Radah Church Worship _ KINGDOM HUMILITY _ DR MIKE WOODS SR _ 11 APRIL 2021

Well, grace and peace be multiplied to you from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. This is Apostle Mike Woods, and yes, welcome to today's edition of the Apostle's Table. As a matter of fact, this is our Sunday morning edition, and I'm super excited to share with you this morning. This word is gonna be phenomenal. So please, whatever you do, do not scroll. Do not move away from this. As a matter of fact, what you need to do is go ahead and share this with someone right now. Matter of fact, share it with about 10 people because I promise you the word of the Lord is about to come forth. It's an experimental word. It's going to be something you could really take right now and apply to your life and see instant blessings from receiving and doing. Listen, I want to go ahead and jump into our service today. It's going to be phenomenal. We got some exciting things planned. But the first thing I want to do, I want to begin with the Word because the Bible declares, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was God, and the Word was with God." So today I want to begin with the Word of the Lord. And we're going to read today from Matthew 6. And I'm only going to read one verse, very familiar to you, I'm sure. It's verse number 33. Let's read it. Matthew 6:33. You'll find these words. It says, but seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things, hallelujah, will be provided for you. What a tall order. Glory to the name of God. And I really want you to know, when you prioritize the kingdom, glory to God, and put the kingdom first in everything you do, Glory to God. You'll find God the King many a times trumps circumstances, people, situations, and he'll get involved and release his resources to make sure you can navigate through whatever you are facing. Glory to God. Listen, I'm joyfully-yamfully-yamfully about that because I've seen it happen in my life so many times. Listen, let's pray. This whole time today is going to be centered around Kingdom, the message, the worship. So we want you to join in and share. So let's pray. and then we're going to continue in our service today. Let's pray. Glory to God. Father, in the name that is above every name, I come before you right now as humble as I know how, and I thank you and praise you for this is the day that you have made, and dear God, we rejoice and we are glad in it. I thank you, God, for an opportunity to share the word with these your people And I decree and declare, God, that today everything that goes forth, that goes into their ear gate, will impact them for the better as it relates to your kingdom. And I thank you, Lord, that you're drawing us near like never before to who you've really created us to be. So, God, we thank you for our true identity shining forth and us living not as paupers, but as children of the King for real, and we praise you for it now in Jesus' name. Amen. And thanks be to God. Listen, I'm super excited about the worship experience today, so let's go into worship. Already in progress today. Listen, our worship pastor, LaChelsie King, is one of a kind. She does a simply awesome job of unlocking the heavens and allowing the glory of God to come into our sanctuary each and every time we assemble together. So listen, I want you to gather around your phone, your TV, your tablet, however you're watching us today, and join in with LaChelsey as she ministers to us in worship. And I'll be back to share with you even the more. God bless your hearts.

Hallelujah, hallelujah. Let the glory of the Lord rise among us. Let the glory of the Lord rise among us. Let the praises of Martin Luther King rise among us. Let it rise. Let the glory of the Lord, let it rise among us.

Let the glory of the Lord!

Let it rise among us! Let the praises of our King rise among us! Let it rise! We shout oh-oh-oh!

Let it rise! We sing oh-oh-oh! Oh—

Let it rise.

Hallelujah.

God, we need your glory this morning. Let the glory of the Lord rise among us. Let the glory of the Lord rise, rise among us. Let the praises of our King rise among us.

Let it rise. Let the song of the Lord— let the song of the Lord rise!

Rise up to my feet! Let the song of the Lord— let the song of the Lord arise! Arise at the joy of our King!

Joyful mighty God, you reign forevermore! We sing glory! Ohh! Glory rise! We sing glory! We gonna say it.

Let the songs of the Lord— let the songs of the Lord rise among us. Let the songs of our heavenly Savior rise among us. Let the joy of our God— let the joy of our King rise among us.

Let it rise and reign.

I dare you to say it again. Let the glory— let the glory of the Lord rise, rise Let the glory of the Lord rise, rise.

Let the praises of our King.

Yeah, rise, rise.

Let it rise, rise. Come on, let's sing.

Let the songs of the Lord, let the songs of the Lord rise, rise. Amongst the songs of the Lord, let it rise, rise. Let the joy of our King, that's it, rise.

Let it rise, rise. Rise among us! Let the glory of the Lord rise—rise among us! Let the praises of our King rise—rise among us! Let it rise! So let the dance of the Lord—let the praise of the Lord rise—rise among us! Let the name of the Lord rise above all others! Come on, help me sing!

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah!

Well, praise the Lord! I know that worship was a blessing to you. You know, there are barriers, uh, between heaven and earth that literally need to be broken, and I am of the opinion that worship is the key to breaking those barriers and allowing us to tap into the presence of God in a very tangible way where we can feel his passion and his His love and the things that he desires of us. And watch this, the things that he desires to actually give us, we receive them. And with that said, worship extends beyond the lifting of our hands and the singing of our song. You know, our giving is also an act of worship. So today, before I teach the word, do not scroll. I need your support. You know, if you're a member of Rhoda Church, if you're one of our partners from around the world, we need you to do your due diligence and bring your tithe and your offering and sow this morning. But even if you're not connected directly to us, I want to challenge you today to make a sacrificial gift into the kingdom of God. You know, the Bible declares also that if you sow bountifully, you reap bountifully. Oh my God. And that when we communicate to you spiritual things, you should communicate to us your natural natural things. So I want to challenge you today as you make a sacrifice into ministry. I want you to expect God in the next 7 days to give you a supernatural harvest on your seed. Matter of fact, yes God, I hear that. I want you to expect God to give you 1,000 times more return on your giving. Let's pray. And listen, the ways to give are on the screen. You can use Cash App, or you can go to the website and give online. But let's pray that you will receive a thousandfold return, uh, or that God would multiply your seed that you sow today a thousand times more. And I want to come into agreement with you that you will not lack a thing, that your bills will be paid. Matter of fact, I want to come into agreement with you that you will move to the other side of money, that you never will worry about another bill in your life because you have activated kingdom law by trusting the word and paying your kingdom tax and bringing seed into the kingdom of God. And as I pray for you today and come into agreement with you, I want you to get seed in the ground. Let's pray. Let's just pray. So Father, in Jesus' name, we thank you today for the opportunity to give, and we believe that giving and receiving is the exchange system between heaven and earth. So Father, today I ask that you would cause your people to move in obedience and make sacrifices. And I pray, God, that you will multiply their seed 1,000 times more than it is. And I know you said in your word, God, you take no pleasure in those that will draw back. So I'm thanking you today that those that are connected with me now, those that are under the sound of the sound of my voice. They are not humans who will draw back, but they are liberal givers who will sow into the kingdom of God. We thank you for it and we bless you for it now, in Jesus' name. Amen. And thanks be to God. Hallelujah. So get your seed in the ground today. Listen again, the ways to give are on the screen. You can give literally via your Cash App right from your phone. Just go to Radha Church on Cash App. It's right there on the screen, and plant your seed right now. Or you can go to rhondachurch.com/donate and do the exact same thing. Listen, while you're giving, Pastor LaChelsey, who is again one of a kind— I love this woman of God. Her spirit is amazing in the church and outside of the church. She lives what she sings, and I'm telling you, that's why there's such a pure manifestation of the presence of whenever she opens her mouth. So open your heart, give your offering, and let's worship God with LaChelse one more time. And after she's done, I'm gonna come back and we're gonna teach the word of the living God. God bless you.

This place and feel the atmosphere. Your glory, God, is what our hearts long for. To be overcome by your presence, Lord. Overtake me. Let your spirit come now and overtake Me, let your presence come now and overtake me. Let your healing power come now and overtake me. Lord, we need your presence to overtake me. We pull on your power now, overtake Me, I give you free course. Overtake, overtake me, overtake me, overtake me. You have my permission. Overtake me, overtake me, overtake Arrest me now. Oba take me. Oba take me. Oba take me. Yeah. Oba take me. Oba take me. Holy Spirit, you are welcome here. Come flood this place. And feel the atmosphere. Your glory, God, is what our hearts long for, to be overcome by your presence, Lord. Your presence. We need you. We want you. We want you. We don't just need you, God, we want you. We desire you. We long for you. We thirst for you. Is for you. Our appetite is for you, God. My appetite is for your word, God. My appetite longs for your presence, God. My appetite longs for your spirit, God. My thirst is for you, God. I want you. I want you. Oh, I desire you. I desire you. I want you, God. Nothing else satisfies me anymore. I want your presence. In your presence is fullness of joy. Your pleasure is forevermore, God. Preserve me now, oh God. Preserve me now, oh God. For in thee do I put my trust. Preserve me now, oh God, so that I can enjoy you better. So that I can enjoy you better. I want to enjoy you better. Preserve me now, oh God. Preserve me right now, oh God. I want to enjoy your goodness, God. I want to take pleasure in your goodness, Preserve me right now, oh Lord. Preserve me right now, oh Lord. I want to take joy in your presence, God. I want to enjoy your goodness, God. Preserve me right now, oh Lord. Preserve me right now, oh God. Preserve me right now, oh Lord. Preserve me right now, oh Lord.

And I won't let go. Preserve me, oh God.

Preserve me right now.

I won't let go. I won't let go. I won't let go.

I won't move by your presence, God. I won't leave by your presence, God. I won't move by your presence, God. If you take one step, I'll walk with you, Lord. If you take two steps, I move with you, God. In the secret place, Lord, that's where I want to be.

Preserve me now, God.

Preserve me now, God. Preserve me now, God. Preserve me now, God. I won't let go, Lord. I won't let go, Lord. I won't let go. I won't let go. We got to do our part too. So I won't let go. I won't let go, God. I won't let go until you change my No, I won't let go. Holy Spirit, don't let go. Holy Spirit, don't let go. Holy Spirit, don't let me go. Holy Spirit, don't let me go. I won't let go, I won't let go, not till you change my name. I won't go. I may have to live away, but I won't let go. I may have to cry at night, God, but I won't let go. I may have to deal with some stuff in my life, God, but I won't let go. I may have to see some people come and go, God, but I won't let I won't let go. I won't let go. You're too good for me to let go of. Too good for me to let go of. You're too good of a God for me to let go of. Oh no! Oh no, no, no, I won't let go! Let— I'll let go of the other stuff, oh God, but you, I won't let go! You brought me through too much so I'm going to I won't let go. I won't let go. Right where you are, let's find you in the corner, right in your home, on your couch, in your bed, wherever you're having church with us this morning. If you're sitting at the table eating a bowl of cereal, listen, put the spoon down, get up off the couch, whatever you you have to do. Fall on your knees or just lift your hands right where you are. Change your mindset. Think up. Think on the things that are above. Think on the things that are pure. Think on the things that are right. Think on the things that are lovely. Listen, put your mind in the right place. Put your heart in the right place and just sing this with us while we worship our Savior this morning. Oh, I won't let go. Jesus, I won't let go. You've been too good, God. I won't let go. You made a way out of what seemed like no way, so I won't let go. If you did it before, you can do it again, God. I won't let go. I've seen your right hand do mighty work, God. I won't let go. Say, I rejoice by the mighty works of your hands, so I won't let go. In your fullness, there is fullness. I won't let go. In your presence, there is fullness of joy, so I won't let go. In your fullness, there is fullness. There is fullness. I won't let go. There's fullness! There's fullness! I won't let go— there is fullness! In him it's fullness, I won't let go...

Ohh ohhh!

I'm not letting go of his goodness; I will never give up on God because he has been so good to me. I won't let go! Holy Spirit, you're welcome! And I won't let go! Holy Spirit, you are welcome! So I won't let go! Holy Spirit, you are welcome! So I won't let go! I won't let go. I won't let go. I won't let go. Not till you change me, I won't let go. Yes, God, not till you bless me, I won't let go. One last time. Holy Spirit, you are welcome here. Come flood this place and fill the atmosphere. Your glory, God, is what our heart longs for. To be By your presence.

All right, well, praise God! Oh my God, listen, there's such an anointing that rests on that young lady. It's just absolutely amazing. Listen, we're going to jump into the word. I want to thank everybody for your giving and receive again that 1,000 times more harvest that's coming your way because of your seed. Listen, we're going to jump right into the heart of this message today. We're continuing our series, glory to God, on the Kingdom Experience. As a matter of fact, this is message number 7. Glory to God. And let me tell you something, the kingdom message is so important and so necessary. So I don't want you to scroll. I want you to stay with me. I'm so glad I get an opportunity today to really sit down and teach and share, because I believe that the kingdom must be taught. It— the principles, the systems, the structures, the way of operating in the King's Way has to be a learned behavior that comes forth out of the word of God, guys. So today we're going to take our time, we're going to share the word and I want you to stay with me. Get out a pen, get out a paper, take great notes. Matter of fact, share this again right now. Somebody needs to hear what we're about to share today. So again, we're continuing our message on the Kingdom Experience. I want you to say this with me. Say, the kingdom should be experienced and not just talked about. Saying one more time, the kingdom should be experienced and not just talked about. Listen, and there are a whole lot of people that talk kingdom lingo. They put kingdom in the name of their church, and their church really is no reflection of the kingdom in no way, and most of the time. But because most people have not been thoroughly, actually inundated and taught about the kingdom of God. Just sounds good, but at the end of the day, we really should be living this thing, walking it out. And listen, once you tap into it, you never want to go back to religion. Praise God. Hallelujah. So today, message number 7, we're going to talk about kingdom humility. Yes, Lord. We're going to talk about kingdom humility. Glory to God. Because this is a vital attribute to moving in the kingdom of God and receiving all that the kingdom has for us. So I want to just review, uh, the prior 6 messages really quick, just to get— you really can go back and watch the prior messages on YouTube, or you can watch them on YLC TV or on my Facebook page. Listen, at the end of the day, you want to go back and get these teachings. Glory to God, and we're going to package them all inside of our podcast where you can go and listen to them as a series as well. But we began teaching about the kingdom message, and one of the, the vital things that I shared during that teaching, uh, was that the kingdom message is the only message Jesus preached, and it's the least preached message today. Think about that, you know. Again, it's the only message Jesus preached, and it is the least preached message today. Day. Uh, people preach about everything else other than the kingdom. So make sure, uh, you avail yourself to that teaching because you need to understand just how important the message is. Because the message and the truth of the kingdom that we're teaching today is so necessary to deprogram and reprogram the mindset of the believer so that the believer can literally move beyond a religious state and walk in kingdom things for real. So then in message number 2, we talked about kingdom keys, talked about accessing the kingdom, unlocking things, and moving in and out of the kingdom and seeing things manifest in our life. And that literally we have been given the keys of the kingdom through revelation of Jesus Christ. So yeah, I'm not going to teach that again, but you got to go back and get it because it was absolutely phenomenal. Then message number 3, we talked Kingdom faith. No way you can believe in an invisible kingdom without faith, and no way you'll be able to see all of the beauty of the kingdom and everything it has to offer manifest in your life if you do not develop a kingdom faith that deliberately and strategically pursues kingdom manifestation because you're operating in kingdom law. And then fourthly, we talked about kingdom love. Glory to God. In which kingdom love is literally the atmosphere and the culture of the kingdom. And God loves us so much. Praise the name of God. And he loves us so much that he died for us. So we talked about how in, in Christianity, in the kingdom of God, our King dies for us. Our God dies for us. And in religion, you see men dying for God. But our God came down to redeem us so that we could have access. And he died My God, for us, what a powerful thing, man. Wow. Then we talked about kingdom power, and then we discussed kingdom royalty. I share with the saints that, listen, we are of royal blood, and living like a pauper— you're a pauper is a slave who has been freed, who doesn't realize intellectually or physically that he or she is free. So they continue because of the mental mindset to live like a pauper when they have now been given access to the king and his stuff. Listen, it's so many people in the church who live like paupers because they don't even realize that they got royal blood. And if you don't listen to not one of these other messages— almost said not now one— now one of these other messages that I You didn't listen to that one because so many of you are living beneath your privilege. But today I want to dive into this and talk about kingdom humility. First thing I want to do is define kingdom again. So the word kingdom, so you can be caught up with this, is the word basileia in Greek. Basileia. Most of the time when you read the word kingdom in the New Testament, you're going to get the transliteration basilia. Matter of fact, 99.9% of the time, that's what you're gonna get— basilia. Basilia is the king's influence, the king's impact, the king's intelligence, the king's resources, the king's glory, the king's magnificence, his majesty. It is his way of dominating or ruling. So it's two words: kingdom, kingdom. Kingdom, dominion. So the reality is you cannot even have a king if you don't have— you can't be a king if you don't have two things. One, one, you can't be a king if you don't have land. You got to have some territory that you have dominion over. I'll say that again. You cannot be a king without territory, without dominion. There has to be a fear of rule. So we understand that the earth is the Lord's, right? And the fullness thereof. Here's the other part: them and they that dwell therein. So secondly, you cannot have king status— watch this— without citizens, without a family, without a royal family. So we are the royal family who God has given kingly authority in the earth to carry out the assignment and the plan of the kingdom. So that's a powerful thing, and it would be easy to grasp that and start walking in pride, but that's not what God wants us to do, right? So humility then is the quality or condition— watch this— of being humble. Yeah, it's a modest opinion or estimation of oneself, one's gift, one's ability, one's rank, one's importance of one's person. It's modestly looking at yourself. It's understanding that everything I am, I am because of the King. Everything I have— oh my God, I have— hear me, I'm not gonna be long, I just sound like it. I'm gonna put the scripture at the because I want to give you some main things that I want you to carry right here, and then we're going to close out with the scripture. Listen, you've got to learn to look at who you are. I don't care how anointed you are, how gifted you are, how you, you may be able to float, glory to God, and you may breathe fire when you preach. At the end of the day, whatever God has gifted you to do, I need you to be clear you're doing it because of him. None of these things can be done in your own volition. There are so many people out here, ladies and gentlemen, who are doing things in their own volition. I feel the anointing, glory to God. And they're doing things in their own strength and in their own power, and they're taking credit of it because they feel good when people stroke them, when people like them. And most of the time what ends up happening, you find a guy or gal out here who is building a kingdom to themselves versus a kingdom to God. And they'll do it all in the name of God, which— it trips me out most of the time. I watch a lot of these people, especially a lot of very popular people on the internet, uh, who just kind of blossomed overnight and came out of nowhere in the last decade. And then the end of the day, it's great, right? But— and I celebrate a lot of them, but then there's some, man, And they missed it because they were able to, through putting out good content and building an audience and pretty much saying what people like most of the time, the people in return like them. And so they start building a kingdom to themselves. And most of them don't major on truth. Oh, they will speak only truth that appeases their crowd. And as long as their crowd is being entertained, You know, on the internet, likes, shares, comments, those type things are like ratings on TV. So the more that you get, the more the algorithm recognizes your content and people gravitate to it. And so most time, to keep that, you have to— you have to really follow your followers and kind of do what they like, and that's some kind of hidden rules of social media. But at the end of the day, if you have a ministry, you know, your ministry should be to do what the King assigned you to do and not what you want to do to make you feel good about people liking your stuff. So there is a level of people thinking more highly of themselves. The Bible, the Bible, the Bible says that a man should not think more highly of himself than he ought to. In other words, you should not be thinking more of yourself than you are. Listen, my friends, you are what you are, and you are, glory to God, who you are. And you ought to do that and give all the glory back to the King, because again, kingdom humility says Who I am, I am because of Jesus Christ. Some of these people don't even mention the name of Jesus in some of the stuff they do. Oh my God. And that's dangerous. The Bible said whatever I do in word or deed, do it all in the name of Jesus. So if I'm doing anything and I'm not doing it in his name, one, I don't have power behind it. And two, I'm not recognizing that he's the source of all I do. Come on, those of you watching me right now, type it in the screen. Type, he's the source of all I do. Oh my God, come on, type it. He is the source of all I do. You ought to make up in your mind that you're going to give it back to God and make it clear to the world that you could do nothing nothing without Jesus. Oh boy, just touch yourself and say, I can do nothing without the Lord Jesus Christ. Type it in the screen: I can do nothing without the Lord Jesus Christ. Glory be to God. Wow. So when we consider this, why does God want us humble? Well, the Bible declares— watch is that God resists the proud and he exalts the humble. And one of the most dangerous things in the church today— watch this— is the spirit of religion. The spirit of religion is very dangerous, guys. Matter of fact, I'll venture out here to say that the spirit of religion is the greatest opposition against the church since its inception. Yeah, let me work on this spirit really quick here. I'm gonna say that again. The spirit of religion is the greatest opposition against the church since its reception. Let me tell you why. Let me tell you why this spirit is so dangerous. First of all, Religion contains and constrains. Lord have mercy. What are you saying, Michael Woods? See, spirit life or life in the kingdom is about freedom and identity. The spirit of religion comes, one, to not empower but to impede. See, religion never empowers you you to be free and to move in your true identity. But what it does, it impedes, it constrains you and contains you in a religious box. Oh my God. And what it does, it places unholy limitations. Hear me. Whoosh! Babaia! Break kabohusi anta! It places unholy limitations on the lives of God's people and it spends its time trying to mask the true identity of Christ. And what it does, it overwhelms you with religious order, religious legalism. It makes you feel like you got to do this and do that to be who you are. When, when God said, listen, simple, come to me as you are, and any changing and transforming that's going to take place. He's going to do it. Glory to God. And listen to that. Oh, glory to— you just present your body a living sacrifice and he does the rest. And you guys got to be willing to give up everything for him and be free. But religion doesn't want that. Religion wants you contained inside of its idea. The spirit is dangerous. It also— oh my God— complains. You know, someone is operating in a religious spirit when they're constantly constantly complaining. You know, wherever there's religious spirit in operation, there will always be much murmuring, complaining, and wrong speaking. I don't have time, but I just want to drive this in because this is an enemy to humility. I'm gonna show you how in a minute. Watch this. It always criticizes. One of the most prominent operations of the religious demon, it always is critical of others. It has a critical attitude. Listen, life in the kingdom uses the gospel of the kingdom, the message of Jesus Christ. Oh my God. To empower people, to make them feel energized and charged to do what God has called them to do. While religion is constantly criticizing and tearing people down. Watch this. The religion is constantly trying to dispute and argue Listen, I wouldn't argue with one Hebrew Israelite or one Muslim or one Jehovah's Witness about their religious dead man's teaching. Y'all not talking to me here, because at the end of the day, if you can know the letter— but the Bible declares the letter killeth and the spirit makes alive. I'm not going to sit up and argue and debate scripture and debate life with somebody that's lifeless. That doesn't have the Holy Spirit, that doesn't have a relationship with God. Hallelujah. That only knows what they studied and read and what religion taught them. They don't have a revelation of God as a healer or God as a deliverer. They, they read about it, but they don't— and many times they don't really believe it, and they refute the power because they're constantly, oh my God, criticizing and complaining. And they do it to control Oh my God, they do it to condemn. This religious demon comes to cause you to compromise your rights as a citizen in the kingdom. And inside of this religious spirit are two chief demons that operate. There are two demons that operate in this principality, because really religion is a principality that hovers over many territories and regions throughout the world. And what happens is it is controlled in the earth realm through the spirit of deception and the spirit of pride. Deception— watch this— is strong inside of religion because deceived people— here we go— believe they are right, man. Okay, I'm gonna say it again. Deceived people always believe they're right when they're wrong. Matter of fact, a deceived person is worse than a liar. A liar knows they lying, but a person who is deceived, they think what they're saying is the truth because that spirit has constrained their mind and is controlling their mind and has— watch this— created darkness and blindness in their— hallelujah— spirit, so they cannot receive the light, and they need deliverance. Oh boy, that's why the Pharisees and the Sadducees hated Jesus, because they were religious and he was full of light. He came telling them, I'm the light of the world. Hallelujah, glory to God. He said, I'm the way, the truth, and I am the life. No man comes to God except by me. They didn't want to hear that. He was carrying too much light, man. And that's how it is with you and I. When we choose to walk in the spirit and choose to not be religious. Oh my God. And operate in the law of the kingdom. Religion hates that. And religion most of the time tries to compete. Religion most of the time gets jealous. Was. But I said it yesterday, you can't compete with something that always wins. Jesus has a winning record. He is undefeated. You cannot compete with a king that's never been defeated. What you do with a king that's never been defeated is you bow down. Y'all not talking. What you do with a king that's never been defeated, you follow him and you learn his ways. And guess what? Eventually religion had to acknowledge that this man is for real. This man really is the Son of God. This man really is the Messiah. This man really has power. Glory to God! Because he was king. And that's why you and I, we got to defeat deception in every area. As you know, there are some people, even as you evolve and tap into ways of the kingdom, you still got some deception lurking in your mind on certain things, and you choose rather to believe a lie than the truth. That's what, that's what the scripture teach. There are people out there that give heed to doctrines of devil, seducing spirit. A seducing spirit pulls you in. Come on. And you got to be aware of religious seducing spirits that— watch this— that even mask themselves as charismatic authentic and spiritual, but will pull you into their religious system and get you doing things the way they do them. Oh my God. And it's totally far from advancing the kingdom because watch this. If the only place you're experiencing the kingdom is inside of the four walls of the church, ma'am, sir, you have missed it because the whole purpose of the kingdom is for you to be displaying the kingdom outside of the church so that the light of the King can flow through your works. Oh my God, your good works, and glorify the Father which is in heaven. Lord have mercy. I gotta go, I gotta go. I just sound long. I gotta go, I gotta go, I gotta go. So the other side of this religious spirit— I gotta deal with this because we can't even get to humility till we lay this backdrop. And this last thing I'm say about this is the spirit of pride and arrogance, or arrogance. Oh, oh my God, arrogance is the opposite of humility, all right? It is offensive. It is a display of superiority, is a display of self-importance. It is an overbearing attitude and personality that says says, I am better than you. Now watch this. With all of our access to the kingdom, we cannot afford to live in arrogance. First of all, arrogance— hear me— leads to aloneness. And you got these people out here saying, no, I'm not arrogant, I'm just confident. And really, they just bona fide arrogant because it's overbearing. You can't stand to be around them. You can't— oh my God, when you're in their presence, you can feel them giving off the aura that they feel like they're better than you. And that's the devil. That's not of God. Hear me when I'm talking here, man. Hear me. I'm almost done. But we can't afford to live under the— this— because when you're operating here you're opening the door for religion to come in and control— hallelujah— your pursuit of God. And you'll never find him being religious. I always say it, and I say again today, I am going on record as saying it: my name is Michael Woods, and I am not a religious man. I say that my name My name is Michael Woods, and I am not a religious man, period. Glory to God. It's not who God made me. It's not who he made you. Because I refuse to operate in arrogance and pride and deception. Because here's what I know: arrogance leads to aloneness. Arrogant people end up by themselves. Thank God I've learned humility. I couldn't stay married before my past because of arrogance. If I would have humbled myself and looked at myself on a lot of things I was doing in the marriage and changed in humility, probably could have saved my previous marriages. But here's what I understand, glory to the name of God, arrogance will cost you and it will leave you by yourself. Nobody wants to be around annoying going on. Nobody wants to be around someone who feels like they have no more room to learn anything. I want to tell you something: none of us know everything. Hallelujah. And all of us can stand to learn something. And so you got to humble yourself, take the position of a learner. Religion doesn't want to learn. Religion thinks it knows. It thinks the way it has been indoctrinated and brainwashed Josh is right when there's so much more, so many facets to God so many people have not seen because they refuse to open their mind and learn. Arrogance will leave you by yourself. You know, I listen to a lot of religious preachers complain, um, about certain things. I, I'll use, for example, when the Word of Faith teaching movement was implemented into the earth 3 decades ago. That's when it showed up, glory to God, in this rare form. You have people like Dr. Casey Price in the black community, you know, who teaching in the '80s, getting a megachurch in the '80s through teaching. You had Ken Copeland, you had all these guys, Dad Hagin, teaching the word, right? Right? And so there was a great emergence of teachers coming forth, okay? Well, the religious guys got mad because people started leaving their church, okay, going to sit under the teacher. And they got upset because the people wanted more. They saw the guy teaching on TV, they got understanding, they got enlightened instead of getting yelled at every week and getting criticized and complained about and controlled. Y'all not talking. They found a place where they could be free in the word. Come on. And they left these churches and the religious leaders got mad, man. But listen, you can't blame anybody but you because you didn't change and you, you kept yourself in a box where you are not giving people something that they actually need. And they proved to you that they needed to be taught something more than Sunday school. Come on, they need to be taught revelation of the scripture. They needed the word to be broke down, and they left them alone. Oh boy, my God. Okay, let me move. Aloneness. So arrogance leads to Aloneness leads to abortion because, watch this, purpose cannot be fulfilled in isolation. So when you're by yourself trying to do it and don't have people or don't have help and you're alone, you end up aborting the original vision because you don't have the manpower or, watch this, the spiritual power because you— God also leaves you when you're arrogant. Yeah, he does. The Bible says again, he rejects the proud. A proud look he despises. Yeah, so God says, okay, I'm out, you know. When you get humble, I'll come back. Okay, I raised both my hands. There have been seasons in my life, so you won't think I'm picking on you, wow, I was tremendously arrogant. There was an air of arrogance about me that was terrible, and I could not see it. I had my spiritual father telling me it. I had people who love me saying, man, you just humble yourself a little bit, man, you'd be all right. I just couldn't see it because I was deceived. I thought I was right. I would say, no, I'm just confident, and that was lie. I was arrogant, and that was dangerous, and it cost me in, in several seasons of my life. So I'm just telling you right now, you know, you'll abort things that you should be doing, and you'll destroy a purposed plan because you're too arrogant to receive. Help me, God. Help us, Father. Wow. So watch this. Abortion then leads to adventurism because you now are alone. You abort the original intent. Now you're taking risks because you're trying to figure out what you can do that's easy, that you can do by yourself, that you don't need a whole lot of people. That you don't need a whole lot of people or a whole lot of help. So then now you settle and you start taking risks. You ever see somebody have done started 20 different things and none of it works? It's because they're adventurous. They're trying to figure it out. They have no focus because they aborted the original intent. I, I'm not teaching that. Let me move. Adventurism then leads to adult Adultery is not just sexual unfaithfulness to a married person. Adultery means to be satisfied, by definition, by something that doesn't belong to you, whether it's somebody else's husband, somebody else's wife, whether it's— oh my God— a job you shouldn't be working, whether it's a career you're pursuing, a ministry you're doing, that you become satisfied satisfied and comfortable in something that's not yours, whether it's a god that you shouldn't be serving. The Father called Israel an adulterous nation. Had nothing to do with sex. They became satisfied by something that God the Father did not ordain. Wow, man. So when we consider the text, how do we deal with this? How do we in kingdom humility. I know y'all thought I forgot, but I told you I was gonna put the text at the end. I was setting this up. So in Matthew 19:14, it's reading one verse, I'm out. But Jesus said— who said? But Jesus said, suffer the little children and forbid them not to come unto me. For of such is the kingdom of heaven. I'll read it again because it's just all right to read the Bible. Amen. But Jesus said, supper the little children and forbid them not to come unto me, for such is, or for of such is, the kingdom Oh my God of heaven, Lord, help us today. Help us today. So watch this. He says here, one, suffer not, children. Why does Jesus say this? Why does he say— well, if you read earlier, you'll see the disciples, number one, were trying to rebuke the children and the parents of the children for bringing the children to Jesus. All right, Jesus uses their arrogance, right? Their, their religious arrogance. They've been with Jesus all this time and they're still trying to operate in religious control and treat Jesus like he's a celebrity. And Jesus saying, no, I'm humble. He says, so suffer not— don't take them through any any suffering, do not correct them, do not rebuke them, do not keep them from me. He says, such is the kingdom of God, man. Are you, are you hearing me? He says, I need you to understand, these children are the model of what it's gonna take to dwell and live in my presence. So I'm looking at this again. Let's look at it again. Let's look at the text again because I want us to be clear. But Jesus said— so when Jesus speaks, it's law, right? So he's instituting a kingdom law here. Jesus says this because when a king decrees a thing, it's law. Jesus is the king, so he says this. Now this is us all. It's not just for these that are doing it now, it's for us too. He says, 'Supper the little children and forbid them not to come unto me, for such is the kingdom of heaven.' Let me tell you something. In order for us to extrapolate the resources and the goods that the kingdom of God has to offer, listen to me, we gotta humble ourselves as We should always be childlike before the Father. Think about how innocent, honest your children is. Lord have mercy. You know, my, uh, little grandbaby Kili, uh, she's an amazing little girl. She just turned 3 years old, right? And, uh, her personality is so advanced. She's so mature. And when she interacts with these She talks very intelligent, very proper, but she knows how to interact when she wants something. And it's hard to deny her innocence even if she's doing something wrong. You know, she's innocent. And then sometimes she just really don't know what she doing. Sometimes she does, but sometimes she don't know she did something wrong. And so Most of the time your grace is going to be greater on a little child than it would be a teenage child, right? Because teenage child knows better. But a little child— and this is what Jesus is referring to, the innocence of a little child who has no clarity about right and wrong, totally innocent. Everything they do, they have no context for wrong or for right. Childlike, but everything they do is out of the purity of their development, their learning, or watch this, their desire to be close to the ones they love. Can I tell you something? God says come before him childlike, come before him empty. Leave your titles. God don't want to hear, Lord, this is Apostle, uh, Archbishop such-and-such coming before you now. 'Your most faithful and loyal, most reverent servant.' God don't want to hear that, man. Humble yourself as a child. I don't care how grown you are, God is looking for humility. And listen, I'm telling you, if you learn how to be humble in the face of the Father, humility will begin to be a fruit that flows throughout your life. So again, suffer the little children. He said, for of such is the kingdom. In other words, the culture of the kingdom is humility. What makes the kingdom work is humility. I should have a humility toward my fellow brothers and sisters in ministry that I don't compete with them, that I don't try to be better than them. I'm humble in who I am. And listen, the Bible said, know those who labor among you. So when you know know people who labor among you. You humble yourself, be you, do you, and we work together to defeat the kingdom of the devil. And watch this, because our whole goal is to defeat the kingdom of the devil and take over the kingdom of man. But we'll never do that if we walk in pride and arrogance toward one another and we walk in this attitude, oh, I'm better than you, I got more I got more followers. I can preach better than you. I— oh my God, my church is bigger than yours. You got a little church. You're not hot. I am. Listen, at the end of the day, real success— and I'm gonna talk about this on next week, glory to God— kingdom success is not based on how many followers you have. Kingdom success is defined by the discovery of your purpose and fulfilling it. I'm gonna tell you something, if you got them million followers and it wasn't your purpose, buddy, you may have some problems at the end. I only want to do what God has called me to do. I, I'm grateful for the men that have grace on their life to have multi-mega people in their church and on the their online presence. I'm grateful for it. And I'm also grateful in humility for the circle of people that God has ordained me to touch, that some of those people would never touch. But the reality is, I'm humble in my space, and everybody else needs to be too, because the only way we're going to be effective— and we need to learn a mutual respect for each other. I said this yesterday too. Because people have a competition. They'll try to compete with you when at the end of the day we're not here to compete. We're in the kingdom, we're on the same team. And if Jesus is your king and he's my king, we're on a winning team, buddy. So we should be working together and we should be childlike before the Father because he's our daddy. I mean, you'd be 100 years old, you go before the Father, you should weep like a pump. You should break down and just let God take full control. Listen, some of you men, you, you ain't, you ain't really been in the presence of God until he broke your masculinity and you wept. Some of you could use a good gully washing, a good weeping in the spirit. Glory to God. Listen, I'm telling you right now, when, when God really gets in your heart and starts massaging your heart and takes over your spirit, tears are going to come. He's going to break you down when he starts showing you how powerful his mercy and grace has been toward you. You, my friend, are gonna break down. But you gotta choose— watch this, man, and I'm closing with this— to humble yourself. The Bible says again, humble yourselves. Under the mighty hand of God, and he will exalt you in due season. Let's stop trying to exalt ourselves. Let's stop climbing ladders that we built up in the spirit ourselves. Let's stop getting on elevators that we built to take us to places that God didn't ordain. Humble yourself. I promise you, God can take us farther than we can take ourselves. If we really will break the spirit of religion and let him be in control of our lives and build strong relationship with this guy, he'll take us where we've never been, and he'll do through us— my God— what has never been done. Let's pray. Father, in Jesus' name, thank you for for this word. I pray, God, for kingdom humility among your people. And I pray, dear God, right now, that in their heart they will humble themselves under your mighty hand, and they will come before you childlike, God, and that they will experience the riches of your kingdom. And we praise you for it now, Lord, in Jesus' name. Amen and thank God. Listen, thank you so much for listening today. I pray the word has been a tremendous blessing to your life. Once again, before I go, I want you to share this message with someone because someone needs to understand what it means to walk in kingdom humility. And then secondly, I want to challenge each one of you again to sow a sacrificial seed. The ways to give are on the screen: Cash App, Rhoda Church, or rhodachurch.com/donate. Listen, be a blessing to the kingdom of God. I love you guys. Listen, I want to invite every person, join us in person next week. Glory to God. Hallelujah. Rhoda Church, 5300 Frontage Road, Suite A in Forest Park, Georgia. I promise you You'll be glad you did. I love you guys with the love of the Lord. And guess what? Ain't nothing you can do about it. Y'all be blessed. And remember, your decisions set you up for dominion. God bless you.