Radah Church | Thursday Night Live | "ONLY THE STRONG WILL SURVIVE-Part 1" | Dr. Mike Woods Sr.

Well, praise the Lord and welcome to our Thursday night live service. I am so grateful that you've decided to join us tonight. Listen, don't scroll. Listen, before you decide to do it, before you get distracted, I need you to be very clear about one thing: there is a word from the Lord just for you. So here's what I want you to do. I want you to gather your family around. I want you to share this video, and I want you to send out a text. Let everybody you can know that they need to hear this word on tonight. I'm super grateful every time I get an opportunity to teach the word here at Rhoda Church. But I'm telling you, tonight you don't want to miss this word. So I'm going to take a moment, I'm going to pray with you, and then I'm going to go into a song from our worship leader Chelsea King, and then I'm going to come back and share the word of the Lord with you tonight. Listen, you don't want to miss this word. It's going to be powerful. So right now, press that share button, like this video, make sure that we can get every person possible to hear this word as we go into the end of this year. It is vital that we finish strong, and I'm going to discuss how to tap into the supernatural and how you can apply the kingdom to your life. Do you realize that the kingdom of God wants to superimpose itself on you, and you can have just what you need to do the things that God has called you to do? So let's pray. Father, in Jesus' name, we thank you tonight for another opportunity to teach your word. We thank you for these, your people who are joining us from around the world, God. And I declare tonight, God, that my tongue, my mind, my heart and my spirit will be bound to your will, bound to your word, that nothing I say or do in this teaching tonight will be done out of the flesh. Hallelujah. But I declare, God, that as we release this word you have given us for tonight, I pray in the name of Jesus that you would cause it to land on the good ground of every heart of every recipient that will receive it on tonight.

We thank you in advance.

Your credit is good with me, God. So I thank you right now. For what you're getting ready to do. We praise you and we give you glory in Jesus' name. Amen. And thanks be to God. Listen, we're going right into this worship song with Chelsea King. After Chelsea ministers, we're going to come back and share the word of the Lord. Don't go nowhere. You need to hear what thus saith the Lord.

Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Thank you, oh Lord. For fighting for us, God. Thank you for being so good, God. And it's because you called us friend. Hallelujah! What a friend we have in Jesus.

Jesus.

Oh God, our sins and griefs you bear. Jesus, what a privilege it is to carry everything to God in prayer. A friend we have in Jesus, all our sins and griefs to bear. It's such a privilege to carry everything, everything, everything to God in prayer. Oh yes, God. What peace we often forfeit, and oh, what needless pains we bear. All the cause, all the cause. Oh wow, because Yes, we do. We do not care. Harry, hey, we sing to God in prayer. Let me sing that again. Oh. What peace we often fall through, and know what needless pain we bear. And it's all because We do, we do not care, Harry. We don't take care. We think to God in prayer. I promise you I won't make that mistake again. Yeah, we think to God in prayer. Breathing to God in breath. Breathing to God in breath. We take it all in breath. We sing to God in praise. We sing to God in praise. We sing to God in praise. We come before your throne of grace, we bring our burdens to you, Jesus. Yes, Jesus, for you have called me friend. You have called me friend.

Well, praise the Lord! Listen, that was such an awesome song from Minister Chelsea Listen, I'm challenging you now, right where you are. Just open your heart and just absorb all of what you just heard and receive it, because Jesus needs to be the center of everything you do. Father, we glorify you and we worship you. We praise you. We, we declare, God, that you are indeed our everything. You're the center of our lives. You're a good, good Father. Father, and we bless you tonight in Jesus' mighty name. Listen, well, I'm ready to teach the word of the Lord. Do me a favor again, if you're tuned in right here right now, whether live or by replay, I need you to share this live feed. I promise you it's going to be a blessing to you. You know, the blessing of the Lord, the Bible God's goodness makes rich and adds no sorrow to it. The scripture also says we are blessed to be a blessing.

So if this word is blessing you, I need you right now.

Those of you watching us live or by replay, share this video. I promise you, you'll be blessed for doing it. Well, let's get right into the word tonight. There is a word from the Lord, and I promise you, you know, I want to ensure that what we share tonight, praise God, will be beneficial. Something you could take away from this teaching tonight and start using in your life practically right now. Okay, you know, I'm of the opinion that we need God in every phase of our life. I think even people in the church have grown so cold and they walk in such a high level of doubt and become so religious that they don't really realize that God needs to be included in every aspect of our lives. You don't need to make a decision without him. Matter of fact, don't sign another contract without talking to God first. Do not marry another person without talking to God first. For God's sake, some of you been married so many times, don't marry another person until you talk to the Father, okay? Because at the end of the day, we need him. And I just believe that you should never want to be where God was. You want to be where he is. In fact, somebody ought to type that on the screen right now. Just declare it so Satan can hear it Type it, put it in action right now.

Declare, I never want to be where God was.

I want to be where God is. That's where you want to be. You want to be where he can be found.

All right, let's jump into this tonight. Let's go to Revelation.

Praise God. Chapter 11 and verse number 15. Glory to God.

And the Bible says this.

I'm reading out of the New King James Version.

It says, "The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever." I'm going to read that again because it's just all right to read the Bible. Amen. It said, "The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ." And he shall reign forever and ever. Isn't that amazing?

Glory to God. The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and his Christ. Glory to God.

All right. Now I want you to go to Daniel 11:28 real quick. Go flip over into the Old Testament.

Daniel is a prophetic book in the Old Testament and Revelation It's a prophetic book in the New Testament. Both of these texts tonight are prophetic in nature, and this teaching is very prophetic. And I need you to stay right here.

Don't scroll. Stay with me.

Daniel 11:28.

Here's what it says. It says, but the people who know their God shall be strong.

And carry out great exploits.

I'ma say that again.

But the people who know their God shall be strong and carry out great exploits. Wow. So just from those two verses tonight, I want to take a moment to prophetically plow through this message tonight. And if I would give it a title, I would use as a contextual background of the text found in Daniel 11:28, and I would call this 'Only the Strong Will Survive.' The Bible said the people that know their God will be strong "and they will do exploits." Hallelujah! They will be strong and they will do exploits. I want to tell you, only the strong will survive.

Now, let me start by saying this.

I'm going to be very deliberate in this tonight and I won't be long. Many of you have lived since March through something that other people died in.

There have been over a quarter of a million deaths from coronavirus. And if you're listening to me tonight, it means you were not in that number. And it has been by the grace of the living God. Hallelujah! That coronavirus did not find your house and bring death to your house. And you ought to pause right now just to give God praise and thanks that you escaped. Glory to God! And you yet have lived through a pandemic. That's a blessing. Glory to God, because there are some people who lost their loved ones, and there are many that have transitioned from this earth by reason of that disease. So I want to tell you something: if ever was a time we needed to survive, it's now. And even before coronavirus, let me say this: many of you have lived through things that other folk died in. I mean, some of you lived through cancer. You're still here, and, and cancer dried up in your body. Some of you survived accidents that other folk died in. Some of you survived growing up in homes that were broken, and other folks died in those situations, or they're crazy now.

But it's been because the hand of God has literally been upon your life. Are you hearing me?

I'm gonna say it again. The hand of God has been upon your life, and you, my friend, are a survivor. Hallelujah! I know I am. I've lived through so many things that other folk died in, and nobody gets the credit but the Lord. Hallelujah! So let's jump into this tonight, and I want you to just hear me.

Glory to God. Because I believe you're going to be blessed. Praise God. Hallelujah. I want to talk about a technology, I believe, of the kingdom that I believe would revolutionize how we view life, how we view the earth right now, if we embrace this and if we really apply it.

So we're going to go back to the foundational scriptures, but I want to read another text really fast. Go to Romans 13.

And I'm reading out of the NIV, Romans 13, verses 1 and 2.

The Bible says this, it says, let everyone be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. Watch this, the Bible says the authorities that exist have been established, ooh, hear me, by God. So if indeed there is authority in the world right now in any sense, I need you to understand that God is in control of that authority. All authority is delegated authority. No authority has happened except God allowed it to be established. Now here's what I want to bring you into. The reality is the technology of the kingdom suggests that if I serve the King of Kings, and if God has indeed made me a king and a leader and put authority in our lives as believers and told us to have dominion in the earth, You better believe, my friends, glory to God, that God, woo, he intends for us to take authority in every mountain of culture. Hallelujah. So I want you to understand that God wants to increase your supernatural awareness so you can move into the authority as a believer in your sphere of influence that he's called you to move into. So this is my first point tonight, and I want you to grab this. Every believer has an established authority that was given to them by God. Oh my God, there's a sphere of influence that every one of you listening to me has that's unique, that's authentic, that's vintage to you, to your personality, to your DNA, to your makeup, to your gifting. There are things that you can do that I can't do. There are things that I can do that you can't do because we have all been given a measure of authority that comes from heaven that we are to move in a dominant state. Oh my God. And gain the strength we need to conquer.

Woo!

So now how do we tap into this authority? Listen to me. The Bible declares that greater is he that is in me than he that is in the world. I wanna tell you something. Your assignment that comes from heaven has more loft, more weight than any person in the world could ever have. And there's no need of you sitting around, glory to God, and moking and, and being depressed because you've tithed, you've given, and you, you still have not seen anything come forth in your life. You've been serving— there are people who have been serving God for years, they have not seen a manifestation of authority in any area, and in particular financially. But I want to tell you something. There's a level of authority where you must go into the world and make an exchange. Glory to God. And make an imprint in the earth with the authority that God has given you. Rub your belly and say, I got authority in me.

Glory to God.

Hallelujah. You got authority in you. You're the head and not the tail. You're above and not beneath. You're a lender and not a borrower. Glory to God. You got authority in your belly. God did not— listen to me— save us just to jump, shout, speak in tongues, spit, blow bubbles, roll on the floor. Hallelujah. And all the religious stuff we do in church. He saved us actually to dominate, to conquer, to rule. Hallelujah. And you got to know that there's something in you that's greater. I'm sorry, there's something that's greater than what's on the outside of you. It's greater. It's filled with authority.

Hallelujah to God. Thank you, Jesus. Wonderful Savior.

Touch your belly again and say, I'm filled with authority.

Hallelujah. And it comes from God.

So with that said, we ought to be conquering in the earth. So the mountains in the earth, or the kingdoms that God said have become his kingdoms, these are the spheres of influence that's in the earth. All right, so in every sphere of influence that's in the earth, we should be exercising our authority. And I know Glory to the name of God that so many have made attempts in teaching about these spheres of influence and these mountains. And you know, I've read books, I've heard— glory to the name of God—

it taught by the, the man that first started teaching it.

But here's what I understand. When I first started hearing this in the early '80s, that while we were teaching it and hearing it and rejoicing over it, very few people in the church were actually taking authority in these fears. Because again, we come to church, but we have very little influence outside the church. And I'm telling you right now, that ain't the will of God. That is not the will of the Father.

Glory to God.

Money is what you receive when you give somebody something they cannot get without you. Oh my God. So when you, when you apply your gift in an area where people cannot receive what you're doing without your presence, that's when you get paid. That's when money manifests. I never cashed a check that came from heaven. Every check that came into my life It showed up. Glory to God. Hallelujah. Because I did something in the earth through influence. Watch this. Influence is born out of your gift sustained, which means you sustain that gift, you grow it, you mature it. And once you sustain it, it keeps— you keep doing it consistently. You develop credibility. And with credibility, you create an atmosphere when you show up because people know you're credible. And when you show up, the atmosphere shifts 'cause you know things are gonna work because you showed up. And then you become influential in that sphere. So let me share with you what these spheres of influence are. or these kingdoms of the world where we should be operating and ruling. Here we go. The first one is religion. Man created religion and he is controlling it in the flesh. But we have to cause a supernatural kingdom dimension to superimpose itself on the dimension of religion that transforms how people think about how they should be living. See, religion never empowers you, but the supernatural does. Hallelujah. Religion never will heal you, but the supernatural will. Religion will never bring you into wealth and riches, but the supernatural power of God will bring you into innovations that will make you wealthy. So we need to take over the mountain of religion with the supernatural. We need the authority and the power of God moving in the kingdom of religion so that men don't experience dead religion when they go to church.

Hallelujah.

People need something alive. If ever we needed religion to be alive, And to be filled with God and his power is now. Because people are afraid of dying of coronavirus, people are afraid of systematic racism, people are walking in so much fear, we need a power to revolutionize and transform their mind.

Are y'all hearing me tonight? Glory to God.

Religion. Secondly, government. God knows we can stand for some saints of God to live in the White House, to live in the governor's mansion, to sit in the mayor's seat of all of our 50 states. We need this everywhere. We need Holy Ghost-filled governors. We need a Holy Ghost-filled president, not just because he's a Democrat. And may— and because you may think he has a little more sense than the last president. No, we need somebody got the Holy Ghost, someone who has their ear to the King of Kings and that understands they cannot rule without his guidance.

That's what we need in government.

We need government officials, government workers who love the Lord.

Hallelujah.

And I'm telling you, many of you listening to me, some people seeking the pulpit, they want to call themselves an apostle, call themselves a prophet, and some of you ain't called to be those things. Lord Jesus, let God call me to be, uh, the president. I'm, I'm out of here. Glory to God. Hallelujah. I'm going to run the country. Pray if he says it. Some of you running after something that you don't even know all that it involves. You just want the title because it sounds good. Hallelujah. And because you think you're going to get some notoriety among your peers because you call yourself apostle. Listen, I know some people— some of you calling yourself apostle, I know some folk that don't even call themselves apostle that, glory to the name of God, is more apostolic than your little toe. You gotta stop trying to run after something that you are not. Maybe God's calling you to be a governor. Hallelujah. Maybe he's calling you to be a mayor. Accept the call. Now here's the problem: when apostles, prophets decide, okay, I'm just gonna run for office— God didn't tell you to run, glory to God, but you're doing it because of what it brings you. So no matter— again, going back to what I said in the beginning, you don't want to be where God was You want to be where God is, ladies and gentlemen. Government. So religion, government. Hallelujah.

Here's another kingdom: business.

Business. We need entrepreneurs. Can I tell you something? God doesn't want the believer employed. He wants the believer deployed. We should be paymasters. We should have people on payroll. We should have economic systems set up where we can take care of the poor. We should be so savvy in business where we're producing a trillion dollars in our kingdom. Oh boy, yeah, I said that word, trillion. So some believers said, what do you say, man? We can't handle trillion dollars, that's a lot. Yeah, because you won't even think that you can have a million. But I'm telling you right now, God— if God will— if the church would get on one accord and we will tap into his kingdom resources. We can have trillions of dollars in our kingdom economy. And watch this, when the government has an issue, instead of us going to them, we can bail them out because we got it all. We got our own banks, we got our own buildings, we got our own jobs. We, we're hiring them instead of them hiring us. We need to take over these kingdoms. All right, education.

Oh, we sure need Holy Ghost-filled teachers, kingdom-minded teachers in the field of education. But not only do we need teachers, we need our own educational systems.

And I'm not talking about you starting a school at your church.

I'm talking about us having a whole school system of kingdom schools that are linked together from K-12, even all the way through university level, so that we link them together in unity that we actually take over this kingdom called education.

How about this?

Media. We need people in media. Oh my God, media. We need newspapers, we need magazines, we need strong social media presence.

So watch this, we need our own social media platform that we control.

You know what most churches and ministers are doing today? They're making Mark Zuckerberg rich.

Siri, I ain't said nothing to you.

They're making Mark Zuckerberg rich.

Are you hearing me? We sit on social media and we stream, we buy ads, we're making him rich. We need a saved social media platform that's ran by Christians, that's ran by kingdom citizens.

Oh my God, we need media presence.

We need our own versions of YouTube. Come on, because these are companies that are ran by men that are not even saved. Come on, church.

We need media.

We need our own television stations.

Glory to God.

Well, we control not just having preachers on the TV. We need to put out good quality content, entertainment that people can enjoy. So that's another kingdom we need to get in, the entertainment kingdom. Glory to God. We need to get in the arts kingdom. We need to have a footprint in these kingdoms.

Why?

Because I read it earlier, Revelation 11:15.

Glory to God! The kingdoms of this world— I just named them for you—

have become the kingdoms of our Lord. Hallelujah!

Jesus and his Christ. See, here's what I understand. When Jesus returns, most children of God, they're sitting around with this escapism mentality. All right, they want to escape, they want to get out of here. They got their bags packed waiting for Jesus to crack the sky, want to go to heaven. Who told you you were going somewhere?

The Bible said the kingdom shall come now. You'll be called remnant, but God said when he come, he's not coming to set up a kingdom, he's coming to take the throne of a kingdom already established. This is why we must begin to take control now. We must begin to take our rightful place. Genesis 1:28, be fruitful, multiply, replenish the earth, subdue it, have dominion. Radah in Hebrew, take authority over it. We got to do it, man. So then when he comes back, he sits on the throne and says, yes, I am the king of this. Hallelujah!

Because we've represented him in every area. Listen, we cannot reap a harvest in a field where we have not sown. I'll say that again: we cannot reap a harvest in a field where we have not sown. You can't reap a harvest in the medical field if we don't sow doctors into medicine.

We got to have kingdom-minded doctors so we can reap a kingdom harvest in that field. We can't reap a harvest in the entertainment industry if we don't have Holy Ghost-filled people working in the industry, kingdom-minded individuals working in the industry that's a light in a very wicked industry. Are you hearing me? That's what we got to have, y'all, so we can take authority. Stop trying to just be churchy and do stuff in church. There's more in you than being churchy. Hallelujah! Most people come to church and want to be seen, want people to hear how well they can sing, how well they can preach, how their swelling words.

But the Bible said the kingdom is with demonstration and with power. Hallelujah!

Hallelujah!

He said the kingdom of this world have become the kingdom of our Lord and his Christ, and he shall reign— sit on that throne forever and ever.

Go to Revelation 1:6, just back a little to the first chapter. It says Jesus Christ has made us kings and priests unto God and his Father. To him be glory and dominion forever. He's made us kings. It's in us. The authority is in us. Kings, rulers. And we should be ruling in those mountains, in those kingdoms of the world. We need to take up our place.

We need to find out who we are. We're more than just coming to church carrying a title in the the church.

The world needs our light. The world needs our influence.

Oh my God.

Now someone said, well, I'm a woman, how I'm a king? Well, go to Galatians 3:29.

Let me just break this down for you.

The Bible declares in Galatians 3:29, in Christ there is neither male nor female. Watch this, there's no physical gender involved in this particular word. When he says that, he says, I made you a person of authority. I've given you a purpose in an area whereby you should be ruling. Oh, a priest is an intercessor, one that goes before God on behalf of others. So we should be interceding for the world so that our gifts can come forth to transform them and help them, not just get them saved and get them in church. But get them born again so they can get a revelation of the King and a revelation of what the King put in them so they can go in the world and do the exact same thing—

find their purpose. Hallelujah! I'm almost done. 1 Timothy 6:15 says that Jesus is the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords.

Ephesians 1:21 says, for above all principality and power and might and dominion and everything that is named, not only in this world but also in the world that is to come.

There is no name greater than King Jesus.

He's the King of all kings. He's above every power. All right, so that brings me to The second text I read in the beginning, Daniel 11:28, it says this, it says, but the people who know their God—

listen to this—

the people who know their God— this is the first thing, we got to know this King. We can't just hit at it, we can't just read about it, we just can't mean him. You know, I was talking to someone about a year ago, I guess, and they said, hey man, you know what? You know, I know Deion Sanders. I said, really? He said, yeah, I met him when he was in Dallas. I said, so you met him or you know him? See, knowing somebody take time. He said, oh no, yeah, I met him at the church 'cause he was at, TDJ Church at the time, and I just met him. I said, did you ever get to spend time with— y'all ever do lunch? Yeah, I'm talking about— no, we never do none of that. I just saw him at the church, so I know. I said, no, you met him, man. You do not know him. There are people that say they know me. There are people that say they know you, but really they don't know you. They just met you. Are you hearing me? See, to know someone, you have to spend quality time with them. You don't know God just because you came down, sat in the chair, and get— shook the preacher hand and gave your life to the Lord. You don't know him, you met him. Thank God you did. But now there's a process that goes beyond meeting him, because you don't want to be a professional religious Christian. You want to be a Christian that has a revelation of God, that knows his power. That knows his glory, that knows his anointing. Glory to God. That— Oshia, breshketanabasiato— that knows just what he wants to do for you. See, the question tonight then becomes, do you know God?

But the people who know their God—

see, those of us who are going to rule Who are going to take authority? Who are going to rise to the pinnacle of success in business and entertainment and government, or whatever the field is?

It's the people that really know God.

Can I tell you something?

The individuals who are stuck in their flesh, in carnality, who choose not to do the work to know him to be in. His word know in Hebrew is yada. It means those that are up close and personal, those that have intimacy with him.

Watch this. Those that can hear his voice, those— glory to the name of God— that can't understand that he is the air they breathe. See, when you resolve that God is the air you breathe. That's how you really know you know him. Just write that on the screen, somebody. He's the air I breathe. Hallelujah. He's the air I breathe. I can't do nothing without— and I know you got to know this. What you— what would you do if they told— some of you, glory to God, I know y'all didn't know him because soon as they told y'all you couldn't go to church You stopped going, and now you've decided, okay, I ain't going back. I'm just gonna get my message virtually. I'm gonna sit up and eat Lucky Charms in my pajamas and listen to the preacher preach the word. The devil is a liar. The Bible said, forsake not the assembling of yourselves together as the manner of some is. What you gonna do with the Bible? Come on, church. We are— if you know God, you understand the church is essential for developing your relationship. You need the taught word. So you couldn't have known him before because it's too easy for you to quit. I read an article that said 45% of the people who were in church pre-COVID said that they will not return to church post-COVID. That's crazy, because if you really know God, there's something in your belly that longs to be in the house of God. I, I can't get what I need on the phone, on TV. I need to be in the house. There's something that happens corporately in worship that doesn't happen in my house, although I spend a lot of time with God at home. It's just something about getting together with the saints and watching God come in the sanctuary and bless his people. Come on, man. Some of you know you need to be in church because you need hands laid on you. I can't lay hands on you through this phone, through this tablet, through the television. You need somebody to lay hands on you and cast those demons out. Lay— the Bible said lay hands on the sick and they will recover. You sick, you need hands laid on.

Hallelujah.

I can't lay my hands on you at home.

You need to be in the house of God. You gotta know God. The people that know God— the Bible says this: Moses knew the ways of God, but Israel only knew his acts. It's a dangerous place to only know the acts of God and not know his ways.

Watch, watch the penalty for that. They, they had a promise that they could have got in in 12 days. The geography from Egypt to the Promised Land was 12 days. It took them 40 years because they didn't have a real revelation of God. And they wore Moses out so he couldn't even cross over. He died in the wilderness. Listen, that's— don't let that be your testimony. Don't miss your promise because you're living out of the flesh, out of carnality. Get to know him. How do I do that, Michael Woods? I'm glad you asked.

You should pray every day.

You need prime time with God. The Bible said men should always pray and not faint. You need to spend some prime time. If you can listen to me, if you can tune in every Friday night, 8 o'clock, ABC, NBC, and watch Blacklist. If you can tune in and watch the Blacklist religiously, 8 o'clock, you watching Raymond Reddington and you making sure you in front of that TV. Or if you miss it, guess what you do?

You go to Hulu and you watch the episode you miss, or you go to NBC app, you watch the episode you miss.

You ought to have some prime time that is set aside for you and the Lord. You meet him in that same place, same time, every day.

So you got to spend time— when you got to spend time in prayer, spend time in worship. Glory to God. Spend time studying your Bible. That's how you get to know him.

And then watch this, after you do all that, go outside and live for him. Walk with him. The more you walk with him, the more you know him. The closer you get with him, the more one you be. And listen, in all your ways, Proverbs 3, acknowledge the Lord and he will direct your path. So we got to get to know him so we can take control, so we can take authority, so the kingdom of God can superimpose itself upon us.

He said the people who know their God, what's going to happen? They're going to be strong. That word strong in Hebrew is a powerful word. It means they shall be full of authority and supernatural ability, which means your strength won't come from you when you know it. Your ability, you'll know it didn't come from you, it came from him.

Because you know him, you'll know that you're nothing of yourself. And everything you do, you'll be strong, and you will overcome your enemy because you will be stronger than your foes. Why?

Because you know God.

People ask me all the time, when something hits you and you fall down, and every time I see you, you get back up, you dust yourself off.

You know, there are people that will write you off because you failed, because you made a mistake, because you did something that they didn't approve of.

Hallelujah. God can forgive you and people will try to hold you. You know why? I know God. I know his grace. I know his mercy. I know God's grace is sufficient for me. So I get up, dust myself off, and I keep moving because I'm strong in the Lord and the power of his might. See, this is what matters. Being strong in him, not in your own strength. Anytime you do it, you end up committing suicide. You know, people that give up that easy commit suicide.

That's—

ooh, I battled with that demon. But if I didn't know God, I probably would have did it.

Y'all ain't got to say nothing.

I had all the stuff there to do it. I was going through such a tough time. I had spent most of my life building what God had called me to do and, and made the mistake of falling in something I shouldn't have never been in. And someone decided that they would write some lies about me. They did it. They embellished truths inside of this big blog that was a lie. But at the end of the day, I understand it was a test for me, and I had to trust what I knew because I thought— because people were turning against me. Listen, I was traveling 15,000 miles a month preaching every month, and when I hit that gold place, that— when I hit that problem, people I thought loved me and were in covenant with me walked away. Because they believe what they saw. Listen, negative never needs evidence. People will believe something negative before they believe something positive any day. And people believed it, but I had to lean on what I knew. Right in the midst of wanting to commit suicide, the strength of God rose up in me, and God began to remind me who he was. He began to remind me who I was.

And guess what? I'm alive today, y'all. Glory to God, because I know him. You gotta know.

I'm saying that because somebody's battling with the spirit of suicide right now listening to me. Listen, you're special, you're authentic, you have authority in you. And what has hit your life— ish katar It's not worth taking your life. Your purpose is still necessary.

Watch this, you will recover. You just gotta trust God. He said they will be strong. Here's what I like, and they will carry out and do great exploits. Exploits is heroic deeds and mighty acts. God said when you do what you're supposed to do and know him and fall in love with him, he said you'll be strong and you'll do exploits, you'll do heroic deeds, you'll show up in the kingdom and you'll take your rightful place and you'll become a light, a hero. You'll do things that people—

you will be the example. People say, "How did he do that?

How does she do that?" They knew God. You'll do exploits that people say, "You're my hero." And you'll just put the glory back to God. No, I was able to do it because God was with me, because I knew the Lord. Let's pray. Father, in Jesus' Jesus' name. Thank you for this word today, God. I pray that this word will land on the good ground of somebody's heart tonight. I decree and declare that no weapon formed against them will ever be able to prosper. I declare that they are winners on every cylinder. Whatever they touch will prosper. Wherever they put their foot will become theirs.

I thank you, God, that you will give them revelation of what's in them. Help them to find their place in the kingdoms of this world, that they may rise to the top and become an influencer. I release the spirit of influence now, and I decree and declare that your people are becoming influencers, light to the world, salt of the earth.

I thank you for it now. In Jesus' name. We will be strong because we know you. We will do exploits because we know you. And we thank you for it, Lord. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. And thanks be to God. I am so grateful for all of you listening today. It has been such a pleasure to to serve you tonight and share the word of the Lord with you. You know, I am always excited when I have an opportunity to teach. I pray that this word has been a blessing to you. Perhaps someone watching is not born again. Perhaps someone watching does not know the Lord in the free pardon of their sin. Listen, I want to pray for you. I want to pray that God, his mercy, his His grace and His favor will rest heavy on your life. I wanna pray that you will receive Him into your heart. The Bible says, "If any man confess with his mouth, believe in his heart," it's simple, "you'll be saved." Listen, would you pray with me? If you have never publicly repented of your sin, if you've never confessed your sins before the Lord, if you know your business is not straight with God right now, let's pray this prayer. Quick prayer.

Say this.

Say, Heavenly Father, in Jesus' name, I commit my will, I commit my way, I commit my plans to you. Say, I confess that you are Lord. Say, I believe that you died and rose again. Say, come into my heart and live in me.

Save me, Lord Jesus.

Lord, in Jesus' name. Amen. Listen, if you said those words, you're saved. Listen, there is an email address on the screen and a website. You can either email me at mike@rodderchurch.com and say, hey, Dr. Woods, I gave my life to the Lord today as you prayed. Or you can go to our website, rodderchurch.com/contact, and leave us a note there. I want to send you some materials to help you continue your kingdom walk with God. It's an exciting thing, praise God, to be born again. Listen, before I take this back, I'm gonna add more to it. It's a great thing to be saved. Y'all be blessed. Listen, if you have a heart to give, support this ministry. You know, there's so many things we need to do, and many of you watch us. I appreciate all of our partners and friends from around the world. But I want to challenge those of you who have never partnered with us, glory to God, to commit yourself to a seed that you can sow every month. That will be a tremendous blessing to us as we carry the gospel of Jesus Christ into the nations of the world.

I love you.

Y'all be blessed. Two ways to give: rhodachurch.com/donate or Cash App, simply Rhoda Church. I love everybody. Remember, Share the word with a friend, and your decisions determine your destiny. God bless you.