Rejection, Part 5: Restoration from Rejection | Dr. Mike Woods Sr | RADAH CHURCH | 7.18.21

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. Michael Lyris Woods, 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 be the same again. Thanks for joining us and welcome to the Apostle's Table. Well, grace and peace be multiplied to each one of you from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. This is Apostle Michael Lyris Woods, and welcome to today's edition of the Apostle's Table. I'm super excited to share the word of the Lord with you today as it was taught in our Sunday service today What an amazing service. God visited us in worship, and then the word was absolutely phenomenal. Today we're continuing our series on rejection. This is part 5, and we're talking about restoration from rejection. I need you to understand, you can be restored whether you were rejected as a child from other children, rejected by your parents, rejected emotionally, physically, sexually, mentally, no matter how the rejection came. And remember, I share with you that rejection comes— listen to this— to stop a future result. The enemy gets involved with rejection, and as long as you're idle and do not embrace the Word of God, he makes you feel unworthy, he makes you feel unqualified, and like there'll be things in your life that will never be possible because you went through the rejection. But you know what? The devil is a liar. And I want you to know you are qualified, you have great value, and you are worthy of everything that God has for you. So we're going to talk today on how to be restored from the spirit of rejection. I'm super excited to get into this word. So let's, let's do this. Let's go into this word already in progress, and then I'm going to come back in at the end. So make sure you watch to the end and share some very special things with you. And I want to pray with you even the more because I believe God has something great in store for you for the future. And you got to walk into it and you cannot let seasons of rejection stop you from experiencing what God has. Listen, let's go into this message. We're talking about rejection and restoration, taking it all back, how to be restored from the spirit of rejection. This is going to bless you, so don't go anywhere. Peace. Well, I'm glad to be in the house of the Lord. How about you? Glory to God. I don't know about you, but I was glad when they said unto me, let us go into the house of the Lord. While others are choosing to stay at home and watch church on their phone, on their computer, their TV, or their tablet, I was glad. Hallelujah. When they said to me, let us go to the house of the Lord. There's nothing like being in church. Amen. You just get something in the house you don't get at home. It's something about being together corporately. So I'm grateful to the God of our salvation. Listen, we're going to continue our series this morning. I won't belabor and hold you long this today, but I want to give you what the Lord as he has given it to me. We'll continue our series on rejection. And you know, I am quite convinced, praise God, that rejection is not of God. Amen. And it is a spirit that the enemy uses literally to stop the progress of the believer. Remember, I shared with you Glory to God. In the first message, that rejection actually means to refuse, to throw away, to overlook, to treat you as if you have no value. I'll say it again: to refuse, to throw away, to overlook, to be treated as if you have no value, to not see your value. Anything that does that to you is rejection. And many times the enemy, he is an opportunist when it comes to this demon. He sees people who get rejected and he moves in to try to stop their progress. Because I told you in the first message, I'm just reviewing it, we're gonna get into this That rejection will cause you either to overestimate yourself, which means you start thinking more highly of yourself than you should, to make you feel better about the rejection, or it causes you to underestimate yourself. Oh my God. Which makes you feel less than, not worthy of. But can I tell you something today? God will never reject you, and it is his plan. The only thing God rejects— watch this— the Bible said God rejects the proud. Yes, because you got to humble yourself to come to God. And God said, as long as you stay humble, I'll never reject you. As long as you say a broke— have a broken and contrite spirit, he said, I'll never despise you. Amen. Touch yourself and say, God will never reject me. Come on, say it again. Say, God will never reject me. He, he understands your value. He— matter of fact, God needs you. Ah, let me say this: if he didn't need you, you'd already be dead. The fact that your heart is beating is an indicator that God still needs you. I dare you to shout, God needs me! Somebody watching this live stream, I dare you, write it in the comments: God needs me! I'm telling you, you're not worthless. You're not. And sometimes you could be abused or, or rejected or pushed away in some way, even either through molestation or rape or divorce or children, however it comes, parents rejecting you and making you feel worthless. But I want to tell you, you're not worthless. Regardless, God loves you and he'll never reject you. Amen. So what I want to talk about today, to those of you watching us live on the other side of this camera, for those of you in the room, I want to talk about rejection and restoration. God wants to restore us. Say restore. Restore. He wants to restore. Restoration is God's plan, is God's will. He wants to restore us from the spirit of rejection. You have to be restored because this thing can do something to you, and without restoration, you'll continue to live your life under the auspices of the spirit of rejection. Just touch yourself again and say, the Lord wants to restore me. Come on, say it again. Say, the Lord wants to restore me. Yeah, y'all sound like y'all know it. I want you to understand, he really does. He wants to restore your health. He wants to restore your finances. He wants to restore family matters. Oh my God, he, he is all about reconciliation and putting things back together again. When I was in kindergarten, they taught us a nursery rhyme. It said, Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall. Humpty Dumpty had a great fall, and all of the king's horses and all of the king's men could not put Humpty back together again. I need you to understand something just from that old nursery rhyme. The reality is, while man has the inability to put us back together, God can restore anything that has been broken. God can fix any situation that seems hopeless. Lord, I wish I could preach this like I feel today. He can reconstruct and restore the remnant of what's left and use it for his glory. I'm telling you right now, you got a lot of people talking about we're resetting the world and we're putting the world back post-COVID, and now another strand is rising, and we got to stand like we always stood under the blood of Jesus. We can't put America back together, we can't put the world back together. We got to depend on God to do it. But we gotta take our role in the process. Yeah, touch his head and say, I'm a part of the process. Come on, say it again. I'm a part of the process. So here's what you got to understand: restoration cannot happen without you. You must be involved in the process of restoration. Let's look at it. Let's go to Ephesians 4 and verse number 11. Let's see it. I'm gonna be, I'm gonna be very extemporaneous today. I'm telling you, I'm gonna preach as quick as the Lord would allow me. Ephesians— I'm sorry, Hebrews 4. And let's look at verse 10. Hebrews 4:10 says this, it says, for he that is entered into his rest, he also— watch this— has ceased from his own works. Yes, as God did from his. Verse 11 says, let us therefore labor to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief. Oh my God, watch this now. Stay with me. God again wants us in the process of restoration. Say it again. Say, I'm one of them. Say, I'm a part of the process of restoration. Now let me show you how. If you look at the word restoration, it's actually two words. Is rest and oration. Oration is not just what I'm doing now, talking or orating, but actually orating is a— oration is a two-part entity. It's one on the behalf of the speaker, watch this, and the listener. It is not actually oration unless the one listening actually takes action. It was just a speech or just a conversation. But oration dictates the idea that I listen with an intent to do rest from this. I'm going to quit this. I'm going to stop this. Say oration of rest. Restoration. Hallelujah. So watch this. The scripture says then in verse 10 again, for he that has entered— say entered. I love that word. Uh, esherekomai, entered. It means, watch this, he who has taken possession. So it's not just walking through a door, but he says, I want you to take possession He who has taken possession of his rest. Rest, the Greek word is kato pauses, which means— oh my God, here we go— kato pauses. Kato pauses, two words. Kato pauses. What pauses is what we— words like pause, to stop. To yield. Kēta means to willingly give. So Kēta Paulsis deal with the idea to yield control of your life to another. So Kēta Paulsis says rest means it's not just going to bed and getting a good nap, but rest here means I yield control of my life to God. In other words, I decide that I no longer want to control the works of my flesh. I decide that I no longer want to control my actions, my activity. When I was praying earlier, the Holy Spirit started praying through us, uh, it's in him we live, it's in him we move, it's in him we have our being. You gotta relinquish control willingly caterpaul says and say, God, I don't want control of my life, I'm gonna rest in you. Even though this may seem like the right thing to do, I don't want to do it unless it's you. Amen. I don't want to do this business if you ain't in it. Y'all not talking. I don't want to work this job if you ain't in it. I don't want to pastor the church if you ain't in it. I don't want to travel the world if you ain't in it. Y'all get what I'm saying? You pause from what you want to do and say, God, you in control. I don't want to marry this person if you ain't in it. Are y'all hearing me? Yeah. You should never sign another contract unless God is in it. Don't marry another person unless God is in it. Are y'all hearing this? Don't take another trip unless God is in it. You want to always be where God is, not where he was. And the only way to guarantee you where God is is that you yield control. The Bible says the steps of a good man are ordered by God. They are controlled by God. The Bible also says, glory to the name of God, lean not to your own understanding. Proverbs 3:5. But in all your ways acknowledge him. Two words: acknowledge. Ack means to open up. Knowledge is knowledge, is information, is intelligence. To act, open yourself up, become acquiesce to his intelligence, his will, his way of doing things. So he said, in every way, open up yourself to his intelligence, ah, to his control, so you can rest. So I'm not concerned about what's going on around me as long as I'm yielded to his control. I was witnessing to someone yesterday and they said to me, you know, I don't give— this is the person I was talking to that has substance, has money— and I'm witnessing to them and I said, I don't give like I should, and I stack up money and savings and investments because I'm so afraid of going broke. Wow. And I said to them, I said, you should be, because as long as you're in control, the possibility of you going broke is higher. Yeah. Than the possibility of you not. If you gave some money to God, if you gave him your tenth, if you gave him seed, you set yourself up to never fail financially because you got seed in the ground. Oh, have mercy, Jesus. And I was explaining to them how even when it comes to seed sowing and giving— I'm gonna take a little rabbit trail here and I'm gonna come back, but I want to share this testimony with you— that a lot of times in church we're conditioned to give to the church so we can take care of the lights, take care of the rent. We give because we want to keep the church functional. I said, but here's a challenge we have to start teaching people in church. It's not only a blessing to give to the church and the building, but you need to learn to give to the man or the woman that's in authority. Y'all ain't got to say nothing, this is just the truth. The Bible says they brought gifts to the apostles' feet and they lacked no thing. Yes. So you want to make sure you're not lacking, you need to take care of the man that's standing up in the building, or the woman that stands up in the building that leads you. Y'all listen to me live, I'm telling you, you got to take care of your leaders because you could take care of the building and not the man. And if something happens to the man, what you gonna do with the building? You still got to go get another man or woman to lead. So the Bible said you him that the elders that rule well is worthy of double honor. Yes, honor is a financial word. Hallelujah. It ain't, oh, I honor you. It don't— it's a financial word. If you look at them in Greek, it means they're worthy of gold, silver, silk, purple, and linen. They're worthy of your best things. Oh, we don't look at it like, oh, I ain't gonna get a man of God nothing. The devil is like, you want to be blessed, you want to eliminate lack, you better take care of your man of God, you're gonna take care of your woman of God. Are y'all hearing that? But when you're rested, that's easy. It's only people that's not rested that struggle with that concept. So the Bible says when we enter this rest, something happens. We've ceased from our own works. So when you give God control, you have literally stopped doing things your way, living life the way you want it. Somebody— ain't nobody gonna control me. Well, you shouldn't let any human control you, but you definitely should let God be in control. And the crazy thing about it, I done seen some people who let humans control their emotions. Control their moods because of rejection. They, they overreact, get angry, go off because that button got pushed and that human that rejected them is still in control. But when you rest in God, nothing in your past no longer has any control, any suggestive ability to move you in a way that's against God. Touch yourself and say, the Lord is in control of my life. Champagne sung a song. She said, if I were in control of my life, I would have worked things out much differently. She said, there would be no hurt, no pain. No disappointments. Of all of these things, I would be scot-free. Then she kept singing. She said, but that just goes to show how little I know about leading and controlling my life. You see, all these things have worked themselves out to make the best of me. See, when God is control, all the stuff that happens to us, he works it out for our best. Oh, just say that. Say it worked together for my good. It worked together for my good. The Bible says, let us labor, verse 11, therefore to enter that rest So it's labor. That's a hard word, right? Spoudazo in Greek. Spoudazo, which literally means— watch this— to exert energy, to give diligence to, to make priority. So spoudazo here means that I give superiority priority to enter into the control and rest of God. Oh boy, it's easier said than done because the flesh got a mind of his own. The flesh wants what it wants. Because when you get saved, watch this, your spirit gets saved. Yes, your flesh don't get saved. And when you come to Jesus, he saves your spirit, he saves your soul. Your flesh Still the flesh. And your flesh was used to drinking, doing drugs. Your flesh was used to sex. Your flesh was used to lying. Your flesh was used to cheating. Your flesh was used to coming up short. But when you got saved, your flesh— now wait a minute, you got some contrary idea here. Now you say the Lord in you is saying, can't do that no more, can't sleep with that one no more. Y'all, you can't, you can't live like that no more. That's the old you. Y'all not talking to me here. You gotta hasten to his control. Give diligence to say, God, you in control. That right there ain't even an option for me no more. I was talking— oh my God, I was talking to, uh, Mama on the way over here, and I shared with her I'm so delivered from extracurricular sex that I can be in the room naked with Beyoncé. We both naked, I won't sleep with her. That's a big statement. Y'all ain't got to say nothing, especially for any man. And most men watching this say, that nigga crazy, he would, he just lying on camera. But I'm telling you right now, I'm telling I'm telling you, as tempting as it would be, yes, I wouldn't do it because of my love for God and my love for my wife. Y'all hear me? And mainly because I'm delivered. I can look at it and say, girl, you fine, and I got to go because I'm free. Are you hearing me? And I can testify like that because he who the Son sets free is free indeed, which means I'll never go back to what I was. And you got to declare that. No matter what the enemy throws at me, I'll never go back. No matter what he says to me, I'll never go back. No matter how good it looks, I'll never go back. No matter how bad I want it, I will never go back because I'm delivered And I've been restored from the rejection that had me on the path anyway. Okay. All right. So let me show you what it looks like. He said, let us labor in that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief. Again, it's a process that we all must engage— hear this— to be restored. Say, I'm one of them. Say, I'm a part of the process. Of restoration. Go to Exodus 15. Hallelujah. And I'm closing with this one. I'm telling you, God wants to restore the world. He wants to restore our lives. He wants to make us better. He wants to do what we thought could never be done. As a matter of fact, let me prophesy to you this morning. Those of you watching us live and those in the room, let me tell you something. God's about to do what you thought could never ever be— oh my God— be done. He's about to do things they told you that could never be performed in your life. God's about to open doors that you never thought would be open. God's about to give you money— my God— here that you never thought you'd have. God's about to elevate your mind, raise your intellect, bless your business, prosper your house. He's about to do stuff that they told you you weren't good enough to have. I don't know about you, but there's some stuff people said I would never be able to do. There's some places they told me I'll never be able to go. But thanks be to God that God keeps his promise to his children, and he is about to do what you thought could never be done. He's about to give you a healing in an area where Doctor said you could never be healed. He's about to do what you thought could never ever be done. Somebody ought to praise him right now for— oh my God, for what's never— what they said never could be done, it's about to happen. It is possible. Yes, sir. Yes. So, so let me get out of here. So Exodus 15:22. Hallelujah! You're a part of the process. Restoration doesn't just happen, you have to be involved. Hallelujah! Exodus 15:22, you'll find these words. The Bible says— let me show you the process. So Moses brought Israel from the Red Sea. To bring you up to speed on this text, because we're reading toward the end of this chapter, Moses had just brought the children of Israel through literally 3 bodies of water. He at first brought them through the waters called Marah. Marah— mar in Hebrew means bitterness— that they couldn't— the Bible said they came to Marah And we'll see that in the text. And they could not drink the waters of Marah because they were bitter, violent. He had brought— and I'll talk about that in a moment— he also brought them through the Red Sea. Hallelujah. And in the text, we're going to see another body of water called Edom, and we're going to talk about that. But I want to bring it up here because water is an apostolic term in scripture, always as indicative of transition and movement. Wow. It means that you are subject to the control of the Spirit, and he controls the transitions and the movement in your life. Your life is 3 parts: you have a past, you live in the present, and you have a future. But your past, your present, and your future is connected. Somebody say connected. It is connected by transitions. Every transition in your life should be a transition of the Holy Spirit. You should transition from this present day to the next phase of your future by his control, by his leadership. I've said that before, I'll say it again, it bears repeating here. We have to learn as believers to follow the cloud and not the crowd. So many people are following the crowd. They thought— you know what, I, I— it frustrates me that we make people popular who have no substance, who have no spirit, who will go for anything. We make people, people popular who will take the scripture and twist it and cause it to fit their own lifestyle and way of doing things. We make people popular because they're good actors. I posted something the other day that I had posted 2 years ago, and it's still the truth. You would think after 2 years and a pandemic, really, they would have gotten it now. But some of the celeb— some of them, not all of them, but some of these celebrity preachers, they, they really make me itch. I mean, seriously, because I break out in rashes when I see some of this stuff, because they're great actors, they're great entertainers, and they do things to appease the crowd. They make decisions concerning their ministries to appease the crowd and not literally to follow the cloud. The Bible says every time the cloud moved, Israel moved. Come on now, because they were under the control of the cloud. And anytime they move without the cloud, it was always trouble for them. It always created another delay because they wasn't following God. But these preachers, they're great actors. But when you're a great actor, you lose your authentic anointing. Wow. Because it's the anointing that destroys the yoke. It's the anointing that removes burdens. It's not how well I can act and entertain and get you up off your feet. There has to be an anointing that exudes out of my life that brings victory and deliverance to those that hear. So Moses, an apostolic type in the Old Testament, he brought them through the Red Sea. Great miracle, great miracle. In, in verse 1, they rejoiced. Miriam got a tambourine. Moses sang. They had church. They rejoiced because God God had delivered them from the Red Sea. So Moses brought Israel from the Red Sea, and they went out into the wilderness of Shur. So here we go. So, right, watch this. In the process of restoration— oh boy, here we go— there's gonna always be some problems. Yes, that come to stop the process. So they come out of one thing and God throws them right into another wilderness. Yes. Why does he do that? Because again, he wants to teach them that they can do nothing without him. So God will keep us in wilderness until we get it ain't about us. Yeah, it's about him being in control. It's about trusting him no matter where you are. Watch this. They went into the Wilderness of Shur. The topography of Shur, if you looked at it on a map, or if you had an aerial view from an airplane or a helicopter and you were looking down at the Wilderness of Shur, you could not see the ground. All you would see was the top of trees. Wow. Because Shur Shur was a wilderness that was covered with trees all around, all across the top. As a matter of fact, it was so dark in Shur in the daytime it appeared as night. And I believe that there's some people either live or in here that can witness with me that there have been some seasons in your life Well, when it was daytime, it appeared like it was night. Oh my God. The Bible said they went to the wilderness of Shur, and they went there and they stayed 3 days, and they found no water. Here's the power of the third dimension. Lord, help me here today. We're third-dimensional people. The Bible says we're body, soul, and spirit, three-dimensional. The greatest of who we are is the spirit man. Father, Son, Holy Ghost. The entity of God that connects most with us is the Holy Ghost. Oh my God, faith, hope, love. God is love. The greatest of these three is love. Watch this: outer court, inner court, holy of holies. The holy of holies is in the third dimension. Jesus died and rose on the third day. In the third dimension is where we touch God, and we have to decide that we're going to live not in the realm of the flesh, not in the realm of emotion, not in the realm of will, but live in the realm of the Spirit and allow that Spirit to restore us to a point to our natural Adamic state, where our body and our soul and our life is controlled totally by God. Are y'all getting this today? I'm doing my best preaching today. I wonder if y'all getting it. Glory to God. The Bible says they were in the wilderness of Shur. They went 3 days in that wilderness. Watch this. And they found no water. Wait a minute, they found no transition. Remember I just told you water is an apostolic term for transitions, movement of the Spirit, condensation of the Spirit. They found no ability to transition. Watch this, it also indicates they found no life source. Yes, they hadn't eaten, they hadn't drank water. They thought they would die. I don't know about you, but I've been in some situations in my walk with God where I felt like it was over. I didn't think I'd make it. I felt like giving up. But it's in those transitional periods where God is teaching a lesson. Yes, no matter what this looks like, you can trust me. No matter what it feels like, you can trust me. Yes, I know they talked about you, but you can trust me. I know they're spreading lies about your name, but man, you can trust me. I know your money looks funny, but you could trust me. Oh my God, I know it looks hard. You're carrying a hard burden. It's not moving at the rate you figured ought to, but if you stand still and know my salvation, you can trust me. Yes, hallelujah! I dare you, touch yourself and say, I can trust him. I can trust him. Write it on the screen, those that are watching this video. I can trust him. I can trust him. I can trust him. I could trust him with my life. I could trust him with my family. I could trust him with my money. I could trust him with my health. I I can trust him. Oh my God, I can trust him with my future. I'm not worried about tomorrow because I can trust God to bring me through, to transition me out. I got to move. Watch this. And when they came to Marah— so again, Marah was that bitter water. Marah means bitterness. Let me give you an example of what Marah was. Marah, inside of Shur, was— oh my God— a cesspool. Wow. It was where they urinated and defecated. Watch this. It was totally totally unhealthy. You could not drink it because of the toxins of the waste that came from the bodies of humans. It was violent. It was so— I want you to get a picture of it. It was so toxic, it was bubbly. Just bubbly. Hear this. The Bible said he couldn't drink it. Excuse me. Sinuses. They couldn't drink it. They couldn't drink it. Hallelujah. Because it was bitter. Therefore— I'm good, ma— the name of it was called Marah. It was bitter. It was violent. It was toxic. It was a toilet. Watch this. Verse 24 says, and the people murmured against Moses, saying, what shall we drink? Again, Moses is the apostolic type. He's the leader that brings a million-plus people out of Egypt, and you got all these people complaining and murmuring, yes, about what they going to drink when they are where they are. Watch this. Primarily because they had not been listening to Moses in the past. If they had been following his instructions to move after the cloud and to face confrontation and not living in fear and rejection, they would not even be at Morah anyway. See, when you come up against something that's hard— see, just think about this: 3 days no water, you finally get to some water and you can't drink it. When you come up against that hard place, you need to do one of two things. You can choose to complain like they did, or you can choose to worship God. Yes, you got to learn to give God worship and glory when you come up against issues that seem unsolvable, problems that seem unsolvable. You gotta lift your hands and say, Lord, I thank you, you're in control, I'm gonna rest in you. But they needed this process to learn what rest looked like. So Moses Instead of— watch this— reacting to their murmuring and complaining. Now let me say this to you for the record about complaining: never complain about what you permit. If you're allowing it, shut up about it, because you're allowing it. You have the power to change it. Are y'all hearing this? Oh my God. Moses in verse 25 shows them how to deal with this situation. He gives them the first step to get to restoration. Y'all ready for it? Because God wants to restore us from rejection. He says, and he cried to the Lord. I love it, I love it, I love it, I love it. Somebody say, he cried to the Lord. Watch this. The Bible says he cried to sock in Hebrew. T-A-S-A-A-Q. Tasaq in Hebrew. Tasaq means that there was a desperate noise that went from his belly to God's ear. Tassadak means it is directly focused on the person or entity that can give me a solution. You should never talk to people about your problem that's not qualified to solve them. Y'all ain't got to say nothing. So Moses said, y'all murmuring, y'all complaining, but y'all don't have no qualification to fix this with your murmuring, complaining. So I'm gonna cry tzedakah unto the Lord. So let's think about it. You got a million people. I want y'all to see what this picture looks like in Moses' ear. Yapping about why they can't drink this water, and Moses is screaming in desperation. So his first step to restoration— there must be desperation, not just on behalf of you, but there must be a desperation on behalf of those that need the victory as well. So there's got to be you wanting to get out and somebody else desperate. Glory to God. Listen, you got to understand, you have to make up in your mind, I want to be free, I want to come out. Say desperation. Say tassadak. I gotta cry unto the Lord. There's got to be something in the midst of your situation that comes out of your mouth, leaves your belly, goes to God's ear and say, God, God, here am I. I'm in this fix, but only you can get me through. Watch what happens. The question goes, how bad do you want it? How bad do you really want to be free? How bad do you really want to see the change, see the transition? Moses cried unto the Lord, and watch what happens. Here's the second part of the process of restoration. Out of his desperation The Bible says, and the Lord showed him a tree. Yeah, so desperation produces revelation. Tree was already there, mind you, but he didn't see it until he got desperate enough to talk to the Lord, and the Lord revealed it to him. Oh my God, oh my God, the Lord showed him a tree. The word showed in Greek is yara, or Y-A-R-A-H. Yara is akin to a Greek word fotizo, which is where we get words like photograph, photography. Revelation means to— watch this— you cannot take a picture without seeing the object in the camera first to reflect the image back to the camera. So watch this. God already took a picture of the outcome. He knows what your life is going to look like throughout eternity. He's already got a full film on your life. Every situation you come up against, there is a feature film, there is a photo album of everything you're going to go through. You just got to get desperate enough to say, Lord, show me The picture. Watch this. When you got the revelation of where you're going in your life, you don't marry the wrong person, you don't take the wrong classes, you don't work the wrong job, you don't go to the wrong church, you don't do the— you don't make wrong decisions, inaccurate processes, never in your life, because you live in the realm of revelation. But that only happens when you get desperate enough to extrapolate that revelation out of the mind of God. The Lord said he showed it to Moses. I says, and mind you, watch this, it wasn't a big old tree neither. That word tree is not yara, Y-A-R, is Y-I-R, yira, which means it was a branch, it was a stick, it was a little bitty stick. The solution to this problem, God was going to use something very small. Very small. Are y'all hearing me? It wasn't the big oak tree or the cedar. It was a little branch. And the Lord said, "There's your answer right there, Moses." Yeah. The Bible said when Moses got that little stick and cast it, just threw it in in the water. The Bible says, oh my God, verse 25 is there. The waters— the transition, the movement, the life source— same cesspool with urine and defecation bubbling. The waters were made sweet. He took this branch, threw it in the water. The same cesspool was made sweet. Now let me tell you something about God. He could take the stinkiest, nastiest of situations and make them sweet and turn them around for your good. The Bible said He took that stick. So watch this. Desperation, first part of the process. Oh my God, led to revelation. Revelation has to be followed by application. He had to cast the stick in the water. Listen, revelation without application is Constipation. When God shows it to you, if you don't do nothing about it, you're still stuck. Y'all know what constipation is, right? You're stuck, you're backed up, you're not moving. Revelation without application, constipation. Good God. God says, I want to show you so you can apply. And the Bible said when he applied the revelation There was restoration. So restoration, oration of rest, a restoring of health— watch this— a bringing back to his original purpose. Restoration could not happen without revelation and application. Are y'all hearing me in this place? Oh my God, the waters made sweet. Yes. And here's what God is saying to us today: I want to restore you from what rejection could have done to you. I want to make your life sweet again. I want to make you sweet again. I want to make you live in the abyss of joy and happiness and peace. I want you to walk in abundance of love. I want to make your life sweet. Somebody say the sweet life. Hallelujah. The waters were made sweet, made sweet. Methok in Hebrew. I love this word. It means that— watch this— they had a— it had a sweet taste, literally. How do you go from urine and defecation, wow, to a sweet taste in milliseconds. Now, first thing I want to know is who tasted that water first? Because if I saw it in its past state, my humanity gonna be like, nah, I'm still ain't drinking that water. I'm gonna just be thirsty for a minute. It's got to be some more water somewhere. But, but this is just how the Lord all our words. Yes, he'll make the thing that you never want to touch sweet. He'll give you a desire for it because he fixed it. He'll make you want to be in the presence of people that broke you, and now you can minister to them. That's right. Y'all ain't got to say nothing to me. He'll, he'll teach you how to love folk that broke you, that abused you, that lied on you, that talked about you, and you still can love the hell out of them. Yes, y'all not talking to me here, because you've been made sweet, and God has made the situation sweet to taste, and you use it for the glory of God. And people are wondering, how is it that he can talk to me? Why he ain't still mad at me? It's because God made it sweet. Hallelujah! God made it palatable. God fixed it where I can be around you even though you did what you did. I still can love you. I still can open my arms. I still can welcome you. I still can bless you and be nice to you. Why? Because God made it sweet through revelation, and I understood it wasn't about you, it wasn't about me, it wasn't about how you rejected me. But now I can open up and say, you know what, I love you with the love of the Lord, and ain't nothing you can do about it. Hallelujah! Oh God, are y'all getting this today? Lord, I'm doing my best preaching. Glory to God. Watch this. So after restoration, here's what happens. God establishes law. He establishes kingdom law and says, okay, devil, I restored their life, I restored this situation, you can't touch them right here anymore. Let me show you. He said, there he made them a statue and an ordinance. It was law. And there he proved them. I told you they needed to be proved. They had to be tested. A lot of tests we can avoid if we just going to trust God from the beginning. But God wants to make sure we can handle where he's where he's taking us and what he wants to do in our life. The Bible says, verse 26, and said, if thou will hearken diligently to the voice of the Lord thy God and will do— this is the law he put in place. If you will hearken, listen, all right, to the voice of God, which this scripture tells me right here, God does speak. Yes, he does. I'm gonna say it again, God does speak for real. Call me crazy, call me stupid, call me dumb. God speaks. You know how I know he speaks? He spoke to me. I walk with him. I talk with him. God speaks. Are y'all hearing this? He speaks. So he says, when he speaks, listen. He says, listen to the voice of your God, and if you will do what is right in his sight Wait a minute. If we want to maintain restoration and stay restored, stay delivered, we got to keep doing what's right in his sight. Not in your sight, not in what we think and believe to be right, not in what the Constitution of the United States says is right, but what the Bible say is right. Let me tell you something. God says it's wrong, it's wrong. We can't fix that. If God says lesbianism is wrong, it's wrong. If God says homosexuality is wrong, it's wrong. I'm saying that because you got too many gospel preachers who are defending lesbianism with the Bible, defending homosexuality with the Bible. You don't have no Bible to defend that. It's not right in his sight. Being a whoremonger is not right in his sight. Lord have mercy. We got to deal with this. You got celebrity preachers saying, we just— this is just the way it is. We got to evolve to accept homosexuality, and so we can minister to them. Well, what we minister— what are we saying? Yeah, we gotta love them, we gotta bring them in, but what are we saying when we get through loving them? We gotta tell them what's right in God's eyes. Any sinner, not just gays. Oh God, you got preachers who get married and still preach the Bible, speak in tongues, jump and buck like wild horses dancing. But got a husband. My God, yeah, I got a problem with that, y'all. Yeah, quite honestly, if, if God is looking at me in the room with Beyoncé saying that ain't right, I got a problem with them doing that. I need God to give me permission to do that if he gonna let them do that. But he ain't giving that permission. It's not right in his sight. Lord have mercy. Okay, he said, if you diligently hearken to the voice of the Lord thy God and will do what is right in his sight— watch this— and give ear to his commandments. So hearken, listen with the intent to do what his voice says. Do what's right in his sight and give ear— watch this— intentionally listen to the instructions of the scripture, what God commands. You know, people listen to the commandments of God and turn a deaf ear all the time. But the Bible says here, if you will give ear to his commandments and keep his statutes— watch this, y'all ready— he says, I will put none of these these diseases on you that I have put on the Egyptians. What is disease? Is it just cancer? Is it just diabetes? Wait a minute, no, it's not just that. The word disease is makalah, M-A-C-E-L-A-H, makalah in Hebrew. And watch what this word means. It does mean sickness, it does mean disease, but it also means— watch this— anxiety. Anxiety about the future. He said, I will not put— and you will not have anxiety about tomorrow, whether you're gonna get sick, whether you're gonna die of illness, whether you're gonna die of disease, if you do what I say. This is the word, and you got to pray this word back to God so he can heal your body. He says, not my will for you to be a diabetic, not my will for you to have high blood pressure. Not my will for you to worry about tomorrow. Not my will for you to have cancer. He's not gonna put this on you if you obey. So how do I get free from infirmity? I got to make sure I'm moving in obedience. Yes, I'm doing what God says. You know, I remember when I was living in Mississippi and I was pastoring our church there. I stayed sick, going to the hospital and stuff with high blood pressure. That sickness was in my body because of the disobedience that was in my life. I went to the chiropractor the other day because I go to get adjusted and stuff. Playing golf, you have to do that so you don't mess your back up. But you know, they take your vitals when you go. Lady took my blood pressure with 123 173 over 76. And I, you know, I, I know it's healed and low, and I'm just like— but when she took it that day, something resonated with me because I remember my blood pressure. I would be walking around with 170 over 120 blood pressure, way too high. Walking around like that, won't take no medicine, wouldn't do nothing, wouldn't let God heal me, nothing. Was in obedience— disobedience. But when you live an obedient life, God will correct errors in your body. Oh my God, oh my God. I was— they diagnosed me a pre-diabetic, and the last time I went to the doctor, doctor didn't give me no metformin, didn't recommend no insulin because my numbers was right. Because when you living in obedience obedience. Even in how you eat, if you obeying how you supposed to eat, it'll keep sickness out your body. Are y'all hearing me? So that's why I'm very careful. So the Bible says you got to give ear to the— he said, I'll put none of these diseases upon thee which I brought upon the Egyptians. Those that don't follow me, those that don't trust me, those that don't confess my word, those that don't trust me by faith. He says, for I am the Lord that healeth. Healeth thee. Oh boy, y'all hear me sing it all the time. I am the God that healeth thee. I am the Lord, your healer. Oh, I sent my word to heal your disease. I I am the Lord, your healer. So now we know it's not just sickness, it's not just disease. Yes, it's anxiety about tomorrow. You know, I want to heal your finances, I want to heal your families, I want to heal everything about you because you're not an Egyptian, you're a child of the King. You're a king's kid, you're You're a citizen of the kingdom of God. Yes, I call it a kingdom night. That's what you are. You are part of God's family. Yes. And if your daddy has the power to heal everybody, yes, why wouldn't he heal his own children? Yes, he will. Yes, come on. That's why I never was scared to come to church during coronavirus. What sense did that— it made no sense. It made medical sense to these folks. The CDC, Dr. Fauci, all these folks, made sense to them. All right, I never said his name wrong. Fauci, whatever your name is. Listen, it made sense to them, but it didn't make spiritual sense because my God says he— in this text, he is Jehovah Rapha. 'Yes, sir.' 'The Lord my healer.' Either he lying or they lying. Yeah. So I had to choose God. Yes. I knew COVID couldn't kill me. Hallelujah. And God, just to show me it couldn't kill me, through my faith, I got— I had it. Yeah. Never really had a symptom. Never thought I was going to die. Kept living like I was living with COVID Yeah, because he's Jehovah Rapha. He's the Lord our healer. And it's not just COVID. I mean, you got people, way more people dying of cancer, dying of AIDS, HIV, dying of heart disease. The reality is God says I can heal this stuff. Mental illness It's a problem in our country. Yes, it is. But if we bring mental illness to Jesus— yes, hallelujah— he's proved he could heal it. There was a, there was a little boy that was foaming at the mouth, cutting himself, throwing himself in the fire. The Bible said Jesus said, bring him to me. He brought that, that mentally ill boy to Jesus. Jesus laid hands on him. Immediately the mental illness was rebuked and cast out. We got to learn how to bring conditions to the Lord and trust his word. Verse 27, and I'm closing. And they came to Elim, where there were 12 wells of water. Now I love this because Elim— oh my God, it was— it means palms in Hebrew. The word Elim means palms. So y'all know whenever you you go where palm trees are. You know, Sharia's from Florida. It's, it's where you want to be when you're on the beach. Yeah, that's a nice place to be. You know, everybody— I would love to have— if I can have palm trees in my life every day, yeah, it's a blessing. That means the weather is good most of the time because it needs that. Palm trees can't survive cold. Palm trees also Trees also represent stability because of how they grow by water. The roots are so well nourished because they're so close to water. And that's why the Bible say you got to be like a tree planted by rivers of water that shall not be moved. So they went to Elam, a place where they could never be moved again. See, that's what God wants to happen when he restores you. He wants you never to go back to the thing that rejected you, unless you're going to bring it out, unless you're going to help them out. Y'all not talking. But he never wants you to become that rejected, weak, non-valued person that you saw yourself as. He says, I want you to be stable. I want you to be like a tree planted by the rivers of water that cannot be moved. I want you to go to Elam and stand tall in who you are. Know who you are. Know your value. And you know what? There's some people— glory to them— that's listening to me now. You've gone through situations where people have told you, literally, you just like your daddy. You ain't gonna be nothing when you grow up. You're gonna be terrible just like them. And you turned out pretty good because the hand of God got on your life. And all the things that they told you wouldn't happen has happened. Lord, I thank you. I love this. He said there were 12 wells of water. 12 is an apostolic number. Jesus had 12 apostles. That lets me know, in order for me to stay stable, the apostolic must always be present in my life. See, this is where the world is missing it. For me to be stable table and stay restored. There's a power, there's an anointing that the apostles are entrusted with. Listen to me, that pastors, preachers, and prophets, and evangelists, and teachers don't have, because it's a different office, it's a different process, it's a different set of trials in hell the apostle got to go through. I ain't talking about these apostles that make themselves apostles, I'm talking about apostles that the Lord has made. And ordained and consecrated. He did it, not man. There's something that comes out of that apostolic life that creates stability for the people that are connected to that life. Oh my God. And that's— so they were here, 12 wells, apostolos. So there's wells of water, government, that flow out of the apostle's life that keep us secure. That keep us stable. Every apostle needs an apostle. I wouldn't tell you to have an apostle if I ain't got one. Everybody needs one because it keeps that water flowing. It keeps you transitioning from faith to faith and glory to glory. It keeps you planted in Elohim. The Bible said there were 310 palm trees which which means there were 40 palm trees there. But that's a beautiful place. Just think of— look at that process in the last 3 days. They've been from a cesspool full of poop and urine to drinking the same water, sweet, to now encamping under 40 palm trees where they got all the water they want flowing in Elohim. Wow, that word was phenomenal! Oh my God, listen, let's pray right now. Matter of fact, it is so important that you understand how powerful your words are. So I want you to repeat after me. I want you to say— we want to say some of this out loud and decree it, and decree and declare that our best days are in front of us. And that no matter where we've experienced rejection in the past, it will no longer have any authority in our life. Come on, say this with me. Say, Heavenly Father, in the name of Jesus, say, I decree and declare that my life is restored from the spirit of rejection. Say, I am healed. I am whole. Say, I am new. Declare this. Say, in the name of Jesus, my worst days are over. I have been restored. Say, in the name of Jesus, I will enter into the rest. I give God control of my life and I cease from my own way. I receive the blessing. Of the Lord that makes rich and adds no sorrow. In Jesus' name, amen and thank God. Listen, I am so grateful you got to hear that word and you got to pray with me today. That's my most exciting part of all of this, is the opportunity to pray with you. Listen, I believe that your future is bright. And I believe that no weapon formed against your life in any season can prosper against the purpose, the plan, and the mind of God concerning you. Listen, he says in Jeremiah 29:11, I know the thoughts I think toward you, they are thoughts of peace and not of evil. And he wants you to have an expected end. So I'm telling you today, expect the best. God's got some great things in store for you. Well, listen, my time is almost gone, but I want to take a moment to personally invite each one of you watching me right now. I am going to— on July 22nd, I turned 52 years old. Yes, on July 22nd, I turned 52 years old, and on that day, I will be celebrating 52 years of life. Listen, I wanna invite every person under the sound of my voice, no matter where you are in this world. We're gonna celebrate on Sunday, July 25th, my 52nd birthday, and it's gonna be off the chain. I got some very important people that are gonna come out and share with us. Listen, they're important to me and they're important to God, and I know they're gonna be a blessing to your life. One is Apostle Tilton Colton from Newnan, Georgia. Tilton is gonna come, he's gonna bless us with the word of the Lord. I already know, I pray for him, uh, every day, and I pray for him specifically this morning that God would bind his words to his words and his mind to his mind, and that when he comes on Sunday, that he releases a word that is in season, that is tailor-made for every person person in the room. And listen, you want to be there. We're going to have Blake Earle and Reveal all the way from Huntsville, Alabama, is going to be sharing with us, doing our worship. He's bringing his whole team, his band. We're looking forward to them sharing with us. And then, oh my God, we have One Purpose Mime. He is coming and he's going to share in mime. We got poets. It's going to be a phenomenal night. Listen, I want you to join me. It would do my heart good, especially if you're in Atlanta area. You need to figure out a way to be at Rhoda Church on Sunday night, July 25th, 2021, at 6 o'clock to celebrate with me. Listen, it would do my heart good. Shake my hand and say, hey, Apostle Woods, I'm here, I received your invitation, and I'm gonna celebrate with you tonight. That would do my heart. Great to see you there. Listen, God, I love you. Heaven smile upon you is my prayer. Listen, I need every person that has been blessed by this ministry today— give. You've been seeing it pop up on the screen throughout the teaching tonight. Make sure you go to rhodachurch.com/donate and give, or give via Cash App, Rhoda Church, and be a blessing to ministry. Help us continue to do the things that the Lord has called us to do to edify and build and push men toward dominion. You know, Rada, that's what it means. It means dominion. It's God's Plan A for his people to rule and have authority in the earth. Listen, I love you guys. Y'all be blessed. Heaven smile on you is my prayer. Thanks again for joining me, and until next time, may the grace and peace of God rest heavily upon you, and may you prosper in everything you put your hands to, in Jesus' name. I love you. God bless you. Peace. Michael Woods here. I am inviting you to celebrate my birthday with me and my special guest, Tilton Colton. It's gonna be heaven on earth. 52, Rudder Church, 25 July, 6 o'clock. Don't miss it.