Kingdom Heirs, Part 6: "Kingdom Faith" | Dr. Mike Woods, Sr. | Radah Church | 5.1.22

Well, praise the Lord. Glory to God. Praise God. Glory to Jesus. Hallelujah. Let's everybody stand. We're going to get started this afternoon. Come on, stand and just open your mouth and begin to give God praise today. This is the day the Lord has made, and we will rejoice and be glad in it. Anybody but me come to have church today? Hallelujah! We come to lift his name on high. We come to give him glory. Come on, just begin to fill this room with your voice. Father, we love you, we adore you, and we give you praise. This is the day the Lord has made, and we will rejoice and be glad in it. Hallelujah! God, we love you. You've kept our mind, you kept our soul, you've covered us in your blood all week long. And for that, God, we're happy and we're excited, God. And God, I was glad when they said unto me, let us go into the house of the Lord. And God, I'm super happy to be in your presence today, God. And so, Father, in the name of Jesus, Father, we're praying this morning that you would just endow us with your anointing. Superimpose yourself upon us today, God. God, do something unusual. Do something man cannot do. Saturate our minds, saturate our hearts with your love, God, with your joy, with your peace. And God, we thank you today, God, that you are here with us. I feel you here even right now, God. God, we're gathered together in your name, and your word says when we gather in your name, God, that you will be in the midst of us. So Father, we thank you for being here. We thank you that the joy of the Lord— hallelujah— is our strength, God. So God, today we enter into your joy, and we— oh God— and we give you the praise. And God, even those that will watch us live today, God, we decree and declare that there will be a special anointing that will go from this service today and touch every person watching. God, we thank you for power. We thank you for victory. We thank you for joy. And we declare today, God, no weapon— oh my God— that's formed against us is able to prosper. God, we thank you that we have victory over the enemy. We have victory in our our lives, God. Victory in our finances, victory in our families, victory in our church, victory in our home. God, we declare the victory in this place today. We are victorious in the name of Jesus. Oh, hallelujah! And we give you glory, and we give you honor, and we give you praise. We lift you up, God. We lift you up, God. You're mighty and you're awesome. You're glorious and wonderful. Look, look, it is coming, but I want us just— and we ask these things today in Jesus' name. Thank you for Rhoda Church. Thank you that you're adding to this church daily such as would be saved. God, thank you that we're moving in obedience to plant this work. God, we're doing what you asked us to do, and we thank you, God. As we obey you, you shall bring men and women from the north, the south, the east, and the west to be a part of what you've called us to do. And we thank you, God, that we shall make a significant difference in this world and in our city, God. And we praise you for it now, in Jesus' name. Come on, I need every person to open your mouth, clap your hands, and give God praise right now. Come on, the key is coming, but we want to bless the Lord. Come on, we give you thanks, God. Come on, clap your hands, all ye people. I don't hear no claps. Clap your hands, all ye people. The Bible said clap, that's a command. Zomar in Hebrew. Come on, clap your hands, all ye people, and shout unto the Lord with a voice of triumph. God, we declare we are victorious, and we thank you today, God. Yes, that you have the final say, God. No matter what the enemy has said, you have the final say, and we bless you. Thank you, God.

We came to praise the Lord, for he's good and his mercy is forever. Who has the final say? Jehovah has the final say. Tell me, who has the final say? Jehovah. Who has the final say? Tell me, who has the final say? Who has the final say? Tell me, who has the final say? Jehovah has the final say, no matter what the doctors say. Jehovah has the final say, no matter what my bills may say Jehovah has the final say tell me who has the final say Jehovah has the final say tell me who has the final say Jehovah has the final say no matter what my bills they stay Jehovah has the final thing— No Matter What! What the doctor say, Jehovah has the final say. I have no reason to fear. Sing, I have. I have no reason to loathe. The Lord is my rock. The Lord is my life. He's my rock. The Lord is my life. Say, I have. I have no reason —say I have. I have no reason to mourn. The Lord is my light. Understand that life is not accomplished without the power of love. The Lord is my life. The song declares that I have no reason. I have no reason to fear. Say I have. I have no reason to mourn. The Lord is my light.

He's my light. The Lord is my light. the final say.

No matter what my job may say, Jehovah has the final say. No matter what my friends may say, Jehovah has the final say.

No matter what my life may say, Jehovah has the final say. I have no reason to fear. I have no reason to worry. The Lord is my light. The Lord is my light.

Wherever you are, I dare you to declare that to the heavens, that I have no reason to fear. For the Lord, he is my light.

Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Lord.

I have no reason to fear. He's my refuge. He's my strength, he's my provider. I have, I have no reason to fear. I have no reason to— Lord, the Lord is my life, the Lord is my life, the Lord is my life.

On the top, who has the final has the final say. Tell me who has the final say. Jehovah has the final say. Glory to your name, God. Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah.

We came and we made a declaration to the heavens where the scripture declares that whatever we bind on our on earth, it shall also be bound in heaven. Whatever we loose on earth shall also be loosed in heaven. And we understand that Jehovah, Yahweh, omnipresent, our God, he has the final say in every obstacle, in every situation in our lives, in my life, and anybody that's tuning in to worship. Jehovah has the final say. So Father, we just surrender our hearts right now as we begin to lay upon your throne all that we have. Oh God, we meet you right now at the altar.

Oh God, Father, our hearts, they're open wide.

Yes, we just ask, oh God, that you will use us, oh God! That you will use us, oh God! Re— that you will use us, so God, that you will use us, so God, that you fill us up, Jesus, that you have your way, Jesus!

Yes, God, have your way, Jesus! Have your way, have your way! Oh! Hallelujah!

pain of sins. Yes, God, Jesus is calling. Have you come to an end yourself? Do you thirst for a drink of the well? Jesus is calling. Oh, come to the altar. Yes, God, the Father's arms are open wide. Yes, Jesus, forgiveness was bought with the precious blood of Jesus Christ. Yes, Jesus. Do you understand what the lyrics to that song is saying? The lyrics declare that— are you hurting and broken within?

Thank you, God.

Have you been overcome, overweight by the weight of your sin?

Thank you for your— declares that our God, our Father, he is waiting for you to get to him.

He's waiting for you to surrender it to him. I wish I had a witness today with me, even so, to give it to him. He said, has it come to an end to yourself? Do you thirst for the drink of the well that runs over and that runs over and that runs over and that runs over and that never runs dry? And then he gives us an open invitation.

He says, oh, come to— yes, Jesus!

The altar— yes, Jesus! The Father's arms are open wide. Forgiveness was forgiven. Was bought with with the precious blood of God.

Yes, God, hallelujah! Thank you for your efficacious, vicarious, substitutionary work of the cross, God. I give you praise, Jesus.

Leave behind your regrets and mistakes. Yes, God, come today. There's no reason to Yes, God. Jesus is calling. He's calling, he's calling. Yes, God. Jesus. From the ashes, new life is born. Jesus is calling.

He's calling, he's calling, he's calling.

The altar, the Father's arms are open wide. Forgiveness, oh Jesus, was purchased, yes God, with the blood of Jesus Christ. Oh, come to, yes God, the altar Make it evident to your life as we describe God for who you are, for all that you've done, oh God. God, we be steadfast, unmovable. Oh God, we be steadfast, unmovable. Oh God. Oh, what a Savior! Isn't he wonderful? Sing hallelujah, Christ is risen!

He's risen! He's risen! Thank you Jesus! Thank you Jesus!

Oh la na na ma sa to ha bai— Sing hallelujah, Christ is risen! I'm going to describe him again. Oh what a savior he has been for me! Savior. Isn't he wonderful? Sing hallelujah, Christ is risen. He loves us enough. Sing hallelujah, Christ is Take a moment to just lift your hands. Take a moment to just lift your hands and cry out to God.

Why don't you take a moment to just minister to God and thank him for all that he's done?

Can you say thank you, God? Come on, thank you, God, for keeping me.

Yes, God.

Come on, thank you, God, for saving me. How about thank you, God, for healing me? Thank you, God, for being righteous and never turning your back on me. Oh, what a Savior isn't he? Wow! Hallelujah! Jesus. And Father, we bow down before you. Bow down before you. We bring everything to the altar, oh God. We bring everything to the altar, oh God. We praise you, oh God. We worship you, oh God. We thank you, oh God. Yes, oh God. We see you, oh God. We love you, oh God. We see you, oh God. We see your hands. We see your presence.

Oh God, we bow down before you, oh God, for we acknowledge, oh God, that you have risen again.

And Father, we choose to move forward, oh God.

Yes, God, we choose to move forward. Forward, forward, Jesus. We continue in your resurrection power, God. We continue in it alive with infallible proofs in our life, God. Manifest itself in this sanctuary today, God. Infallible proof. That when those that are watching, God, superimpose the Spirit of infallible proof. Show yourself alive, God. We came today to move forward, oh God.

To move forward in you, oh God. To take a leap.

To take a step forward. Yeah, yes God, yes Jesus, yes God.

I have found in you, you're the healer that makes all things new. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm not going back, I'm moving ahead. Here to declare to you, my past is over. In you, all things are new. Surrender my life to Christ, I'm moving, moving forward.

Oh God, thank you for newness, Lord. Moving forward. Oh God, I'm moving, moving forward. Ah God, yes God, pull forward, forward. We have to move forward. You have to make the devil mad.

You even have to make the flesh mad. You have to speak to your spirit. You have to speak to your subconscious.

You have to speak to your consciousness. I'm not going back.

I'm not going back, but I'm moving ahead.

Will fall. As I said before, in the power of the tongue. Ah yeah, that's God. Orianda. Yes, yes, new God, new. Yes, Lord, thank you, God.

Care what my makeup look like, I don't care how I came here in the flesh, but in the spirit I came here to worship God. I came here to worship God.

We got to get out of our— you make all things new. Yes, God. Yes, I will follow you forward. You make all things new. Oh God.

Me to you, and now in my heart, Jesus, follow you forward. Can we sing that again? Declare it on your voice. Say, you make all things new. Yes, you make all things new.

Yes, I will Follow you forward. Hallelujah, God!

You make all things new, God. You make all things new, and I will follow you. Forward. So you got to make it personal. I'm going to sing it to you. Make all things new, God. You make all things new, and I will follow you forward.

You make all things new. Yes, you make all things new. And I will follow you forward.

You make all things new.

Yes, you make all things new.

And I will follow you forward.

You, you, you.

I love things as you love them.

I will follow you forward in the precious blood of Jesus Christ. Jesus. Father, we reference you. And you make all things new. Yes, you make all things new. Yes, you make all things new. Yes, God, you do. Come on, just tell him, you make all things new.

You make all things new.

Yes, God, all things new when I be you. Oh, you for Come on, say it again. You make all things new. You make all things new. Yeah, you make all things new, and I will follow you forward. Come on, just slip your Hands up and said to Jesus, you make all things new. Hallelujah! He's making new things in your body. Yes, new things in your profession, new things in your finances. We follow you forward. Come on, tell him you make all things new. You make all new. All things new, and you make all things new, and I will follow you forward. Hallelujah to you, Jesus. Hallelujah. Come on, the worshipers are worshiping. Worshiping him. Come on, worship him for newness. Worship him for newness. We follow you forward, Jesus. We follow you forward, God, and you make all things new.

Forward! Hallelujah!

We'll follow you forward. Come on, one more time. You make all things new. Declare it, those watching us live. Declare it in this room. Declare it. He's making all things new. All And I will follow you forward. Father, we give you praise and glory now. We thank you for your anointing that is in this place. We thank you for the future. We thank you that you're making all things new. New. You're making all new things, and we give you praise and glory for it now, Lord. And we choose deliberately, strategically, on purpose to follow you forward. We will not look back. We will set our face like a flint to the future and what's ahead. And Father, we thank you that what's to come is better than what has been. And God, so we worship you for making all things new. God, thank you that you're not making all new things, you're making all things new. Yeah, you're not making all new things, you're making all things new. You're taking the very self-same things in our life and you're making them over again, and you're doing a new thing. And thank you, God, that we shall see it. Spring up right before our eyes. We shall know it, we shall handle it tangibly. Thank you, God, for what you promised. Thank you that what's coming is better than what was. So we have no desire for yesterday. We look to you today and tomorrow, and we expect new things in the mighty name of Jesus. And I will follow you. For you make all things new. Yes, you You make all things new, and I will follow you forward. Hallelujah, God. And I'm telling you, somebody in this room, somebody watching Some of the things that are happening may seem different, it may seem unusual, but if you will yield your life to his plan, he'll move you into tomorrow with brand new mercies. He'll do a fresh thing and a new thing in your life, and you will see it with your own eyes. Hallelujah, we'll follow you forward. Hallelujah. And you make all the— I'mma move. And you— thank you for newness, God. Thank you for newness, God. Listen, I decree and declare now, listen to me, many of us don't even understand this day that we step into when we woke up this morning. I hear you, God, I hear you. This is the 5th day of 2022, the 5th month, I'm sorry, and the the first day of the month. The number 5 is the number of grace, and prophetically you woke up to a new grace. You woke up to great grace, a grace, a charis in Greek, that empowers you to your next. Grace is God's gift of empowerment to the next place, and God said to tell you this morning or this afternoon or those of you that are watching us live now, that you stepped into the day one of a new grace, a new charisma, a new place. Oh my God, it's a great grace that's with you, yes God, that's going to carry you to new heights and new dimensions, new places of glory. So God said to tell you, expect it, look for it. For it is coming for you even now, said the Lord. Hallelujah! Thank you, Jesus. I receive it, oh God. And you make all things new, and you make all things new, and I will Follow you forward. Hallelujah. Father, bless your word today as we plunge into the heart of your message. I pray that this word will land on the good grounds of our heart, that we may reap it in due season if we faint not. I pray today that your people will be blessed by you and never impressed by me. I pray, God, that we will move in a greater faith when we leave this place, that we have a greater revelation of the kingdom, and hallelujah, all the benefits and rights we have as kingdom citizens. And we will submit to your will, your constitution, your way of doing things, and we bless you for it now, in Jesus' name. Thank you for new things. We give you glory for it, Lord. In Jesus' name, amen. And thank God. Would you clap your hands and give God praise for new things? Hallelujah, hallelujah. Glory to God. Uh, you make all things new and You— I'm trying to leave it alone. But every time he hears that, he's reminded to create new things for you. Ah, forward. Come on, one more time.

You, you make all things new. Yeah.

Yes, God, we follow you forward. Hallelujah. And I will do a new thing in you, it shall be done. Yes, God. Hear the word. I will do a new thing. My work I will perform. Now I stretch forth my healing hand to give my word to you. Remember not the things of old. Remember not the things of old. A new thing I, I will do. We're going in the word because I can stay right there all day. I will do a new thing in you. It shall be done. Listen to the Lord. I will do a new thing. Oh God, my work I will perform. Now I stretch forth my healing hand to give my word to you. Remember not the things of old, remember not the things of old. Remember not the things of old. A new thing I, I will do. Hallelujah! Get your Bible, your iPad, phone, whatever you got. Glory to God. I just want to make this confession this morning. Lift it up, whatever you read. Glory to God. You ought to read come every day. Glory to God. Say this with me. Say, Heavenly Father, in the name of Jesus, say, I am a kingdom citizen and this is my Bible. Say, I am what it says I am. I have what it says I have. Say, I can do what it says I can do. Say, this is the kingdom Kingdom Constitution, and whatever the law says, I can perform through Jesus Christ. Say, in the name of Jesus, I am blessed. I have an inheritance through this word. In Jesus' name, amen. And thank God. Give God praise. You believe that? Glory to God. Hallelujah. Well, this afternoon I'm not going to be long. I don't want to worry your patience, but I want to continue in our teaching on Kingdom Heirs. And, um, I've been teaching for about 12 days straight, um, online. And so glad to be in the house of the Lord again. I wasn't here with you guys on last Sunday. I was in Las Vegas, but I did have an opportunity to watch, and Pastor Montgomery did a superb job. And I really appreciate you guys supporting him and being here. You know, when you're starting a new work, that's just what it is— work. Amen. So we're gonna keep plowing and keep being faithful and consistent to what God has called us to do. Amen. Um, again, we're continuing in our series on Kingdom Heirs, and today— and I'm gonna take these Sundays outside of the weekly teachings I'm doing on being an heir of the kingdom them being a joint heir. How many have been following that online? You've been watching that? Good, good. I mean, it's about 6 or 7, about 9 messages up there right now. So if you missed any of that, you need to go and watch them because we've talked— the first 3 messages we just dealt totally with the King, and we talked about the attributes of our King, King Jesus. And then we moved into talking about being heirs of God and joint heirs with Jesus Christ. And so today, and on these Sundays, I'm going to take— and during these next 40 days of— how many y'all fasting with me? Well, I'm just starving by myself. All right, good. Praise God. Hallelujah. I'm grateful to God. Something good is going to happen after these 40 days. So I'm, I'm grateful that you guys are doing it, being faithful. Stay strong, hang in there. Glory to God. Because we're going to see infallible proof. But on these Sundays, during this 40 days of infallible proof, I'm going to teach about kingdom faith, because none of the stuff we're believing for and trying to transition into thinking as kingdom people culturally is not going to work if you don't have faith. Matter of fact, the scripture says in Hebrews 11:6— and that ain't even in my notes today— Without faith, it is impossible to please God. Yes. So you cannot bring pleasure to God without faith. So we got to discuss this, we got to talk about it. So let me jump right into it because I got a lot of ground to cover, and I don't— again, I don't want to hold you long. So today we're talking about Kingdom faith. So in order to deal with this, and y'all know I'm an etymologist, I love words. So in order to make this very clear, let's first get another working definition of kingdom. And if you've been listening to me, those of you online, those of you in here, for the last 10 days I've been defining what the kingdom is almost every single day. But I want to do it again because I want us to be clear on what kingdom is. Whenever you read the word kingdom in the New Testament part of the Bible It is transliterated from a Greek word called basilia. Say that with me. Say basilia. Basilia means the rule, the resources, the splendor, the illumination. Oh boy, the authority, the ability of the king. It is also the territory of the King. So I said again, it's the rule, it's the resources, it's the splendor, it's the light, it's the illumination, it's the intelligence. Oh my God, it's the wealth, it's the resources, it's the authority and the territory of a king. If you look at the word just simply in its English connotation, you'll discover it's two words, king and dom. It's the king's dominion. And dominion, again, rada in Hebrew, is where we get this church, rada church, is rule, it's authority, it's control. And so God wants us to be very clear, one, that he is king. Say he is king. And say he is in control. He's in control. And I know when we look at the world, a lot of times it don't seem like it. And the reason it don't, because everybody doesn't choose to allow God to control their fear of space. See, God will never interfere where he's not invited. I'll say that again. He will not interfere where he's not invited. This is why all of us have free will. And God will not force himself on you. That's why you have to make the sacrifices, to fast, to pray, to do the things you need to do to bring the kingdom to you. Oh boy, that's why the Bible said in Matthew 6, thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. So we want the Basilia to come. Somebody said kingdom come. Kingdom come. Again, rule, authority, resources, wealth, illumination, light, intelligence of God. Come. That's what we need, right? Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. His will— philia in Greek, it means, watch this, his covenant law. His will is his word. Old will, new will. You go to a lawyer and somebody dies, they read the last will and testament. That is a testimony of what the deceased wants those left behind to have. Well, the old will and the new will is God's testimony. Are y'all here? To what he wants us to have because he left us behind. Yes. Oh boy, and I want all of it. Somebody say, I want all of it. I want everything that God has for me. So that's the kingdom. So what then is faith? Faith is from the Greek word pistos, P-I-S-T-O-S, pistos, and it means to be fully persuaded. It means absolute confidence. Oh boy, it means— watch this— that you're so persuaded in a thing or a person or a truth that it— you make what you believe worthy of dependence. So watch this. This is why you shouldn't have faith in anyone but God. You know why people get hurt in relationships? Because they have faith in that person. You, you will limit your heartbreaks if you start putting faith in people. Yeah. Oh God, help us. Geez, you— the Bible says in Matthew 11:22, have faith in God. Yes, I'm sorry, Mark 11:22, have faith in God. It didn't say nobody else but him. So my confidence should lie in my King, that he has me covered, that he's going to take care of me. I dare you, touch yourself and say, God's got me. I gotta get out of here, y'all. So, so what is faith? Let's get a Bible definition of it so we understand it's pistos. Well, let's go to Hebrews 11:1 real quick. Hebrews 11:1, y'all read that before. It says, now faith So the first thing about faith is when? It's now. It's not tomorrow, it's not yesterday, it's not a second from now. It's now. So that means if I can believe it now, I can ascertain it now. Okay, now faith is— watch this— the assurance. I'm reading out Amplified Bible. So faith is the assurance The confirmation, the title deed of the things we hope for. So faith is my confirmation number. I travel a lot. When I went to Vegas last week, I got to the hotel, I had what you call a confirmation number. Yes, I was not at the hotel a week prior, but I had a reservation. And right at that moment, in that now, when I booked it, they gave me a confirmation number which said that room was mine right at that moment. So when I get there, I give my confirmation number that guaranteed that I had a room in that building before I arrived. Faith guarantees that what God says is mine. It's already mine. Oh, so guess what? If they would have told me, Mr. Woods, we're oversold and we don't have a room for you, I would have said the devil is a liar because I got a confirmation number. Now I don't know what you got to do. You might have to build me a room, put somebody out of the room, but I have a room in this hotel based on the fact that this confirmation number says you reserved room for me. Can I tell you something? Faith has reserved some things for us in the kingdom, and we got to walk them out. So faith is the title deed of the things we hope for. Watch this: being the proof— uh-oh, there's that word— or the evidence of things we do not see, and the conviction of their reality. So faith is proof that even though I don't see it, I got it. You may not see healing right now, but you got healing. You just need to claim it. Glory to God. You may not see the wealth and riches right now, but they're yours. You may not see your career matriculating and blossoming right now, but it's already done. Yes, God. Thank you, Jesus. Ah, somebody shout, faith is now! Is now. Woo! Glory to God, it is now. Right now. It's proof, yes, that what God says is mine is mine. Yes. Oh God, it's the conviction of the reality. Faith perceiving as real fact what is not revealed to the senses. Yes. So even though my senses, my— the, the soul part of me, because I'm a trichotomy, I'm a body, I'm a soul, I'm a Spirit. So my soulical man, that inner man— not the innermost man, the innermost man is a spirit— but that inner man, that suke life, that bios man that gets all the signals from my psychology. If my senses in my soul can't perceive it, faith cries out. If I grab hold to it and say, don't worry, hold on, it's yours. So that's why you can't give up when you feel like giving up, because it's not based on what you feel, it's based on what you know in faith. So we put those things together. Kingdom faith, it means to be persuaded that the kingdom is real. The kingdom of God on earth is God's way— hear this— of ruling the seen world from the unseen world. He uses you and I as citizens to take authority and control in the earth realm. Oh boy. So touch yourself and say, I must walk in kingdom faith. So how do we cultivate this lifestyle of kingdom faith? I'm just laying a backdrop to where I'm going. 'Cause we're gonna learn how to unlock this in our life for real today. How do I cultivate this? Number one, I gotta cultivate it first of all through hearing the word of God. You'll never be an effective kingdom citizen who moves in and out of the kingdom by faith, 'cause it takes faith to believe the kingdom is real. And to ascertain the blessings of this invisible kingdom, you have to do it by faith. Yes. And I'm not just telling you something somebody's told me, I'm telling you something I've encountered and experienced. I experience the kingdom on a daily basis, and I move in and out of kingdom principle by faith. I ascertain things that normally I could not ever ascertain if I were moving in my carnality. Come on, come on. And being saved as long as I have, I know both sides. I know what it means to be a carnal Christian with no faith and no power, who just go through the motions religiously. And I also know what it means to move in the supernatural realm of the kingdom and see the kingdom manifested in my life for real every single day. So you just have to decide what you want. And you got to be willing to commit to what you got to do to do it. The first thing is hearing the word of God. Okay, let's look at the Bible, Romans 10:17. And for those of y'all that's watching us live today that need a whole lot of scriptures to feel like you've been preached to, you're gonna get a whole lot of them today. All right, so you're gonna feel real preached to if that's what you feel preaching is. I'm gonna— but I'm gonna give it to you because I want you to have some constitution Scripture to back up what I'm saying. Romans 10:17, it says, so faith— pistos, confidence, persuasion, reality, proof— comes by hearing what is told, and what is heard comes by the preaching of the message that came from the lips of Christ, the Messiah himself. I'm reading Amplified because it just breaks it all the way down. So faith comes by hearing what God tells the preacher to preach. Basically, that's what this is saying. That's why you don't need a preacher— those of you that are watching me live— that doesn't pray. Oh boy, you don't need a preacher that doesn't spend time with God and hears from God before he preaches to to you. Amen. I am so less interested in what you want to hear. I want you to hear what God says to me, because he knows what you need to hear. And when you preach what God says— oh my God— faith is cultivated by those that hear it. Yes. You don't need a preacher that's just gonna yell at you and tune up and give you 3 points in a hoop on how to keep your blood pressure down You go see your medical doctor to talk about blood pressure. Glory to God. Only thing I got for your blood pressure is power to heal you. Glory to God. Listen, you, you need a preacher that's going to give you what God says so your faith can be cultivated. Yes. Secondly, faith is cultivated by application. You gotta practice. You cannot become a faith-walking kingdom citizen if you do not practice faith. It comes by application. I always say revelation or information without application is constipation. Yes. If you don't apply the information you receive, you're just a walking library. Glory to God. You ever go, you know, I travel and preach and you go in different preachers' office, and a lot of times I'll go in these preachers' office and just be amazed at the amount of books that were in their office. And I'm like, I wonder if they really reading them books. All them books, I heard them preach, I don't think they reading them books. I heard their word, I don't really think that they read them books on the shelf, but it looked good, right? It doesn't make sense to have a library and even to consume— listen, they say if you want to hide something from us, put in a book. That's what they say. At the end of the day, because most people buy books and they look at the COVID it looks real nice, they lay hands on it, say, absorb this knowledge in the name of Jesus. Listen, it's not gonna happen. It's not coming out like you got to read it. And then after you read it and get the knowledge, you got to apply it. Because it doesn't— otherwise you, otherwise you're just like one of them books that's sitting on that shelf. Yeah, you don't give it living expression.

That's right.

Somebody say application. So if you want to cultivate a lifestyle of faith, you got to apply what you know. Let's go to James 2:26. I want to prove it. James 2:26. Oh boy, the Bible said, for as the human body apart from the spirit is lifeless— listen— so faith apart from its works of obedience is also dead. So faith without works is being alone. So that simply means faith— watch this— without corresponding action. Yes. So which means you, you read it, you saw it in the book. Now you gotta correspond to what you read with action. Yes. So if you don't obey what you read, you won't get the results from it. And a lot of believers are not getting the results because they're not obedient to what they hear and what they read. So I could teach, I could teach, I'm gonna teach for 40, for 30 more days every day. Faith. But if the people that hear it don't apply it, they will not reap the benefit of the word. That's right. Oh boy. So I got to apply it. Got to apply it. So how do we unlock this thing? We got to— we want to unlock kingdom faith. So I'm going to give you 3 quick keys, and I'm going to be out of here today. I got about 10 of them, but I'm going to give you 3 today. Glory to God. Say this with me. Say, I must unlock kingdom faith in my life. Say, I am called to live by faith. Okay, let's read the Bible. So the first point is that kingdom faith In order to be unlocked, it must be measured. Somebody say measured. You cannot move from where you are until you adequately measure the distance between where you are and where you're trying to go. That's how, believe it or not, a GPS works. There's a satellite in the sky that communicates with your phone or your car, and it measures distance from where you are to where you're going, and it maps out a route based on those measurements. So much so it can tell you how long it's going to take you to get there. Yes. Well, can I tell you something? God has given every one of us a measure of faith. Yes, he has. People use that scripture and say, oh well, my faith ain't on your level, my faith is right here, so I'm just right here. But that's not what he meant. He meant for you to measure it, see where you are, and grow from there. Okay, let's look at the Bible. Let's look at the Bible. Let's go to Romans 12:3. Romans 12 and verse 3. Okay, watch this. The Bible says, for by grace unmerited favor of God given to me, I warn everyone among you not to measure and think of themselves more highly than he ought to. Wait a minute, that's the first enemy to growing your faith, is thinking you have more than you really got. Oh boy, because there's a difference between faith foolishness and presumption. And a lot of people presume, and they're foolish, and their faith is not where they think they are. But the Bible says here, don't think you're more higher than you are. It would take humility, yes, to accept Wherever you're measured at. Oh boy, pride comes before a fall. The Bible says a proud look God rejects, but the humble he exalts. Let me keep reading. It says, you have not exaggerated the opinion of your own importance, but to rate your ability with sober judgment. Amen. Which means don't look at yourself like somebody looks at themselves that just got through drinking a fifth of gin. Person that just got through drinking a fifth of gin think everything about themselves. You ever seen somebody drunk and just start talking? Yeah. And don't let them start talking about themselves. Lord have mercy. They, they think more highly of themselves than anybody, and they think they're better than everybody, and they look down on everybody. Well, the Bible says soberly judge yourself and accept it. Watch this, he said, each according— watch this— to the degree of faith or the measure of faith appointed by God to him. I love this. Wait a minute, Michael Woods, so to measure means I got to put a meter on me. The word measure is metron in Greek. It means to put a rule, put a meter on, and to look closely at the dimensions and accept it. Because guess what? The ruler don't lie. Uh-huh. I— listen, you, if you 4'8", you can put on 6-foot heels, all you— 6-inch heels, all you want Soon as you take out them heels, you still gonna be 4'8". The rules don't lie. It don't lie. I'll never forget— y'all remember the Green Mile guy? Yeah. Uh, that died. What's his name? I forget his name. What's his name? Michael Clark. Michael Clark. I just love that movie. What's his name? Michael Clark Duncan. Okay, Michael Clark Duncan. So watching that— thank you, Clinton, my voice of reason. Glory to God. Uh, Michael Clark Duncan, when you look at that movie, you think this dude is 6'5", 290, ripped. I had a chance to see him in person. Clark Duncan is walk— was walking around on his knees. God rest his soul. He was 4 foot 9, 10 or something. Little man, just built up a little. But the cameras, if you watch that movie, it makes him look huge. But if you put a ruler on him, I don't care what the camera say, the rule doesn't lie. So you got to be willing to line yourself up with God's Perspective of where you are and accept that, and don't try to change it for public view because it's not their business anyway. This is your walk, this is your journey, you're trying to grow. Oh my God, say Metron. So this is why— watch this, and I got to read this. Go to 2 Corinthians 10, and I'm going to read it, read verse 12. This is why, and I got to say this right here, apostles in the body of Christ are so necessary to developing unique and authentic faith in kingdom citizens, because the apostolic anointing is an anointing that has a rule or metron on it. So God uses apostles to measure things. Everywhere I go, my apostolic anointing, whether it be people I know or don't know, I can walk in a room and start measuring where the house is because that's a part of who I am. I, I do it not even trying, it just happens because apostles measure. And this is why apostolic houses, a lot of times that you'll see this as this church begins to grow You'll see top-heavy people coming in who are in leadership, but here'll be— this will be the problem: a lot of people that are added to the house won't want to abide by the measurement. I'll never forget, I planted 8 churches, but my Mississippi church was one of my greatest accomplishments. And Apostle Cornelius is pastor in Mississippi now, was here, my son, a few weeks ago for Pastor Felicia, El Felicia's Lady Felicia's birthday, and God has done a great thing to him. But I remember when he came to the church. Yeah, y'all were here when Apostle Cornelius was right. Pastor Cornelius was afraid to preach. He didn't want to preach, but through apostolic measuring and putting who God told me he was in perspective, I measured him. And told him, this is who you are, this is where you're going, and this is what we got to do to get you there. He humbled himself and learned, and that's why he's the man of God he is today. Amazing. And I've always prayed that he'd be better at what he does than I am at what I do, because a good leader teaches people how to do what they do better than they do what they do. And good leaders are never forgotten because they always help others excel beyond them. Oh well, let me keep moving, let me keep moving. So apostles are necessary. 2 Corinthians 10, watch this. The Bible says, now that we— not that we— I'm sorry, 2 Corinthians 10 and verse 12, not that we have the audacity to venture to clash or even to compare ourselves with some who exalt and furnish testimonies for themselves. They measure themselves by themselves is what he said. Matter of fact, in the King James, that's what it says. They measure themselves by themselves. So if you have nobody else that you could trust to honestly help you measure where you are your measurement could possibly be false. Because when you got somebody that's going to tell you what you want to hear— oh, come on, man— and when you really— they're going to tell you, you, you, you, you, you sound good, or you look good, when you really could make some changes. Are you hearing me? You had— you need people to help you measure. I know that's hard, right? Because everybody wants to be their own person. But you need people around that you can trust to measure you. And in particular, you need spiritual leaders that can measure you with the idea that you're going to excel. And Paul says here, we don't measure ourselves by ourselves, and neither will we ever measure you or allow you to measure yourself by yourself. But we want you to be enlarged. We want you to grow. If you keep reading that chapter, he's talking about enlargement. Yes, we want you to be the very best version of who you are. So in order to unlock my kingdom faith, I gotta measure— I can't compare it to someone else. I gotta decide this is where I really am and this is what I need so I can ascertain everything that God has for me. Lift your hands, say, Lord, measure me. So kingdom faith has to be measured. So secondly, and I'm moving, kingdom faith— watch this— has to mature. So not only does it need to be measured, secondly, it should mature. See, there's a problem in the body of Christ. People have enough faith to believe, to come to Christ. They get saved, they come to the church, and they stop. But that wasn't God's plan. God's plan was for you to come into the kingdom and continue to grow in faith so you could walk out your kingdom assignment in him. Oh, go to Romans 1:17. 1:17. The Bible says this, yeah, for in the gospel a righteousness which God ascribes is revealed. I love this. So through the teaching of the gospel, a righteousness— somebody say righteousness. That word righteousness is diasune. Or didactic in some, some translations, but the actual translation would be diasune. But you can see righteousness in other places, didactic, which is teaching or systematic learning. So in the gospel, the Bible said there should be a systematic learning where you're constantly growing. Ah, revelation. So as you come to God, hear the gospel, you should expand into revelation that you learn how to be who you really are, because you just don't get it without that teaching. And some people think, I'm gonna just wake up and get it. And in this day of social media, everybody think they got it because people just jump in front of their phone and start talking. And they learned nothing. The reality is the revelation of God is so important to your life that if you don't have it, you'll create delays. Things that should have already happened will slow down because you lived your life outside of revealed systematic word that came from God, where you learned how to function in faith as a kingdom citizen. Listen, let me keep reading because I could, I could stay with that all day. He said the righteousness God subscribes is revealed both springing from faith— here we go, so it starts with my faith in receiving God— and springing up to more faith. The King James Version said from faith to faith. So when I come to God, I come to God with the idea— I should have the idea, and a leader should teach new babies this is, then I'm going to grow. But here's the problem in most churches: people get saved and immediately enter into a state of what I call arrested development, which means now for the rest of their Christian life, as long as they're following that leader, they don't develop, they don't grow, because the leader is more interested in trying to keep his job. So most preachers show up every Sunday reapplying for their job. They want to— they got to preach so the deacon's happy. They got to preach for the mothers because they don't want to be voted out. Are y'all hearing this? That's why I would rather have a demon-possessed church than a deacon-possessed church. I got power to cast them demons out. Them. But them deacons ain't going nowhere. Y'all ain't talking to me. Them deacons gonna be there until Jesus return. They'll put you out before you cast them out. So most preachers are trying to stay on top. They're trying to get many likes as they can on social media, so they're going to preach what people want to hear instead of really digging into where you are and giving you a didactic system of teaching that cultivates your faith to higher levels where you can believe for more. I don't know about you, but I want all of it. Somebody say, I want all of it. We give God praise. Glory to God. So the faith must mature. Yes. Watch this. So kingdom faith real quick, not gonna be long, just sound like it— cannot mature when your external reach— here we go— is greater than your internal capacity. Huh? Yeah, faith cannot expand when you're trying to believe for something You don't have the internal capacity to believe for. Oh, there are so many people reaching for stuff, it never happens, because internally their faith was not developed enough to believe God for that. And guess what that does? That causes frustration. You end up frustrated, be like, I'm paying my tithes, I'm going to church, I'm worshiping God, I'm praying, I'm trying to believe God, and this ain't happening. Come on, it's because faith hasn't been cultivated to that level to believe for what you're reaching for. My God, it's just like a man who's believing God for a wife but ain't got no job. That's already a problem. Are y'all hearing me? He, his, he, he's reaching for something that internally he ain't 'Cause most men think, well, I want to get married, especially in the church. I want to get married, give me a wife, she gonna be my sex all night, sex in the morning, sex in the noonday. Woo, glory! Sex when the sun go down. But they don't realize that after the sex is over, the water bill's coming, the light bill's coming, the mortgage is coming. Are y'all hearing this? It's coming. So you got to have enough internal capacity to know I got to be able to trust God on a level that