Kingdom Glory | Dr. Mike Woods, Sr. | Radah Church | 05.22.22

Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey!

Well, praise the Lord! And this is the day the Lord has made, and guess what? We're going to rejoice and be glad in it. I am super excited that you're here with me today on Sunday. Listen, glory to God, God is so good. You're alive, you're breathing. Listen, it's in him we live, it's in him we move, it's in him we have our very life. Don't get it twisted, we're alive today because Jesus is alive. And I'm super grateful. We've been on this 40 Days of Infallible Proof, and let me tell you something, every day during this journey, God has been proving himself to me. And we're moving closer to our 40th day, which once we hit day 40, it's going to put us actually 10 days away from the day of Pentecost. We started this right after Easter Sunday or Resurrection Sunday, and Acts 4:31 says Jesus showed himself alive with infallible proofs, teaching the things that pertain to the kingdom. So we've been teaching every day that we've been able to get on the things that pertain to the kingdom. I mean, and we've been— because it's a lot of messages online that you need to go back and watch that pertain to to the kingdom that will bless your life. And if you apply them, they will bring forth infallible proof. But listen, I'm super excited. We're here today and we have a word for you. Don't scroll, stay with us. Listen, there's a word from the Lord on today and you don't want to miss it. But before we get into that word, I want to pray, and then we're going to go right into a praise and worship piece from a previous service. I promise you it's going to bless your socks off, where God had us there at Rhoda Church under the power of God. Worship is so important to creating a culture of heaven in our environment. I'll say that again. Worship is so important to creating a culture of heaven in our environments. It's not enough to just show up at church and heaven never shows up. Well, in this particular clip, it was one Sunday the glory came in so heavy at Rhoda Church and we just worshiped and worshiped. I'm not going to be able to show all of it, but I'm gonna show you pieces of it and show you how the glory came in and how the power met us there. And I promise you're going to be blessed. So stay with us, worship with the songs, praise the name of the Lord, and I know you're going to be tremendously blessed. And I'll be back, and then we're going to get right into the Word of God. God bless you.

And God, there's nothing worth more, oh God, than just to praise and worship you. On this day. Holy Spirit, you're welcome in this place. Saturate our hearts, oh God. Move in this place, oh God. Reke shike. Move in this place, oh God. Hallelujah. There's nothing worth more that can ever come close. Nothing can compare. You're our Living, oh God, your presence. Holy Spirit, you are welcome here. Come flood this place and fill the atmosphere. Your glory, God, is what our hearts long for, to be overcome by your presence, Lord. Your presence, Lord, from the time we came Hallelujah! There's nothing worth more that could ever come close. Nothing can compare. You're our living hope. Your presence, Lord. And we lift it and we sing, Holy Spirit, Holy Spirit, you are welcome here. Come flood this place and fill the atmosphere. Your glory, God, is what my heart longs to be overcome by your presence, Lord. Go ahead and worship God right now this morning. Your presence, Lord. Oh God, I ask that you will rain down your presence on your people today. Rain down your anointing of God Holy Spirit, we move out the way. Father, we ask that you will take your place. Fill this room, fill this room, fill this room. Holy Spirit, Holy Spirit, you are welcome here. Come flood this place and fill the atmosphere. Your glory, God, is what my heart, their heart, we are known for. To be overcomer, to be overcomer, to be overcomer. Holy Spirit, you are welcome here. Come flood this place and fill this atmosphere. Your presence, God, is what our hearts long for to be over. Come by your presence, Lord. Your presence, Lord. Your presence, Lord. Yeah, I've tasted— hallelujah! I've tasted and seen of the sweetest of loves, and will my heart become free and my shame is undone? You see, you have to be free from shame You have to be free from bondage in order to allow the Holy Spirit to come in and to take His place. The song declares that I tasted, I tasted and seen of the sweetest of love. And when my heart becomes free and my shame is undone, it's all caught up in Your presence, oh God. Your presence, Lord. So we lift our prayer cry to you, Lord. Oh, Holy Spirit, you are welcome here. Come flood this place and fill the atmosphere. Your glory God is what our hearts long for, to be overcome by your presence, Lord. Your presence, Lord. Let us become, oh God, let us become more aware of your presence. Let us experience the power of your glory. Let us become more aware of your presence. Let us experience the glory Your goodness! Your presence Lord! And we cry oh all over the building here's our war cry and we say— Ohh! Ooh! Father, here we are. Yes, God, we're here to worship you, oh God. Father, we move out of your way, oh God, so that you can let your power flow, so that you can let your anointing flow in this place, oh God. So Father, we examine ourselves before you, oh God. This is our worship, oh God. Father, the songs declare that away from the noise, away, away, away from the noise, oh, to worship you I live, to worship you I live and live to To worship you, I live. To worship you, I live. I live to worship you. Go ahead and sing that song to yourself all over the building. Hands lifted, sing. To worship I live to worship you. I live, I live to worship you. Father, as your people's hands are raised, God, please allow your Holy Spirit to rain down upon them in this place, oh God, in this place, oh God, in this place, oh God. Rain down your presence, oh God. Have your way, Jesus. Have your way, Jesus. Oh, to worship you, I live to worship you, I live, I live to worship you. Nothing else matters. Oh, to worship you, I live to worship you, I live, I live To worship you, to worship you, I live to worship you, I live, live to worship you. Father, be pleased with our worship, oh God. To worship you. I live to worship you. I live to worship you, God. To worship you. I live to worship you. I live to to worship you. Oh God, to worship you. I live to worship you. I live, I live to worship you. No music, let the heart sings all over the building. Say, to worship you I live. To worship you I live. Yeah, yeah, yeah. To worship you I live. To worship— Father, hear our humble cry, oh God, as we worship you, oh God. Oh, sing it again. Yeah, to worship you I live. To worship you. I live, I live to worship you. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh, just to sing in your presence, Lord. Just to dance in Your presence, Lord. Oh, we honor you, Jesus. We worship We worship you, Jesus. We love you, Jesus. We worship you, God. We need you in our world. God, you're worthy. God, we need you. To worship you, I live to worship you, I live to worship you, God.

Well, hallelujah! Thank you, Jesus. I'm telling you, the glory of God is so important. I— listen, I wouldn't go to a church where there is no glory. Glory to God. Even if I was the pastor, I would not go, because the only reason we assemble is to give God glory, to worship him, and watch this, to produce a culture of heaven so that we can hear from God through the preacher. How can you hear without a preacher? How can he preach except he be be sent. So, and I'm not just talking about he was called and sent out, the pastor, but heaven should send a preacher to a people with a message. That message becomes more effective and it takes on the attitude again and the culture of the King Jesus when the glory of God is His presence. That way there's no room for entertainment, there's no room, glory to God, for preachers trying to hype you up and do, hallelujah, things that's going to appease your flesh. But we want the glory. And I'm telling you, I'm thankful for the church and our worship leaders. I'm thankful for how God visits us. Listen, I want to take a moment before we get into the word today. Stay with me, stay with me, to encourage your hearts today to give into ministry. Listen, stay with me. I want to encourage you to give— hear me— into ministry. You know, the Bible says it's more blessed to give than it is to receive. The scripture also declares whatsoever a man soweth giveth, that shall he also reap. Listen, it's— giving literally is an act of worship. It's sacrificial, and there can never be worship without a sacrifice. So I want to challenge you today to get your— if you're connected to Rhoda Church, God knows if you are a member of this church, you should be tithing a tenth, glory to God, of your unto the Lord. Glory to God. And if you remember anywhere else, you should be giving God 10%. The Bible says in Malachi 3, bring ye all the tithe into the storehouse that there may be meat in mine house. He said, prove me now herewith, and I will open the windows of heaven and pour you out a blessing blessing, you won't have room enough to receive. And I'm telling you, as we move in obedience, I'm a witness that God will position you in life where you have more than enough and you constantly operate in the overflow. And that's where God wants us to be. The ways to give are on the I need every person watching this live or by replay to participate in givings in some way. If you have a church home, you need to give your tithe to your church. If you do not have one, this is a good place to bring your tithe. Your offering can be given sacrificially into good ground anywhere. I challenge you to get good seed in the ground now. As a matter of fact, yes God, I hear you. I need every person watching to get a seed faith offering of $51 and sow it into ministry now. Listen, if you have it on your person, in the bank, you can do it digitally, however you choose to do it, I need you to get that seed in the ground because there's a miracle connected to this seed today. Trust God by faith in your giving right now. The ways to give are on the screen. Glory to the name of God. And you use those ways because they go straight to the church. The Cash App is Rodder Church. On our website is rodderchurch.com/donate. However you choose to do it, get that seed in the ground. While you are preparing your offering, I want to take you into some song ministry that I know will bless your soul. Listen, we have been blessed with great singers around us, and I'm telling you right now, you're going to be blessed by this selection. So while you're giving, we're going to let this song minister to you, and then right after this I'm gonna come back and teach the word of God. Father, I thank you in advance for blessing every gift and every giver. Give it back to them 1,000 times more than it is, and I praise you for it now in Jesus' name. Amen. And thanks be to God. Thank you again for your giving Check this out. Worship in this moment as you give, and then I'm coming back to pray and preach and watch God work miracles in your life. Don't scroll, stay with us. God bless you.

There's nothing like your goodness, oh God. There's nothing like your peace, oh God. There's nothing like your wisdom and your guidance, oh God. So Father, we just worship you right now. You, Lord, for your mercy never fails me. All my days I've been held in your hands, from the moment that I wake up until I lay my head. Oh, I I will speak of the goodness of God. All my life you have been faithful. In all my life you have been so, so good. With every breath that I have, oh, I will sing of the goodness of God. Is there anybody in here today? I love your voice.

Yes, Lord.

You have led me through the fire. In darkest nights, you are close like no other. I've known you as a father. I've known you as a friend. And I will sing of the goodness of God. I will sing of the goodness of God. Your goodness is running after, is running after me. Your goodness is running after, is running after me. I give you everything, my Lord. Your goodness is running out, is running out for me. Your goodness is running out, is running out. If you are with me, your goodness is running out, is running out to me. All my life you have been faithful. Has God been faithful to anybody else today?

All my life Well, praise the Lord. I pray you were blessed by that ministry in song. And again, I am so appreciative for your gifts and sharing with the ministry. Listen, I want to get right into this because I don't want to waste any time on anything else that may— you may deem unnecessary and that may be a hindrance to you getting the message in its entirety. This I want to put out as a disclaimer today: I am not here to entertain you, but again, I am here to give you some principles that you can walk away from this teaching and start using them immediately and see the blessing of the Lord working in your life. I think so many people are at a disadvantage because they never have had real encounters. And unfortunately, that's religion that does that. We become so cliché-ish. We say things that sound good. We sing things that sound good. We preach things that sound good. We do things that look good. And the reality is, if our song, if the life we live, if our studying, if none of these things culminate— hear me— with an encounter with God, then I want to submit to you, we're doing it wrong. So what I want to talk about today, and I think that you're going to be very blessed by this, right? I want to talk about kingdom glory. I've been teaching over the past, again, the last, last 20-some-odd days, almost 30 days now on kingdom. Again, from Acts 1:3, Jesus showed himself after the resurrection with infallible proof. So we've been on this 40 days of infallible proof, and the Bible says Jesus taught the things that pertain to the kingdom. So I've been teaching about kingdom, uh, quite a bit over these past 20-some-odd days, almost 30 days now. And I believe this message today— and we've received some great great teachings. But this message today, listen, I think is one of the most important messages that I will ever teach in my life. That's why it's very important that you stay with me. And I'm almost glad, especially those of you at Rhoda Church, you know, I am— we're not physically in the church today. We are every other week for those who don't want to visit us. But today we're not. So we, we're actually— I'm actually, at the time you're watching this, I'm actually in Newark, New Jersey on assignment. But we decided to just do virtual only today so that we can continue to get out what needed to get out in this context of kingdom. Listen, the most important message I believe I'll ever teach. Matter of fact, the Kingdom of God is the only message Jesus preached. It's the least preached message in the church today. Most preachers never preach about the Kingdom. And this is why a lot of church folk don't understand the Kingdom. So I've taught about Kingdom faith. I've talked about Kingdom worship. I've talked about the King. I've talked about being Kingdom heirs. We have been drilling. We've talked about kingdom order last week. So we've been drilling this in your spirit really strong. But today we're going to talk about kingdom glory. And I want to start off by submitting to you and then we're going to go to Saint John's Gospel, Chapter 12, and just read a little bit. But I want to submit to you off the rip, right, that Kingdom glory. Watch, this is collateral glory. Collateral is anything you put up as a security that essentially you will pay back something borrowed, or you will pay back something you vowed, or you will complete something you promised you would complete. Collateral glory requires sacrifice. Listen, you won't— you will never— I don't care how churchy you are. I don't care how much you dance, how much you buck, shout, roll in the floor, speak in tongues, how popular you are, man. I don't care. Watch this. You'll never experience collateral glory if you're not willing to make the sacrifices that need to be made for the kingdom to come where you are. See, you got to understand that the kingdom comes with the king because the substratum of the kingdom is the king. Jesus is the king. Well, there are certain conditions that have to be met in order for the king to show up. You can get saved. Hear me good, people. Ladies and gentlemen, children, boys and girls, please listen. You You can get saved and never encounter kingdom glory. Watch this. You can get saved, die, go to heaven, and never experience heaven on earth. And when you get to heaven, you'll be like, oh my God, I was missing this the whole time. Because again, there is sacrifices that have to be made. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Father, to walk. I'm glad I figured this out because that was a season in my life. I thought I was— I had it. I thought I was walking in glory like a lot of people until I really had glory encounters and I started having them consistently. And I understood why I was having them sometimes time and not as consistent as they needed to come. And I'm talking about real glory encounters. Now we're going to find out what that is in a moment. All right. So it's collateral glory, right? You must— hallelujah— be willing to give up what you want to embrace experience, and even enhance what he wants in you and through you. I'll say that again because I want you to get it. In order— listen to me, listen— in order to, oh my God, experience, encounter, embrace, enhance what he wants in you, you gotta give up what you want. Now the first piece of that is admitting that there is something you want, mm-hmm, that goes against the grain of what God wants for you. And it doesn't necessarily have to be sexual, it doesn't have to be something sinful in the terms of what you may view sin as. But the word sin is from the Greek word hormēsia. It means to come short. It means to miss. Again, I'm not here to entertain you. It means to miss the mark, right? It means to come short. It means not to live out your purpose. It means to be living a life that wasn't created for you. You doing what you want to do. And because of this, you can experience, encounter, embrace, enhance what he wants for you. Let's look at John 12. Hallelujah. And I'm reading out of Amplified Bible, and I'm gonna read verses 20 through 25. Stay with me. The Bible says, now among those who went up to worship at the feast were some Greeks. Verse 21, these came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and they made this request. Listen, sir, we desire to see Jesus. Listen to this. Philip came and told Andrew. Then Andrew, listen, and Philip together Peter went and told Jesus. And Jesus answered them, the time has come. Uh-oh. For the Son of Man to be glorified and exalted. He says, I assure you most solemnly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just one grain. It will never become more, but lives by itself alone. It's not enhanced. Here we go. Here we go. We already in it. But if it dies, listen, if it dies, if it gives up what it wants, it produces many others and yields a rich harvest. Oh, verse 25. Anyone who loves his life loses it. Listen, but anyone who hates his life in this world will keep it to life eternal. Whoever has no love for, no concern for, no regard for his life on earth but despises it preserves his life forever and ever. It's really oxymoronic in this text, and it's almost like saying collateral glory. That's really an oxymoron. Uh, this whole text is very oxymoronic, you know. You know, oxymorons are words or terms that are contradictory in meaning, right? Yet used together. And there's always an irony in what is being said when you use an oxymoron. And in this text we just read, full of oxymorons. Jesus says it's time for the Son to be glorified and to be lifted up and to be seen. These Greeks come and they say, we want to see Jesus. We want to encounter Jesus. How many of you really want to encounter Jesus? If you want to encounter Jesus, just type some worship hands in the comments. If you want to encounter him for real, type those— lift up those hands in the comments. Because at the end of the day, that encounter is available to you. Seeing Jesus work in your life is available to you for real. I'm not talking about just going to church feeling good. I'm talking about really seeing the manifestation of God operating and flowing out of your life. Listen, I posted something earlier this week, a clip from a message I preached probably about 6 years ago, actually. Actually, and what I was saying in the clip, because it was apropos to where we were going today with this, the extent or the depth to which God lives in you correlates or is congruent to the extent that God is able to manifest outside of you. So we have to work on getting God deeply rooted in our life so we can see experiences externally that pertain to watch this that are connected to the depth of God that's in us. Ooh, wow. So hear this, hear me good. It's oxymoronic for Jesus to say it's time for me to be manifested, to be revealed, to be glorified. But then he says, in order for that to happen, I got to die. I got to suffer. The seed's got to fall to the ground and die so I can bring forth for more, more fruit. And then he used the oxymoron concerning us. He says, if you love your life in this world, you will lose it so you can gain eternity. Wait a minute. So, and I want to introduce you to something. Jesus is not speaking— Jesus was always interested in making sure his people, hear me, were able to experience heaven on earth. Not— listen to me, saints— not when you die and go to heaven and you just experience it then. God wants you to have heaven on earth. And I know that may even seem oxymoronic. Heaven on earth? Wait a minute, those are two different places. Well, the only difference in heaven and earth is the presence of God. I submit to you that everything in heaven is on earth right now. Yeah, it is. We got gold. They got streets of gold in heaven. You get enough gold, you can make you some streets of gold. Matter of fact, somebody in Dubai has already done it. There are trees in heaven. We got trees in earth. There are leaves on the tree in heaven for the healing of the nation. Trees is where medicinal healing come from in the earth. We— there are so many people that use natural healing King to get healed. So listen, the thing— there are pearls. If you want to put some pearls on a gate at your house, you can, and you can have something look like heaven. But let me tell you something, the key to heaven is God. And if you got the Holy Spirit, the King working in your life, and you're having heavenly encounters and you're sitting in heavenly places like the scripture said, because the Bible said he'll have us sit in heaven places, which means we could create an epi-ronious, a heavenly place, a culture of heaven where we are. We can sit in heavenly things with God in the now. So God is introducing something here. He's saying, I want to give you heaven on earth. I want to give you the glory on earth. I want to give you eternity on earth. I want eternal things to manifest on earth. Let me give you an example. We love— we learned about this growing up in Sunday school. Some, some preachers preach it and don't really know what happened. Well, there were 3 Hebrew men, not boys. They were men. The Bible never said they were boys. They were men. And if you study the, um, glory to the etymology, which is the words study, and also the history of Daniel, the Book of Daniel, you'll discover that these were men, not boys. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego Abendigo were men. The Bible says because they would not worship strange gods. Hear this. They would not bow down to Nebuchadnezzar's god. Nebuchadnezzar gave a decree that when you heard music, you were to bow down and worship the idol god that he had erected. It was a statue of himself. Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego was on something else. They had connection with God for real. And Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego was out in the community when the music came on. They didn't bow. Somebody saw them, reported it. They had to go before the king. Make a long story short, the king was mad. The king said, okay, you ain't gonna do what I say. I told you, if you didn't worship the image I have set up, you will be cast into the fiery furnace. The Bible says, hear me, that they were actually thrown in the fiery furnace. The guy, the furnace was so hot because Nebuchadnezzar turned it up 10 times hotter than it was because he was angry. The guy that threw them in, the Bible said he burned up throwing them in. But when they got in the fire, watch this, They did not burn up. They were not consumed. See, fire— watch this revelation— fire consumes. Oh my God. So it takes time, time for something to be consumed by fire. If a house catches on fire, it's not going to burn down instantly. It takes time for that fire to do its damage and burn the house now. Well, it would have took time for the fire to burn up Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Well, let me tell you why it couldn't burn them up. Because eternity got in the fire with them. Oh God. Oh my God. The Bible says when they got in the fire, Nebuchadnezzar looking looking in shock that they're not burning up. And so, they're walking around in the fire. But wait a minute. I see a fourth man in the fire that's likened to the Son of Man. Oh God. He's in the fire with them. So, when the Son of Man, who is eternal, gets in the fire, it suspends the principle of time. It suspends the principle of heat. Y'all aren't helping me. Oh my God. Of fire, period. It, and it cannot burn them up because eternity is with them. What am I saying? You can have heaven on earth. You can have the glory of God with you in every situation. You just got to meet the collateral conditions. Again, this is all oxymoronic because fire is supposed to burn you up. So let's get some working definitions, man. Let's, let's get into this. Glory to God. So collateral again is something pledged as security, surety, guarantee, insurance, indemnity, indemnification, or a backing to guarantee you will make good on a vow, whether that's financial, verbal, or whatever. Collateral says you're going to make good on the vow you made, and if you You don't. The person holding the collateral gets to keep it. Well, God says, for your sacrifice, I will exchange it for kingdom glory. Oh, I know you like sex. Sex is good. Yeah, I know you like to do the things you like to do. Glory to God. But if you want to experience this level of glory I'm talking I'm talking about. Not you in the church blowing on people and they falling out. You know, we do that. We see people fall into power. But I've also seen people fall out of power and get up the same way. And yeah, you have too. So what we want is consistency. And when people do get slain in the spirit, hear me, when the glory of God does hit a house, that the fire of God God literally consumes everything not like him, and they have a real encounter. Well, your flesh has to die to some things you want. Collateral glory. Again, oxymoron. Glory is kavod in Hebrew. It is the express weight, the heaviness of God. Watch this. The splendor of God. All of these things represent kavod. That's the Hebrew word. The greatness, the splendor, the— oh my God, the weight, the illumination, the wealth, the power, the majesty of God. So when the glory comes, the express kavod comes, watch this, the weight, the splendor, the majesty, the illumination, the wealth. Oh my God. All of that is tied up in the glory. And you got people who would tell you they've been in the glory, but they're still sick. They'll tell you they've been in the glory and they still broke. Got holy hands and empty pockets. Pockets. They'll tell you they've been in the glory and there's no weight in their walk with God. Can't heal a flea with a headache. Can't cast a devil out of a bug because they have no glory, no power, no weight on their life. Popular, but no power, no weight. Packed house every Sunday, with it. But no, wait. And really, sir, if you're listening to me— and I know y'all do listen to me because y'all think something wrong with me, but it's not me, I promise you. I'm not crazy. I'm in the glory. And once you get this, you'll understand. But can I tell you something, sir, ma'am, with your popular, packed-out self? You're doing those people a disservice because you're showing up in your carnality. You're showing up walking in your flesh, and you're not operating from a place of power and glory. And you don't carry the anointing that destroys yokes and removes burdens. And my friend, that is a problem. Oh my goodness. It's a problem. Huh? Huh? Let me move. Let me move. Because you know what? Let me move. Let me move. Oh my God. God says I want you to have and I'm not against popularity, it's good because it draws people to where God is or where he's supposed to be. But God wants you to have a renowned space in glory where it's not building a kingdom to yourself, it's building something under God. And people are getting free because you're operating in the oil of the anointing. Yeah. And people come to your house and their burdens get removed. And their yokes get destroyed. Not entertained. I'm— it makes me itch. Lord have mercy. When I see entertaining preachers and entertaining singers in the church who all they want to do is entertain to make them feel good. But how about let's get people to God where they can have real encounters with him. I know some of y'all saying, oh my God, I don't want to hear that. But this is what it's going to take to experience kingdom glory. You got to sacrifice you. It's not about you. It's about him. Oh my God. So when we consider the text, right in this text, Jesus In, again, in John 12:20-25, he's at the height of his popularity. So he's popular, man. But you better believe Jesus gained popularity because he moved in power. I believe in the church, power should proceed popularity. Many cases it doesn't because everybody can pick up a phone phone. Everybody can go live and say what people want to hear. So instead of power preceding popularity— oh my God, oh my God— what is happening is performance is preceding popularity. But I just made up my mind, I'm not going to perform for people. Just to obtain worldly popularity. I'm gonna stay in power. I'm gonna keep healing the sick through Jesus. I'm gonna keep casting out devils through Jesus. I'm gonna keep praying that the dead be raised. I was just in one of my spiritual mother's funeral. We had to bury her last Sunday. And I officiated the entire funeral. And listen, I was there the whole time saying, Geraldine, come forth, because I'm believing God. I've seen God do some mighty things. I prayed for people who were completely blind and they can see now. I prayed for children and adults who were deaf who can hear now. I prayed for people who are in wheelchairs, on crutches, who are walking now. I prayed for people with AIDS who got healed, with cancer who got healed. But you know what? I'm not satisfied. I'm trusting God that at some juncture in my ministry, I will see the power cause the dead to be raised. I'm in the funeral, y'all, saying, Geraldine, come forth. And then I got up and told the people, I said, y'all gonna say I'm crazy for doing this, but I've been praying the whole time. Geraldine come forth. You know why? Because I would be remiss as an apostle to not ask God to raise the dead. I don't care how much you put that in front of your name. You're not an apostle to me if you don't believe God can raise the dead. Matthew chapter 10, Jesus sent out the apostles two by two, and he said to them, he gave them their mandate, heal the sick, A lot of apostles don't do that because they ain't got no power. Cleanse the leper— they don't pray for AIDS, they don't pray for cancer, no power. And raise the dead— and they definitely ain't gonna touch that one. Every funeral I've been in, I'm praying. The recent ones I've been in this year, last year, I walked up to my half-sister her shoulder at her funeral, at the wake, laid my hands on top of her shoulder and was trying to call her forth because I'm trusting God that the dead will be raised for real. It don't have to happen on camera. I don't need that. I just want to see God do it and the people who witness it give their life to God. And by the way, in the funeral this past Sunday, and mother, I know it was her wishes to have the funeral on Sunday because she wanted to have church. Glory to God. And so she was talking with her granddaughter, you know, just planning all this stuff out. So I know she told Erica, listen, let's make sure you do this on Sunday so we can have church. And so I made sure that's what happened. But can I tell you something? Glory to the name of God. I'm gonna see the dead raised more than once in I'm trusting God for the miraculous. And I'm telling you right now, if I'm with you and you know me, you're around me and I die, don't you just accept and let me be dead? Operate in the power that God gave you and ask God to bring me back. Glory to God. I've seen too many testimonies with people where this has happened. Benson Idahosa raising the dead. Even Benson— Archbishop Biso Idahosa's wife when he died, prayed for the Archbishop, brought him back to life. The Bishop had to tell her, look, ma'am, I'm with God. Can you release me back to death? She missed him so bad. Had to tell her, did you not know it was my time? And gave her some instructions and died again. Ah, I'm telling you, it's possible. But you can settle for jumping and shouting and going through the motions and being emotionalized every week and going through the process and never have an encounter if you want to. But I want to teach you today how to cause power to precede popularity. Ah, ah, God help us. Help us. Listen, the raising of Lazarus from the dead for Jesus was a meteoric— oh my God— propelling into Jesus's future of popularity. Because, because when he did it, he said, for your glory, Lord, and everybody around Now, glory to God, came to the kingdom. They experienced a kingdom encounter in that moment, and they gave their life to God. Speaking of that funeral, power was strong in that funeral. Glory to God. Mother's brother was up talking, and he had just had heart surgery 3 weeks ago. Go and start holding his chest and summons for me to come. And then other preachers came up with us. I laid my hands on his chest and rebuked death immediately. Rebuked that heart attack immediately because there's no way that was going to happen. God touched him, moved him out of state. You know, sometimes people have a way of making stuff bigger than it is. God touched the man and prevented a heart attack. Are you hearing this? Yeah. And after everything was said and done in that moment, I had an altar call. And people came and gave their life to Jesus in the funeral. Oh God. Yeah. And heaven rejoiced. And that's what Mother wanted. But if we weren't sensitive to encounters, and trusted the power in us to be embraced and enhanced in whatever moment it needed to be enhanced, we wouldn't have saw that. But thanks be to God that we can have eternity on earth. So a meteoric propulsion into popularity for Jesus after he raises Lazarus from the dead. Dead. Watch this. And it was a rise to fame for him over a brief 3-year period that made people know that this man was the Son of the Living God. Hundreds of thousands proclaimed him to be Messiah, the King of Israel, as he entered Jerusalem. Y'all understand this? He was following the purpose of God, and people had tremendously began to follow him and rejoice in him because they loved the Messiah. But watch this, them same ones that said, "Hosanna, Hosanna," and waving the palms, them same ones that said, "Give us Barabbas," and killed him. What are you saying? Jesus said in the text, in order for me to be glorified, I must be crucified. I must lay my body down as collateral so that a greater glory can be encountered and experienced by my people. Oh God, I've been in this too long. Let me move. Let me move. So Jesus shows us that the collateral must be a crucified life. Can I tell you today? You gotta live a crucified life. The things you desire, you must give up. Listen, there are things I desire. There are things that get thrown at me all the time. I'm a human being. But you know, I make the choice to do because I want to see power flow out of my life, is mortify the members of my flesh so I can experience the power of God. And that's why I do, because I crush, crush this flesh daily. A crucified life produces power. Let's read that again. John 12:20-22. Let's read Now, among those who went up to worship at the feast were some Greeks. So wait a minute, worship is very important to a crucified life. That's verse 20 of John 12. So if you really, hallelujah, want to encounter the things of heaven, you must become a worshiper. Please find the message Kingdom Worship on my timeline on YouTube somewhere. And watch that word because you need to understand what it really means to be a kingdom worshiper. I'm telling you right now, it's not what you've been doing. Everybody that heard that message have been coming to me saying, man, I got a new insight on worship from that teaching. Had one person tell me, I don't understand why this is not viral. I do, but it's okay. The people that need to hear it God is going to raise up as a remnant of people that when— watch this— when the people who are really hungry for truth depart popular assemblies. And I'm telling you right now, it's why mega preachers hate me. That's okay. I don't have to preach for them. I really don't. I'm blessed, man. I never in my life got to preach for mega preachers ever again. I've done it. Been there, done that. I preached in mega churches before there was Facebook, Instagram, before there was MySpace. Guys that are mega now, I preach for them. So it's okay, right? The reality is I got to tell the truth. I'm sorry y'all don't like me, but you need to embrace this because if you don't shift, your people are going to depart. The Bible says in Amos that there is going to come a day. This is prophecy. I didn't write this. where people will be going from house to house looking for a true word from God. And this is why you better start living a crucified life and share the things that heaven wants you to share, because they gonna leave. And I'm gonna keep teaching the truth. So Yeah, do the math on that. I'm gonna keep producing glory through a crucified life. Oh my God, I'm sorry, let me move. Worship has to become a— oh God— a part of encounters. Again, the kingdom is within us, and if the kingdom is within us, according to Jesus, he said the kingdom of God is in us. That means the King is there too. So everything we need in the kingdom is in us, but we cannot access it without the right key. Revelation calls it the key of David. The key of David is the key of worship. So there are certain things in the realm of the kingdom or the realm of heaven that you have not unlocked yet because you have not used adequately the key of David to open the door. And you become redundant in your process. Same experiences, no enhancement to those experiences. Hear me, because you're not using the key of David, which is worship. So verse 21 says, then these came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and they made this request: Sir, we desire to see Jesus. See, when you're really worshiping and get in the realm of glory, you can— oh my God, you can request to see Jesus manifested in your life, an encounter with him. My God, for real. I don't have time to go into the encounters. God has afforded me a lot of them, but I'll go back to one in particular that I remember. I remember very clearly. I'll never forget this encounter. This was prob— Michael Jr. wasn't born, so Michael Jr. will be 26 this year. He wasn't born, so this is 26+ years ago. Matter of fact, Michael was born 5 years into my marriage to his mother. We were very young when we got married, probably shouldn't have been married. but the purpose of the marriage was to give birth to Junior. So that's why he's here. And I'm glad he's on this earth. He's a boy with great purpose. God's going to use him in a great way. Listen, I had an encounter. Yeah, right when I got married to her, probably a year into the marriage. So this has got to be 30 years ago. I got up at 5 to pray like I always used to do. And I went into the living room. We had a studio one-bedroom, had no furniture in this place, had a mattress on the floor. I had, had a mirror we found outside. Yeah, we were broke, man. And, uh, had a little pedestal we found, turned it over, turned it into a table. And so I went in the living room, lay beside this table, and I went into prayer. And the Holy Ghost came in the room like a wind. And that wind, I literally, it was no wind in the house. I could feel the wind blowing. And the Lord lifted me up off the floor. I'm talking literally, I'm like I'm floating. The Lord did it. And he began to take me in the spirit and speak to me and show me some things to encourage me that he was going to do in my ministry and to continue to endure where I was. And this thing seemed to me— watch this— like it lasted only about 5 minutes. Minutes. But when I came out of the spirit, I was told that I had been in prayer for 5 and a half hours, which shows you that eternity suspends time. Because to me, it didn't seem like I was zoned out and in the realm of the spirit 5 hours. Encounter through worship. These things happen. You can see Jesus. You can experience him. You can converse with him in his marvelous authority.

Whoo!

Jesus. When you learn to worship, he said that we may see Jesus. Philip told Andrew, hear me. Then Andrew and Philip told Jesus to together. So I want you to understand something, that a crucified life produces power. Listen, it is abnormal, believer, hear me, for you to confess— listen to me— that you know God, that you are saved. Listen to me. Oh my God, Ooh. And say you have the Holy Ghost and the mighty burning fire and power. Watch this. And not have a hunger for the supernatural. Oh boy. It is literally crazy for you to say that you got the power of God and the Holy Ghost lives in you, but there's not a hunger in you for the supernatural. That's, that's not congruent to each other. That's oxymoronic. It's a problem, right? Because you can be deceived to think it's okay to keep going through those motions, professing the power, but you really don't have a hunger for more. Oh. Yeah, I hear that, God. We got to do the More of God conference again. Listen, the last More of God conference I did was in '96, but I did that conference for 5 years from '91 to '96. We did More of God '91, '92, '93, '94, '95, '96. So we did it for 6 years and we had great speakers. Great glory fell every time we had that. I mean, we got to do it again. Yeah, God, I hear you. We're going to do it again. I, I will open obey. Glory to God. Because the people need a hunger for more him. But you got to crucify your life so you can produce power. And if you really got power, you're gonna hunger for more God. This is what these Greeks wanted. We want to see Jesus. We want more. We've heard about him from afar. We want to see We want to encounter him. We want him to enhance our lives. It's impossible for you to say you know God and don't want more of him. Come on, man, crucify that life. Crucify that need for entertainment, that need for popularity. Most people feel if they can associate with someone or something popular that they have arrived. If they meet a celebrity Celebrity, oh my God, is so overrated. I cannot tell you— celebrities, I love you, but they're just human. They will tell you the same thing. Listen, they don't even want you flipping out when you meet them. But people, people think if they, if they are around celebrities, even in the church, that they have reached glory. No, you know, I've learned And this is a shame, especially in the church. The more popular, the less power. And that's a dangerous piece, man. That's a dangerous piece because the more popular, the less control they get because they have more resources to do what they want to do. So now they start making excuses for their lifestyles. And start playing the grace card. You could be saved again and get grace and get forgiven, but you'll never have these encounters I'm talking about. You'll never have heaven on earth. See, you can't tell me you got the power and know God and you still wanna sin. A person that lives in God doesn't desire to sin. They may be tempted to, and if they have a default, It breaks them so bad. Lord have mercy. I can think something wrong and it breaks me, man. I'm just at that stage in my walk and my maturity. I, I think stuff because I'm human, but it hurts. And I have to immediately repent because I don't need nothing hindering my encounters. Oh boy, I got to go. I'm teaching way too long. Way too long. God have mercy. People, listen, I've had— I've traveled all over this country. I've been to 4 continents because of the gospel, right? I've been blessed in my life and ministry these last 3 decades, and I'm thankful for that. I don't say that to be braggadocious. I say that because I'm thankful, and it's only the grace and mercy of God that allowed allowed the things that have happened in my life and ministry to happen. So this is why I'm not on no trip now about all this stuff that's going on, how people gain popularity through posting on social media. I'm, I'm not impressed, man. So, and I'm not seeking that. I'm, I'm really just a whole nother dimension, a whole nother place. But in my travels, people have often come up to me after I preached or they've heard me teach or seen me praying for people. I've had preachers, ministers, even lay people come up to me and say, "Hey, man of God, please pray for me that I may have the anointing that you have, that I may walk in the glory that you walk in." And I was looking at them, I said, "Are you sure you want this?" Because behind all glory, there's a story. And there have been times I've laid hands on people and said, they want this God, So let them lose— well, let them at 14 lose their mom to a lifestyle that is unacceptable, and let them have to go live with their father and go through literal hell in that process. And I say to them, let them lose jobs and let them be ridiculed for going full-time. Let— oh my God, let them lose wives and go through all kind of problems that I've had. And they'll say, wait a minute, I asked for that. I said, well, you said you want I wanted the glory because my trials and things that I've gone through has what has produced the glory in my life. The pain. There's a story behind all glory. It doesn't just happen. It's not just becoming popular and somebody pressing like on a button because you said something they liked on social media. You really need a story behind that. Young preachers, listen, let me help help you. You need the story. Yes, you're charismatic. Yes, you can preach. Yes, you're gifted. But I'm telling you right now, the real anointing is not going to manifest out of your gift alone. There must be a breaking that accompanies the power that's going to flow out of your life. Oh boy, I'm teaching. Oh my God, I'm teaching this. I'm telling you right now, Now listen, let me tell you something. There are people who will make the statement, we don't need signs and wonders anymore, we don't need a deeper encounter, we got the Bible as a point of reference for that. Well, those people— hear me— are the people that have not seen the power of God for real. And need to justify why they are powerless. I'll say it again. People who say we don't need deliverance in the church, we don't need signs, we don't need wonders, we don't need miracles, we don't need to cast out devils, we don't need to raise the dead. Those are the people who have never seen the power of God and need an explanation to justify why they are powerless. Let that marinate for a minute, because if they never seen it, they want to cast a bad light on the people who have and who are trying to get you to experience it. Mm-hmm. A Crucified Life Productions produces power. Secondly, I'm almost done, huh? A crucified life produces blessing. Hallelujah! It produces blessing. Let's look at John 12:26. Watch this, it says— John 12:26, let's go there. John 12:26, come on Bible. There we go. It says, if anyone serves me— watch this— He must continue to follow me, to cleave steadfastly to me, conform wholly to my example in living. Wait a minute. So he says here, if you really serve, that word serve is doulos in Greek, which means to become a bond slave. If you really become a bond slave, doing everything God asks you to do, The Bible says, oh my God, the Bible declares that you will continue to follow him, cleave to him steadfastly, which means you will not miss a beat. You will align with his pace. Oh my God, my time is almost gone, man. I listen. He says, you will be an example of my lifestyle in your living, which means you will live as if you were him. You will duplicate how he lived through you. So whatever life you're called to live, whatever your assignment is in God, you should be an example of holiness, number one, and the supernatural. Which means you should be striving to live a holy lifestyle. Stop making excuses for not being able to live holy. You can do it if you want to. Just like you wanna sin, you can live holy if you wanna live holy. It's all a choice. And the results from living for God is out of this world. Watch this. He said, And if need be, in dying. And wherever I am, there will my servant— oh, wherever I am, not where I'm going. Watch this. But where I am. You said God was in you. Not where I'm going, but where I am. Wherever I I am. He said, my slave, my servant, my children, my family, they'll be also. So you know what that means? Not where I'm going, but where I am. He's in us. He's in the earth. So God says, uh, if you're in me and wherever I am, you're going to be there too. Oh my God. That's why you should never go where God was. You should always go where God is. I never want to be where God has left. I always want to be where God is. Listen, if God leaves Roddell Church, I'm out. Y'all, y'all ain't got to leave. I'm gonna be out because I never want to be where God was. I always want to be where God is. Is. See, some of y'all rather be where the most popular guy is. Ah, ah, ah, but I want to be where God is. Jesus Christ. He says, if anyone serves me, watch this, the Father will honor him.

I am.

So if I become a slave to Jesus, following up after his life through the Holy Spirit, being an example, making sure that wherever he is, I am, not just when I die and go to heaven, but while I'm on earth. He even said, even in dying, which means it's a separate thing. Yes, we're going to heaven when we die. We will experience the kingdom when we die. But God says, I want to give you heaven heaven on earth. Not where I'm going, where I am. Oh, I'm working on you today. Wherever I am, there you shall be also. Wow, wow. Oh my God. Crucified life produces blessing. Watch this. First of all, it gives you the blessing of purpose. So when I crucify my I'm— that's why many of you are confused about what your purpose is. Purpose is the original intent for the creation of a thing. So when your life is crucified, you now have a connectivity with God that reveals your purpose, God's plan. People throw this word around loosely, but really your purpose is your why for living. You need to understand that you were sent to this planet with a particular purpose, and you cannot really get clarity on that until you tap into the supernatural. There's no way around it. This is why people don't have it. If you want to know the purpose of something, according to one of my mentors, Miles Monroe, he's resting in heaven with God now. If you want to know the purpose of a thing, never ask the thing. That's Miles' principle. It's true. If you really want to know the purpose of something, you cannot ask that thing. You cannot ask a chair, what's its purpose? You have to ask the manufacturer. You cannot ask the manufacturer of a TV, what's the purpose of the, uh, the TV itself? What's the purpose of the TV? No, it's not going to respond. But you can consult the manual. And the manual is going to tell you the purpose of all the buttons and how everything works on the television. Oh my God. Oh my God. Are y'all here? Are y'all here with me today? Glory to God. God says, I want you to crucify your life so you can get clarity about your purpose, where you're supposed to be going to school, what job you're supposed to be in, what profession you're supposed to be in, what mountain you're supposed to be conquering. Opera, what business you're supposed to be in. I want to give you clarity, but I need you to crucify your flesh so you can have an encounter that gives you clarity of purpose. Let's look at Proverbs 19:21. Watch this. Amplified Bible said, many plans are in a man's mind, or his heart in King James, or his mind. All of us have plans and dreams that come to our mind. Many plans. But the Bible says this, but it is the Lord's purpose for him that will stand. So wait a minute, everybody's got a lot of plans in their head, but the only thing that's gonna stand and last and have eternity is the Lord's purpose. Oh. Oh wee. And that's why you don't wanna go running after something, someone, some venture, some dream that God didn't ordain. What you wanna run after is God and his plan for your life. Oh my God, my time is gone, y'all. I got 2 more points, man, but I cannot get into them. I'm going to have to finish this next week. My time is gone. I love y'all so much, but my time is gone. Listen, I want to pray for you because I want to see you operate in a crucified life. Listen to me, that produces power, and a crucified life that brings forth clarity of purpose. Did you know that purpose is the key to fulfillment? That means when you understand your purpose and got clarity, you're fulfilled in every area of your life. That's why you shouldn't marry a woman that's not God's purpose. You shouldn't marry a man that's not God's purpose, no matter how fine she or he is. You need to marry the person that's purpose for you, because if not, you'll never have fulfillment. You, you shouldn't pursue a career that's not a part of God's plan. It may be your plans, but you need to follow God's plan. So I want to pray that God— because where purpose is not known, Miles, again, and I quote, abuse is inevitable, end quote. I've been quoting that for 30 years. I learned about purpose from Miles 30 years ago, you know. But at the end of the day, it is still the truth. If you don't know the purpose of something, you will abuse it. If you don't know the purpose of your children, you'll abuse them. That's child abuse. If you don't know the purpose of your wife, you'll abuse her. That's wife abuse. If you don't know the purpose of money, you'll— oh my God— abuse money. That's financial abuse. If you don't know the purpose of your life, you're going to abuse it. You don't know the purpose of drugs, you abuse them. That's drug abuse. The reality is you'll never understand clearly. Some people going to school to get a check— I mean, not going to school to literally get an education in the area of their purpose. I need you to understand, you need to graduate from life abuse. You need to stop living a powerless life and crucify the members of your flesh. The Bible said mortify them daily, not literally kill yourself, but the attributes of your flesh that make you miss God, you need to put them to death daily. There needs to be a suicide mission, not physically kill yourself. Don't get this twisted. Somebody think I said go commit suicide. No, I didn't say that. You need to be in a suicide mission to— oh my God— to destroy the works of the flesh every single day. Let's pray. Father, in Jesus' name, I thank you for this word today, and I decree and declare, God, that your people are operating in the realm of the supernatural like never before. I speak those things that are not as though they were. I thank you for a realm of power that we've never seen. I thank you for a realm of glory that we've never known. I declare we will raise the dead. Glory to God. Not just me, but those watching. I declare that we will continue to lay hands on the sick of all kinds of diseases, and they will be healed, whether it be COVID or cancer or AIDS. We thank you for healing and deliverance, which is the children's bread. We'll continue to cast out devils and bring deliverance forth in the lives of your people. I pray for strength today, that you will give these people strength to operate in the realm. Glory to God. Hallelujah. of supernatural power and glory in Jesus' name. Give them the strength to crucify their flesh and to destroy the works of the flesh daily and cause the fruit of the Spirit to manifest in their lives. And I give you praise for it now in Jesus' name. Amen. And thanks be to God. God. Well, my time is gone. This— I took so much time teaching today. Glory to God. I don't really have a lot of time for anything else, but listen, I love you guys so much. I want to encourage you again, join us in person at Rhoda Church. You owe it to yourself to encounter the glory that we encounter at Rhoda Church. It is absolutely off the chain, man. Make sure you make plans to join us on this next Sunday coming. I promise you, I'm gonna finish this message, but the glory of God is going to be there. I love you guys. Don't forget to get your seed in the ground. Glory to the name of God. And don't forget to follow us on social media. I'm praying for you always. Glory to God. So listen, go to the website if you need prayer and you have a prayer request. Go to the website info@rodderchurch.com. And say, hey, we need prayer in XYZ area. And listen, we will confidently pray for you. And if the Lord leads, we will send you a word from the Lord for your situation. Listen, I love you guys so much. Y'all be blessed. And remember, share the word with a friend and your decisions will set you up for dominion. God bless you.