RADAH CHURCH _ VIRTUAL WORSHIP _ 7_26_2020 _ _THE GIFT OF APOSTLESHIP_ _ DR. MIKE WOODS_ SR.

Well, grace and peace be multiplied to you from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Happy Sunday, everyone! For those of you who are uninitiated, my name is Apostle Mike Woods, and I'm just a guy that loves Jesus and loves serving him. Listen, I'm excited today. There's a word from the Lord, so don't scroll. Glory to the name of God. Get focused. Get your family together, get your friends together, get around your TV, your phone, turn it up. Glory to God, because there's a word from the Lord today. Listen, let's pray and we're going to get right into today's service. Glory to God. And I promise you, if you stay with us, your life will never be the same. Something's going to change just for you tonight. Let's pray. Father, in Jesus' name, we thank you for these people that watch us even now, God, whether live or by replay. Dear God, we thank you for Rhoda Church. We thank you for a church that you have brought forth into the earth, God, to help up men discern their gifting, be developed in that gifting, and ultimately be deployed as masters in that gifting. Thank you for the church, Lord. And God, we thank you for what you've given us in terms of the house of God. We love you, and God, we thank you. We bind the hand of the enemy that will try to dismantle and divide, oh my God, and conquer our ability to worship corporately. God, in the name of Jesus, no disease, no laws, ebah brie ke nebekush ko rabasi, will be able to stop us from worshiping your great and high name. Father, today may a blessing be on your word, Let your power flow, Lord. I pray, God, that those under the sound of my voice would experience healing and deliverance, which is the children's bread. You said it in your word, healing and deliverance is the children's bread. Let somebody be born again. Let somebody be saved. And we give you praise for it now, in Jesus' mighty name. Amen. And thanks be to God. Hallelujah! Well, you ought to give God a hand of praise right where you are. You ought to shout hallelujah right where you are because things are changing for you even now. I don't know who that's for, but I heard the Holy Spirit say things are changing for you even now. Hallelujah! Shabba! Brik! El abanso rabaki! I dare you put your hand in your belly and shout even now. He's moving for your situation even now. He's moving in your marriage even now. He's moving in your household even now. Oh my, kikelebeso rababaye. In the name of Jesus, receive. Your breakthrough right now. Hallelujah, hallelujah, it is so. Oh, rabasheki. Let's read the scripture today, and we're going to go right into the word. Praise God. Revelation chapter number 6, and, uh, I want to read verse number 6. This is one passage from a chapter that talks about the seals, eschatology. Basically, we're talking about eschatology, the end of things, and when these seals are being broken. And I want to read something that I believe is very apropos for now. Hallelujah! Watch this. Revelation 6 and verse 6 says this: Then I heard what sounded like a voice coming among the four living creatures, saying, 'Two pounds of wheat for a day's wages.' and 6 pounds of barley for a day's wages, and do not damage the oil and the wine. Watch this. The text here is telling us, no matter how much we get materially, no matter how many blessings come to us in a temporal and carnal sense, no matter how our wages increase or decrease, the text says that we are not to damage the oil and the wine. The oil is the anointing of God that is placed on your life innately and externally for you to do what God has called you to do. It's God's strength and ability. It's God rubbing himself upon you so you can function in authority and power. The wine, glory to God, oh my God, the wine represents the assignment. It represents you being controlled by the Holy Spirit, drunk in the Holy Spirit, inebriated by God's voice and plans. Listen, to carry out his assignment in the earth. Today's message, I am so excited to be able to share. And again, I told y'all, I am so missing the church, y'all. God, I can't wait for us to go back to church. I cannot wait for our building to be completely ready for us to get back into corporate worship. I'm super excited, super amped about the opportunity to get back to corporate worship in the months to come. Listen, so today, you know, I've been teaching this series on How Lovely Is This Church. I actually started it last week, and I just want to give a flashback from the sanctuary. So this message that I'm teaching today, I was sharing it during actually a service last year where we were affirming an apostle, and it was the homily, it was the word of the Lord that was going forth before we actually did the affirmation. And this message is so apropos. It talks about the assignment and the anointing and how the apostolic anointing It's so important for you to fulfill your life's purpose. Those of you that follow me, you're connected to that anointing. You receive that anointing basically on a daily basis at the Apostles' Table. And whenever you follow our YouTube channel, whatever you're doing, you're listening to our podcast, you're connected, you're plugged in. And that anointing is designed to stir you and to catapult you into what God has called you to do. So in today's message, We're talking about the gift of apostleship. Listen, we're going to go into this message already in progress. It's a flashback, y'all. Hallelujah! From the sanctuary. So let's go into this message preached a year ago, about almost approximately a year ago, June. We shared this message. Listen, get in it, enjoy it, don't scroll, stay with it. The whole message will bless you. And then after the message is over, I'll be back to pray for you and to give you some further announcements. God bless you. This is The Gift of Apostleship. Be blessed.

It's because there's a word that's similar to the word apostle, and it's called apostasy. Let me just talk to you a minute. This demonic spirit rises when you have false entities who mask themselves as apostles. Let me tell you something, an apostle's authority doesn't stop in here. As a matter of fact, and we're going to discuss this in a few moments, the apostle's anointing is more felt in the realm of the spirit, and his nature superimposes itself in the world in a way that the world is different because the apostle is there. Watch this. Jesus was the chiefest of all the apostles, and at the end of the day, he was the only chief apostle. Let me just smash that right now. There's no such thing as a chief apostle that's on earth right now. It's not biblical. It does not exist. Jesus was the only chief. The Bible says in Ephesians 2:20 that the church is established on the foundation of apostles and prophets, Jesus being the chief. That's right. Did y'all read that, or am I dyslexic? But now we got chiefs, arch chiefs, all this craziness. It's apostasy because we try to make up for the lack of power. Oh my God, come on. That the office should carry with titles. Oh God, preach, preach. See, what apostasy is, it's the renunciation of loyalty to order, which means you renounce order and you decide you're just going to do things your own way. Let me tell you something. The only way of doing things right is the way God did them. Are y'all listening to me? And, and you're in an apostate state if you get your own agenda and start doing things your way. Amen. And I'll tell you, that, uh, that spirit of apostasy is strong in the land. That's why we need more real apostles, because what apostasy does, it induces— God have mercy, I don't have a lot of time, I promise you— but it induces spiritual abortions. When you have apostles who are pseudo-apostles, who are false apostles— we talk about false prophets, but there are a lot of false apostles.

Who are more—

watch this— who are more self-appointed than they are affirmed by God. And what this does is it causes people to abort who they really are because they start following behind false natures because we renounce order. You got pastors just because they can go get a building. I'm going to show you apostasy and what it looks like. And just because somebody let them rent a space and have church, they'll start a church without an apostle.

Come on, come on.

Wait a minute, I just read to you, he said first in the church apostles, second prophets, thirdly teachers, then miracles. If you establish a church without an apostle, it's a false church. Okay, I'm— this is my church, so y'all ain't really got to say nothing. Okay, I'm just gonna tell you right now, listen, because I know I'm telling the truth. You can birth out a church, and if there's no apostles present, where's the foundation?

Uh-oh, it's a lot of false churches around.

God got him a little building, somebody laid hands on him that wasn't an apostle, and he's pastoring without the grace to push people into purpose. It's called apostasy. Apostleship— watch this— is different in that it incites a continuity towards order. People who embrace apostles desire order. 1 Corinthians 14:40: Let all things be done decent and in order. The word decent, uh, skebeizeia in Greek, and it means let everything be done according to a pattern.

What is the pattern?

It's the pattern of things in heaven. In other words, so if I want to do something, I gotta pattern myself after heaven, not what I see on TVN, not after what I see on the Word Network, not after— y'all been talking to me here— not after the most popular preacher around, but I need to follow the pattern of things in heaven. That's why I'm such a stickler for worship, because guess what's happening in heaven right now? It's worship.

Because wherever God is, there's worship.

Listen, delay it for the other stuff, but when God walks in the room, he demands worship.

And so if we don't follow the pattern of things in heaven, the first order is worship.

The first order is to worship in a way that it opens a portal and heaven superimposes itself upon us. That cancer can't stay in the room, that diabetes can't stay in the room, You're not talking to me here.

That high blood pressure can't stand the road. That poverty—

y'all better shout on that, cuz anyway, listen, that poverty can't stand the road.

You got all these broke folk with holy hands and empty pockets. Y'all not talking to me here because you have not been able to unlock glory.

I'm trying to be nice, but y'all messing with me. It's apostasy, and it's a problem. And the only solution is real apostles. Are you listening to me? And these clothes don't make us real. It's what happens when you don't see us. It's the reaffirming of the office. Through our problems and our troubles and our rejection and our pain and our brokenness. Oh, y'all not talking to me here. Real apostles go through seasons of brokenness, seasons of hardship. Y'all not talking to me here. I can't tell you the days— glory to the name of God— that I went without being able to call people. I went without money some days, didn't know where I was going to live. Y'all not talking to me here. But thanks Sweet of God. Through all of that process, he was making an apostle.

Am I talking? The apostle is not made in this world.

The apostle first is made in heaven, and then he affirms it in the earth without struggles, without problems. See, some of you've been cursing your crisis, but God told me to tell you tonight, stop cursing what you're going through.

God's taking you through it because he's going to bring you out and qualify you for where he's trying to take you. I dare you, slap somebody and say, don't curse your crisis. You're going through it because God has qualified you. I got—

I got to get out of here. Apostles represent the future, and apostles leave legacy to generations. Because it's a patriarchal and matriarchal anointing that leaves legacy for those that come behind. Apostasy— watch this— eliminates the future and causes stagnation. I tell, I tell people everywhere I go over this country and in this church every week, I'm always doing something to move people. If my ministry doesn't move you, if you're not growing— glory to the name of God— you need to go somewhere else. Apostles should expand your capacity. You shouldn't feel worse after you leave church. I wish I had somebody up here. Folks going to go to church with apostles And they feel worse when they leave. No, when you leave the presence of an apostle, you should feel like you can conquer your area of purpose and take over the world.

Yes, sir. Okay, that's okay.

So we can't understand apostleship without understanding what it means to be apostolic. Let me slow down. Apostleship is the reality of apostolic works. Apostleship cannot happen without being apostolic, and being apostolic is not what you think. I was blessed growing up. I had the best of two Pentecostal persuasions. Churches. All right, I was going to Church of God in Christ with my dad, Pentecostal, and I was going to PAW with my grandma, Apostolic. So if I wasn't— if I didn't get it right after that, something really wrong. Well, here's what I understand: being Apostolic is not just being baptized in Jesus name. Now, for the record, if I baptize you, I'm gonna baptize you in Jesus' name, because that's how the apostles baptized. Amen. But that doesn't make you saved or not. Come on now. And it's not really the true meaning of being apostolic. Being apostolic means that that pertains to the work of an apostle. So you're not apostolic just because you baptized in Jesus' name. No, what makes you apostolic is that you connect to the work of apostles. So you can't understand that if you don't know what an apostle is. I'm gonna assume y'all know, but I'm gonna tell you anyway. Because I need to do my job completely. The word apostle comes from a Greek word, apostolos, and that word means sent one, a special messenger sent to Earth. Listen, number one, with plenty plenipotentiary status. Plenipotentiary means that the apostle's ability connects to the miracle power of Christ himself. In other words, apostles, in their plenipotentiary ability, are in the earth to do what Jesus would do if he was here. That's why the road for apostles is not easy, because that anointing has to be birthed out.

Yes, yes.

I'll be 50 years old this year, and I celebrate 30 years of full-time ministry. In my 30-year tenure in full-time ministry, I planted 8 churches, I've been to 4 continents, and as I've traveled and seen God move, I've seen everything happen. I've seen people get out of wheelchairs. I've seen deaf ears open up. I've seen people who are blind from birth, now they can see. There are people in this room that have been with me that's witnessed those miracles. I've seen people, stage 4 cancer, about to die, 17 weeks to live. I go in the room and declare the glory of God and the healing power of God, and they're still here today, 5 years later. Because our job is to do what Jesus would do in our plenipotentiary status, which means an apostle's potential is not limited to his human intelligence or his human ability. We lean on God for what we do. Plenipotentiary also means that the apostle has the ability to move in all 9 gifts of the Spirit. Every one of those 9 gifts the apostle can touch. The apostle can astutely flow in and out all of the fivefold ministry. If you take it like your hand, he's the thumb. Come on, your, your pointer finger is the prophet. He points toward the future. The thumb can touch the prophet. Uh, he, he's like this, this finger here. I don't even know what it's called. That's the evangelist. He's the longest. He extends into the world. He can touch that too. Are y'all listening to me? He's a pastor, that's the ring finger. He's married to the church, and the pinky is the teacher. He balances. Listen, you can't tell me you're an apostle and you don't teach. All you want to do is holler and get people up. You're not apostolic. Come on, you better preach. An apostle teaches the complexities of the kingdom in a way that people leave their presence again feeling like they can do it. Come on. So apostles are special messengers with plenipotentiary status. Also, they have gubernatorial authority. Yes, gubernatorial means that they were elected by God. To carry this governmental authority. Yes, the Bible said the government shall be upon his shoulders. When they brought the Ark of the Covenant into Obed-Edom, the Bible said that the presence was carried on the shoulders of the priest. That's right, our priest carried the glory. Are y'all listening to me? Apostles are glory carriers that exude the government of God in this world. Which means I not only be astute in here, but I ought to be successful out there as an apostle. As an apostle, my ability is not just to empower leaders, but my ability also is to empower entrepreneurs, to cause people— watch this— to take their place as dominionaires. Because God did say we're supposed to be ruling. That's why this church is called Rhoda Church. Dominion, uh, in Hebrew is Rhoda. It means to have control. You can't control nothing if somebody else signs your paycheck. I'm just going to tell you like it is. You can't be an authority if you're an employee.

You need to be deployed.

Y'all not talking to me here. The Creator lives in you, and if the Holy Spirit lives in you and you're a creator, you should be out here creating something. How you gonna let a drug addict like Steve Jobs create the iPhone and he ain't got no Holy Ghost? Come on, what's the excuse for that?

Come on, we gotta come up.

We want to shout, we want to speak in tongues, we want to have good church, we want to be religious, but we don't want to conquer nothing. It ought to be illegal for us to come to church and have encounters with God and then leave church and we don't conquer anything in the world.

Preach!

Yes, sir.

You preach!

Yes, sir.

Jesus! I'm telling you right now, it ought to be illegal for us to go through all these motions, say we've been with God, and we got holy hands and empty pockets. Apostles have gubernatorial authority that exudes to the people that connect to them. Are y'all listening to me? So you got to understand that to be apostolic. Apostles are also stratospheric warriors. I like to call them air traffic controllers. If you ever rode in an airplane, I want you to be very clear about something. The pilot makes more money, he has to see the position in the plane, but the person controlling the plane and the traffic in the air is on the ground. He controls everything that happens in the sky. He makes less money, he's not seen, he's not telling you thank you for flying when you get off.

Come on.

And you don't even know the pilot was only about 20% responsible for your safety.

Come on, come on, come on.

See, people don't understand it. Apostle's presence in the city. When I left Jackson, Mississippi, and put my son over my church in Jackson and came back here, and the Lord told me to start a church, he said, I'm sending you back home not to be popular, not to be seen, but I want you to be in the cut and be an air traffic controller and be an intercessor and let your power and impact be felt in the realm of the spirit. Let me tell you something. Today, probably right about now, they've been installing a new pastor at New Birth.

Watch this.

When Eddie Long start going through that— come on, let me tell you something— the reason he didn't die before he did is because there were gatekeepers in this city of an apostolic nature who were guarding him because at all costs, regardless of what he did, he was a good pastor and we wanted him to repent and get free of whatever was going on. But at the end of the day, it's people that you don't see that keeps the stuff you do see operational. Y'all not talking to me. It's what we do on our face that makes Creflo be able to get up and stand and preach in the $40 million building, because the city needs pastors. But apostles have to sell out to the fact that I ain't trying to get that. I'm content controlling the air traffic. Y'all not talking to me here. I'm content letting him have the front face, but I'm gonna control it over here. So that he'll stay above grace and don't fall. Are y'all listening to me? But the church today, we're seeking celebrity status. We got more celebrities and less servants. I wish I had some help here. Listen, YouTube and Facebook and Twitter and Instagram and TBN and the Word Network And all of these churchy things that are happening with Churchfolk, everybody wants to be popular. Some of y'all so messed up you can't even get up in the morning without touching your phone and going to Facebook and seeing how many likes you got.

I wonder, do they like me? I wonder, did they approve of me? The devil is a liar. God already approves of you.

You need to sit your thirsty self down somewhere and make up in your mind, I'm glad God approved me. I got to get out of here. I'm going to give you 3 things and we're going to affirm this apostle. Listen, that was all introduction.

That's crazy, right?

So I'm going to have to run through these 3 things, glory to God, real fast. So first of all, we got to understand that this is an age teacher. I'm not apostasy, but apostleship and apostolic industry. Somebody say industry. Industries don't come and go. When you look at industries, industries show up and they have longevity. I'm gonna use one example: the automobile industry. When the automobile industry was induced in the earth It was not induced to be a temporary thing. It was induced to be an ever-expanding, ever-growing thing. So here's the interesting thing about industry. Industries always grow. Every year they come up with a new car. Before long, you won't even have a gas station. You're not talking to me here, because everything new will be electric because they've cast vision from the industry for years to come. Yes. What we have to do to preserve the church in the earth, we have to incite a technology that says apostolic industry is important.

Amen.

The work that apostles do is important. And not that we're looking to be recognized or we want a Grammy, we just want people to understand that this work is important, and then we just can't push it to the side. So there's a few dynamics. I got about 9 of them.

I'm gonna give you 3.

All right, there's a few dynamics we gotta understand about apostolic industry. The first one is this. You ready? You ready? It's apostolic architecture.

Somebody say that with me.

Say apostolic architecture. Architects design things. Architects build things. I want you to go to Psalm 127 and verse number 1. Y'all getting anything out of this? Yes.

Amen.

Psalm 127, verse 1. Somebody said architecture. The Bible says here, except the Lord build the house, them that labor, labor in vain that build it. Are y'all listening to me? See, we can get out here and start trying to build something that wasn't in God's design. The word build there— what's this word— is a Hebrew word. Oh boy, this Hebrew word is arkon, and it's where we get words like architecture. Except the Lord design, build the house. Architects design and build on paper. Before one facet of the house, the building, is erected. Are y'all hearing that? Our life was built before we got here.

Amen.

The Lord already built the life. The question is, have you looked at the plans? Because there are people who are literally building according to the wrong place. You cannot see the plans except you spend time with the architect. The architect reveals to you the essence and the details of the plans. And once the architect finishes the plans— God, I wish I had time. Glory to God. Once he finishes the plans, he takes the plans to the city. The city looks at the plans and they approve them. Once the city approved them, they step in— approved, finished— which means the builder now cannot build outside of the parameters of those plans legally. If your plans call for 10,000 square feet, 6 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, that's all you'll be able to build once it's approved.

Approved.

True.

Your life has some plans that have already been pre-approved.

Oh my God.

The question is, what are we—

are we building according to what God approved?

Good God Almighty. Or are you building what you want to build? One way to discover the plans is to connect with his gubernatorial authority in the earth.

The Apostle—

well, the Apostle has a governmental gift to open up your life and show you the plans. 3 things happen when you come in the presence of an apostolic architect. The first thing he does, or she does, is measure you. That's why everybody gave some apostles. Everybody can't connect with this because everybody don't want to be measured. Everybody don't want you to tell them where they really are. Measure in Greek, metron. Put a meter, a rule on you and say, okay, I know you said you was this, but you ain't ready to sit down. Y'all not talking to me here. See, you, you got to be willing to accept that so the plans can unfold. I know everybody's got a title. Everybody think they're anointed because they got a little fan club and a booty-kissing club on social media that have told them that they are more than they really are. And now they think more highly of themselves. But real people who will excel and be productive in life and in the kingdom will connect with architecture and allow it to give the right measurements. Amen. Nobody wants to be told you're not praying enough. Nobody wants to be told you need to study some more. Nobody wants to be told, especially in this hour, that dress is too tight. I know we don't, we don't talk about that kind of stuff, but there are— there's a— there's something that becometh godliness. that becometh holiness. Oh, y'all listen to me. And you may call that legalistic, but as you mature in God— are you listening to me? Something ought to start speaking to you about what you look like on the outside. I'm gonna tell you something: image is everything. White folk don't take you serious because you look just like them. When you encounter real apostolic architecture, it measures you.

Yes, it does.

It shows you your inadequacies. It shows you where you need to grow and come up. Secondly, what it does— because when the architect gives the plans to the contractor contractor. What is happening on the construction site now is management. The contractor is managing the project. He's making sure everything's being done according to plan. So what apostles does, they sit you down to pace you through management mode, to make sure you don't go faster than you should, to make sure you don't get ahead of God. You better preach. Somebody say management.

Management.

See, if you go through the right measuring, the right managing, you will become a master. Come on now, cuz that's what God wants you to become, a master.

He don't want you going there half-cocked and you ain't ready.

You need to be a master of your purpose. You need to be a master of your destiny. We got too many people half-stepping now.

And God says, I'm looking for some masters, some people that are willing to take the position of a learner and learn what they need to learn so that they can move in the call and the purpose I've called them to.

See, what you don't understand is your learning is connected to your earning. You watch this, the word earn is inside of learn.

If you learn what a lawyer knows, You earn what a lawyer earns. You learn, oh my God, what a doctor learns. You earn, oh my God, here, what a doctor earns. If you learn what the apostle knows, you will earn the reward. The Bible says if you bring a prophet a glass of water, you give him prophet's reward. Well, what happens if you sit at the feet of an apostle? You get the apostles' reward. Do I have anybody here that's made up their mind? I want to learn, I want to be the best at what I'm called to do.

Clap your hands and give God praise. Apostolic industry also represents apostolic anointing. Truly, in order to be apostolic, you need to have the anointing that comes from heaven. We're going to pray for the woman of God today. We're going to anoint her with oil. We're going to wash her hands. We're going to put these clothes on her. She's already anointed though.

Amen.

We're just affirming what God already did. Amen. Yes, that's why we don't call her apostle-elect, we call her apostle-designated. Bishops are elected, apostles are designated by God. There's a difference. Are you listening to me? So she's been designated, set apart.

He—

God has already anointed her for this.

Amen.

Watch this, Revelation 6, verse 6.

I'm moving.

Somebody say anointing. Come on, say Lord anoint me again. Y'all didn't say— say anoint me again. I know you think you got all you need, but I dare you right back and say Lord anoint me again. Y'all can say it. I dare you right back like the old preacher said, Lord anoint me again.

I know you think you're there.

But you want to just lift your hands one more time and say, Lord, anoint me again. Okay, okay. Revelation 6 and verse 6. Y'all waiting on me?

Let me get there.

Glory to God. Are y'all here? Revelation 6, and I'm just paraphrasing this, it says, whatever you do— this is the message— don't mix the oil and the wine. Understand the distinction. So the oil, listen to this, represents foundation. The problem is we got so many people trying to move in this fear without the foundation. Honestly, this is what makes a person apostate or an apostle— the oil. What determines the difference is the oil. This woman we're laying hands on today in my church in Jackson, Mississippi— when I first got affirmed as an apostle 14 years ago, our apostle affirmed me and anointed her and ordained her a prophet. Ever since then, I've watched her life and I've seen her cast out devils. Oh, y'all not talking to me here. I've seen her prayer life since she's been in my ministry. I've felt the intercession that she's given for me that have shifted areas of my own life. I'm telling you right now, we ain't guessing at that.

She's already got the foundation.

For those of you that might have showed up here wondering in your mind, she's already anointed. Glory to the name of God.

We didn't come here to do nothing but Say yes, Lord, to what he's already done. And we thank God that as she sits in that chair now and God anoints her and affirms her again, that everybody in this house, I believe there will be a fresh anointing that's going to fall on every assignment, that's going to fall on every leap, that's going to fall on every purpose. I dare you, slap somebody and say, Lord, anoint me again. I tell you, I feel a wind coming through here. God said today many of you going to leave here with a fresh foundation, with a fresh power, with a fresh authority. I heard the Lord say, no weapon formed against you. You've been going through it, you've been willing to quit, willing to give up, but the anointing Is about to be released. Sit.

Sit. Sit. Oh, this the anointing, the foundation. Don't you try to do nothing in the kingdom without the anointing.

The wine.

You better preach. Which brings me to my third point. Represents the assignment, apostolic assignment. The wine is the function. See, it makes no sense to be anointed and don't have the function. What gives you function is connectivity. This mic is a mic. Whether I'm holding it or not. The foundation of it is a mic. It had to be connected to a plug and an amplifier to work. What gives it function is connectivity. What apostles are is the bridge that plugs you in and expands your capacity. Let me tell you something, you will never enlarge, your capacity will never expand. and your progress will break down when you allow your comfort zone to be a place of consistency.

And you gotta—

I'll say that again because somebody missed it. When your comfort zone is a place of consistency, you will never enlarge. Your capacity will never get bigger. So sometimes you got to break out of the box and embrace something different.

Front and threw up your hands and said, connect me because I need to function.

You know, one of the most frustrating things in the world, Apostle, is knowing you anointed and not being able to function, knowing what you have and not being able to do it.

But God said tonight, I'm going to release you into function. I'm going to cause your assignment to come alive. I dare you, touch the person sitting next to you and tell them, come alive, you're getting ready to function. You're in the midst of apostleship. God have mercy. See, you thought— I'mma just close this, I ain't through, I'mma just stop. You thought you was in it. Let's go to Church Connect just for a few minutes. You thought you were in it. By yourself. But God told me to tell you, he's about to give you function. He's about to cause you to come alive. When I think about function, I think about an officer that's in pursuit of a crime. He gets on the radio with the lights going and say, I'm in pursuit of a 10-19. And I need backup. And before long, you hear sirens coming, coming from the north, coming from the south, coming from the east, and coming from the west. Everybody's flying because function is happening. They're about to arrest somebody. I heard the Lord say, your assignment, your anointing, you're not by yourself. Get on your knees and say, Lord, I need backup. And before the Lord got to send you backup, you'll see your officers from heaven.

Y'all ain't helping me preach.

I tell you, shake 3 hands. Like you're going to shake them off. Get out of your seat and say, you got backup! Back up! Back up! Back up! Get ready to function! Get ready to function! Get ready to function! Get ready to function! God's got your back! Heaven's on your side! Shabbiyeh! God said you got backup.

Just get on your knees and say, Lord, I got to function right here. I see you anointed to me. Stop trying to put old wine in new wineskins. God said get connected, cuz guess what? Them old wineskins can't handle where you're going. The Bible said they'll burst. So God said today I've sent you functioned. I'm making the body functional. I'm making your assignment ready to go.

He said you call for backup, he's going to send you officers from heaven.

He'll send you Officer Genesis. I feel like preaching. Batch number 11: In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. He'll send you backup, Officer Exodus.

Batch number 114: I am that I am. He'll send you backup —absolutely. Verse 10, that you may put difference between holy and unholy. I'll sing you back up. Book of Psalms, verse 27 and 1. Y'all not helping me preach. The Lord is the light of my salvation.

My God, hallelujah! I know that message blessed you because it blessed me and it blessed everyone that was in attendance. We had to cut it off short But listen, I want to pray for you. I want to pray that the metron, the apostolic metron that is upon my life, will begin to, right where you are, measure you. And it will help you to take an introspective of who you are and what God has assigned you to do. And as we put this meter in prayer on you today, I believe that you will have the Oh my God, the wherewithal, the drive to find a place, not just an old religious house of worship that's dead, that's dry, but you need a place where you can learn how to manage that gift properly, be developed in that gift, and you need to be empowered to move forward and really evolve to the place where you're deployed as a master of that gift. And I want to pray for you today because so many of you listening to me, you're sitting somewhere frustrated. Hallelujah! You have exhausted everything you can where you are, and you need to be somewhere where you can be developed. I'm not necessarily saying it's Rhoda Church. You need to be in some place where you can grow and increase. Listen, I'm telling you something. As you mature, you need more. Glory to God. A teenager needs more than a toddler. Hallelujah. An adolescent needs more— glory to the name of God— than a toddler. A young adult needs more than a teenager. Hallelujah. An adult needs more than a teenager. And you got decide today that you're gonna take a real measurement, because there's so much more— I don't know who I'm talking to— that you can be doing, but you need that connectivity that's gonna put you where you need to be. Let's pray. Father, in the name of Jesus, we thank you for the word today. Thank you for how you've spoken to us. Thank you for the gift of apostleship that causes us to learn, that causes us to grow, that causes us to increase in every aspect of our life. God, thank you that you gave some apostles. Hallelujah! You said it in Ephesians 4:11, you gave some apostles. Not— and that doesn't just mean everybody is not an apostle, it also means that everybody cannot be literally pastored or led by an apostle. You gave some become apostles. And the innate nature of greatness that's inside of those that's listening to me, I declare you stir it now. Give them the ability to take introspective of what you've given. Let the light, the intelligence, and the illumination of the Holy Spirit become alive in them now, and let them see who they are. And God, lead them to where they need to be to develop, to further who you've made them, God. And I give you praise and glory for that now. Thank you, Lord, that what's to come is better than what has been. Beku, and I praise you for it now. Yeah, I just heard the Lord say, somebody under the sound of my voice, he just told me to tell you— it's several of you listening, whether live or by replay. I hear you, God. Your time in that desert is up. You've endured out of loyalty. You've endured endured, glory to the name of God, out of religious obligation. But God said it's time for you to move on.

Your ministry, your growth, ha, eba, brek, kikaban, su, is at stake.

And God said it's time for you to move on in Jesus' name. Listen, maybe you're listening me today, and I pray, God, that you do not turn, do you do not scroll, do not get distracted right now in this moment. But maybe you're listening to me today and you're not born again. Hallelujah! I want you to know that you can be born again of the Spirit. There's a passage of scripture in the Bible Bible that said there was a man named Nicodemus who went to Jesus by night, and he asked Jesus, what must I do to be born again? He said, I've been once born of my mother and my father. How— what do you mean I must be born again? Jesus said, that which is flesh is flesh, and that which is spirit is spirit. Listen, if you're listening me, you must be born again of water and of spirit. Listen, if you want to receive Jesus Christ as your personal Savior, Acts 2:38 says, repent, be baptized every one of you for the remission of your sin in the name of Jesus Christ, and be filled with the Holy Ghost, and you shall be saved. I cannot baptize you virtually. Spiritually, but we can take the first step, and I promise you, I will lead you to the water. I will get you into the water. Glory to God. And we will baptize you, and we will help you receive the baptism in the Holy Spirit. But the first step to being born again is repentance of your sin, confessing with your mouth, believing in your heart that Jesus died and rose from the dead, If you're not born again, if you know your business is not straight, if you have sin in your life, I want you to pray with me right now. Every believer praying with me that the unbeliever would get their business straight now. It's not promised to you. You— if you know that if Jesus came back now, you would go to heaven, you would go to hell. The only ticket that will get you into the kingdom of God is the blood of Jesus, is repentance of your sin. Let's pray now. Pray this prayer with me. Say, Heavenly Father, in the name of Jesus, I repent of my sin. Say, Lord, I believe I believe that you died and you rose again. Say, I believe that you are alive forevermore. Say, Lord, I open my heart and I invite you in.

Come in, Jesus, and live in me.

In Jesus' Jesus' name. Say, fill me, Father, with the Holy Spirit, in Jesus' name. Amen. And thank God. Listen, if you prayed that prayer with me, guess what? You're saved. You're born again. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. You ought to rejoice. You ought to give God praise and glory. Hallelujah. Hallelujah! You're saved today. There's a web address on the screen. I want you to go to it immediately and write me and say, Mike Woods, I prayed with you today. I received Jesus. I want to set up an appointment to take you to the water and baptize you so you can be born of water. You've been born of the Spirit right now, and I want to pray with you that you receive the baptism in the Holy Ghost. Write me and say, I prayed with you, and I want to know the next steps. If you do that, I promise you, your life will never be the same. Listen guys, my time is about gone. I love you. I want to challenge all of you watching us today to give. Those of you connected to Rhoda Church, your tithe— glory to the name of God— is what you owe God. Listen to me, me. The tenth is holy unto God. The Bible says to bring ye all the tithe and offering into the storehouse, that there may be meat in thine house. Prove me now herewith. God said, I'll pour you out a blessing, you won't have room enough to receive. The ways to give is on the screen. You can give through Cash App, simply it's Radha Church. You can give online at our website by going to rhodachurch.com/donate. You can give via text by texting the words RHODA GIVE to 31996 and give your offering, give your tithes, sow seed into this ministry. We're still remodeling our building and we need your help. To get all the things that we need. God is yet providing, but I need you to be involved. Glory to God! Your tithe belongs to God, so give your tithe, give your offering, and I promise you, you'll be blessed just like the scripture said. Listen guys, my time is gone. I love you guys. Don't forget, Monday through Friday, 12 noon, you can watch on YouTube at Rhoda TV. You can watch on the Rhoda Church Facebook page at Rhoda Church 1. You can watch on my public page, Dr. Mike Woods, at Facebook. You can watch on my personal Facebook page. You can catch the Apostles' Table every day at 12 noon Eastern Standard Time. You don't want to miss this week, it's going to be phenomenal. We're still teaching the God of Plenty. So make sure you join us. Make sure you're there. I love you guys. Y'all be blessed. Heaven smile upon you is my prayer. Have a supernatural week. Be blessed in the name of Jesus. Peace.