KINGDOM WORSHIP PART 3, MANS GREATEST NEED | DR MIKE WOODS | RADAH CHURCH | 10-31-21

Proposed a question to me: What is Kingdom worship? And I said to them, in the simplest terms, Kingdom worship is our human passport that authorizes us access to the Kingdom of God. You know, there are so many believers who are saved, sanctified, filled with the Holy Spirit, and never have really accessed the resources, the blessings of the Kingdom. And most of all, they haven't even accessed the King for real. You know, God's greatest desire for us as humans is for us to have a spirit-to-spirit relationship with him. As a matter of fact, not only is it God's greatest desire, it's our greatest need. God wants to have a spirit-to-spirit relationship with every one of us that revolutionizes our life as we know it. Now, you know, everything created was created to actually exist in its environment. So the birds were created to live in the air. Animals were created to live in the dust of the ground and in the bush and in jungles. Fish were created to live in the sea. They exist better in their environments. Take them out of their environments and their life is totally out of order. Man is no different. Our ideal environment is the presence of God. God created the environment of his presence so we can dwell in it and experience the fullness of relationship with him. Our ideal environment is the presence of God. Now listen, sin separated us and continues to separate us from the fullness of this culture, from the fullness of experiencing God's presence. And after salvation, Only worship, which is God's gift to humankind, can restore us to our original culture and bring us back to our home country. Bottom line, Kingdom worship is our only guarantee that the King will show up in our lives. Well, grace and peace be multiplied to you from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. My name is Apostle Michael Lyris Woods, for those of you who are uninitiated, and yes, welcome to today's edition of The Apostle's Table. I'm super excited to share with you today. I'm excited about the word that God has given me as we continue in our series on Kingdom Worship. You know, God is so worthy to be praised and glorified. You know, one of the amazing things about scripture is that when we worship, the Word of God really comes alive. Those things that God has promised us, we can actually begin to tangibly handle them, and it raises our expectation through worship. So today is going to be absolutely powerful, so don't go anywhere. Do not scroll, stay right where you are. This word is gonna be phenomenal. And listen, I want you to do me a favor as you're joining us today. Please engage with this livestream. What does that mean, Michael Lyris Woods? That means comment below. If you're coming in now, just say hello. Whether you're watching this by YouTube, Facebook, Periscope, Instagram, wherever you're watching from, we want you to comment, say hello, let us know you're here. Engage the broadcast, write down the scripture, scriptures in the comments. Say things that really touch you in the comments. I promise you, uh, these reactions are not going to just trigger something in you, but it's going to bless others as they see you engage and get involved. The other thing I want you to do is like this video. And then thirdly, whether you're watching again on any platform or by podcast, I want you to share this. Glory to the name of God! Somebody needs this word on today. So listen, I'm not gonna hold you long at all. I want to go ahead and get right into the heart of this teaching today. Praise the name of God. And I promise you, I promise you, you're going to be blessed. Glory to God. And the power of the living God is going to meet us. I, I sense a very prophetic anointing that's over me right now that I believe is going to revolutionize every person that engages with us today. So stay with us. Glory to God. I believe this prophetic anointing is going to catapult you into a place in your future that you've been praying about. Some of you, maybe perhaps, yes, you, you've been stuck and seem like you can't get past where you are. Well, I just heard the Lord say, glory to the name of God, as you listen to his word today, you're going to be pushed into a dimension, praise God, that you have never been in before. Glory to God. So we're continuing again. Let's jump in this. I'm excited, man. Our series on Kingdom Worship, this is part 3 And I really want to just take a moment to review our last teaching, part 2, where we talked about the principles of worship. You know, everything operates in principles, and in particular, God, he is a God of principles. And one of the things we brought out even in teaching, we, we brought an understanding of what the kingdom was and what worship is and how those things operate together. So I want to just go back really quick. And share with you really, uh, what the kingdom is. All right, the kingdom, glory to God, is from a Greek word basileia, and it is the realm where a king sovereignly rules, reigns, and governs. There are two things that have to exist in a kingdom: a king and a realm. A king cannot declare they are a king If there is no realm where they rule. And the rule of God, watch this, it extends beyond the heavens into the earth. 'Cause God has declared, not only is he the King of Heaven, but the scriptures have declared that he's also the King of the Earth. So we understand kingdom, the king's domain or the king's realm, it's his place of dominance. And watch this, worship is the Hebrew word shakak, and or the Greek word proskuneo. Either of these words deal with bowing down as an inferior to a superior, or sacrificing our very life as an inferior to a superior. So in order to really have kingdom worship, There has to be a sacrifice of yourself. See, worship really hasn't happened. Come on, y'all, if you're still in the mix. Worship hasn't happened if it's still all about you. But you— worship happens not just when we sing, but it happens when our entire life is presented as a living sacrifice. That is holy and acceptable unto God. So kingdom worship, in its simplest terms, would be to surrender all that we are to the King of the realm of the world and heaven. So we, we surrender all that we are to the King of the world and the King of heaven. Not the President of the United States, not the King of England. We surrender our life to God the King and his way of doing things. My God. So I need you to grab that because none of this matters that I'm teaching if you don't understand what kingdom worship really is. And again, it's not just lifting your hands, singing 3 fast songs and 2 slow songs. Glory to God. Because many a times, even when that happens in the church, worship really has not happened because most of the people doing that have not bowed themselves as an inferior. I want you to know you are inferior to God, and when you worship, that has to be evident in the activity, the, the response you're giving him. Now watch this. God— we learned this in the last message— that God is a God of principles. And since God is a God of principles, everything he creates, he created it to operate in certain principles to guarantee that it functions. Watch this, at its optimal potential. God wants you and I to function at our optimal potential. Type that in the comments. Optimal potential. Optimal potential. He doesn't want us to miss the mark. He doesn't want us to come short. And we're going to talk about this in this teaching today. He wants us to be able to maximize all that we are, all that he's called us to do. Oh my God! Hey, glory to Jesus! He wants us to operate at our optimal level of performance and potential, our optimal level of purpose. But we can't do that if we don't have a real strong worship relationship that produces— watch this— the environment we need. Glory to God. And we're going to talk about that today, to tap into God in a way where every part of our life is fueled by the hand of God. Lord, help us. Help us, Jesus. Not by our own hands, not what— not by what we want to do, but by the hand of God. And there are so many people, you know, I encounter someone on pretty much on a daily basis, and whenever I speak to them, they always speak back and say, 'I'm blessed and highly favored of the Lord.' Now, I know a lot of people that do it, but this particular person does it consistently. And I want you to know, everybody that says that consistently it doesn't necessarily mean that they're actually blessed and highly favored, because the blessing of the Lord only manifests in the environment of God. The favor of God— oh my God— only manifests in the environment of God. We're going to talk about environment today. Hallelujah. And you can't be blessed and highly favored if you're not consistently living I ain't talking about you go to church. I'm talking about you grew up in church or you know the lingo or you follow your favorite preacher. I'm talking about cultivating an environment where God can actually sit down and commune with you and dwell so that when you leave, you already blessed because you've encountered the blessing who— oh, you really are favored. And I'm not saying everybody says it. Is not blessed and highly favored, but a lot of people who say it are not because they are not consistently encountering God. And then the other behaviors they display are clear that they are not operating in the blessing of God that makes rich and adds no more sorrow to it. Oh my God. Because they live their life from a place of brokenness and sorrow And it shows in the fruit of their life because they have not really produced the environment of God. Because reality is, has worship really happened when you say you worship? We're gonna scratch the surface of that today, but before this series is over, we're gonna get there. We'll probably be teaching this through Christmas because at the end of the day, we gotta where we're going in 2022, there has to be a worship life that is evident for you to walk in the manifested— oh my God— authority of God and to make— watch this— God-like decisions that 2022 is going to require so you can produce God-desired destinies. 2022 is going to be the year— hear me— of supernatural decisions. You cannot make a supernatural decision. Oh my God. If you ain't in the supernatural, I'm going to say that one more time. Matter of fact, type it in the comments, please. Please type it. You cannot make a supernatural decision if you're not in the supernatural. And let me reiterate, just because you went to church doesn't mean you're in the supernatural. Just because your preacher gets up and talk about the supernatural doesn't mean you're operating in a supernatural environment. Super natural environments are born out of true worship. So I'm just reviewing. Last time we also gave you a few elements. I gave you 3 elements, I think it was. That must exist whenever worship occurs, because worship hadn't happened if these things aren't there. Number 1, humility must be there. See, because worship is fundamentally about— I'm sorry, fundamentally, fundamentally about bowing ourselves and humbling ourselves before an awesome God. We bow down, watch this, because we realize for real for real that there is no one greater and no one more powerful and no one more worthy of our complete surrender. Listen, according to C.S. Lewis, he says pride, and I quote, is the complete anti-God state of mind, and humility is its antidote. So if you want— only way to get rid of pride is humility. And watch this, the Bible said God resists the proud and he exalts the humble. So it's— worship only happens where there's humility. You can't worship God in arrogance. He's coming nowhere near that. Oh, oh, I don't care how well you sing, how many runs you can do, how, how much you lift your hands and cry. At the end of the day, God doesn't respond to pride. Do you realize some people sing out of pride? They can cry pridefully. Oh God, hallelujah! Because they can get through crying, tell you how I know it, well, humble, and get through crying and cuss you out and lie, get through crying and do something that's totally not God. But when you break yourself in his presence and surrender all All to Jesus, my blessed Savior. All to Jesus I freely give, for I will ever love and trust him, in his presence daily live. I surrender all. And you have to make up in your mind you're going to humble yourself and surrender all. Worship doesn't happen without humility. Number 2, I told last time that worship doesn't happen without submission. Oh, I'll say it again: worship doesn't happen without submission. Worship is about submitting— submission— to come under the mission of another. So submission is about submitting ourselves to the goals, the plans, the dreams, the purposes of our King. Watch this. We bow before him in recognition, not just because he's superior, but we bow before him in recognition also— hear me, guys— because he, oh my God, has a right to be honored. Because of what he has done. You submit out of revelation. See, you can't really submit to something that has not been revealed. You see, see, most of you are not submitted totally to God because you have not totally gained revelation of who he is. Total surrender, total submission comes out of a revelation of who God is. So two things here. First, you can't worship God without a sacrifice. You sacrifice yourself through humility. Two— and I'm going somewhere, I'm just laying a backdrop for this today— two, you cannot worship God if you don't know God. Oh, I'm just reviewing. You can't worship if you don't know it. So it's impossible for you to surrender to God, his authority, to surrender your whole life in submission to the King, his plans, and say, God, I'm gonna dream with you. My dreams don't matter, but whatever you want, God, is what I want. Whatever, Lord, you desire for my life is what I desire. You got to come to that place where you say, God, help us today to dream with you. So Father, in Jesus' name, today bless this word as we are reviewed the, the second message. God, let us, as we jump into today's teaching, God, let your anointing reveal yourself to us. God, we come humbly and submissively to your mind, your will, your plans. God, we surrender our mind, will, and emotions to you. So have your way, teach through us. And may somebody be changed, healed, and delivered today. In Jesus' name, amen, and thanks be to God. Hallelujah! I feel God here, so let's get into this. So matter of fact, I'm going to put this scripture on the front because we got a couple other scriptures we're going to look at throughout this teaching. So the foundation scripture for this teaching today is found in Saint John's Gospel Chapter number 4 and verse number 23, the Bible says this. You'll find these words. It says, but the hour cometh and now is. I dare you, shout, it's right now! Hallelujah! Just touch yourself and say, I am a part of the now. Say, I am a part of what God is doing now. All right, so the hour has come and it now is— watch this— when the true worshipers— touch yourself and say, I am a true worshiper. Hallelujah. When the true worshipers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth, for the Father seeketh such to worship him. Him. So now is the time where true worshipers— come on now— shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth. Wait a minute, so you're telling me, Michael Woods, there's a true worshiper and there's a false worshiper? Yes, because the Bible said so. And now there is a line being drawn in how God interacts with humanity based on true worship and false worship. Well, somebody said, well, I'm a true worshiper. I go to church. I sing in the choir. I sing on the praise team. I lead the praise team. Well, it doesn't necessarily mean— hear me— that you are a true worshiper. Religion has done an excellent job in teaching people the principles of church and what should happen inside of church in terms of singing, in terms of lifting our hands. We learned all the Hebrew words for praise. Hallelujah! We, we, we've learned the Hosanna praise song. We, we understand that, you know, there's a principle there that worship touches something that praise doesn't. However, God says the real key here to being a true worshiper is worshiping the Father in spirit and in truth. Whew. So first of all, it's not worship if it doesn't come from a place of truth. Watch this again. God is never recognized. God is always revealed. Ah, I'll say that again. God is never recognized. He's always revealed. See, the church has taught you to recognize God. When to have a praise break, when to shout hallelujah, when to lift your hands, when to cry glory to God. Because we recognize these things, but we're not operating from a place of what has been revealed. And God has to be revealed so you can humble yourself, so you can submit yourself to him. So only people who have a revelation of God are humble to God, are totally surrendered to God. He's never recognized. He's always revealed. Help me, help me. I'm going— I'm almost done, believe it or not. I just sound long. You got to understand this. We're tripartite beings. We're made up of body, soul, and spirit. We're three parts. We're a trichotomy— body, soul, and spirit. Matter of fact, you don't believe it? 1 Thessalonians 5:23 says this. It says, and the very God of peace Sanctify you holy. Now when he says sanctify you holy there, he's not talking about putting on a long dress, taking the makeup off, taking the earrings off. Oh my God, putting a rag on your head and covering your head. No, we were taught coming up, and I grew up in a very tough Pentecostalism. Glory to God, it taught us structure, it taught us holiness, it taught us what was right. Great. But here's what I understand. Real sanctification is God setting you apart, is himself setting you apart for a particular task or assignment. In this instance, God has set you apart to worship. Your whole goal in life is to be reconciled to the King and worship him. He said, and the very God of peace sanctify you holy, and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless until the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. We are a tripartite being, a whole soul, a whole body, and a whole spirit. Glory to the name. Everything in our life functions, hallelujah, from the realm of the spirit, believe it or not. Matter of fact, all flesh is grass. The Bible says no good thing comes out of the flesh. And I'll take you deeper, honestly, no bad thing comes out of the flesh alone. If it's good, if it's bad, it started in the spirit. Watch this, fornication doesn't begin in your body. I know you may believe that it does. It doesn't believe when you begin, when you get in the bed. Matter of fact, By the time you get into bed, fornication is almost over. Y'all not talking to me here. And quicker for some folk than others. Y'all not saying much. Oh my God, glory to God. The reality is it doesn't start in the flesh, it starts in the spirit. It's a spirit of fornication that's influencing your soul, your mind, your will, your emotions, your passions, your intellect, your desires, your soul. And then because your soul hasn't been influenced by the Holy Ghost to do what's right, it comes out of your body. Oh my God, truth doesn't start in your mouth, it starts in the spirit with the Spirit of Truth. Oh my God, and it comes through your soul where it is analyzed and spoken out of your mouth. All of the things that really manifest out of your body come from an invisible place. Most things that are visible came from the invisible. So God says, in order to be a true worshiper, you got to worship me out of your spirit. So your singing should start from a revelation that your spirit has in spirit to spirit relationship with God. See, when it's like that, man, time doesn't matter. Who's looking at you doesn't matter. How you sound don't matter because you got a spirit-to-spirit relate— oh my God— shit with God that just pours out because it's coming from a deeper place and it's coming from a true place of worship. It's gotta come out of your spirit because you're a trichotomy. It can't just come out of your mouth and you sing a slow song and it ain't embedded in your spirit. But what happens is it gets there through truth. That's why he says spirit and truth. So truth here deals with the idea that you got a revelation. We talked about worship last time, Anglo-Saxon word that means worth, scope. You have found a worth of God that's based in a truth. He healed me. That's true. He delivered me. That's true. He saved me. That's true. And I got a revelation that he's the one that did it. So I worship him in spirit and in truth. He made a way for my son, made a way for my daughter. You find your truth in your testimony, and that thing plants a spermatic— oh my God— seed in your spirit. A prophetic and spermatic. Oh my God. Testimony that gets implanted in your spirit that— watch this— springs forth worship that flows through your soul and out of your body. That's true worship. It happens when there's revelation, when there's a real connection with the Lord. My God. Yeah. Oh my goodness. Oh my goodness. Are you all hearing this? Lord, I got to get out of introduction. The reality is, if we want to have what we really need— and that's what the title of this teaching is today, Man's Greatest Need— our greatest desire should be an enduring spirit-to-spirit relationship with the Father should be our greatest desire. Are you hearing what I'm saying? That should be our greatest desire. It is God's greatest desire to have a spirit-to-spirit relationship that endures throughout eternity with us, because the Bible even said even after we die And if we go to heaven, one of the things we will continue to do in heaven is worship, because God is worthy to be praised. He's worthy to be glorified and lifted up and worshiped and exalted. Hallelujah! Glory to God! So again, it's God's greatest desire, and it should be man's deepest need and deepest desire to share with God an enduring spirit-to-spirit relationship that says to the world, I'm in love with a deity and he's real. Hallelujah. People should— when you talk about God, they shouldn't pick up on phoniness and script things that are scripted and things that— watch this— religion has birthed in you. They should be able to genuinely feel the conviction that you have a real spirit-to-spirit relationship with God. Oh God, we're tripartite beings, guys. So our greatest need is to have that spirit-to-spirit relationship with God. We cannot have that— watch this— if we don't have the right environment. So the first thing today I want to share with you is that we need to understand the principle of environment. Remember, God is a God of principles, and principles are in place to make sure we get optimal performance out of whatever we do or whatever product we have. Again, there are certain principles about a 75-inch television that have to be in place for it to work. First of all, it's built to run off electricity. That's a principle. If you plug it in the wall, the television is going to be powered. It's going to come on. If you unplug it, take it out of its environment, throw it in the ocean. Come on. It's not going to function. Glory to God. Because you have not kept it in the right environment. So the principle of environment can come into play. To give full optimal operation. It was not built to operate in water. Oh my God, it wasn't a camera. I'm looking into this camera. It was not built to operate. Oh my God, underwater. This camera cannot go underwater. It will destroy it. Great camera, but it's not waterproof. Come on, I need you to understand something. God created you and I to function within a Pacific environment, just like everything else. The fish were created to function in water. You take the fish out of— you've taken the fish out of his ideal environment and literally he will die. Glory to the name of God. Environments are important. You take birds out of the air, they were made to live in the air. Glory to God. And they survive in the air. Everything they need to survive is above the earth, in the, in the clouds, in the trees. Glory to God. They build their nests in trees. Again, everything was created to function in a particular environment. I need you to understand this principle. Glory to God. Listen, you could— wait a minute. Oh my God. You could take an expensive yacht, a million-dollar yacht, Yacht, tie that yacht to the back of your car. Hear me? Just tie it to the back of your car, right? And hitch it to the back of your car and just drive down the street. When you put it back in water, it is not going to function properly because the yacht probably is going to have holes in the bottom and it's going to sink because the principle for the yacht is for it to operate on water. Come on. Not on the street. What am I saying to you? Man's ideal environment— hear me— is the presence of God. Wait a minute. Man's ideal environment is the presence of God. That means when you go to church, God's presence should be there. When you wake up in the morning in your house, you should operate in the presence of God. Psalm 16:1 says, hallelujah, preserve me, O God, for in thee do I put my trust. Wait a minute, Psalmist, he says preserve me. Shamar in Hebrew, that word means to protect, keep me, guard me. Watch this. Keep me alive, for I trust you, God, with my life. So we ought to be saying to God on a day-to-day basis, God, preserve me, keep me alive. I want you to know you live because it's God that allows you to live. So, woo-woo! Preserve me, oh God, for in thee do I put Thank you, Lord. My trust. Shema de Briscoe. I put it there. I deliberately decide to trust you with my entire life. I make the sacrifice because you gave me free will. I could trust in myself. I could trust in other people. I could trust in religion. But I trust in you, God. And I'm saying, God, keep me. Shema. Protect me. Shema. Guard me. Shema in Hebrew. Keep me alive. Shema in Hebrew. For in you, yes Lord, I put my trust. This is worship, man. This is worship because the ideal environment is the presence of God, and that's where we ought to be. And when we worship, the presence comes. Watch Psalm 16, verse 11. It says Thou will show me, come on, the path of life. For in thy presence there is fullness of joy. At thy right hand there are pleasures forevermore. I can break this down and we could just teach on this all day, but I'm not. But I just want to go to, in thy presence there is fullness of joy. The word joy, shea, in Hebrew. And it means that in the presence of God there is profit. P-R-O-F-I-T. Ask a businessman to define profit. He's going to tell you that that is left over after the expenses of the business have been paid and covered. God is saying, in my presence— oh my God, my pre-sense, pre-sense, my pre-intelligence— that's the presence of God. The wisdom, the intelligence, the knowledge of God that I had pre— long before you got here. So our environment, oh my God, was to live in humility and submission to the presence of God, not men, not celebrities, not popular folk. Not great Instagram people who have tens and thousands and millions of followers, not content creators. In his presence, there's fullness of profit. See, we mastered spending. We want to get in the presence of a celebrity. We want to meet— I'm telling you, they're not all this wrapped up to be. Trust me, trust me. Glory to God. We want to be in the presence. They're humans like everybody else. But the greatest person you could ever meet and be in real relationship with, spirit-to-spirit relationship with, is God himself. He's real. And guess what? He wants a relationship with you. My God, today, are y'all here? Oh my God, um, I hope y'all getting this. So when God created man, this principle was initiated in Genesis in Eden. Eden was the original environment God intended for man. Y'all don't believe it? Let's go to Genesis 2:8. Let's read the scripture. The Bible says, and the Lord God planted a garden a garden eastward in Eden, and there he put the man whom he had formed. So God forms man, puts his spirit in man, and then he plants a garden. Come on. I don't have time to even deal with this eastward in Eden. Ah, listen, there's something about the east. Glory to the name of God. I'm not going to go there. I'm not going to go there because I'll be there as another teaching for another day. But watch this. He planted a garden eastward in Eden. So eastward in Eden, inside of Eden, he planted a garden. Eden means paradise. Watch this. Eden also in Hebrew means the place where God and man dwell together. The place where God and man dwell together. Oh my God. So God is saying, I planted a place in the earth that I had formed to put the man that I had formed, because heaven, hallelujah, and earth was never intended— watch this— to be separate way. Earth was just a colony or an extension of his rule. Oh my God, oh my God. So he says, what I'm going to do on this planet called Earth that I created, not by Big Bang, but that I created, I'm going to plant a garden eastward in Eden. And we all know that in a garden a garden. It's a place where things grow. It's a place where the environment— watch this, we're still talking about understanding the principle— environment has to be cultivated. Again, Eden is the place where God and man dwell together. It is paradise. And God is saying to us today that if we create the environment. Just like he planted a garden eastward in Eden, he made a spot inside of Eden that was designated for him to meet man. You need a spot in your house. You need a designated place. Y'all not talking. You, you need a designated time. You need to spend prime time with God in a prime place where you cultivate an environment that is conducive for visitation from God. Lord have mercy. This is a discipline that is lost because anything goes. Oh my God, oh my God. And I'm saying to you with all the love I possibly possibly can, with all the ebullience I can muster up in my spirit, I want you to understand that it's not cool. Hallelujah! To share space with God and sin, or to try, because he's not coming where sin is. It's not cool. So you need, uh, you need some prime time with him. You need atmospheres where he's— oh my God— able to come into, because God's not coming everywhere. I'm telling you right now, he ain't. That's why he planted a garden eastward in Eden so he could put the man where he formed. This is where the man was going to live. This is where God was going to dwell with him. This is where man was going to visit with God. But here's what happened. Man's sin separated him— Lord have mercy— from his ideal environment. Etabashe ebris kurobushki tabaye, umma sebamande de de be koshaya, brinskete bondi asaya, hu shabandio. Man's sin separated him. God gave him some clear instructions. Man had a conversation with the enemy, which is where sin many times start. Communication with things that miss the mark usually lead to you missing the mark. Communication with people who sin and miss the mark usually lead to you sinning and missing the mark. So this pattern hasn't changed. Man speaks with the enemy and he comes short. He disobeys God, and now he's separated from his ideal environment. Can I tell you something? Many people in the world today are separate— hear me— from their ideal environment. Because they choose to live in sin. Watch this. They choose to live lives that they say God is okay with. It proves they have no spirit-to-spirit relationship, because certain things that you do and walk out in your body, if you feel good about them, if you have no conviction Oh my God, it says to me that you have no spirit-to-spirit relationship because God is going to share with you the things he loves and the things he despises. Even if you don't read them in the book, he's going to make you aware through the relationship. You got these ignorant preachers out here now telling people it's okay to be homosexual, it's okay to be lesbian. It's okay to be a whore. Listen, it's okay to just do what makes you feel good. God yet loves you. He do love you, but he hates sin. And let me tell you something, you can be redeemed through the blood of Jesus, but if you're not doing the things that represent him, you're not following Jesus. Glory to God. And that's going to create a problem for you later, and it's going to create a problem for you now because your worship will be hindered. That's what I mean by total surrender. See, some people have not worshiped because there are some things they don't want to give up. The word sin is harmēsia in Greek, and it means to miss the mark, to come short. So you may not be fornicating, you may not be committing adultery, but many of you listening to me today, you're coming short of the glory of God. You're coming short of God's plan because you bought into something in your mind that you feel like God is okay with because either religion or false teaching or some doctrine of the devil. That's what the Bible said. The Bible said in that day many will depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils. It's a lot of that going on right now, ladies and gentlemen. But I'm here to tell you, just because the consensus or has become popular to go against the scriptures, it doesn't make it right. The Bible is still right. And if you had a relationship, you would know that he stands behind his word. But religion and error have robbed many of you. You— oh my God— your lips worship, but your heart is far away. It's not all right. It's not okay because sin separates us from God. I gotta run. Go to Isaiah 59:2. I gotta go. The Bible says But your iniquities— oh my goodness— have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you that he will not hear. Oh my God, what a bad place to be in where God doesn't hear. Some of you wonder why you never get a breakthrough in worship, why you never get a breakthrough to the real presence of God, where you never experience God on a high level. There's something there that's blocking it. He's hid his face. In his face is his eyes. So when God hides his face, you can't see like he see. In his face is his mouth, so you can't hear him when he speaks. Oh my God, oh my God. In his face is his nose, his sensitivity. You can't sense what he senses. Because he's hid his face from you. So you're left to see through your own eyes. It's sin that causes him to do this. Coming short— again, you may not be committing fornication, you may not be gay, you may not be a lesbian, you may not be a whoremonger or an adulterer, but listen, coming short, coming short of God's plan for your life Missing the mark, doing your own thing will cause you to miss God's face, his eyes, his nose, his mouth. Oh my God, I need God's eyes because I'm blind without him. I need God's sensory perception because I need to know the enemy when he's trying to entrap me. I need to see the devil when he raises up his head. Oh, and every time he tries, I can see it, I can sense it. Glory to God, I never miss it. I know what he's doing. I need to hear God's voice, so I don't need him to hide his face. So I choose to make a choice not to sin, because sin— the only result of sin is God hiding his face. My iniquities— watch this— which is lawlessness. That's what iniquity is, which means you have no regard for law, for kingdom principles. It creates separation. Ha! You're lawless. You have no idea that there are kingdom laws in place. That God functions by, principles that he functions by. And because you do your own thing and don't live in submission and humility to those ways of living, you're separate from God. You view God as just some religious icon that your mama taught you about You view God as something that is not really real. You view the Bible as not a living book. But the reality is you have allowed yourself to be shaped in iniquity. The Bible said we're born in sin, we're born with God's face hid from us, and we're shaped in iniquity. So over time, iniquity is shaped into us by culture, by TV, by internet, by parents, by the religious church that don't teach you how to know God. It's a dangerous piece because so many people find themselves separated. So many people go to church Sunday after Sunday, watch live Sunday after Sunday, but they're still separate from from God. And rather than them admitting and getting some help and learning what they need to learn, they lie and act like they do have a relationship. Oh, I know God. Oh, I'm saved. No, you don't. Get it together, please. Oh, I worship today. No, you didn't. You're separate because your life is one of iniquity, and you need to be delivered from your iniquities. You need to be delivered from your sin nature. I gotta move, man. I gotta move. God, ah, God. So because we're separate from God, here it is, y'all. Most of our problems in our life and in this world stem from the fact that we have lost our ideal environment. We've been shaped in iniquity. We live outside of the plan and the the promise of God. And that, my friends, is not God's way, it's not his will, it's not his desire for us. Oh my God. Okay, so the principle of environment— let's move. You got to understand that environment is important because it's the place where the nature of God connects with you. Again, he built this place in Eden. So let's just talk about the nature of God bit. The nature— let's understand, let's get just a brief understanding of the nature of God. First of all, God is holy. Psalm 99:5 says this, it says, exalt ye the Lord our God and worship at his footstool, for he is holy. So we exalt God and God alone, and we worship at his feet, for he is holy. We humble ourselves, we surrender ourselves to him, for he's holy. So that means we want to make sure that our heart is holy, because when we can't enter into the kingdom with sin because we're separate, so we gotta purify ourselves. Oh, oh, because God cannot allow sin or the sin nature, because he's holy, to enter into his presence. You don't believe it? Go to Genesis 3:24. After man fell This is what happened. The Bible said, and he drove out the man, planted him in the garden which was holy, which was pure, then came back and drove him out. And he placed at the east of the Garden of Eden cherubims with the flaming sword— Lord have mercy— which turned every way. A flaming sword just flaming around this place in the east of the garden to keep the way of the tree of life. In other words, God says, man, you got sin in your life and you cannot come in my presence. I got to protect my presence, and I'm putting this fiery sword around my presence. And oh my God, if you try to come where life is, because you've been cut off, you've been separated because you would not obey. You came short of the promise. Let me tell you something, this is intact even as I'm teaching today. God still protects his presence and he will separate himself from you. Trust me, I know. You're talking to a man that has failed, that has made mistakes, that has sinned, but you're talking to a man also that has been groomed in the presence of God. I grew up in the presence, not just church. I was taught to pray by my daddy. I was taught worship by my family. Glory to the name of God. I learned from the best of them, and I was groomed in the presence. But I made mistakes, and when I would make mistakes, I would be locked out. I would even go to church, glory to God, and see God break everybody else through, use me to heal folks, use me to deliver folk, cast out demons, and get back to a hotel room and can't break through myself because there was sin in my heart. Because God will use you and refuse you. That's why the Bible said, in that day many will come and say, Lord, Lord, did not I prophesy in your name? Did not I cast out devils in your name? The Bible said he's going to say, depart from me, I never knew you. Your work— here we go— was of iniquity. There's a word again— lawless. You had not surrendered. You were not humble. You didn't acknowledge my way of living. You did it your own way. So he says, I used you, then I refused you. I got to get out of here, man. So how do we get back? How do we get back? I got a few more minutes. So let's understand this process of reconciliation. Two ways, only two, two things got to happen. One, salvation through Jesus Christ is the only way we can return to God's presence. Salvation, soteria in Greek, which means God rescues us, saves us with his efficacious, vicarious, substitutionary work of the cross. Brings us back to the Father, puts us in right standing with God. It's— that's first and foremost the only way to get back. You cannot get back to God without repentance. That's why God sent Jesus, so that we can get back to a place of our natural habitat and begin to minister to our greatest need, which is his presence in the environment where God can live. Secondly, watch this, huh? Praise and worship are God's gifts that restore to us— hear me— his presence. So praise and worship— praise is the vehicle that gets us to the place of worship. We praise God for what he has done. I praise God because you healed me. I praise you, Lord, Thank you for healing me. Thank you for saving my children. Thank you for saving me. Praise. But we worship God. I read in the beginning, in spirit and in truth, because of who he is, through worthiness or worth scope. So he doesn't have to do anything for us to worship. We worship on revelation of who he is. We got that. So we got to learn to balance the two. The church have become professionals at praise. This is another message for another day. And praise breaks again. But the reality is we got to learn that praise is only a vehicle that gets me to the place called worship. And worship is what unlocks the atmosphere. Worship is what unlocks the heavens. Now watch this. You cannot praise and get to the place of the worship and unlock anything if you're impure, if you're dirty, You're just going to be dancing dirty. There's a movie called Dirty Dancing. That's what you're doing if you got sin in your heart and sin in your life. If you're praising God and you ain't dealt with your sin, because you'll never unlock the heavens. God will— watch this— that cherubim protects the presence. You won't get in. Oh God, let me show you this in scripture. 2 Corinthians 5, and I'm closing with this scripture. I'm closing with it. I'm closing with it. God have mercy. I gotta go. I gotta go. Woo! God, I hope y'all getting something out of this. 2 Corinthians 5, and I'm closing with this scripture, 16 through 21. Watch this. Wherefore henceforth know we no man after the flesh. I told you, we're trichotomies. We're body, we're soul, and spirit. Hallelujah. So we shouldn't judge people after the flesh. We should be discerning enough, and if we operate in the face of God where we're moving through his eyes and his sensibility, we'll be able to discern people beyond what's on the outside. Many of you have judged people for what's on the outside. Oh my God, and what people told you. You know people after your flesh. You have not taken the time to really pray about them. And the Bible says here, henceforth we know no man after the flesh. Anybody that comes in my world, I don't care who you are, whether it's business, whether it's ministry, whatever I am doing, I'm praying about every person around me because I don't want to know them after the flesh. I want to know them after the spirit. Watch this. Yea, though we have known Christ after the flesh, Yet now henceforth we him no more. God is saying, look, many of you listening to me, you've known God, but because you haven't been reconciled back to your environment, back to your presence, back to his presence, back to the atmosphere you should be dwelling in, he said you've known him after the flesh. You recognize him again. You know him based on what others have done and others have shown you. But I want you to hear me today. There is more. Whew. There's more than meets the eye, ladies and gentlemen. You've known him after your flesh. You've known him after copying off other people. You know the dance when the Hammond gets right. Glory to God. You know the dance when the drums gets right. Glory to God. You've known him after fleshly antics. But let me tell you something. God says henceforth we know him no more. Watch this, the Bible says therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature. Old things are passed away, behold all things have become new. Watch this, the Bible said we interpenetrate the very essence of who Christ is, being in Christ, to interpenetrate him, to become one with him. Listen, if you got a white wall or a green wall in your house, glory to God, If you interpenetrate the wall, you become one with the wall because you interpenetrated it. You became just like the wall. So watch this. That means if I interpenetrate a white wall, you won't be able to tell the difference between me and the wall. If I interpenetrated the green wall, you won't be able to tell the difference between me and the wall because now me and the wall are one. or the wall and I, sorry— are one. I've interpenetrated it. So when you in Christ, we are not being able to tell the difference between you and Christ. Because why? You have become a new creature. And now that you're sharing a spirit-to-spirit relationship with him, and all your old stuff have passed away, people will try to bring it up. Because they ain't interpenetrated Christ. People who look at your past to determine your now and your future— glory to God— they have not interpenetrated Christ. Because if they have, they'll understand that just like you, their past has been totally annihilated. Because watch this, Christ never will look at where you've been to determine where you're going. He doesn't look at your past to determine your future. Quite the contrary, he uses the past to qualify you for where you're going, because it's your survival of those things that give you the anointing, the unction to be better when you enter Pentecost. But all things have passed away, all things have become new. Watch this. And all things are of God. Who have reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ and have given us the ministry of reconciliation. So no matter how powerful you are, how many tongues you speak in, oh my God, how much you dance, how much you cry, our greatest service to the kingdom is that of reconciliation. We have the ministry of reconciliation. So no matter what you're doing, if it ain't rooted in reconciliation, Something's wrong. Watch this. To wit, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them, and have committed unto us the word of reconciliation. Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us. We pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God. God, for he hath made him to be sin for us who knew no sin, that we might be the righteousness of God. Listen, this is the only way back. We must be reconciled by God to the Father. It's our greatest need to have a spirit-to-spirit relationship with Listen, maybe you're watching me now, glory to God, yeah, and you don't know Jesus and the pardon of your sin, or maybe you got sin in your life, maybe you know him and you backslidden, or maybe you're in a place where you need some grace and you've messed up and you're beating yourself up about it. Listen, you can be reconciled to God. It's his whole mission. He wants to be one with you. He wants to restore an environment where you can actually have real relationship that religion can't give you. Let's pray. Say this with me. Say, Heavenly Father, in the name of Jesus. Say, I repent of my sin. Say, I decree and declare that you died, you rose again. Say, Father, I open my heart and I ask you, God, to come in and live in me. Say, I declare today, I am saved. I am forgiven in Jesus' name. Listen, if you prayed that prayer with me, your sins are forgiven right now in this very moment. And there's an email address on the screen. Matter of fact, just go to rhodachurch.com/contact and write me like so many do and say, Dr. Woods, I prayed the prayer of faith with you. I repented of my sin. I want to know the next steps. And I'm going to reach out to you swiftly and get you those next steps. Glory to the name of God. And Father, I pray for every person under the sound of my voice that's been going through the motions with religion. I pray you make them a true worshiper. Help them to find the place of truth where they can join many of us who tapped into who you are for real. In Jesus' name. Listen, I want to invite you to be a blessing to ministry today. Glory to God. We don't do these to raise money, but it's just a blessing blessing to sow into the Word. Glory to God. And if you're a part of our church, most definitely you need to tithe. Glory to God. The Bible says the 10th is holy unto God. It's not yours, it's his. So you need to give God what belongs to him today. Holding back on your tithes is a curse. The Bible said you're cursed with a curse because you have robbed him of your tithe and offering. So give him your tithe today. If you connected to us and you have a responsibility to tithe to this ministry, I'm challenging you now to be obedient. Secondly, all of you that are here right now, I need you to plant a seed today, glory to the name of God, of $40. 40 is God's number of probation. And if you're tithing, plant this above your tithe. 40 is God's number of probation. It's when you check in to see where you are, where you measure where you're going. This is a measure— this seed today is a measuring for where God is getting ready to move us in 2022 financially. There's something on the horizon for God's people financially, but you're going to have to start making the right financial decisions now. And the greatest investment you could ever make is in the kingdom of God. Get that $40 seed, plant it, and give it to Jesus. Jesus, and watch him multiply 1,000 times more. The ways to give are on the screen. I want you to go ahead and do it now. Glory to God. We're going to pray. Father, bless every gift and every giver. Give it back to them 1,000 times more. And God, we rebuke the devourer for their sake, for those that are tithing. And God, we thank you that you're opening the windows of heaven and pouring them out a blessing. They won't have room enough to receive, and we thank you for it in Jesus' name. Amen. Listen, I'm so appreciative to you for your giving and your time. Listen, thank you for joining us this week. I want to challenge you to share this video again. If— listen, somebody needs to hear this word that was taught today, so share it. And also, I want to challenge you to make sure you tune in to our YouTube channel, our Instagram page, and our Facebook pages, and make sure you're liking and sharing the content that's there. Share those pages with others. If it's blessing you, be a blessing to someone else. Listen, I love y'all, man. Y'all be blessed today. Heaven smile upon you is my prayer. And remember, your decisions, they determine your destiny. God bless you.