Rejection, PART 1 | DR. MIKE WOODS SR | RADAH CHURCH | 4 JULY 2021

Welcome to the Apostle's Table, where lions roar and lives are changed. The Apostle's Table is a part of the worldwide outreach ministry of Dr. Mike Wood Sr. You will encounter supernatural wisdom and revelation that will help you discern God's purpose for your life, develop your potential, and deploy your gifts effectively into the earth. We decree your life will never be the same again. Thanks for joining us and welcome to the Apostle's Table.

Well, praise the Lord, and grace and peace be multiplied to you from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Yes, Welcome to Sunday's edition of The Apostle's Table. For those of you who are uninitiated, my name is Dr. Mike Woods, and I'm super excited to share with you on today. Listen, I got a— I got a strong message for you today, and I promise you it's gonna be life-changing. So here's what I need you to do. I need you to share this live stream with someone right now. Share it on your timeline, share it in Messenger, share it in groups. Listen, go ahead, like and share this right now and engage with us. Type in the comments below, let us know you're here. Today I'm kicking off a series on the 4th of July in 2021 entitled Rejection. We're going to expose the results of rejection, what happens in your life when you're rejected and you buy into the spirit. Do you realize that so many people cannot fulfill their dreams or their visions to work at a large level and to do great things. It is impossible to do if the spirit of rejection has its grips on you. Listen, and then we're gonna discuss how to get free. All month long, we're gonna talk about how to get free from this demonic onslaught called rejection. So please go ahead right now, share this, because I promise you it's going to be amazing and it's gonna be life-changing. Listen, before I teach this morning, I got a very special treat with us this morning. Listen, we've had the opportunity at Rhoda Church to have some amazing psalmists and worship leaders come through and share with us during various events. And, you know, I'm just grateful for the people that God has placed in my life that have the DNA of apostolic culture in them and understand what it means to pioneer, understand what it means to build. And this young lady, Listen, she is connected to us. She has, uh, shared with us on several occasions. She hails out of Alabama, but we was having an event at the church, and listen, this young lady is going to come before us today and she's going to minister some songs of worship. So I want you to lift your hands, engage, get involved. It is no other than Courtney Henderson, and I'm telling you right now, she's a recording artist. You can go to Apple Music, download her music, but we've been blessed to have her bless us on many occasions, and the worship you know, that flows out of her, it's really pure. You can't really be a strong worship leader if you really don't have a strong relationship with God. And this young lady, I'm telling you right now, she is tapped in, zoned in, and she always opens the heavens when she shows up. So let's enjoy the ministry of Courtney Henderson in worship, and then right after that, I'm gonna come back and teach you the Word of God. God bless you.

Let's sing together, Taki. My God is awesome. He can move mountains, keep me in the valley, and hide me from the rain. My God is awesome. He heals me when I'm broken, strength when I'm weak. Where I'm in the weak and forever he will reign. Do you believe that? My God is awesome. He can move mountains, keep me in the valley, and hide me from the rain. My God is awesome. He heals me when I'm broken, strength where I'm in the weak. He will reign. My God is awesome. Come on, talk about it just for a moment. Awesome. Awesome.

Awesome.

My God is awesome. And there's nobody greater than my Lord and my Savior. Yes, he's awesome.

Awesome, true.

My God is awesome. He's Savior of the whole world, giver of salvation. By his stripes I am healed. My God is awesome. Guess what? Today I am forgiven. His grace is why I'm living. Praise his holy name. My God is awesome. Is he awesome in your life? Awesome. Oh, he's awesome.

Awesome.

Oh yes, he is. My God is awesome. He's awesome. Yes, he is. Oh. Oh! He's mighty! He's mighty! Oh yes he is! Oh! He's great! Great! He's great! He's awesome! Awesome! In my life he's awesome! Hey! Mmm! He's holy! Holy! He's holy, he's holy, he's holy, he's holy, he's set apart and holy. Oh yes, he is. Protector, protector, protector, protector, protector. He's awesome. Oh yes, he is. Can I mix it up a little bit? Oh, he's Alpha, he's Alpha, Omega, Omega. He's Alpha, Omega, the beginning and the end. Yes, he is. He's awesome. Protection, protector, protector, protector, protector. He's awesome. Yes, he is. He's awesome. Deliverer, deliverer, deliverer, deliverer, deliverer. Deliverer, he's awesome. Yes, he is. Yes, he is. Yes, he is. My healer. My healer. My healer. My healer. When I need the Lord, he's the one who heals me. He's awesome. Awesome. Yes, he is. He's awesome. Awesome. My God is awesome. He can move mountains, keep me in the valley and hide me from the rain. My God is awesome. He heals me when I'm broken, strength where I've been weak. Praise his holy name.

Hallelujah!

Anybody just praise his name? Hallelujah! Praise his holy name! Hallelujah! Praise His holy name. If you don't have any music, can you just still— Praise His holy name. He's worthy of our praise. Thank you for being so awesome, God. Thank you for being there when no one else is there, God. Thank you for being in the trenches with me, God. Thank you for being on the mountaintop with me, God. I don't know what I would do without you. I wouldn't even want to try life without you, God. Praise His holy name. We give you glory today, Lord. Can you just feel the house with praise and perfume? This house with worship. We give you glory today, Lord. You've been so good. We give you glory, Lord. We give you honor, Lord. We give you what's due your name, Lord. How can I not praise you, Lord? I owe it to you. Hallelujah!

Hallelujah!

Hallelujah! Hallelujah to If you really think about how good he is and how sovereign he is and how he keeps the world in place with his hand and how he makes a fallen star stop with his words, what an awesome God we serve. We give you glory today, God Jesus. We give you glory today, God. Yes, yes, yes. Oh, we give you all All the honor, God, we give you all the honor. You deserve it, Lord. You deserve it, Lord. My heart is committed to him. Anybody's heart committed to him, do you have a praise in your heart? Good God. My heart is committed to you.

Well, praise the Lord. My God, did not Courtney bless us? What a— what a vessel from heaven. Glory to God. Let's pray, and we're going to get right into this word. I'm telling you right now, I feel the anointing of God, and I promise you, if you stay with me, there's going to be some liberation, there's going to be some blessing that flows out of this message today that's going to be life-changing for you. Listen, Maybe the reason why you haven't been able to quite fulfill your dreams and your visions is because you're operating from a standpoint of rejection, and this spirit is taking root and it's causing some problems in your progress. But today, this word is designed to bring liberation and freedom. The Bible said, we shall know the truth and the truth shall make us free. So today we're going to share and I promise you, you're going to be blessed. Let's pray. Father, in Jesus' name, I thank you for the opportunity today to teach the Word of God, and I decree and declare, God, that as we teach your Word, that those that listen will be blessed. They will be healed. They will be delivered. They will be set free. I thank you, Lord, now that he who the Son sets free is free indeed. So, Father, I decree and declare that the spirit of rejection and all of his counterparts are being rebuked now in the mighty name of Jesus. And I thank you, God, that as we teach your word, lives will be changed, doors will be opened, burdens will be removed, and yokes will be destroyed because of your anointing. And we give you praise for it now in Jesus' name. Amen. And thanks be to God. Hallelujah! I feel the anointing, guys. My God, I feel the anointing. Well, let's jump into this. I'm telling you right now, this is going to be, whoo, a supernatural blessing today. Let's— again, we're teaching today on the subject of rejection. This is the kickoff message, oh my God, of The root of rejection. All right, the root of rejection. We're going to expose the very roots of rejection. We're going to talk about the results of those roots, what grows out of being rejected, and then we're going to talk about how to get free from the roots and the results of rejection. And so today's message We're going to talk about those roots, those results, but we're going to look very closely at how your perception— hear me— how your perception, how you perceive, how you look at things in life, are affected because of rejection. All right, so let's go to Isaiah really quick. Isaiah 53 and verse number 3. Glory to God. God. Isaiah 53:3. And this is the foundational text for this entire series, right? So I want you to go there with me real quick. If you got a Bible, you got a phone, an iPad or something, let's walk out the word today. We're going to give you a lot of word today, so let's walk it out. Isaiah 53 and verse number 3, you're going to find these words. The Bible says he is despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. We hid not, as it were, our faces from him. He was despised and we esteemed him not. We're gonna build this entire teaching on this substratum, guys. Because every one of us that claims the name of Jesus as our King and our Lord— and I'm telling you right now, he's just as real today as he's ever been before. And the religious system will want us to believe that serving Jesus is a matter of, uh, being legalistic, quoting scriptures, going to a church building. We got the week and never really changing, reading your Bible and never really changing. But the reality is we were born again really to emulate Christ, to live, behave, act, display the same power— hear me— that Christ displayed. And many times people who are bound by the spirit of religion, they don't get the joy of knowing Jesus for real. But I want to tell you something. Jesus, our King and our God, when he came to this planet, he was despised and rejected by— watch this— the religious spirit. I'm gonna tell you something. Religion will use the name of Jesus and not love the name of Jesus. Oh my God, I'm gonna say it again. Religion will use the name of Jesus, and by that I mean they will people do stuff under the banner of being a Christian, under the banner of the church, and say that they're walking with Jesus, but they don't love him enough— hear me— to really get to know him, to understand who he is in personal relationship. And I'm telling you, we need more. We got to tap into a deeper dimension. We got to to go further than we ever done. Most of you live your life based on a leader, a preacher. You follow after popularity. Most of you seek to know a popular preacher more than you seek to know Jesus. I tell you what, I'll take Jesus over the most popular preacher in America any day. And he's real. I'm not saying Jesus is not using these people, and it's not to their fault.

Fault.

In many instances, it's to the fault of those that go after them over the relationship with Christ. There are people I've talked to that go to mega churches mad. I'm talking about mad because they can't spend time with their pastor because they don't know him, because they don't get to really be one-on-one with their leader. Well, first of all, you chose to be in that type of ministry, and so you can't expect someone with 5,000 members to have a personal up-close relationship with you. It's just 9 times out of 10, it's never gonna happen, right? So that's the first thing— you signed up for that. Secondly, hear me, you got to understand that the most important relationship you have is with your God. So the preacher is simply there as a conduit to get you to God. And if you never shake his hand hand. If you never shake the popular preacher's hand, I want you to fall passionately in love with Jesus. But this need— oh my God, here we go— for acceptance has caused us to want more from men than we want from God. So let's look at this today. Again, we're talking about the root of rejection and its results, and we're going to look at how your perception is affected. First of all, I want to get a working definition of rejection. Can we do that? The word rejection— hear me— means to refuse, to throw away as having no value, to overlook, not use, or not notice. I'll read that again. Rejection means to refuse, to throw away as if you have no value, to not use or notice. So, oh my God, how many times have you been in scenarios where you've been refused, you've been pushed away, thrown away as if you had no value, your opinion was not heard, you were overlooked when you were the most qualified? Come on, you weren't noticed when you should have been noticed because you did all the work. Rejection, that's what it is. Let's look at what roots are because I want to really lay a foundation here, guys. Roots in this, by definition, is the starting point. Roots are the first growth out of the seed. So the first— when you plant a seed, the first thing that comes forth is the root, because the root now becomes the source of life that keeps alive whatever the seed was planned to produce. Point in case, let's say you have a collard green plant. You can plant a collard green seed in the ground. The first thing that's coming up out of that collard green seed is the root. That root is going to give life to the rest of the plant. If you destroy the root, you'll destroy the collard green. The root is the life source. So here's the process. This is what it looks like. Seeds are buried in the ground. Yeah, and that's why every one of you listening to me, if you're gonna do anything great for God, you got to go through some seasons of being buried. Oh my God, oh my God, you got to go through some seasons— thank you, Jesus— of being buried. Thank you. Help us today, Holy Ghost. You throw— watch this— and when you put a seed in the ground, the first thing you do is throw dirt on on it. So in order for you to go forth and to spring forth, guess what's got to happen? You're going to have to get some dirt on you. Hallelujah! Somebody's gonna have to throw some dirt at you. But the magic in all of it, the supernatural power of it, is, is that the dirt is part of what is used to germinate the seed. To keep the seed in condition so that it can produce life. So you ought to thank God right now for dirt. You know, I thank God for every backroom conversation. I thank God for every person who has conversation about me that don't think I know about the conversations. I thank God for every dart that is thrown. I thank God for every ounce of dirt that has ever been thrown on me or at me, because guess what? It has produced the man of God and faith I am today. So if you're going to grow into anything, you got to— hallelujah— get some dirt thrown on you. But we're not talking about that today. So the seed germinates, dirt is put on it, roots develop. And watch this. The roots go down before fruit and branches are seen above the ground. Here's another point here. You got to go under before you go up, right? So a root— again, I'm just trying to show you what a root is. A root is under the ground, is unseen, but it's the most important source of life. A tree can grow 100 feet tall, but what keeps it alive is the roots that you cannot see. Hallelujah! Glory to God! You got to make sure your roots are strong. And when you let rejection get in your roots, it causes a problem. So here's the, here's the reality: if you got rotten roots, all right, you got rotten roots, you're going to have rotten fruit. So everything you produce in life is going to be rotten because your, your roots are rotten, because the roots determine the fruit. I'll say that again: the roots determine the fruit. So if you got rotten roots, you're gonna have rotten fruit. Hear me good, y'all. Hear me good. I want you to understand something. That's why you got to get the stuff that ain't seen together. I don't care how gifted you are, how many tongues you speak in. And listen, I'm not against speaking in tongues. I mean, I'm probably gonna speak in tongues before this is over. Because I'm filled with the Holy Spirit, and it's the language of the Spirit of God that takes over. Glory to God. Oh my God, glory to the name of God. And speaks through me as the Spirit gives utterance. So I'm in agreement. But I don't care how much you do that, if you got bad roots, the works of your hands, the fruit that comes out of your life is going to be rotten, bad fruit. But if you got good fruit My God, it's going to come out of good roots. So the roots determine the fruit. So you got to make sure your roots are good. Let's go to Matthew 11. Let me show you something. I didn't even have this in my notes, but let's go to Matthew 11. Matthew's Gospel, chapter number 11. Hallelujah. Matthew 11. Glory be to God. Hallelujah. Let's look at verse number Hallelujah. 29, the scripture says, take my yoke upon you and learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and you shall find rest in your souls. Good example of the root producing the fruit. So he says, if you take and plant in your spirit the yoke of Jesus Christ, yoke your soul up to Jesus Christ, yoke your spirit, yoke your life. Now watch this. What do you mean, Michael? What's yoke? Yoke, yoke. The Greek word is zygos, Z-Y-G-O-S, and it literally means— watch this— it is to bind yourself as a slave. Zygos. To Jesus Christ, which means let him be the substratum, the foundation, the master, the controller of everything you do. In other words, don't let things that come out of your life come from your own personal agenda, your own personal control, but let it come out of him. He said, and then become a learner. Cultivate the seed of being yoked to him. Learn about him.

Him.

He says, 'Cause I'm meek, I'm humble, I'm low in heart.' He said, 'And the result, the fruit, you'll find rest in your soul.' Verse 30: 'For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.' Many of you right now are going through seasons— hear me— of turmoil, and you're troublesome because you have not taken his yoke upon you. Up in the chapter it says either make the tree good or make the tree bad, for the tree is known by the fruit it's bear. How do I make it good? I take the yoke of God and plant it in my life and allow him full control. So here's the question: what are you manifesting out of your life? Are you manifesting something that's a result of God being in full control of your life, or are you manifesting something that's a result of your own personal selfish agenda. You being in control of your own life, you just got to decide what's going to be the root. Listen, it takes time. Watch this. Once something is rooted, for it to get uprooted. All right, so the process— if you want to uproot something that's been planted, it takes time. And so this root of rejection, as we talk about it today, Some of you, and I'm telling you right now, you may think I don't deal with rejection. Listen, this thing plants itself and you start building your life on top of it and don't even know it. And I'm gonna make you very clear some areas that prove you possibly could be suffering from this root of rejection being in operation in your life. So it takes time to uproot. We're gonna uproot it in the word today though. And what we want to do is make sure that we uproot all the bad, replant the things that need to be replanted in good soil. Are you hearing me? And cause you to bear good fruit in your life. Somebody ought to type in the screen below, good fruit. I'm telling you right now, matter of fact, say this whole confession. Type it in the screen, say it out of your mouth. Say God God wants me to bear good fruit. The word good is banah in the Hebrew, and it means to profit. He wants you to have profitable fruit. He wants you to win. He don't want you always taking an L, losing. He wants you to bring forth good fruit, guys. God, it's his desire, it's his plan for you to bear good fruit. Hallelujah. Hallelujah! Let's go to Luke 10:16. And in Luke 10:16, you're going to find Jesus saying to us that he who rejects you also rejects me. So I want to help you now. So when rejection comes in your life, I want you to be very clear that if anyone is rejecting you, they are also— hear me, oh my God— they are also rejecting God. Lord have mercy. I, I need you to— I need you to hear me. If they are rejecting you, they are also rejecting God. Are y'all hearing me? So that, that's powerful stuff because you got to realize How valuable you are to God. And if any man rejects you, don't let it get under your skin. Hallelujah! Glory be to God! But take it. So watch this. He said also in the same verse, he said, if you— whoever listens to you listens to me, and whoever rejects you rejects me, but whoever rejects me rejects him who sent me. So the bottom line is, when people reject you when you're a child of God, they are also rejecting God. And I need you to know this morning what your value is, baby. Look, glory to God, don't get mad when people reject you, when people walk away. It's not you, it's their inability to see who you really are in God. And so many people will step out of your life and leave prematurely, not really realizing who you are in God. But the Bible says here, if they reject you and you're a child of God, they're rejecting him. Listen, you better be very careful who you reject that's carrying the anointing. Hallelujah! Glory to God! And I want to say to you this morning, don't take it personal when folk reject you.

You.

Glory to God. Let's go to Deuteronomy 29:18. We're just looking at the root of rejection. Glory to God. Deuteronomy 29:18 says these words: Make sure— hear me— that there is no man or woman, clan or tribe among you today whose heart turns away from the Lord our God to go and worship the gods of the nations. God, I can deal with that strong. I really ain't got time to Bible said, but make sure there is no root among you that produces such bitter poison. Can I touch it, Lord? Yeah, let me touch it just a little bit. First of all, rejection comes from humans. Yeah, it comes from humans. Humans reject people. He says, so make sure that there's no man or woman, no clan or tribe, no group, no whole family, no whole church, come on, that turns you away from the Lord your God to worship the god of the nation. So watch this, in many time, oh my God, in tribes, as people like to call the people in the church today, or the people that work with them, or clans, you know, it's funny that they say that because you have things like the Ku Klux Klan, which, okay, but at the end of the day, listen, The Bible says make sure that there's no one in the tribe that turns your focus from God. Oh my God. And puts the focus all on them. So you have small groups in the church that will cause you now to focus on their ministry and not the ministry of the leader or the ministry God is prescribing in the house. Or you can have a senior leader that points people to look to him inside of that nation, that group, that clan, and people worship the man, the woman, more than they worship God. So watch this. This is, this is rejection in reversal, because now you're rejecting God to follow after a man. Oh my goodness. Oh my God. God, but just because he's popular. And then here's the crazy thing: the moment he does something human to show you he ain't God, you go somewhere else and find you another god. That's a problem, man. The reality is your focus should be on God anyway, and you should never have anybody in a group or trying to build with you who's focused on anything other than God. You know what I, I've been in ministry this year. I'll be celebrating 32 years of full-time ministry. I planted 8 churches. Yes, 8. And in every time I planted a church and dealt with people, it's always the same. People come and people go. But you know what I learned? I've learned how to be thankful for both of those— when people come and when people go. And you know what I've learned in history? When people leave, God always replaces the ones that leave with something better. Some— one person will leave and they waving at 5 new people coming in the door. Sometimes you need people to go because God says, I can't trust them with this baby. I need to get them out the mix so you can do what you got to do, because they're rejecting the plan. Because either they're a volunteer that ain't got the heart of the ministry, or they are hireling that's getting paid that ain't got the heart of the ministry, and they definitely got to go because you don't need to be writing a check to nobody that doesn't see your vision. Oh my God, that's got their own agenda. And watch this, the Bible says make sure there's no root among you that produces that bitter poison. And that poison, because people can feel that, especially if you up before people, if you're ministering in any capacity on music, in song, if you're doing announcement, if you're doing prayer, people that are connected to you or not, or just looking to connect, they can see you ain't into it. They can see that poison in you because your spirit is not pure toward the vision. You become poisonous. Let me get out. I'm staying on that too long. Let me go, let me go. Glory to God. You got to beware of the poisonous roots. That's all I'm saying. You need to check your life and check your ministry. Check the people around you, leaders. Everybody in your inner circle ain't really got your best interests at heart. Most of the time you got people who in your inner circle who are, who are outside of the circle talking about you and talking about your inner idiosyncrasies because they want to be you, or trying to find fault in you because they want to be you. Oh boy, I gotta go, I gotta go. So when we are rejected, let's move. How do we respond? You gotta respond— it's the key, it's one key to getting free— to rejection with forgiveness. Come on, church, you got to respond to rejection with forgiveness and move on. And I believe I'm talking to people today who have been rejected. I believe I'm talking to some people today who have experienced rejection one way or the other. And I want to tell you, instead of seeking vengeance, instead of letting it occupy your mind where you can't sleep, you can't produce, you can't work, I want to tell you the way you respond to family rejection, rejection from peers, rejection on the job, rejection in the church, wherever it's coming from, you need to respond with forgiveness and let the Father reiterate your value to him. And when he does that, oh my God, oh my goodness, when the Father reiterates his value, oh my God, of who you are and what you're called to do— can I tell you something, guys? Oh yeah. The reality is those that reject you are going to wish they hadn't, because your value is your value, and it's going to go forth regardless to what those who rejected you do. You just gotta look at it like that. They missed it, because watch this— where there's no revelation, there's violation. If I'm not revealed, if you're not revealed to people around you, they're going to violate you, they're going to mistreat you, they're going to misunderstand you. Oh my God, oh my God. Let me give you some scripture references on these roots. Let's look at Matthew 13:6. I'm glad you asked. Matthew 13:6. Glory to God. Matthew 13:6. Glory be to God. The Bible says this this. But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched and they were withered because they had no root. All right, so here we go again. It's under the ground where it all takes place. It takes root, and whatever is exposed out of the ground is a result of the root.

Root.

Here Jesus says, after the sun came up— after the night had passed, sun came up— the plants were scorched. They couldn't stand the heat because they had no root. Can I tell you something? You won't be able to stand the heat. You won't be able to survive trials and tribulations. You won't be able to survive the storm when it comes into your life. If you don't have any roots. Oh my God, you're going to wither up and die. You'll never finish your course. You'll never finish what God plans for you if you have roots in rejection, roots in bitterness, roots in sin and pride and envy. Come on, any of these bad roots are going to produce bad fruit that won't be able to survive the storms that come to make you Watch this. The sun is of value to the plant. It is one of the things that provides nourishment to the life of the plant. You need heat to stay alive. You need trial and tribulation to be strong in what God has called you to do. Let's keep going. Let's look at scripture with Roots. Romans 11:16, you'll find these words. If part of the dough offered as first fruits is holy, then the whole batch is holy. If the root is holy, so are the branches. Again, the root creates the fruit. It's what's not seen. So watch this. If what you're offering is offered in the right spirit, the whole thing is holy. Hear me, if you're living in sin, that's what your branches, your fruit will be. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy— Galatians 5:22— peace, faith, meekness, goodness, temperance, long-suffering, gentleness. Against such there is no law. But there has to be the Holy Spirit at the root to produce those fruit. You gotta, hallelujah, allow him to take root in your life. Oh boy, oh boy. But anything we produce out of rejection, hallelujah, it's not something that is palatable. Glory to God. It's not holy, it's not right, because it comes from a demonic spirit that causes unholy things to flow in our life. Watch this. This is how people do the right thing for the wrong reason. This is how people can feel like they're in the right place just because all the right things are being said and the atmosphere seems right, but be in a totally wrong place because they're building out of rejection. Oh my God. Let's keep going. Ephesians 3, verse 17, the B clause. It says, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray you, being rooted— here we go— and established in love. So we, we root ourselves and establish ourselves in the love of Christ, not in the how people reject us and hate on us. Oh my God, are y'all here with me? Let's go to Romans 8:35-39. I'm walking out the word, glory to God. Then I'm gonna talk about this a little bit. 8:35, Romans 8:35 says, who shall separate us from the love of Christ? So when I get rooted in Christ, the, the inquisition now is who can separate me from that love. Rejection shouldn't separate you from the love of Christ. I've received a lot of rejection in my life. I'm gonna tell you right now, I've been through it, man. I've been down through it with church folks, with family members, glory, with people I was married to. I done went through rejection in my life. And people reject you for whatever reason, in business professionally, I've been through rejection. But here's what I had to— because at first it made me a very angry man. And if I was rejected, if someone came at me, I went back at them. Glory to God. But I had to learn that no matter how I was rejected and how I was overlooked and my value wasn't appreciated, I had to understand that Christ loved me more than that rejection. Come on! And there was nothing I could do to make God stop loving me. Hallelujah! Glory to God! And there was no rejection that was greater than his love. So I want you to understand, God— look, type in the comments below, y'all: God loves me and nothing can separate me from his love. Nothing can separate me from his love. Watch this. He said, shall hardship or trouble or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword— hallelujah. Watch this, verse 36. As it is written, for your sake we face death all the day long. The apostles were constantly facing death because they preached truth. They were always being rejected because they preached the kingdom of the living God. They were always being rejected because their message went against religious systems. It went against the normal way of doing things. So the Bible says here, they were rejected all the day long, facing death. We are considered as sheep to be slaughtered. Verse 37, the Bible says, no, in all these things we are more than conquerors. Hooper, can I— oh, in Greek, we are superlative, superior. Oh my God, above even a conqueror through Christ. Watch this, being more than a conqueror is the fruit of the love of Christ in you.

Woo!

So that means there's nothing that you face you cannot conquer because of the love of God that's in your life. Woo-wee! I'm gonna say that again. There is nothing on this earth that you face that you cannot conquer because you're in Christ. You are hupokainaiō. You are more than a conqueror. You are superlative. You're superior above. Hupokainaiō is the Greek word above a conqueror, which means you conquer at a greater dimension, a greater skill set. Oh my God, a greater philosophy. Than a conqueror would. You're more than a conqueror through him that loved us. In other words, it can't touch you. The rejection should never defeat you because you're more than a conqueror. Oh my God. Romans 8:38, he said, for I'm convinced that neither death nor life nor angels or demons, neither present nor future nor any powers Hallelujah. Verse 39: Neither height nor depth nor anything else in creation will be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus. Oh my God. Oh boy, y'all ought to hear me good. Eba si andele bohoshia. He says nothing can separate you from the love of God. Not nothing— there's nothing can separate you. So rejection, even once you start standing in God and developing relationship with God and being clear about your purpose and your destiny, I'm gonna tell you something: if you keep living, you're gonna be rejected. But the Bible said nothing can separate you from the love of God. Sickness can't. Disease, God loves you more. Than any sickness you carry. And as a matter of fact, right now I decree and declare, if you're watching me and you're sick, I decree and declare with His stripes you are healed right now. And even though, even though your body right now may be rejecting the virtue of healing, I decree and declare that that rejection be cursed at the root, and I curse it now, and I replant healing and deliverance, which is the children's bread. Haja bahosia.

Woo!

Shikantide didi asai. Briskorobo hosha. Be healed in the name of Jesus. Yes, Lord. Yes, Lord. Amasiya lobokosha. Breskalabaha. Yes, God. So let's look at— so we see the— we've seen the root, we've examined it. So let's look at one of the results of rejection, and I'm gonna get out of here, man. One of the results. So here we go. And this, my friends, is a psychological disturbance of epidemic proportions. Yeah, it's a psychological disturbance epidemic proportions, which means so many people. This thing is bigger than COVID. This result of insecurity— because some of you been saying, listen, I ain't got no rejection, I'm all right, I done dealt with it. I'm gonna show you you haven't, because some of you gonna fall right in the category of this first result. And the first result of the root of rejection is insecurity. Again, this is a psychological disturbance of epidemic proportions. It's worse than COVID. It's insecurity. And to be insecure means to be unstable. It means to be uncertain. It means to lack confidence. It means to be unsure, shaky, and unsound. I'm gonna say that again. It means to be unstable, uncertain, lacking confidence, unsure, shaky, and unsound. Now many of you, because you think insecurity is something else, but there are a lot of you talking to me lack confidence, and in particular you lack confidence in God. You lack confidence in the gifting and the abilities that God has given you. You, which makes you insecure, which makes you manifesting the fruit of the root of rejection. Listen, I'm telling you, whenever there's insecurity, rejection is somewhere around. Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy, oh boy, oh boy. Watch this. Some of you are unsure, you're confused, you're discombobulated. You don't know whether to go left or to go You don't know whether to do this or to do that. You have no clarity. It's a result of the root of rejection because you're insecure in your decision-making process. Unsound. You state— you say things that make no sense. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. You're not clear when you speak. You speak with a shaky voice because you're insecure. You always speak down to yourself. That's the definition of insecure. Instead of getting mad, don't get mad at me. Change that. Let's change that. Because in Christ you can. So again, insecurity is the fruit of the root of rejection. The question is, just like a crackhead—

whoa, whoa—

who's keeping you fixed? Who's keeping you addicted to insecurity? and that comes out of rejection. What's keeping you fixed? What keeps you walking in this shaky, unsure, unconfident, uncertain realm where you have no stability in your direction? What, what's doing it? In order to understand what's keeping you fixed, you got to understand really somehow rejection is caused. We need to look at how some rejections are caused. I'm gonna just give you a few. One, some people are rejected by parents because there was an unwanted conception. They didn't want to have a baby anyway, so they start rejecting the baby from the time of conception. Didn't get an abortion, kept the baby, and still rejecting the fact that they're pregnant. Baby born starts rejecting the baby all the way through adulthood, and it affects many adult lives. Maybe that's you, maybe not. I got some more just in case that one didn't get you. How about on the flip side? You feel rejected because your parents told you they contemplated divorce. That didn't— oh my God, I'm sorry. They contemplated or attempted abortion, not divorce, that didn't work, and you feel like they didn't want you. So you've been letting that rest in your spirit, and you'll be surprised the number of people that deal with this, man. That's— watch this— some of you have gotten rejected because you came out the wrong sex. Your parents wanted a boy and you a girl. Y'all not talking I'm talking. Oh, we— or you a boy and your parents wanted a girl and you done got rejected for that. How about there are some, some of you out there that maybe you were born with defects, and God forbid that your parents rejected you because you have a learning or physical disability. That's unfortunate. That is not God. And there are people who are siblings and children— you've dealt with other children growing up because maybe you had a learning disability or a physical disability. Ability. Maybe you had weight on you or you were too small and people picked on you. I mean, I was a very skinny kid, so from, from birth, from childhood, I was getting rejected the moment I went around some other kids because I was so skinny. And right now I wish I could get some of that skin back. Are y'all hearing me? Glory to God. Listen, I'm telling you something, and, and for a long time it did something to me, but I learned how to be tough. I learned how, in spite of what they were saying, to show them that, oh, I'm skinny, I can run this football faster than you. Though I'm skinny, I can play this basketball better than you. Glory to God. Though I'm skinny, glory to God, I can run faster than you when we're running track. I can hit this baseball further. Glory to God. And if you cross me, I might just knock you out even though I'm skinny. So you got to learn how to reject rejection. And find your value. Oh, how about there's some of you that maybe you were rejected because you were adopted or even abandoned? Your— maybe your parent died. You know, one of the most loving creatures in my life, my mama was 15 when I was born. My mama, I love my mama to life, all right? Oh, that's my girl, that's my mama. Mama, glory to God. And but my grandmother, because my mama was 15, spent a lot of time with me as a child. We lived in her house. I slept in her bed. When I was 6 years old, my grandmother died in this bed with me. I'm trying to wake Grandma up like normal. She's gone. I didn't realize it till later, but I took that as a form of rejection that set up a root of bitterness. Watch this, that was unforeseen against my mama. And it took the Holy Spirit to show me that. And my daddy, because first of all, in my head, why y'all have me anyway? Y'all both knew y'all couldn't raise me in the same house. Y'all both knew. And this, these were— this was rationale because it wasn't just real, because people have children all the time. But this is my young mind rejecting them having me because I felt rejected. And I'm— and so I was bitter, I was mad at them, and that just opened doors for me to be mad at them about all kind of other stuff that was stemmed from that moment because I lost my grandma. And I never would have had to experience the pain of losing my grandma if y'all wouldn't have had me. But I'm too young to understand, again, that people have children when they're teenagers. But that's where the root came in, because I love my grandma, man. So I need you to understand, I felt abandoned. And maybe some of you have some abandonment, you feel rejected. Maybe you feel rejected by God because God took a loved one from you that you loved and you wanted to live. Oh my God, maybe you feel rejected or have been rejected because of abuse— physical, verbal, sexual, emotional— or somebody withholding love from you is abuse. I done been through it, man. I done been through sexual abuse. Thank God it wasn't from a man, but I— it still was abuse because I was too young for a grown woman to be having sex with me at 14. Come on, church. I was too young. I was too young. Yeah, I was too young. And that was— watch this— I felt rejected from that abuse. It further ministered to and nurtured that seed that was in me because the door was open. So now all kind of stuff is coming. I've experienced the withholding love piece. Are you hearing me? Where somebody was withholding love from me that should have been trying to love me based on the condition I was in and what I was going through as a child. Come on, man. But you gotta understand, you can't let this be an excuse to your insecurity. Maybe you're just a victim of circumstances, like you was a baby that was separated from your mama too early, or maybe You have to listen. You have to, oh my God, live your life in isolation because of something that you're embarrassed about and you feel like you can't expose yourself to people. There's so many people who won't even come outside, who stay in. They're introverts. They are, you know, they have not seen what life has to offer because of rejection. And there's insecurity there, man. Oh my God, how about turmoil in your home where you had to live in turbulence, where you always lived around fighting and abuse and drugs and alcohol, or you, you were ignored? Or how about peer rejection? Children are cruel again, and you have some cruel children who are coming at you. How about marriage rejection where somebody was unfaithful to you and now you don't want a man again? I've talked to so many women, I just became lesbian because my husband cheated. Come on, that— because of that rejection, they went the other way. We— you got to curse this thing at the root and replant the right seeds. Because you have an insecurity with men, you think a woman won't hurt you. I'm telling you right now, from the lesbians I minister to, the couple lesbians I minister to and seen delivered and healed and set free, I'm gonna tell you what the ongoing testimony has been. I'm glad that I got my mind right because I learned that a woman would cheat on me faster than a man would have, because it's a very perverted, nasty spirit that goes along with lesbianism and homosexuality. So listen, at the end of the day, you gotta curse this thing at the root. How about generational curses, negative conditions that are around you, parents that push you away. Oh my God, watch this. You always get left out. You always get left out. This is Satan's biggest attack, make you feel like you're being overlooked. You watch this. You could take every rejection that you see another person who's just as gifted as you, or you may be even more gifted and you see them walking in a season that you feel like you should be in, and you feel rejected by God. And that's Satan's biggest attack to slow you down. Oh my God, who's keeping you fixed? What's keeping you fixed? You got to get— deal with those things and curse them at the root. And Father, in the name of Jesus, I curse everything, every instance, every circumstance, every condition, every action that has come towards your people that have caused them to live in this root of rejection. In Jesus' name, amen. I dare somebody to type, I'm free. Glory to God. I dare somebody to type, I'm not insecure. I am a free man. I'm a free woman. Whatever applies. Glory to God. Don't let that thing keep you bound, keep you fixed. Here we go. In Jesus Christ you can find security, and you can find unconditional love. You don't have to live insecure. I'm closing. What do it— what does it mean, Michael Woods, to be secure in Jesus? To not live with my defenses up thinking I'm gonna always be rejected, that someone's always after me, that someone's always trying to take me down. You got find not just salvation, but you got to find relationship. You got to first start with salvation. Let him in. The Bible said he stands at the door, knocks. Any man opens the door, he'll come in, sup with you, you with him. Glory to God. You gotta let him in, let him in, let him in. But then you got to sup with him. You got to commune, have fellowship, become one with him so you can get the security. Then nothing is going to ever separate you from his love. And no matter what comes against you, no matter what failure happens in your life, there's always room for the love of God in your life. Touch yourself and say, he loves me. Come on, say it again. Say, he loves me. Type on the screen, he loves me. And let me tell you something, he loves you for love alone. He loves you unconditionally. He loves you enough that you can be secure in him. What does it mean, Michael, was to be secure? I'm glad you asked. The definition of the word from the Greek word— glory to the name of God— stakos, which literally means to have full command, to be strong, to rule without anxiety, to be free from care. When you secure, you don't even care if they reject you. Hallelujah! When you're secure Hallelujah! You don't even care who comes against you when you're secure. You don't care who gossips, who talks about you, who walks away. When you're secure in who you are in God and who God is to you, no, basikandala labosia. Oh my God, nothing can move you. Lord, help us. Watch this. It also said to have full command. Which means you're in full control. You're not controlled by the root of rejection. You're not controlled by outside forces, but you're in control. Glory to the name of God, because you're secure in God and you can make solid, stable decisions. You're confident. Glory be to God, because you're strong and you can rule. Yeah, that's, that's what that Greek word means, to rule. That's what it means to be secure without anxiety. Because God, guess what? He called all of us to have dominion in the earth. In our sphere of influence, we're supposed to be ruling. That's what rada is. Y'all see that everywhere. What is rada? What is— y'all call it radar, but it's rada. It means to have dominion. It means to be in command. It means to be in control. And every one of you should be leading in control of your life and your fear of influence from a secure place, because he loved you enough to give you authority, to make you a ruler, to make you the head, hashia, and not the tail, to make you a lender and not a borrower, to make you above and not beneath. Oh, shiba, no weapon formed against you will ever be able to prosper. Let's go to Isaiah 54:17. Let's read it, let's read it. Glory to Aha! Oh boy, I tell you, I love Jesus. How about you? Isaiah 54:17 says, "No weapon formed against you will prevail." I wanna tell you something. The weapon will be formed because you are anointed. The weapon will be formed because you are talented. The weapon will be formed because you are intelligent. The weapon will be formed because you are gifted. The weapon will be formed because you You are a threat to the enemy. But I got good news for you. Though the enemy draw his weapon and point his gun in your face, the Bible, the Bible says the weapon will not prosper. It will not prevail. It will not win against you. Glory to God. I want you to understand something. The Bible says you will refute every tongue that accuses you. Listen, I want you to hear something about this. It did not say God would refute it. It said you would refute it. You would make it a lie through your life. You would keep living in security. You would keep walking with God. Lord, have mercy. And every weapon that's formed against you, every lying tongue that rises against you, every person that talks about you like a low-down dirty shame, glory to God, the Bible declares you will show that accusation to be wrong. Long to be alive because you will live through it, and you'll live through it with security and power, and you will overcome it— listen— before it overcomes you. Lord have mercy. I got to get out of here. I need you to understand, and I'm coming quickly to a close. Glory to God. The Bible declares, this is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and this is their vindication from me, said the Lord. I need you to grab this. Glory be to God. The Bible says here, this peace, this righteousness, this security, it is our heritage. So though the weapons of rejection come, though people throw darts at us, this is our heritage as servants of God, that we will triumph over opposition every time. I want to tell you, you are triumphant. My time is gone. Lord have mercy. You are victorious. Hallelujah, hallelujah. You're victorious over that sickness. You're victorious over that disease. You're victorious over that problem. Oh my God, you're victorious over every weapon formed. You're going to win. It will not work. Glory to God.

Whoo!

I got to go. Glory. You got security in Jesus. Let's look at a few more texts and I'm out of here. John— Ephesians, not John, I'm sorry. Ephesians. Ephesians. Ha shanda. Ephesians 1, verses 4 and 5. The Bible says, for he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight, in love. He predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ in accordance with his pleasure and will. What I want to say to you is it was God's pleasure and will to love you. Hallelujah! It's God's pleasure and will to bring you closer to him. Uh, oh my God, oh my God! It's God's pleasure and will, hallelujah, to be a blessing to you. To trust— oh my God— to trust you with dominion. It's his pleasure and will to fight your battles. Oh, he said he chose us. Watch this. I've heard of unwanted pregnancy, but I've never heard of an unwanted adoption. When you adopt someone You choose them. Glory to God. And nothing about you surprises God. And he loves you enough that he chose you knowing everything he knows. He knows when you're gonna mess up. He knows your thoughts. He knows your idiosyncrasies. He knows when you fall. Glory to God. Oh, help us, Jesus. Oh God, I gotta go. Go to John 3:18. John 3:18. I gotta go. The Bible says whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God's one and only Son. What are you saying, Michael? What you talking about, man? Listen, there's no rejection in him. He says there's no condemnation. That's what that word means. Means rejection in Greek. There's no— God doesn't reject you, he accepts you. Oh, isn't it a great thing to be accepted by God? I want you to bank on that. There's no condemnation in those that are in Christ. He said it, John 3:18. Oh my God, if you believe, you're not rejected. Postuo is believe. If you make postuo— if you believe, not just I believe God, no, but pistuo in Greek. Absolutely, categorically confident, reliant, dependent upon. That's what pistuo is— to be absolutely, categorically reliant, to— reliant, dependent. Oh my God. And leaned upon. You lean upon him. You trust him totally. Totally reliant. Total assurance. In God. That's your belief. He's your controller. Ain't no rejection in him. Ah, Jesus. Psalm 27:10. I told you that many of you have been rejected by parents, and it's true, man. You've had parental situations where rejection has arose. But the Bible says, Psalm 27:10, though my father and mother both forsake me, the Lord will receive me. Hallelujah. Though people you love forsake you, he says he will receive you if you open your heart and let him in. I'm closing with this, man. Ephesians 4:15. The Bible says, instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of Christ, who is the head. Listen, Listen, listen, hallelujah. God says to us, we gotta learn how to accept truth about where we're wrong. We gotta learn how to accept it when people say things to us that brings correction, that's helping us. You know, some people are so low and insecure, you can't even joke with them and they take it as an offense. Listen, you gotta get better, saints. The world needs a secure church that's full of power, that's full of the anointing. Let's pray. Father, in Jesus' name, I thank you for this word today. And I decree and declare that no weapon formed against us is able to prosper. And I decree and declare, God, in the name of Jesus, that the root of rejection is broken now in the name of Jesus Christ. And I thank you, God, that we are victorious. And even as we preach the word, God, let angels watch over that word to perform it in our lives, God. We thank you that there is no rejection in you. Thank you, Father, that you receive us in the name of Jesus. Hallelujah. Listen, if you're listening to me right now and you're not born again, glory to God, Maybe you listen to this whole message and thank God you're still here. Don't scroll. And you say, Michael Woods, I don't know Jesus in the free pardon of my sin. Listen, the only way you could deal with this root of rejection— it's a nasty spirit— and the only way you're going to be able to stop living your life through the portals of rejection, you must first receive Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. Listen, if you have not received Jesus, I want you to pray with me right now. The Bible says in Acts 2:38, he says, "Repent of your sins, every one of you." It says, "Repent, every one of you, for the remission of your sin, and be baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and be filled with the Holy Ghost." Listen, I want to do the first part of that today, and the moment you repent and open your heart, Jesus comes in and lives in you, and then And I want to show you how to take the next steps to being baptized and being filled with the Holy Spirit. I want to pray with you on all points. Can we pray right now? Glory to God. Say this with me. Say, Heavenly Father, I repent of my sin. Say, I'm sorry, God, I've done wrong. Say, Father, forgive me. I open my heart. Come in and live in me. Say, Lord, I believe that you died Roses again for my life. And so I receive you now, and I declare I am saved. Hallelujah. Amen. Listen, if you repeated those words with me, you are born again. Listen, there is a number on the screen for you to text. Just text the word saved to that that number on the screen, and you're going to get back, glory to the name of God, some information on how to take the next steps and how to connect with us if you're in the city of Atlanta, or if you're somewhere else, how to connect with a local church where you can be baptized and you can receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. Glory to the name of God, which is the beginning of all things. I'm telling you what a beautiful relationship we have with God in us. The Holy Spirit is God in us. So text the number on the screen. Glory to God. And I want to take you further. Listen, if you're still here, I want you to give today. Glory to the name of God. Listen, the Bible says more blessed to give than it is to receive. Listen, sow your seed. If you're connected to Rhoda Church in any way, if you're connected to the Alliance of Leaders, however you're connected to us, I need you to sow today. The Bible says it's more blessed to to give than it is to receive. The ways to give are on the screen. I want you to take a moment right now and give your seed faith offering. I need every person under the sound of my voice to give your tithe if you're connected, and then in your offering, I need you to give God a sacrificial seed today. Hallelujah! That you can sow unto God for the breakthrough you desire. Glory to God. Well, Glory to God, my time's gone. While you're giving, glory to the name of God, I'm always glad to serve you. And listen, I want to personally invite you to worship with us at Rhoda Church, glory to the name of God, at our McDonough campus. We're super excited about what God is doing. Uh, we have the opportunity to worship inside of the historic Little Benjamin Church right there in McDonough, uh, at 345 Old Griffin Road, McDonough, Georgia. The address is on the screen, or you can visit rodderchurch.com, or just put in #rodderchurch. Something about our location will pop up, and come and see us. Glory to the name of God. You can always catch us live, but we'd rather see you in person. We love you all. Listen, sow your seed, give your tithe. We thank you for your support. God bless you all. Y'all have a supernatural week. Peace.