how she could see, even in how I do now, the difference in how I handle correction. All right, and watch this, and I boil that down to maturity because as you grow, you learn to speak the truth in love. You learn not to hurt people in the midst of correcting them. Are y'all hearing this? And a lot of that was when this apostolic office started emerging. And listen, this is something— I, I was consecrated by my spiritual father, Apostle Donald Graham, in 2000. 2005 as an apostle— not consecrated, affirmed. You can't consecrate apostles, they already consecrated by God. But I had been doing the work all my life in ministry since '96, right? Um, had been doing it, apostle work, since '96. Never wanted to be called that. Planning, building leaders, traveling this country but he came into my life and started pushing on it, pulling it out. And in obedience to God and him, I received the affirmation. Now, once I start walking in this, that apostolic aggression is real. I didn't understand how to balance that aggression Immediately. And I had to learn. And Jesus pulled me in one time. He says, uh, I'm allowing you to go through what you're going through because I'm teaching you the greatest gift of any apostle. And I said, what is that, Lord? He said, it's compassion. It's the greatest gift. He said, notice how much power flowed out of me. When I moved with compassion first. Could I have raised up in godly indignation and wrath? Yes. But I chose to be moved in compassion, and I had not yet matured to that point. And when I went through this major major attack and major trial in my life, God taught me. He said, son, I want you to emerge from this with compassion. That's why I don't understand why people think they could show up at the church and just say, I'm gonna— I'm an apostle. You wake up in the morning, sign up and say, I'm an apostle, I'm a prophet. Are y'all hearing this, man? All these gifts cost. And again, gifts don't mean you mature. Titles don't mean you mature. Okay, you need to work on maturity, and part of it is being able to accept correction, to embrace and honor leadership even when correction comes. Oh boy, have I been corrected in my life. I think some of the hardest corrections I got, honestly, joyfully-yam was when I was sitting under my father's ministry. I honor my father and I accept my dad, Prophet Freddie Woods. I accept him as a man of God that opened up so many things for me in the realm of the spirit and taught me how to pray. But my daddy would never let me run faster than I needed to. I recall on many occasions as a young boy going to my daddy saying, I'm called to preach. And I really was. I really— God was speaking to me, but Dad wasn't letting me go fast. He would never let me preach until he heard from God. You know what I did? I accepted the correction. I had no choice. I was eating his food and living on his roof. But at the same time, to date, I respect his authority. Glory to God. And how he handled me, because it guarded me from a lot of things that it prematurely— he would have launched me, I wouldn't have been able to be the man I am now. All right, I hope y'all get that. So when you're really maturing, you know how to embrace correction. You honor leadership. You submit to spiritual authority. We got so many misfits out here today. We have no submission to authority. We have no honor for leadership. Are y'all here? Listen, most of you have believed at some point in your life that submission to authority will create limitations on who you are. But really, if you— it's not limitations. If you submit it in the right place that God has led you to, it literally becomes a launching See, real leaders look into your life, see who you are, and they deploy you into— my God— being that person. Two examples real quick I'll use. I can use three. Glory to God, I can use three. I'll use three off top of my head. Apostle Brandon Cornelius, Prophetess Greta Hansford— Greta Smith now— and Apostle Sandra Hawkins. 3 people who I trained, who sat under my authority, who subjected themselves to leadership and still do. All right, they were deployed into what they're doing. They didn't just up and do it. Oh, shaya, mansud rabataya. And it gives me great joy You know why? To watch Apostle Brandon do what God's called him to do. To watch Prophetess Greta do what God has called her to do. To watch Apostle Hawkins do what God has called her to do. You know why? Because I saw the development. I remember when. And to see the men and women of God they have become. And I could just keep writing a list, but I'm just using them. Them, because at the end of the day, they understood this principle. All three of them have been heavily corrected. Oh my God, like I told you, Apostle was reminding me some of that— I mean, Prophet was reminding me of some of that stuff. I'm like, wow. And they endured it, and they remain faithful. The Bible says in Hebrews 13:17, and this is it: Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they keep watch over your souls. You cannot reach your destiny— hear me— without divine order. You gotta choose to mature. Get grown, stay grown. Listen, I'm out, guys. Listen, join me in the morning for 5 o'clock prayer family. We're gonna be praying, we fast. Glory to the name of God. Hallelujah, hallelujah. We are praying on every Tuesday and fasting, so meet me right here live wherever you're watching us from— Instagram, Facebook, YouTube. I'm done. Father, bless this word. May it land on the good ground of the hearts that heard it. And even those that watch by replay, may it multiply. May they mature and operate in dominion like never before. In Jesus' name, amen. Glory to God. I love y'all. Heaven smile upon you is my prayer. Please guys, meet us in the morning for prayer. It's going to be phenomenal. Hallelujah. 5 AM. If you want to fast with us, the fast starts in 45 minutes at midnight. And we fast till 3. Glory to the name of God. No food, water only until 3 o'clock. Hope to see you there. Hope you'll join with us in fasting. Y'all be blessed tonight. Heaven smile upon you is my prayer. Peace out.