Sheep, Part 4: "He Leads Me..." | Dr. Mike Woods, Sr. | Radah Church | 9.12.2021

Ama sikonde. Thank you, God. God, we give you glory. God, hallelujah, hallelujah. Jesus, Jesus, we bless your name. We give you glory, we give you honor. Hallelujah! Oh God, yes God, we thank you for victory now. We praise you for victory now, God. Hallelujah! Y'all come on in, the glory of God is here tonight. Lord have mercy. Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Wonderful Savior, Mighty God. Oh, Shandala! Yes, Lord! Yes, Lord. My soul say yes. My heart says yes. My mind says yes. Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. Oh yes, hamandia. Yes, God, we praise you. Yes, God, we glorify Yes, Lord, we lift you up from the rising of the sun to the going down of the same. Your name, hallelujah. Oh God, your name Your name, Haya. Yes, God. Yes, God. We bless you, Father. We give you glory, Jesus. Ain't nobody God but you. You're wonderful and mighty. You're glorious and awesome. Hallelujah! Yes, God! Yes, God! Yes, God, we thank you, Jesus. We say thank you, Jesus. As y'all coming in, whether live or by replay on Facebook, YouTube, wherever you are, just type thank you, Jesus, in the comments. You ought to just thank God for being alive. Hallelujah! Father, we thank you. We clap our hands and say Thank you, Lord. We say thank you, Lord. Come on, by the clapping of my— put your phone down, your tablet down. That word is zamar in Hebrew, and pull it together. Let him pull together your finances. Let him pull together your health. As you pull your hands together, he's pulling together your health. He's pulling together wealth. He's pulling together your family. He's pulling together resources. Oh, you ought to thank him in advance. We clap our hands, and we say thank you, Lord. Oh God. Oh God, come on, somebody on this live, somebody replay, open your mouth and say thank you. Oh yeah, he's been good to you. You ought to take a moment and thank him. The Bible says in all things give thanks. Well, we thank him through the good, we thank him through the bad, and we give him glory that he's bringing us out. And he's bringing us through. We say thank you, Jesus. Come on, Zion. Come on, Zion. We bless your name, Jesus. Ura ba mandaya, ura mandaya baso, e mama sikura ba ha. We bless your name, God. We bless your name, God. Yes, God. And so, Father, we thank you, and we— yes, yes, yes, God, we say thank you today. We thank you for your goodness. We thank you for your mercy. We thank you for your grace. We thank you for your kindness, and we thank you for your favor. And God, we know there's nobody like you nowhere. God, it's in you we live and move and have our being. And God, as we teach the word tonight, I pray, God, in the name of Jesus, that by your power you would move, God. And that your glory would be revealed. God, do something unusual in this teaching tonight. Do something man cannot do. Deliver us, heal us, and set us free. For he who the Son sets free— am I— is free indeed. And so, God, we give you the praise. God, we give you the glory. God, we give you the honor. God, we exalt you. God, we lift you up. And God, we thank you. God, let us experience light, illumination, and the intelligence of the Holy Spirit tonight, and we praise you for it. In Jesus' name, in Jesus' name. Hallelujah. Amen. And thanks be to God. Hallelujah. Clap your hands again. And tell the Lord thank you. Oh my, yeah. Oh God, we give you the glory and we give you all the honor. God, we thank you for your goodness. We thank you for your favor. Listen, welcome tonight to this live stream. You guys do me a favor that's coming in live about replay. Some of you on YouTube, I see some of you on Facebook, uh, we are on two different Facebook platforms right now, but wherever you're watching us, do me the kind favor, guys. Oh yeah, I feel the Lord here. And I need you to share this livestream tonight. Somebody needs to hear this word from the Lord. Listen, I'm telling you, God is up to something, and we've stepped into a very prophetic season of fulfillment. And many of you watching me tonight, you have prophecy over your head. There are things, glory to God, that God has spoke over your life, and you have prophecy over your head. And the Lord said to tell you that this is the season of fulfillment as the Lord has spoken it to you. He said, Michael, say to my people that this is the season of fulfillment, and what God is about to do in your life is about to blow your natural mind. Hear me good, it's about to blow your natural mind. You're about to see things you've never seen before because God's about to do things that have never been done before in your entire life. So let's listen tonight, and you ought to praise him and thank him right there just for that. Glory to God. I want to jump right into the heart of this. Glory to God. I believe that there's a word from the Lord. I'm not going to let the enemy distract me any tonight. Uh, we are actually live right now. Uh, we're trying a new, new way of streaming, uh, tonight from our studio, and, uh, so it may be some little kinks we got to work out of this. Glory to God. But stay with me because I don't want you to miss this word. Glory to God. Matter of fact, what I'm going to do is go ahead and make sure that we are, uh, totally coming into you the way we need to be. Glory to God. Stay with us. And, uh, you guys, if you're here, type in the screen, say hello, let us know you're here. Glory to God. And I really want you, praise God, to experience this live tonight in a very profound way. So I don't want you to scroll, I want you to stay with me, all right? Because what I'm about to share with you is going to be life-changing tonight, guys. And I'm gonna jump right in the heart of this because I am really anxious to teach the word of the Lord tonight. All right, so I'm gonna jump right in the heart of this. I believe God has something he wants to share with you that's gonna be a blessing to your life. Uh, we're continuing our series on sheep, and we're talking about the innate benefits of following God, entering into the sheep-shepherd relationship, becoming his son, becoming his daughter in a very real way. So that you can experience everything he has for you. And I want to tell you something, religion will never give you what relationship can. And being a sheep really is all about connecting with God at a deeper level, shifting the paradigm in your mind concerning God. Most of us historically have been taught things about God that are error. And the reality is we have to correct the errors we've been taught. So tonight I'm gonna take my time and I'm gonna teach this word. Listen, please share this. Glory to God. Please share this. I believe God has something he wants to say to you. We've been teaching this series out of 23rd Psalm, and this is part 4. Uh, we started, glory to God, uh, and matter of fact, let's just praise God. Hallelujah. Let's just jump into this wholeheartedly with everything we got. Can we do that? Can we do it? Glory to God. Let's just do it. Hallelujah. So the Bible says, and this is what we've already covered, the Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing. So the first two messages we talked about, number one, the Lord our shepherd, and we talked about how God indeed is a good shepherd and how you need to take the position of a sheep sheep. Follow him. Glory to the name of God. So you can have all the benefits that are surrounding being in his life as a sheep. Are you hearing me? The Lord is my shepherd. He has to become a shepherd. You have to take the position of a sheep. You have to empty yourself of you so you can wholly follow God. Somebody say, wholly follow. Which means every move he makes, you move. Ludacris said it like that. You move, I move, just like that. Glory to the name of God. And wherever God does, you should move with him just like that. And you should never deviate from that, because when you are following him wholly, I'm telling you right now, there is nothing that God will withhold from you. He'll make sure you have everything you need at all times in all times. Glory to God. Hallelujah. So we covered that. Go back and watch message 1. You got to watch it so you can get the benefit of it. Glory to God. And then we said, uh, we in the second message that he removes lack. Hallelujah. He removes lack. So if I'm really following him, watch this, we talked about this, there's no reason in my life that I should be operating in lack in any area— spiritually, financially, emotionally, relationally. I should be full and overflowing in every area of my life because I am following the Shepherd. And listen, and I talked about in that second message, if you're lacking something anywhere, if something's missing, it is a sign that your sheep-shepherd relationship is shady somewhere and you need to go in there. And I talked about myself, how there have been seasons in my life where I moved in lack, and I moved in lack because I had a jacked-up relationship. But I want to tell you something, the moment I fixed the relationship piece with God, lack began to be eliminated. Man, one of my confessions every day is I'll never be broke another day in my life. And you ought to say that every day. You'll never be broke another day in your life, that you'll be full to the full and fulfilled in every aspect, in every way. Glory to the name of God. Are you hearing me? And you, you ought to make up in your mind that you want to be filled in every aspect and every single way. Yes, God. My God, here today, let me, let me jump in this, man. Let me jump in this because I got to teach it. So we're going to talk, and we talked last week about green pastures, about what that meant. So make sure you go watch messages 1, 2, and 3. Tonight we want to talk about part 4, sheep. He leadeth me, he leads me beside quiet water. And listen, I want to just start right here, and I'm gonna hit, throw my best punch first. My daddy always told me if you got in the fight throw your best punch first. So tonight I'm gonna throw my best punch first because some of you are missing the benefits and your life is full of lack. You're lacking financially, you're lacking in your relationships, you're lacking in your family. You got lack all around you because you're not following the Lord. And watch this, you will never be led to anything God has unless you are willing to follow. I'm gonna say that again. You'll never be led until you are willing to follow. Can I say that again? You'll never be led until you are willing to follow. And a lot of people want the benefits that come with discipleship, that come with following, leadership, but they do not want to make the submissive move to actually follow. But you'll never get the benefits of leadership if you do not follow. And a lot of people are really not following, right? And there are a few enemies to followership. There are a lot of them, but I want to point out two tonight that I think will be very helpful. All right, so the first one is this. It's a lack of leadership. Many of you listening to me tonight are not following because you don't have leaders. I'll say that again. It's a lack of leadership in the body of Christ. It's a lack of leadership in the body of Christ. The Bible declares that— oh my God— you, you have to follow after God. You have to pursue him. The word seek, zeteio in Greek, which means to follow hard after him with uninterrupted focus. Seek ye first the kingdom. You got to follow after the kingdom principle. Go after it hard. Are you hearing me? And you got to make up in your mind you're going to allow God to be your leader. Now here's the, here's the issue in the body of Christ. God has leaders that he ordains to lead his people to him and the things that pertain to him. Are y'all hearing me? Oh my, oh my God, oh my God, are y'all hearing this? You gotta understand, listen, that glory to God, if you don't submit to God's authority, you're not a follower. You're doing your own thing. And there's so many people out here— let me slow down— doing what they want to do, man. And it's a problem in the body of Christ right now. They're doing what they want to do, saying what they want to say, taking the Bible and making it fit their lifestyles. Come on, church! And at the end of the day, that ain't God on no level. Praise the name of God. Praise the name of God. Please like and share this, guys. Somebody needs this. So leadership is this— watch this— it's the ability to influence followers. Oh my God. A leadership again is the ability to influence followers. Now this can be very twisted in this day and time because social media has something that's called followers. All right. So, and if you get followers, glory to the name of God, people begin to judge who you are based on the number of people who follow you. So everybody is now trying to do whatever it takes, hear me, to get followers. Whether it's getting in front of the camera cussing while they preaching, whether it's getting in front of the camera saying what their people want to hear just to get followers. That's not leadership. I'm saying leadership is a deliberate activity to lead someone to something. Watch this. Greater than you. A good leader, watch this, will teach their people how to be better than they are at what they do. Oh my God. And whatever the fear of influence you have, a good leader will teach you how to be, operate at a higher level of excellence and skill and ability than they do. They're never intimidated by what's in you. So my ability as a leader is to influence people to something greater, to something higher, not— and to bring out the very best in them. Watch this, so that God gets the glory. Oh boy, out of their life, out of their life. And see, here's the problem: a lack of leadership has become an enemy to fellowship because we don't have leaders. We got, we got influencers who lead you to them And in return, they're the only one that really reaps the benefit of you pressing like, you following them, you tuning into their life. But you never really grow. You— oh my God, your life never really changed. You watch them, you follow them because the popular poll says to follow them, and everybody else seemingly is following them because they're entertaining, they're funny. But there's nothing really that's expanding matriculating or evolving your soul, so you're not being led. All right, watch this. The presence of a gift— hear me— the presence of a gift does not denote leadership. I'm gonna say that again. The presence of a gift does not denote leadership. I'm gonna say it one more time. The presence of a gift does not denote Leadership— just because someone is gifted doesn't mean they are a leader. Just because somebody has charisma or charis doesn't mean that they are a leader. You could be gifted and have zero ability to lead. And this is the danger that we're in, the hour we're living in, y'all, because you got a lot of gifted people who are not leading you nowhere. Notice Just think, just take an introspective of your life, really. The people that you follow, what part of what have they done in you listening to them, following them? Even your own pastor. Look at this. I mean, you need to really ask this honest question because some of you in church, and in churches out of religious obligation, you there because the pastor, your— oh my God, he's your family member or she's your family member, or you're there because your great-great-great-grandmama went to that church. But the reality is, what have you got out of that that has expanded and groomed your life for a greater level of kingdom service? Lord, help us today. Y'all don't— I know y'all don't want to hear this. I know y'all gonna scroll right past it because you're committed to things that literally has you more stagnated than you really are, than you really are willing to admit. You're not willing to admit you're stuck. And the reality is you're never going to get to that thing you see. That's why you're frustrated. That's why you're angry and can't fulfill purpose, can't fulfill your dream. My God, because you're sick. It's a lack of leadership that's not pulling you where you need to be. Some of you that's listening to me tonight, You need to relocate and find you a leader. That's— sometimes it's worth it to get in a place listening to the right things where you can grow and your life can change. If you look back 10 years and ain't nothing changed, you still in the same place emotionally, relationally, financially, spiritually— ma'am, sir, that is a problemo. It's a problem. It's a problem. I'm gonna say it again, it's a problem. Oh my God, it's a problem. It is literally a problem because shetaya, breskala ba. God is progressive and he wants you growing. He wants you moving forward. So lack of leadership is an enemy to fellowship. It's hard for you to follow because ain't no leaders out there. But I want to challenge every gifted person to discover what it means to lead, to influence followers who are following you to a place greater than you. A good leader works himself out of a job. Oh my God, a good leader wants— helps people get to the top of the game. Glory to the name of God. And with no regard for whether they get glory for it or not. Oh my God, there are tons of people in my life— I know my life, my ministry, my gift— there are men that when I first started traveling and preaching, them had 4, 5, 6 members. Over the years, I will travel into their churches and watch their churches grow. Some of them have 5, 6,000, 10,000 now. They don't give me no credit for helping them lay them foundation. Do I care? No. Do I need to call their name? No. Because I understand that's what it's about. It's about emptying yourself into someone, making sure they achieve what God has called them to achieve. Oh my God, it's a lack of followers because there are very few leaders. That's a, that's an enemy. And you got to make sure that you're being led. You got to be humble enough to be led. Secondly, when it comes down to this lack of leadership, people don't even understand that there are several areas of leadership you got to embrace. Watch this. The first area of leadership— 3 I want to bring out really quick because I don't have time, but Because this is what we're talking about tonight. He leadeth me, he leadeth me. Listen, don't scroll if you want to get somewhere farther than where you are. Some of y'all don't— man, stuck because you scroll past everything and you looking for something that you ain't gonna never find. You need to be still and hear this. Hear me, be still, hear this and share it with somebody else. Well, listen to me, 3 types of leadership I want you to embrace so you can be a good sheep. So you can be a good follower. Are you hearing me? Oh my God, are you hearing me? I bless you, Lord. The first one is divine leadership. Hallelujah. The Bible said he that comes to God must first believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. Now watch this. The scripture tells us that if we seek the Lord, we follow after the Lord, there is a reward. You got to believe that God is God and you got to follow him. You got to follow his divine leadership. Hear me, watch this, watch this. I'm going somewhere tonight. Hear me, I want you to hear me. The scripture declares in John 16:13— thank you, Lord— John 16:13. The Bible said he will not speak on his own. Hear me, he will not speak on his own. He will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. That's the be clause. I read that first because I want you to grab this. A real leader doesn't speak on his own. He speaks what God says. She speaks what God says. Every true leader in the kingdom that's designed to push your life further, hear me, they're not gonna tell you what you wanna hear, what they feel like saying. They are going to speak to you the words of God. Oh my God, I'm gonna say that again. They're going to speak to you the words of God. I gotta go, my time is running out, y'all. My God, they're going to speak to you the words of God. Well, let me go back and read the a-clause. But when the Spirit of Truth comes— hear me, oh my God— he will guide you into all truth. That's divine leadership. You open your heart, you allow the Spirit of Truth, which is the Holy Ghost, to come into your life, and then you allow him to guide you to the truth about your life, the truth about your future. You marry the wrong people, and God knows I've done it before in my past, because you don't listen to the Spirit of Truth. You work the wrong jobs because you don't listen to the Spirit of Truth. You're in the wrong career. You're trying to operate in a call that you're not called to because you don't listen to the Spirit of Truth and you have no divine leadership in your life. But when he really comes, he will influence you to follow him and you'll follow him into all truth about your life. Somebody type all truth in the comments. All truth, all truth, all truth, all truth. Whether you're watching live or by replay, type all truth in the comments, please, because That's what God wants. He wants you to have a totality of truth about your life. And that's what divine leadership ultimately does. Secondly, you need individual leadership. My God, see, when you operate— oh my God, how can you lead somebody else you can't lead yourself? How can you lead others to God and you can't lead yourself to do the right things concerning God? See, a person who has individual leadership working in their life. Watch this, man. They have the ability to honestly— somebody say honestly— to honestly identify their stress, their weaknesses, and hone them in a way and increase their weaknesses, turn them to strengths in a way, and use their strengths in a way that caused them to be better people and to fulfill their life's purpose. Listen, when you know who you are, you can fulfill your dreams. When you know who you are, you can fulfill your purpose. But you listen, you, you're not afraid to be honest that of where you come up short. And let me tell you something, all of us have some areas we can become better in. And when you operate in individual leadership, you don't wait for somebody to tell you you jacked up. You can look at yourself and say, man, you're jacked up right there. You need to fix that. You need to get your character right, right there so you can be led. Come on, man. Charity starts at home and then it spreads abroad. Amen. Then thirdly, you got to subject yourself to subjective Leadership subjective. Leadership subjective. Leadership subjective. Oh my God. Leadership subjective. Leadership— y'all ain't here, man. Which means you got to dance to somebody else's music. There's no way you could tell me you're anointed by God to do anything and you refuse to be led. You refuse to be covered. You refuse to allow someone else to mentor you, to lead you, to influence your life. Subjective, subjective, subjective. Who have you— who are you subject to? That's, that's the question. Who are you subject to? Who— you know, you're, you're an influencer on Instagram or Facebook, you got thousands and millions of followers, but who's, who's talking to you? Who's leading you? Who, who's mentoring you? Who— where are you? Where's your source? Are you Googling the quotes you're posting? Lord have mercy. Are you hearing from God? Are you being led by God? Or do— has God set a person in your life that is mentoring, shaping, molding you? Listen, and, and you got to be subjected to authority. This generation of people does not want to be led. They want to do what they want to do. They want to move when they— listen, they'll leave a church and say God told them it was time for them to leave. Lie! It wasn't your time to leave. You got tired of being subject to authority. Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God, oh my God, oh my God. I, I, I, I got to get out here. My time's about gone, y'all. My time's about gone. Okay, um, yeah, subjective leadership. So here we go. Here's the other enemy. I, I'm, I stayed too long on the first enemy, which is lack of leadership. The second enemy to followership that I want to share with you tonight is fear. The Bible declares— hear me, hear me— in 1 Timothy— 2 Timothy 1:7, I'm sorry, for God has not given you the spirit of fear, but he gave you power, which, uh, that Greek word for power there is dunamis. It is inherent ability. In other words, God says, I don't, I don't want you to be afraid because that's not what I gave you. He didn't say you didn't have fear. He said he didn't give it to you. You. But he said, what I did give you is power. Dunamis, inherent ability. Oh my God, which God says, I gave you inherent ability to operate outside your own personal ability, to operate in my ability, to operate at my level of moving, doing, thinking. Oh, that's what power is. That ain't, that ain't, that ain't the power that you've seen, that you thought you saw displayed in church. Because real power, hallelujah, is operating outside of your human ability. And God says you don't have to be afraid of anything because I've given you power, my God, to operate outside of your human ability. Here's the problem: most human beings have been trained in this toxic way of living and thinking where they believe that they got to follow their own own way and not God's way. So they operate in their own intellectual power, their own knowledge power, even their own— oh my God— soulish power, where they move through their emotions and their religiosity. But real power says, I graduate from my own ability and I flow through life operating in the ability of God. Let me tell you something, man, I can't even begin to list the stuff I did not know how to but real dunamis anointed my mind to do things, write code, build, uh, build websites from the ground. Y'all not talking to me here. Uh, create apps to do things that— watch this— you know, on the technology side that I never was trying. My mind, glory to God, hallelujah, anointed with the ability of God to do things that— oh my God— to invest in crypto and, and forex, things that the Holy Spirit— outside of my personal ability. See, you got to graduate from you and become a follower and not operate in fear. He gave you power, he gave you love. Stop beating yourself up about your past. God loves you unconditionally. Glory to the name of God. He doesn't look at your past to determine your future. God loves you unconditionally. I'm gonna say that again. He never looks at your past to determine your future. God loves you unconditionally. He has no condition on how he loves you. He loves you unconditionally. Oh my God, oh my God. He gave you a sound mind. Sophronismos in Greek, a well-balanced— watch this, intelligent mind. God says you don't have to be afraid because he gave you supernatural intelligence. He gave you spiritual intelligence, and he gave you the balance to understand how to present the kingdom to the world, how to operate as a kingdom citizen inside of a worldly system and prosper and increase and walk in healing and walk in deliverance and walk in favor. Oh my God, because that's what he gave you. A sound mind. You're not crazy. You got spiritual intelligence. And you got to stop letting people tell you crazy because you thinking in faith, because you thinking in a glorious way of thinking, and they don't understand that. Come on, you got to keep operating in what God gave you. Listen, fear— the word fear is from a Greek word, dehelia, and it is a cowardice from fright. Which means you get frightened by something and you become a coward. Crazy, right? Most people don't follow because they fear following things they can't see, things they can't control. Some of you are not following God because you fear following things you can't control. Some of you are comfortable in your religion, in your old way of doing things. Hallelujah. And you have not followed God into the deeper dimensions, the deeper realms of spiritual living and kingdom existence, because you're comfortable where you are and you feel a level of control to that. But the moment God tries to introduce you to something new, something greater, something better, you reject it. And let me tell you something, that's not the will of God. Stop rejecting God's plan for your life. Listen, he says, I don't want you to have a cowardice from fright. Another Greek word is the extension of dehilia, where it really is phobia, which is the manifestation of the results of that cowardice. Phobia is to avert or avoid anything you're frightened of, which means now because you're afraid of it, you deliberately start trying to avoid it. Well, I'm not going to parasail because I'm afraid of it. That's just an example. Hallelujah. My wife's probably laughing at that, but at the end of the day, because she kept saying, I ain't parasailing, I ain't parasailing. But glory to the name of God, and the more I talked and kept instituting faith, it put her in a position to overcome fear. She, as a child, she was afraid of roller coasters, but now me and her ride everything. But at the end of the day, she, because she was deliberately averting and avoiding it But when you move in faith, which is the opposite of fear, you can conquer anything. You won't run from it. And so watch this. Following God requires you to defeat fear of the unknown. Fear of the unknown is what is called xenophobia. Xenophobia is the fear of the unknown, the fear to go where you've never gone before. I'm a Trekkie, man. I love Star Trek, man. I can sit and watch Star Trek over and over again. I can binge watch. Old episodes of Star Trek because I just love Star Trek, right? Glory to the name of God. Now let me help you, let me help you, let me help you. Glory to the name of God. The reality is there's a, uh, a quote they used to say on Star Trek: to boldly go where no man has gone before. Come on, come on, y'all, y'all better go with me tonight. To boldly go where no man has gone before. My God have mercy. Eba shikando, eba selamasa. The reality is, guys, you gotta make up in your mind you want to boldly go where no man has ever gone before. Hallelujah. You got to decide I want more than I ever had. Glory to God. I want to do more than I've ever done. Glory to the name of God. I want to be more than I've ever been. But you got to overcome xenophobia and follow God. See, you think you follow God to the highest level because you start crying in prayer, you, you got overwhelmed with tongues, but there's more. More. I don't care how high you go, I need you to realize there is more that you can— there is more that you can ascertain. Y'all stay with me. Glory to the name— I told you I'm trying out this new thing in my studio. Glory to the name of God. We gonna get the kinks out of this thing. Glory to God. Hallelujah. But I want you to understand something. You got to decide that you're going further than you are. So the scripture said tonight— and we're getting into text, and I'm gonna be done. He leadeth me beside the still waters. So there it is, leadership. That's why I gave you in the front two enemies to leadership. One was lack of leadership and two was fear. Now watch this. The Bible says he, God, not a man, God, God leadeth me. I dare somebody to type in the comments, he leadeth me. Me. Come on, type it. He leadeth me. He leadeth me. He leadeth me. You got to make up in your mind that you're going to be sheep enough, that you're going to be humble enough, because watch this, heaven responds to humility. Heaven responds, glory to the name of God, to the low. The Bible said he rejects the proud but he exalts the humble. Glory to God. So you got to make up in your mind you're going to be humble enough to follow him wherever he goes. Woo! God, I feel like teaching this tonight. Just touch yourself and say, I'm humble enough to follow him wherever he goes. Lord have mercy, Jesus. You gotta make up in your mind you're gonna move in humility and wherever he leads, Lord have mercy, you're going, you're going to follow, glory to God. Thank you, Jesus. I love the Lord. He's a good God. Whoo! Watch this. God's leadership is perfect leadership. I need to grab this. Sounds simple, but it's true. God's leadership is perfect leadership. He wants an up-close sheep-shepherd relationship, so close with you that you understand how perfect his leadership is. What do you mean, Mike? That means number one, he'll never lead you astray. Watch this, he's gonna always be on point and accurate with his leadership ability. What brings him number two? His leadership is accurate. He knows exactly where you need to go. As a matter of fact, God knows where you are. Hey, heba surikiskatai, and he knows where you're going. Good God Almighty, y'all ought to catch that tonight. He knows exactly where you are right now, but he also knows where you're going. He knows where you're gonna end up. Help me, Jesus. Lord have mercy. His leadership is perfect. It's— it never leads astray. It's always accurate. Watch this. It's always aligned with your assignment. Watch this. His leadership is always aligned with his assignment concerning you. So he's never going to lead you in any parameter to any people, to any place that is outside of what he has innately assigned you to do. You end up places you don't need to be because you let yourself there. But when God leads you, he's going to send you where you need to go. He's gonna hook you up with people. Matter of fact, while I'm talking, God is hooking stuff up. Glory to God. I see it in the spirit realm. There's stuff coming together. He's hooking up things, pulling stuff together, stuff you thought would never come together. God told me to tell you tonight, he's pulling it together. He's pulling it together. He's pulling it to— oh my God, he's pulling it together. Glory to the name of God. He's hooking it up. He's fixing it. He's gonna make it work. Work. Glory to the name of God. God said, take your hands on it and let me lead you. Oh, Shabaya, let me lead you. Let me lead you. Let me lead you. Let me lead you. Let me lead you. Let me lead you. I'll never lead you astray. I'll keep you in line. I'll keep you aligned with the assignment because my leadership, yeah, it's perfect. My leadership, oh my God, Umaki asa. It's perfect. My leadership is perfect. My leadership is perfect. My leadership is perfect. Glory to God! Somebody shouted, his leadership is perfect! His leadership is perfect! Okay, watch this, watch this. What makes it perfect? Why not only is this— he's not gonna lead me astray, not only is he going to keep me aligned, not only is it accurate, but God leadership is perfect because God is omnipotent. Wait a minute, he's the perfect leader because he has all power. He has all power in his hand. His leadership is perfect because he's got all power in his hand. He's powerful. He's potentially— oh my God— able to do any and everything. And watch this, his leadership is omnipotent and perfect because he understands your potency, your power, your potential, your authentic potential. He understands what you have the capacity to do that nobody else can do. His leadership is authentic, my God, and omnipotent. Secondly, he's omniscient. That's why it's perfect. He knows everything. There's nothing God does not know. He sees, he knows everything. And he's omnipresent. Not just he's everywhere at the same time, but wherever he's leading you He's already been there. He knows the ropes. He knows the right roads. He knows the patterns. He knows which way you need to go to get there on time and in season. Hallelujah! Somebody shout, he leadeth me, he leadeth me. Say, his leadership is perfect. His leadership is perfect. It's perfect because he's omnipotent, because he's omniscient, because he's omnipresent. He leads me where? Beside— oh my God, here we go— the still waters. Beside, the Hebrew word is al, a-l. It means in connection to or in alignment with the still waters. So it's not I'm just walking beside some still water, but God leads me in alignment so that— watch this— the still water, or what he's leading me beside can be an example to my life. Oh my God. So it can— I can mirror— oh my God— what he's leading me beside. Okay, here we go, here we go. He's leading me beside still waters, or the Hebrew word is menu'at, menu'at, menu'at, still. Minyot, which literally means quiet, stable waters. Let me deal with stability first. So quiet and stable. He leads me beside quiet and stable waters. Minyot, minyot, minyot, minyot. That's the Hebrew word, still waters. Minyot. Oh my God. So he puts me in alignment, in connection to quiet and peaceful waters. Ooh, Lord have mercy, Jesus. I got to get out of here, man. I got to go. I'm boring y'all. I'm gonna get out of here. I'm gonna get out. I'm closing for real. Watch this. Peaceful, quiet, stable. Let me deal with stability. Stability. Two words: stay or sta, ability. The ability to stay, the ability to stay the course, the ability to stand when everything else is falling apart, when everybody else is teaching against the Bible. Hallelujah! When everybody else is saying this book is obsolete, you got to have staying ability to keep following the book, to keep following what the book says. You got to have stability to— uh, watch this— to stay in your marriage when it gets tough. You gotta have stability, hallelujah, to not quit your ministry when it gets hard, to not quit your church pastor because of COVID hallelujah, because people won't come, because people are afraid, because people are lazy and want to watch church in their pajamas. Keep going, have some stability. God wants you stable. He wants you stable. He wants you to stand. And I think if these last 2 years have not taught us anything, it should have taught us stability. The ability to stand when everybody else is giving up and quitting, when everybody else is buying into what Fox News, CNN is saying about a disease and it's stopping us from progressing. We gotta stand and keep progressing, keep prospering. Oh my God, stayability, stayability. That's what God wants. He— you got to have the ability to stay. And when you follow God, he leads you beside stability so you can mirror stability. Insecure, unstable people do not produce anything. The James said they are double-minded. A double-minded man is unstable in all his ways. The reason you have instability in your life, in your bills, in your finances, with your children, with your family because you are not wholly following God like you should. Yeah, yeah. Okay, I'm closing, I'm closing, I'm closing. Let me deal with quiet. He leads me beside quiet waters. The Bible says in 1 Thessalonians 4— my God, I got to get out of here, y'all. I gotta get out of here. Obiasaya. 1 Thessalonians 4, the scripture declares, the scripture declares, glory to God, that he'll never leave you. And oh my God, and he'll never forsake you. But in 1 Thessalonians 4— I'm sorry, I, it's— I, I know somebody needs to hear that. He'll never leave you if you just walk with him. He won't do you— I hear that, Lord God. I'm trying to teach this, but Holy Spirit, I hear that some of you have been on the verge of giving giving up and quitting. Father, I hear you. Whether you're watching live or replay, somebody needs this right now. I prophesy to you tonight to know that God will never leave your side. Follow him. I know you followed others that left, you submitted to others that left, you subjected to even God before, and you felt like he left. But I'm telling you, he never left you, and he'll never leave you, nor forsake you. He's with you. He's with you. He's with you, and he'll be with you to the end. You just got to choose to follow him. 1 Thessalonians 4:11, the Bible says, and that ye study to be quiet and do your own business and to work with your own hands as we commanded you. Watch this. In other words, study to be quiet Mind your business. Focus on your stuff. Stop worrying about what everybody else is doing. Stop being a voyeur, living your life vicariously through people on the internet. Lord have mercy. You, you, you are thirsty to be seen, thirsty to be liked. Stop doing it. Study to be quiet. Oh my God, study to be quiet. There's a power in learning to be quiet. You know, the world celebrates loud people, loud things. Listen, the scripture said there's a time to be loud, but there's a time to be quiet. And you got— I know when to be loud. I'm loud when I praise, I'm loud when I preach, but I'm quiet when I'm in certain rooms. Rooms. I'm quiet around certain people because the more I'm silent, the more I learn what they know, and I learn what my value is to them because I listen to many a times their intelligence and their ignorance. Glory to God! Most people that are yapping all the time, that know everything, don't know much. The scripture here says study to be quiet-minded. Your own business. Listen, there's a power in being quiet. First of all, quietness— and I'm closing with these— can never be misquoted. Whoo! Nobody can misquote silence. I love my wife, and I have to use her as an example here. My wife is one of the most quietest people you ever want to meet. She, she, you know, she's a very loving, kind woman. And, you know, you can't judge her by her cover. She is intelligent. She speaks when she needs to speak, and she's very quiet. She doesn't bulge in. She sits back and watch this. Here's what I learned. She'll never be misquoted for saying anything she didn't say because she doesn't speak in out of turn. She doesn't speak on things that she doesn't need to speak on. She only speaks This is what I've learned about this woman. When God speaks to her, if God says something to her, she'll come and say, God said this. And many times it'll confirm, but she's not walking around always trying to prove that God is talking to her. She, she operates in quietness because quiet people can never be misquoted. They're gonna quote what God says, and they're gonna always be able to stand by what they say. But if you're quiet Nobody can misquote what you're saying. The reason you get misquoted, because you're talking too much. Listen, quietness can never be misquoted. Watch this. Quiet people— I've learned this about my wife too— are always in tune with themselves. They know themselves better than anybody else, and they know their strengths, they know their weaknesses. Glory to God. And they work really hard to be better people because they can see clearly, because they're quiet, who they are. Listen, you better study to be quiet. I'ma tell you something, and being married to my wife, I've learned a lot about quietness from her. It has taught me to take deep introspectives of myself so I can hear more clearly. And see more better. And watch this, quiet people move in a level of patience that loud people don't because they listen to the fullness of the details about what they need to do. That was number 3, quiet people are more patient. Number 4, quiet people are better listeners to God and others. Oh my God, quiet people listen because they're quiet. You cannot hear and— oh my God— speak at the same time, y'all. You can't do it. So even in praying, if you really want to hear God, you got to take some time to meditate, be quiet. Yeah, yeah. And listen to what God has to say. You so busy shouting at God, praying, you don't— and then you running out into your day you don't even take time to get quiet and listen to what he has to say. Number 4— number 5, I'm sorry. Quiet people are astute learners. Quiet people learn very well because they know the power in silencing everything so they can hear, receive, learn, grow. And then number 6, and I'm closing: quiet people usually help more people. I'll say it again: quiet people usually help more people. Why? Again, because they are able to listen and discern what people are going through and how they can help. Listen, the Bible said he leads me beside quiet waters so I can study. I can study how to be quiet. I can walk in quietness. Listen, I'm telling you, God is raising somebody up right now. To be a quiet storm. He's raising somebody up right now to be a quiet storm. Hear me, hear me, and I'm closing. He wants you to learn in silence and manifest in power. You know, I am grateful for God and what he does in the life of his people. And I'm telling you right now, learn to move in silence. Stop running your mouth about everything you're doing. Stop posting all the stuff you're doing on Facebook. Nobody's impressed. I'm telling you right now, you know, people may act like they are, but they really not. Then most time people are hating on you. Stop posting your dreams and your steps. You know, move in silence and then just let it manifest. And speak for itself. And when it, when it comes to pass, speak the testimony, because God leads you beside still waters. Let's pray. Father, in Jesus' name, I thank you tonight. I thank you for your goodness, your mercy, your grace, God. I thank you for your favor that you brought upon this life. I pray, God, that every person under the sound of my voice will allow you to lead them beside the still waters. That God, they will allow themselves to move in quietness and peace and stability. And I pray, God, in the name of Jesus, that they will become good sheep, good followers of you, that your will will be known in their life and manifested on every level. In the name of Jesus, amen. And thank God. Listen, I love you guys. I'm so grateful, man, that y'all joining me. Listen, I pray that you take this series on sheep seriously. Series on sheep seriously. Yes, take it seriously, because as you learn to follow effectively, the manifestations of this is going to come forth in your life. Listen, I need every person listening to me tonight— don't scroll, please stay with me— I need you to get off this live as we close and plant a seed of $23.20 into ministry tonight. The Lord told me to tell you, as we sow into this message— see, we're at verse— chapter— division of Psalm 23, verse 20. I mean, the 20th— 23rd division of Psalm, verse 20. Now we're sowing $23.20 to connect with this verse. As you desire to follow, I need you to plant a seed in the ground that God will lead you by quiet waters, that it will produce manifest miracles and blessings in your life. I'm trusting God that as you sow tonight, he's multiplying your seed sown a thousand times more. Listen, don't ignore what I'm saying. Get off of here and do it. There's something you need God to do. And I'm telling you, in this month of September, there's going to be a release of great financial miracles. So when God speaks to you about a seed, he has a future on his mind. Get this seed in the ground tonight. Don't delay. Many of you listening to me, if you're a tither and you're a member of our church, you need to tithe. If you're a member of Rhoda Church, if you're a member of Rhoda Alliance, you need to tithe. And then on top of that, you need to sow your seed of $23.20. Listen, if you're connected to any church, tithe to your church and plant this $23.20 into Rhoda Church for your miracle tonight. Sow into this word. It. I promise you, God will bless you for it. I love you guys so much. Y'all are the— I'm telling y'all, y'all do my heart good. It gives me a great opportunity to teach you. Listen, I'm appreciative for this new setup that I'm trying to work out, the kinks in, in my studio. You know, I'm always trying new tech stuff, so I'm appreciative of God. Y'all let me know, give me your feedback on how you enjoyed it, how the picture quality was, how the sound was. And, and so we can see how we're going to proceed forward with this. I love you. Grace and peace be multiplied to you from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. And I'm going to remind you, as I do each and every week, share the word with a friend. And remember, your decisions determine your destiny. God bless you.