I HAVE SOMETHING TO PROVE | DR. MIKE WOODS, SR. | 28 NOV 24 (LIVE REPLAY)

Well, grace and peace everyone from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. This is Apostle Michael Lyris Woods. By now you should be eating turkey dressing. Happy Thanksgiving, guys. I pray you're enjoying food, fellowship, and your family, your friends. I pray that this is a great day filled with love and peace for for you. Listen, I want to get you into this encounter we had this morning. Oh my God, our Thanksgiving encounter was absolutely phenomenal. Listen, God moved. The worship was thick, the glory was thick, the word was thick and heavy. Listen, let's get into this. I don't want to talk about it, so first we're going to jump into the worship with Minister Tanya. She's going to bless us through worship, just a little portion of what we got this morning. Then we're gonna get into the word, then I'm gonna come back and do some warfare with you. The message today, I got something to prove. That's what we're talking about. Listen, I know people tell you, no, you ain't got nothing to prove, you gotta prove nothing, nobody. Yeah, you got something to prove, man. And we found out in the word what that was. So let's jump into it. I'll be back and we're gonna pray. Y'all be blessed.

We were made to praise. No matter who you are or what season of life you find yourself in, you have a reason to give God praise. Not because you have to or because you've been commanded to— nah, because he is worthy to be praised. We praise a God who is with us on the mountaintops, who walks with us in seasons of prosperity, and we praise a the God who's with us in the valleys, who hears our cries and literally carries us in seasons of distress. Friends, let me remind you, Jesus is real. His love for you is beyond comprehension. His mercy towards you are new every morning. His ways are just and true, and he's so worthy that he said if we don't praise him, even the rocks will cry out. That is why today, no matter how you're feeling, no matter where you are or how many you're gathered with, we will give praise to the one who is worthy to be praised. We will give praise to the one whose love endures forever. Shout his name! Declare his glory! Because he is faithful today, tomorrow, and forever. Praise him because he's defeated the grave. Praise Him because He rose again. Praise Him because He's coming back for you and for me. Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. So as long as we have breath in our lungs, we have a reason to praise.

Because You are a good God. For who You are. There is no one like You. We worship You, O God. There is no one like You. We honor You, O God. We bless your name, oh God, you are good. You're so good. We worship you, oh Lord, for you are good. There is no one else. We honor you, Jesus. There is— we praise you, Jesus. We lift you up. There is no one else. We love you, Lord, for you are good. Oh, you, oh, your whole love. You are good. Oh, we bless your name, oh Lord. We praise your name, oh Lord. You are good. We give thanks to your wonderful name. Oh, we give thanks. We give thanks to you. Wonderful. We give thanks to your name. You're so good. You're so good. It's for you. Oh, we love you, Jesus. We love you. We love you.

Jesus.

It's all because you are good. Oh, we bless your name. We praise your name. Oh, we bless your name. We bless your holy name. Wonderful name. You're so wonderful. You are good. Give thanks with a grateful heart. Give thanks to the Holy One. Give thanks because he's given Jesus Christ, his son. Give thanks. With a grateful heart. Give thanks to the Holy One. Give thanks because he's given Jesus Christ his son. His son.

Hallelujah. Yes. Romans 12.

Glory to God. Verses 1 and 2. Hallelujah.

We lift up our hands, Lord. And we honor your name.

Romans 12, verses 1 and 2.

The Bible says this, it says, I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice. Sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. Verse number 2, and be— and do not be conformed to this world, but be ye transformed.

Somebody say transformed.

By the renewing of your mind, that you may prove that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. I'm gonna read verse 2 again because it's just all right to read the Bible. Amen. And do not be conformed to this world. But be transformed, hmm, by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove— somebody say prove— what is good and acceptable and perfect will of God.

This morning, just for a few moments, because I know Y'all want to eat, and I'm gonna let you go where you can get your turkey, your ham, your dressing, your greens, all macaroni and cheese, cranberry sauce, all that good stuff. I didn't help you much at the end, did I? Made you think about it. But I'm gonna be quick, glory to God, as the Lord would allow.

Say this with me. Say, I have something to prove. Come on, say it again. I have something to prove. And I know sometimes that could be a hard statement to make because people always tell you, well, you ain't got nothing to prove, and you ain't got to prove nothing to nobody. But I want to kind of be aggressive toward that thought process. This morning, because I believe as believers we do have something to prove. I'm gonna say that again: as believers, we got something to prove. Say, I got something to prove. As a matter of fact, the purpose of all praise and worship, of all thanksgiving towards God, of our life we live toward God is to prove— watch this— that God is real. We do this not for religious form, not because it's something else to do. We do this so that our life can produce proof that God is real for real, and that when people look at our life, they can see that our service toward God is not in vain, but it's for real. Now say it again and say, I got something to prove. We need to prove to the earth that God is real. Omanshia. Thank you, Jesus. So as we worship this morning on Thanksgiving, I want you to understand that real gratitude and real thanksgiving is making up your mind that your life is going to be a content— continual, perpetual manifestation of proof that God is real. Listen, can I tell you something? The church doesn't have a shortage of gifted people. The church doesn't have a shortage of beautiful buildings and edifices. Of popular preachers and influencers, of people who, glory to God, are committed and loyal. Church ain't got no shortage of that. The church ain't even got a shortage of people that serve the community and do good things for people. We do pretty good in those areas. Here's what the church has a shortage of. The church has a shortage of power. The church has a shortage of real passion with God, meaning relationship. The church has a shortage of proof, and the lack of power is why we don't have proof. Say that with me. Say, we need power. I'm telling you right now, God saved us not so that we could be good Christians. I don't even know what that is. Glory to God. He saved us so we could prove to the world that he is alive, and if they serve him Their life will never be the same. Say it: I got something to prove. Glory to God. Let me give you some quick facts, and you might want to write them down this morning, about you, about God, and about praise. That's what these facts are about. Number 1, I want to say this, and this is going to sound again aggressive toward a thought process that people have embraced. Number 1, God does not need your praise. I'm gonna say that because people, people always say God needs your praise. He won't— no, he do not need your praise. He's God whether you praise him or not. I just need to— I just need you to understand that. And the Bible said he declares by himself that he is God. So when you praise, when you give thanks, when you worship, all you're doing, my God, today is joining in on the worship that God is bringing toward himself, the declaration that he's already made about himself. So say it with me, say, God don't need my praise. Hallelujah! Some religious people shoot you for saying that. God don't need your bucking, your shouting, your crying, your worshiping. He don't need that. Let me tell you, number 2, write it down. Your praise does not affect or change God, because there are people that teach, when I praise him, he gonna move. When I praise him, he gonna do what I want him to do, as if praise is some kind of authority you have to make God do what you want him to do. No, you praise him because he deserves it. You live for him because he deserves it, not because you're in expectation of what he gonna do because you dance or because you worship or because you sing. All right, write it down. Number 3: your praise— here we go, here's what praise does— it changes and affects you. So when you praise God, God comes into your world and it builds a dwelling place for him so that you can have relationship with God. Touch yourself, say, "Praise affects me." So when you're praising, it's changing something in you, it's causing you to grow, it's drawing you closer to him, it's creating a tabernacle for you and God to fellowship. You. My God. So number 4, write it down: you should praise God into your day so he can handle whatever comes your way. Because if you start your day and walk through your day with praise, God shows up and now he can handle obstacles, situations that show up in your life. Say that with me. Say, I gotta praise him every day. Hallelujah. Number 5: Praise turns impossibilities into victories. So watch this. So again, pray. God doesn't need your praise, but what praise does— he inhabits it, he dwells in it. And whenever you're up against an impossible thing, instead of freaking out, praise God. Instead of panicking, give God praise. When it looks like it's not going to turn, give God glory, because your praise will turn impossibilities into victory, because Oh boy, God is involved now. You're not handling it alone. Watch this. Number 6, write it down: praise based in faith. Oh boy, here we go. It thanks God not only for what he has done, but it thanks God for what he will do. And this is where I wanted to get. I wanted to lay that backdrop to— as we get into this text, because let me make this statement: God's has done is just as powerful as his will do. If he did it before, he can do it again. His has done is just as powerful as his will do. So your history in praise should trigger something in you that causes you— hear me good, guys— to praise God, glory to God, even when you don't see it happening. To rejoice before results. Oh God, maybe you're here, maybe these people in the camera here, you, you got to rejoice before the results. Some of us wait until he do it, but when you learn to praise God in faith, you can rejoice before the change comes. I ain't waiting till I get a billion dollars, I'm praising him for a billion in advance. Y'all ain't got to say much. I'm praising him like I'm already there. I ain't waiting for our church to grow. I ain't waiting for the house to be packed. I'm gonna praise him and preach like it's packed now. Are y'all hearing me? Because I'm rejoicing before the results. The old song said, don't wait till the battle is over. Shout now. Don't wait till the victory is won. Shout before the victory is won. So to understand the statement, I got something to prove— the proof of what comes out of your life that brings pleasure to God, that will draw people to God will be born out of your praise. Let's get a working definition of this word proof.

Let's, let's do that.

Approve in the text, because we read where it said that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. So what do I have to prove? I gotta prove the good things that God wants to do in my life. I gotta prove the acceptable and perfect will of God. People need to see that on our lives. So what it— what does it mean to prove? This word prove is the Greek word dakamaiso, and it means to test, to examine, to approve, meaning to distinguish by testing, to put to the test, to take through a process, to bring forth proof that what one said or believed— hear this— was right. So when the proof comes out of your life, people can see that God and his way is right. So you go through tests, you go through challenges, you go through obstacles, and so God can prove that he can bring you through those things so you have a testimony. Dakamaiso. So you can say to people, I went through this and God kept me. I almost lost my mind, but God kept me. I didn't know how I was gonna make it, but God provided. That's proof. But we got to stand in favor, we got to keep praising, we got to keep worshiping in spite of what it looks like. I got to get out of here. Glory to God. So we read in the text, glory to God, he says, I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God— let's start right there. I beseech you, that word means I beg you. I urge you to take ear, to listen to what I'm saying, because this is important. Say that with me. Say, this is important. So Apostle Paul is saying, I'm begging you, hear this, listen to this. I'm saying to you this morning, those of you here, those of you watching, I urge you by the mercies of God. And Paul is saying, I'm a product of mercy. God's mercy has kept me so I can speak to you. He says, I urge you by the mercies of God— this is important— I'm begging you to listen and do. Because watch this, it's not enough to hear it, you got to also do it. Say that with me, say, I got to do it too. Come on, say it again. Say, I gotta do it too. Information without application is constipation. Means you're stuck. Yeah, some people gonna experience that physically after today. Glory to God. Because they're gonna eat too much and it's gonna be problems. But at the end of the day, you, you don't need to receive revelation from God and not apply it. You got to make application. So this morning, I am a spiritual laxative. My desire is to get you moving. My desire is to move you into a place where you can prove what's acceptable. Hallelujah! He says, I urge you, I beseech you, I beg you, brethren. Adolphos, which means now he's talking to saved He's not talking to people that's not born again. So specifically this morning, I'm speaking to my brothers and sisters in Christ. I'm begging you, by the mercies of God, hear me. Listen to what I have to say. If you're watching this live, don't scroll, because at the end of the day, this is important. First thing he says, present your bodies. A living sacrifice. Oh boy, here we go. So the first point, write it down: if you're going to prove who God is, if you're going to prove the acceptable, good, and perfect will of God, you must first— watch this— return your body to God. Write it down: return your body to God. And I know there are people that are listening to me that will say, Apostle Woods, my body is my body and I can do what I want to do with it. Well, I beg to differ. Your body belongs to God. I'm gonna say that again. The body says— the Bible says your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit. In whom he does dwell. So when you came to Jesus, as y'all sing the song, just as I was weary, wounded, and sad, I found in him a resting place. When you came to Jesus, you brought him everything. You said to him, God, you are Lord over my life. Are y'all here? You're Lord over my body. Good God from Zion. So you, you gotta make up your mind now if you really want to prove— because watch this, you could be saved because when you get saved, you're a trichotomy. Your spirit is saved, glory to God, but which is your zoe life. That's where God moves in, he saves the spirit. To— watch this— the Bible said the saving of the soul. So now the spirit should influence the soul to manifest the desires of the Spirit of God out of your body. Well, praise the Lord!

I pray you're being blessed by this message. Please don't scroll, we're going to come back in a few moments to finish up this teaching. But I wanted to break in here really quick, guys, because here's what I know: Giving is an act of worship, and on this Thanksgiving Day, I want to give you an opportunity to give and be a blessing to our ministry. Listen, I want to appreciate all of our partners, all of our friends, our members who faithfully tithe and give and support our ministry. Listen, we couldn't do any of the things that we do as a ministry without you. A pastor one time stood up in front of his people and said, "Look, I don't need your money." Listen, Listen, that's so terrible because here's the, here's the catch: whether he needed it or not, you need to give because giving and receiving is God's exchange system between heaven and earth. And so we do need you to give for your sake. We need you to give so the ministry can be supported. Listen, that's not my story, that's not my testimony. I need your support, so I want to challenge encourage you today to get a Thanksgiving seed in the ground. Listen, the ways to give are on the screen. I'm not going to tell you how much to give. I'm not going to tell you what to do. But listen, I would that you would make a sacrifice. We're believing God that before this year would expire, that those of you like Isaac— when Isaac sowed in famine, the Bible says he reaped Oh my God, a hundredfold return, which is 10,000% or 1,000 times more than what it was the same year. I'm believing God, as you get seed in the ground today, that you're going to reap 1,000 times more— hear me— than you sow this year, 2024. So get your seed seed in the ground now. The ways to give are on the screen. I appreciate your support. Listen, we could do none of this without you, so get your seed in the ground and sow. I love you guys so much. Thank you again for your seed. Father, bless the gift, bless the giver, and like Isaac, may it come back to them 1,000 times more than it is this year, the same year. In Jesus' name, so be it to you.

Amen. Touch yourself and say, my body belongs to God. So now the Bible says here, present that body as a living sacrifice, not a dead sacrifice. Again, zio, zoe, which means I'm presenting my body as a sacrifice that can be used used, a usable sacrifice. In other words, you don't wait till you all done broke down and did everything in your body before you present it to God. He want to use your body. Are y'all hearing me? Or you don't present your body dirty and filthy, full of sin. Expecting God to use it. I'm just going to tell you again, you could be saved and go to heaven and not ever have heaven on earth, not never prove the will of God because you, you don't live in the realm of purity. Okay, I got, I gotta go, I gotta go. Okay, this is gonna help somebody today because you got people out here now who want to change the Bible to justify their sin. You got homosexuals— are you hearing me— they want to change the Bible and say, I'm saved, I love God, and God loves me. Yeah, he do love you, but he hates your sin. Hallelujah! You can't tell me you can marry another man hard as you, got the exact same thing you got, and that you're walking in the will of God. You can't do it. Can't play with sin like that.

Thank you.

The reality is Sin will make you pay more than you want to pay, and it'll make you stay longer than you want to stay. And most of these people who are claiming they're born this way, claiming God made them this way, all they want to do is keep living in sin. And it ain't just the homosexual. It's the lesbian, it's the fornicator, the whoremonger. You got some whoremongers that all they do is repent. They sleep with everybody and repent all the time. Go to church, jump, shout, speak in tongues, spit, blow bubbles, prophesy, do everything. And at the end of the day, they really have no power because they haven't returned their body to Jesus. I could testify because before I gave my body over to Jesus, I was a big hoe. And I could tell you the difference. Somebody said, mm-hmm, yes, yes, glory to God. I was a big hoe, glory to God. But I learned, and I was in the church, I was saved, I was a preacher. So I said, oh yeah. But thank God for deliverance. Thank God for bringing me out. Thank God that I could testify to you what the difference is. See, the difference in me operating in purity and power— when I would show up clean and pure, folk get healed, folk get delivered. I could cast out devils, glory to God, easily, because I was operating in purity. Are y'all hearing this? But when I was all sinned up and, and I had to repent from the night before and come to church, that's a problem because that wasn't right before God. I'm just honest enough to say what you want because I can say this freely because I'm delivered. I know what God brought me out of. And I'm telling you right now, if you really want to function and prove the will of God and have a relationship with God, because God is holy, you got to be holy. Okay, y'all don't believe it, go to Colossians. Okay, go to Colossians. No, no, no, go, go to Colossians 3:5 because I got to convince y'all. Glory to God. Because watch this, purity and power are both kingdom manifestations that we need in the world. Matter of fact, the fact that you can be pure It's not— watch this— these rules and regulations, because some people have been so religious with this that nobody wants to live holy because they think it's hard. But if you receive the baptism in the Holy Spirit, one of the fruit of the Spirit is joy. So there becomes a joy to bring pleasure to God. And you can live for him and be clean and not make excuses to do your sin. Oh boy, somebody said this is supposed to be a Thanksgiving message. It is, because when you bring your body to Jesus, you're saying, Lord, I thank you for saving me, and I love you more than I love how this makes me feel. Oh God, let's read Colossians 3:5. 5. Y'all said, preacher, stay with the Bible. I'm okay. All right, Colossians 3:5. The Bible says, mortify therefore the members which are upon the earth. Not church members, even though some— because the word mortify mean to kill. I have great members in our church, so I don't want to kill them. But I know some pastors that want to kill their members. They mad. Glory to God. They want to kill them all. But you can't kill them. Glory to God. You got to shepherd them and lead them. But the Bible says more— he's talking about your members which are upon the earth. There you got membership in your body. You got some members in your body that you need to put to death. Glory to God. He says— watch this— he starts naming them. He says fornication, So the word fornication is porné in Greek. It's where we get words like pornographic. So if you are even— well, boy, here we go. If you are watching pornography and saying, okay, well, I ain't gonna sleep with nobody, but I'm gonna watch a little porn, you only got to say nothing, and I'm gonna just do what I got to do through that. No, you're still operating in the flesh, and that's still fornication. Basically what you're doing is fornicating with yourself. That's called masturbation, which is a form of fornication. Somebody say, Apostle, it's Thanksgiving, I gotta eat turkey. Yeah, I want you to be holy when you eat this turkey. Oh my God. So, all right, someone said, well, that's how I get my stuff together and that's how I don't sleep with nobody. No, you're fornicating with yourself. Because guess what? Masturbation— if you're touching yourself and your eyes are closed, open your eyes and see who touching who. If you're a woman touching you, that's woman on woman. Uh-huh. Yeah, that's— it's man on man. Someone said, no, that's natural. No, it's not. It's porné. It's fornication. I'm trying to help you prove what's good. See, the church is stuck because we have compromised holiness. We have compromised righteousness and we think we could just fornicate. The devil is a liar. Somebody say, I gotta mortify that member. You better put that member out your church. Put it— put that fornicating member out your body and return your body to God. Watch this. He said also uncleanness.

Uh-oh.

You're a child of God. You shouldn't be nasty. Come on now. Another word in Greek for uncleanness is also perverted or perversion. The word perversion is two words: per and version. It means to create another version of the authentic. And you're operating uncleanness when you create another version of the authentic. Okay, we dealt with fornication with the heterosexual who is not married fornicating. Let's deal with the homosexual and lesbian who is unclean, who is perverted. You have created another version of the authentic. If you're a man, there's nothing on your body that says you are to receive Oh, y'all ain't got to talk. Okay, I'm out here now. I might as well be out here. Glory to God. Your body was not created to receive. Man and woman, there ain't nothing on your body that can give. As a matter of fact, you got to go buy something to be a lesbian. Or if you don't buy it, you got to figure it out some kind of way with what you got. But the reality is, God is saying, you can't prove who I am in purity living in these lifestyles. Let me go deeper. Uncleanliness can deal with too the fact that you don't like to bathe, you don't like to put on decent clean clothes. Come on, man, that if you're saved, you got— you ought to be clean. Clean. Take a bath. Glory to God. I mean, oh Jesus, not against no culture, but I know some, some, some culture— I won't call their name— they don't believe in deodorant. That's unclean, bro. I don't care if somebody's closer to God because you're putting immature stuff on your thing. It takes you— now that— no, you take yourself away from God smelling like that, and you're turning folk off. You trying to talk to me about Jesus and I cannot get past this Linus screen that you got coming off you? Y'all know who Linus is from Charlie Brown, right? Dirt just emitted off of him. Dude was unclean. Linus was unclean. Gotta deal with uncleanness. Glory to God. Let me keep going. Inordinate affection. Affection that's out of order. A 50-year-old man giving affection to a 14-year-old girl— out of order, inordinate. Y'all ain't got to say nothing. A married man giving affection to a single woman— uh-oh, out of order. That's called adultery. It's inordinate affection. Here we go again. Two men, two women— inordinate affection. This is wrong, it's out of order, people. We got to return our body to God. Watch it. I love this one: evil conspiscuence.

Evil conspiscuence.

This means that you're constantly planning and plotting evil in your mind. You look righteous on the outside, but you always have an evil motive. You need deliverance and return your body to God. Watch this. You're always conspiring to do evil deeds in your And that could be you conspiring how you gonna lie and cheat and deceive. God says, no, I want you to return that stuff to me. If I hit you yet, I'm coming down your street, right? Watch this. And covetousness— you sitting up worrying about what everybody else got, are you coveting what everybody else has? And not thankful for what God has given you. Return your body to God. Return your life to God, your bio's life, and say, God, I'm gonna present this thing a living sacrifice. My whole life belongs to you. Do I have anybody here that loves God more than what their body desires? Listen, because again, and he says also covetousness is idolatry. When you start worshiping and wanting things that God did not plan for you, or things that didn't— God says it's not yours. Oh boy, we put ourselves in a position where we forfeit purity and power. Say purity and power. Come on, say it again. Say purity and power. Listen, when you return your body to God, purity and power become the two legs that you stand on as a kingdom citizen. You stand on the fact that I want to operate in power and I want to live a pure life. Are y'all here? And guess what? You want both of those legs equal because you don't want one leg shorter than the because you got a whole lot of Christians, they limping, they limping in the spirit. Some got power, glory to the name of God, and they limping because they don't know how to appropriate that power in balance. You want to be pure, you want to be powerful. And you want to make sure you're standing on those two things so you could be effective. Touch yourself. Say, I'm pure, I'm powerful. Say, that's strength for me. Say, that's— say, purity is strength. Say, it's the purity of heart, it's the purity of intent. So your motives are pure. Your heart is pure when you return your body to God. I love this.

Watch this, because we play the grace card so much, but grace that doesn't lead to purity isn't grace.

Okay, let me unpack that statement. Let me say it again. Grace that doesn't lead to purity isn't grace. Grace comes from the Greek word charis, which— when we get words like charismatic or charisma— it is a gift that empowers you toward what is right. That's what the word means. So if charis empowers me toward what is right That means reception of grace is going to ultimately lead me to purity. Watch this, where I no longer actually need grace in that area. Oh God, because I have no more desire to do that thing that caused me to need grace, because once I received grace, it catapulted me into purity. Oh boy, God have mercy. Woo, my God, today, Jesus, hallelujah. See, we got to work hard and diligently on creating a pure lifestyle. Are y'all hearing me? And we got to work equally hard to demonstrate his power. Say, I got to demonstrate his power. I got to demonstrate his power. Say, I must demonstrate, must demonstrate a pure lifestyle. Pure lifestyle. Now here's the second one.

So say, say this with me again.

Say, I got to return my body to God. Return my body to God. Secondly, we read it, it said, he says, present your body a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. Reasonable, logic, kos in Greek, which is your thought-out service. When you think about it, it makes sense to give your body to God. Are y'all hearing it? But then he went on to say, do not be conformed to this world. Here's the second point. If you want to prove— say, I got something to prove— not only must you return your body to God, you must reject the world. Say, I gotta reject the world.

God.

The word world here is sukumatizo, and it means the system, the structure, or the way of living. Sukumatizo— the system, the structure, or way of living. Yeah, he says don't be conformed to the system, the structure, or way of living of the world. The way of living of the world says, ah God, I got to tap into a governmental system, I got to trust politics for resources. The system of the world says I got to go to a job, 9 to 5. When the system of the kingdom says I can be deployed and run my own business. Are y'all hearing this? He says reject the world's way of operating. This is not just the worldliness of sin, this is how they do things. The kingdom way is a supernatural way, and God is saying, I want you to live in a supernatural way and reject the world because it's just tempting because many of us, that's all we've been taught. It's the world's way of living, the world's way of working, the world's way of raising a family. But God says we got to embrace the kingdom constitution. The constitution of the kingdom is the Bible. We got to live according to the word. We don't abide by the Constitution of the United States because they amended too much. And as a matter of fact, when they first wrote it, it was wrote based on the Bible. And now over time, they've amended it to adjust to man's desire. Our way of living is governed by the Bible. So we got to reject the word. No matter what they say the economy is in the world, you ain't subject to that economy because Jesus is your economic king and he controls the economy in your life. So I tap into the system that produces a heavenly economy in my life. Which is giving and receiving, which is tithes and offerings, which is gratitude, which is thanksgiving. I don't live according to the systems of the earth. Say that one more time. I must reject the world. Some of y'all still don't believe it. Go to 1 John 2:15. 1 John 2:15. Don't pattern yourself, don't ascribe to the culture or the systems of the earth realm. You realize that culture— while you're turning there— is the way we do life. Most of us learn the culture from our parents, and we have to learn the culture of the kingdom because this is how we should do life. As a matter of fact, kingdom culture is your value system. That's why you got to study the word. Say study. So you can learn the value system of the kingdom. In the word, you're going to discover how to respond to relationships, how to respond to marriage, how to respond to what the world says about gay marriage and lesbian marriage. You'll learn to respond to what the world says about governmental systems and presidents and kings and war because you study the culture of the kingdom. Say, the word is my value system. It's how you respond to money, is how you respond to life. It's through understanding the culture of your king, man. I can't wait next week to start this series God has given me for December called A Story of a King. We're gonna walk through the story of Christmas and really see how the story of Christmas presents kingdom principles to us on how we should be living. There's a system on how we are to function, but you'll never be able to walk in that system if you don't reject the world. God never designed the church to be worldly. To look like the world, to act like the world, to be fleshly.

God have mercy.

I saw something online and I said, okay. I was trying to balance my thought process and be open to what I was seeing. I saw it was a church and the praise— whole praise and worship of the church was hip-hop. Hip-hop. They were rapping, and the young people in there, they were going in, but the beats sounded just like the world. The people were going in loving it. It was a hip-hop church. The preacher got up, he was doing bars, they were crimp walking and everything. Hip-hop church. I said, God, can the glory show up in God says, son, first thing he said, he said, he that wins a soul is wise. This is how he balanced me. He said, this is enough to get them to me. He said, but it's not enough to give them the culture of who I am, because that's not my culture. Are y'all hearing this? So we can bring them in, but then we got to teach them the culture. We got to teach them how to tap in in worship, how to tap in in praise. We don't want to stay worldly. Yeah, I've been watching these little clips of Kirk Franklin on his reunion tour when he be dancing. I'm like, Jesus the Christ, help us. And somebody said, okay, he's just dancing for the Lord, but it looks too worldly, it looks too feminine. Y'all ain't got to say nothing. Yeah, Kirk, you look feminine if you're watching this, sir. The reality is, why your pants got to be so tight and why you got to move like— come on, man, we, we watch this. Let me just read it, let me just read it. 1 John 2:15. Because I'm getting beside myself. He says, love not the world. So when we get saved, our love for the things of the past should diminish. But how the world does things— you should want to be saved and still want to go to the club every Friday and Saturday? Come on now, something's wrong with that. Now what? Who, who you serving? You, you say, but you say, okay, well, God ain't gonna mind I'm up in here in the club. I just want to hear some music. I want to meet some people. No, he does mind. Where's your affection? Who you love? He says, love not the system of the world. Here we go. Neither the things that are in the world.

My God.

So the stuff the world does, we shouldn't do it that way. The Bible says in Leviticus 10:10 that you may put difference between that which is holy and that which is unholy. Lord, somebody say, Apostle, this supposed to be Thanksgiving, man. It is. I'm trying to tell you, if you want to prove with your life and give thanks to the Lord authentically and perpetually, you got to reject the world. You got to return your body. Watch this. He said, if any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. So if I love being worldly and doing the things that the world does and reject the Father's way— because you're going to either do things one or two ways, you're going to do things worldly or heavenly, there's no in between. It's just like being a little bit pregnant. Either you with child or you ain't. You can't be a little bit saved. Y'all ain't saying nothing. Glory to God. You got to make up your mind. The old mother said you, you straddling the fence. You got to get off that fence. And the Bible says You need to be either hot or cold. You can't be lukewarm or he'll spew you out. I'm just trying to help us prove. He says, verse 16, for all that is in the world is the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life.

That's all in the world. People lust after what they see. They lust for what their body wants, and then they lust for things that gives them pride in life, that when people can look at them and say, oh, look at them, they accomplished that.

But the Bible says no, we should live to give glory to God. We should live to give honor to God. Watch this, he says The lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes, and the pride of life is not of the Father but is of the world. Verse 17, I'm almost done, guys. He says, and the world passeth away and the lust thereof, but he that doeth the will of God shall abide forever. So the system of the world is going to pass away. Whoever does the will, the, the hilia in Greek, the word, whoever does what the word of God says will live eternally. So that means I can't do what I want to do. I got to do what the book say. I got to reject the world. Say that with me. Say, I got to reject the world. You know why? Because when you operate in kingdom culture, you start establishing these preset values inside of you, in your heart.

On how you operate in your day-to-day life.

See, kingdom culture is how heaven functions. When we pray the prayer, 'On earth as it is in heaven,' it's not just a prayer about eternity. It's a prayer about right now. On earth as it is in heaven. It's not a prayer about me going to heaven. It's about heaven coming to me. It's about what's in heaven being duplicated in my life now. So watch this. If there's no cancer in heaven, there should be no cancer in my body on earth. On earth as it is in heaven. Are y'all hearing this? No high blood pressure, no diabetes in heaven. There should be no sickness in my body on earth. There's wealth and prosperity in heaven. There should be wealth and prosperity in my life on earth. So that's bringing the culture of heaven to me, and I prove heaven through my life. Watch this. In heaven People don't waste time because there's angelic beings and there's God and there's worship going on. Glory to God. Nobody's worried about who people are not. People are just concerned about who people are in heaven. The angels know who they are. God knows who he is. On earth, we worry about who people are not too much when we need to honor people for who they are. On earth as it is in heaven. Even if people ain't getting it all together, we need to still honor them for where they are and believe God for their deliverance, for their breakthrough. Are y'all hearing this? Oh, glory to God. See, the reality is, when you got something to prove You really want—

oh, I love this—

your life to be measured. You don't want to just talk a good game, but you want to produce things that people can tangibly measure that was God. And that's your testimony. So you can talk about what God has done, and people can measure it up against carnality in the flesh and see God did He did it, and he did it because you embrace culture and rejected the world. Say that with me.

I got to reject the world.

Here's the last one. He says, be not conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. So I got to return my body, reject the world, I got to renew my mind. So if I want to prove something, I got to get my mind right. The word transformed in Greek here is metamorphoo. It is what we get words like metamorphosis. When a caterpillar becomes a butterfly, that process is called metamorphosis. When the seed of a man penetrates the embryo of a woman woman, and a woman goes through 9 months of pregnancy, 3 trimesters, that is called a metamorphosis. That seed becomes something else. So God says, in renewing your mind, be transformed by the— your mind has to become another mind. You can no longer afford to think like you used to think. Your mind has to be transformed. The Bible says it's impossible to put old wine into new wineskins. But I don't know why I feel this preacher in me this morning. Listen, you, you got to understand, you can't pour new things that God's trying to do in an old mindset. And I'm trying to help somebody this morning understand there needs to be a paradigm shift in your mind. Mind. So that when the next time the devil shows up and tries to tempt you with what you used to do and how you used to act and how you used to think and where you used to go, you could tell the devil, tell the devil, I changed my mind. You, you got to understand, when, when he shows up, I changed my mind. Ain't going there again. My mind's been renewed. I'm determined I'll never go back to what God delivered me from. I'll never be the person that I used to be. I embrace the fact that if any man be in Christ, he's a new creature. All things are passed away, and behold, all things are new. Somebody say new. Renew your mind. Go back and make it new again. Kick that stuff out that don't represent God. Hallelujah. Listen, faith doesn't come from the mind, but watch this, but the renewed mind, it gives context for faith. So if I'm believing God to prove something great, something big in my life, I need, glory to God, faith in my renewed mind, my new way of thinking. In other words, I don't think small anymore. I, I know y'all don't like Donald Trump, but he, he wrote a book called The Art of the Deal, and in that book, glory to God, he made a statement that has stuck with me for about 20 years. He said, if you're gonna be thinking, you might as well think big. If you— y'all ain't got this, you ain't got to like it, because that's how God wants you to think. He's a big God with a big mind. I don't need you thinking small. You got to renew your mind because God has no limits and God can do the impossible. Lord, I got to get out of here. Glory to God, because I feel like preaching. Let me, let me go. Listen, the unrenewed mind— here, this is hostile toward God. It's hostile. Hostility. God saves you and then you don't renew your mind. It's hostility because you can't transform until you renew your mind. You can't turn into another person, another man, another woman, where your life is displaying different behavior and different expectations until your mind is renewed. You really can't honestly return your body to God or reject the world until you renew your mind. Oh boy, you got to renew it.

You—

and how do I renew it, Michael? I'm glad you asked. Ah, you got to study the mind of God. You do that through studying his word. You do that in worship. You do that in prayer, because the unrenewed mind is hostile toward God. But the renewed mind partners with God. Hallelujah! Through faith with God's plans and purposes in the earth. And the renewed mind decides that I want what God wants for me. Is there anybody here that wants what God wants for you? Oh my God, I got something to prove. I want to prove what God has planned for me. See, the renewed mind transforms how we think and how we see. It positions us to see from heaven's perspective. I'm not looking at my life the way men see me. I'm looking at myself the way God sees me. And the renewed mind says, I want to see myself the way that God sees me. I want to see myself being used the way God wants to use me. I want God's plans to unfold in my life. I got to prove that he's a real God. I gotta prove that he's a mighty God. Anybody here got something else to prove? Hallelujah! You want to prove that God ain't finished with you. You want to prove that everything you've been saying about God, that it is the truth. I got to get out of Hallelujah! Touch your mind and say, I changed my mind. Glory to God. I need you to say, say, I changed my mind. Glory to God. And you got to decide, I'm going to have more, I'm going higher than I am, I won't be stuck in this place. Glory to the name of God. God, we love you today. Oh, just, just touch yourself again and say, I changed my mind. I'm going up from here. Hallelujah. Good God from Zion, we learn from Romans 12:2, glory to God, that the renewed mind— it— come on, Kasai, I'm ready to go, son. The renewed mind, glory to God, it proves that which is good. The word good in Greek means that which is profitable. Glory to God. So God wants to get some profit out of your life, and when you renew your mind, God will get profit out of your life. He'll bring increase in your life. He'll do big things. He'll do great things. Somebody ought to shout it again. I got something to prove. Glory to God! I want to prove that God is real. I want to prove that no weapon formed against me shall be able to prosper. I got something to prove.

Well, praise God! I pray, man, that that word blessed you like it blessed us. I mean, we were tremendously blessed by that word today. God ministered to us. And we realize for real, man, we got to prove what is good, what is profitable, what is acceptable— euritos in Greek— what God accepts. And what— watch this— what others will accept through you as Him. And what is the perfect, the teleos, the mature, complete will of God. That's what we want in our lives, and we got to prove that. By this they'll know that God is real, and people will get saved, people will be transformed because of your transformation. So I want to warfare with you this morning. I want to pray and I want to rebuke the enemy. So don't scroll, stay with me. I want to rebuke the enemy. Glory to God. And I want to decree and declare, my God, today that you will be able to return your body to God. Maybe I know that was a tough message today. Maybe there there are some listening that you're struggling with sexual sin. Gloria, you're looking at a person that struggled in that area. Glory to God, but God delivered me. Uh, glory to God, I was a whoremonger. Glory to God, heterosexual whoremonger. Glory to God, and God delivered me. I'm telling you, no matter what your struggle is in your body— homosexuality, lesbianism, soul tied. Uh, you may be a fornicator that's— glory to— just can't control your flesh, and you're heterosexual. I want to tell you, God can deliver, and that's what I want to war for. Maybe you're operating in some level of uncleanness. God can set you free. You can return your body to God. You can reject the world. You can renew your mind and live under the culture of heaven. Let's pray. Father, in Jesus' I thank you for your people, God, and I decree and declare that no weapon formed against them today will be able to prosper. I declare that your blood still works. Your word says healing and deliverance is the children's bread. And so, Father, in the name of Jesus, I declare right now that they are healed, they are delivered. I rebuke every spirit of Fornication, perversion, uncleanness, inordinate affection, lesbianism, homosexuality. I rebuke it now in the name of Jesus. I declare that every lie that's being told about these activities, that this is just the way we are, this is how we were born, whether it be heterosexual sin or homosexual or lesbian sin. God, we declare sin is sin, and we decree and declare that change and transformation can and will happen in the name of Jesus. I declare it to be so. I say it is so in Jesus' name. Amen. I break every soul tie now in Jesus' name. Amen. I promise you, if you receive that prayer and if you're struggling in your body to return your your body, your life. And it's not just that, the sexual part. Your whole body is your bio's life, the life you live. You got to present it as a living sacrifice. And I pray you were blessed today. I pray you receive from God. Listen, I love you guys. Remember, get your seed in the ground.

Glory to God.

Be a blessing to ministry. Why don't you plant a Thanksgiving seed today? I want you to really pray right now about getting a Thanksgiving seed in the ground. I would that every person listening to me live or by replay would plant and sow and be a support to our ministry. We appreciate all of you and how you bless us. We can't do what we do unless you support us, and we thank you for that. We need you, and so we appreciate the partnership. We appreciate you taking the time to be a blessing. The ways to give are on the screen, and however you choose to do it, get your seed in the ground today. Listen, I love you guys with the love of the Lord, and guess what? Ain't a thing you could do about it. Y'all be blessed. God bless you.