THE MYSTERY OF FREEDOM: PART 4, "FREEDOM AND POWER" | DR MIKE WOODS, SR. | 8 JANUARY 2026

Alright, well, praise the Lord, everybody. I pray you are well. This indeed is the day the Lord has made, and we shall rejoice. And be glad in it. Look, do me a favor, family, please share this. Glory to God. Um, our entire ministry family should be online, so please, uh, share this for me right now. I need you to do me the kind favor and share. Glory to the name of God. So let's let that make— be our first order of business. Please share And if you're here with us tonight, please comment below. I want to say hello to every person that's joining us. Glory to the name of God. Uh, thank you for being here. Uh, this is a powerful word we're going to share tonight, and I truly believe, uh, if you tap in tonight, you're going to be blessed. Glory to the name of God. And it's just really that simple. If you tap in tonight You're going to be blessed. So please, guys, I need you to do me the favor and share, share, share, share. Matter of fact, I'm going to take a moment to make sure that we share again. Glory to the name of God, because we don't want anyone to miss, uh, this blessing on tonight. Praise God. So I'm going to share this. And I'm going to actually send out another text. Glory to the name of God. And, uh, we going to jump right into this teaching tonight. I promise you, you're going to be blessed. Praise God. Hallelujah. Glory to God. I feel like teaching the word tonight. Glory to God. So I promise you, you're going to be blessed tonight. God's going to meet us, uh, in this teaching. So make sure, glory to the name of God, you do as I said and please, by all means, family, share. Glory to the name of God. There's a something— I'm actually at the church, so something's gonna happen in this building tonight, uh, with just me. So y'all share, make sure everybody's on, uh, please send out a text, a final text, and let people know that we are here. Glory to God. Hallelujah. Glory to God. We give God praise. We give God praise. He's a good God. He's a mighty God. Beside him there is no other.

And please, guys, do me a favor.

God bless you, Tonya Kirby. Good to see you. Glory to the name of God. God bless everyone. Come in and get what you need tonight. God bless you, Stephanie. Praise God. God is good, and there's none like him nowhere. Praise God. If you, um, glory to the name of God, are just joining us, we're asking everybody to please engage and to please share. Glory to the name of God.

It's just nice to be nice.

Somebody else needs this, praise God. So please, glory to Jesus, uh, get the— help us get this word out. All right, glory to God. I came to grab my phone, but I believe there's something good, something special. You know, anytime we get in the word, it's really special anyway, uh, and we just got to fall in love with the word. Glory to the name of God. And, uh, but I believe something special is going to occur in this very room tonight. So please, family, do me the favor and share. Glory to God. So I'm going to send out another text really quick. Glory to God. And, uh, I believe God's going to, like I said, meet us here. Glory to God. I pray everybody has had a, a, a great day. I pray that, uh, your new year has been blessed. Praise God. So please come in, glory to the name of God, and stay with us. I promise you I won't be long tonight, but I promise you also I got something to say. So I believe that there needs to be people on here to hear this tonight. So let's make sure we are inviting. And you know, sometimes I, I try to tell y'all, there are people that will join the online teachings and things of that nature before they even actually come to the building. There's some people that will do that. So if you will share, glory to God, and invite people, you know, they'll get on. Praise God. So I want to challenge you to do that tonight. Sharing is caring. Glory to the name of God. So let's, let's share tonight. Let's get this into the homes and the hearts of every person that needs to hear it. I'm going to take the— I'm on here, so I'm gonna say it. I am live right now. Please join us. I promise you will be blessed. Glory to God. All right, so that text just went out to our entire text list, and, um, we want to make sure as many people as possible, uh, get in on this teaching tonight. Praise the name of God. I'm, I'm so glad to be alive in this day and time. It's a good time to be alive. Glory to God. And super excited. Praise God for what God is doing. He's so good. He's so wonderful. He's so mighty. Glory to God. Let's pray, and then we're going to jump right into the heart of this teaching tonight. Father, in Jesus' name, we thank you for your goodness. We thank you for your mercy. We thank you for your grace. We thank you, Father, for your favor. We declare there's none like you nowhere. It's in It's in you we live. It's in you we move. It's in you we have our being. God, you're the joy and lifter of our head. And Father, I'm praying tonight that even as we teach your word, that we will experience the light, the illumination, and the intelligence of the Holy Ghost. Father, do something in this room. Do something through this live teaching that man cannot do. May the word that comes out of my mouth, dear God, may it go through the lens of this camera. May it superimpose itself upon every person that will adhere and receive on tonight. In the mighty name of Jesus, I declare it to be so. In Jesus' name, amen. Praise God. All right, family, we're going to jump right into the heart of this tonight. I believe again that God has something, uh, very profound, very powerful, uh, he wants to say to us, um, And I promise you, if you stay with me, this word is going to bless you tonight. It blessed me preparing it, um, and I'm excited to teach it, and I believe you're going to receive big time tonight. So we started teaching, uh, back in December actually, uh, from the subject The Mystery of Freedom. Um, the first message was called Embracing Freedom, and I wanna go right back there. This is our fourth installment, praise God, of this series. We started in December, we preached the first message, and one of the things we shared, and just by way of reviewing the first message, is that freedom, say that with me, freedom is more difficult than slavery or bondage. And when I said that for the first time, a lot of people looked at me like I was absolutely out of my mind, but the reality is, slavery and bondage in many instances is more attractive than real freedom, okay? Because real freedom requires responsibility. I want you to understand, you're not free just because you go to work every day. You ain't free just because you got up this morning.

Watch this, you ain't free just because you live in the United States of America. Matter of fact, the reality is and I stated this in the first teaching— that about 78.9% of all humans still operate in a psychological state of bondage. And the reality is you can be saved or not and still be bound.

Glory to the name of God.

And the reason bondage is more attractive, because when you're in bondage, whether you're in bondage to a job, bondage to a mindset, Uh, bondage to a religious system, bondage to a family system. When you're in bondage, glory to God, you have someone else or some other comfort that is supplying for you. And the reality is, in freedom, it requires responsibility. Real freedom calls for responsibility. Real freedom calls for work.

I'm gonna say that again.

Real freedom calls for responsibility, and real freedom calls for work. You're not gonna experience freedom if you're lazy. You're not gonna experience freedom—

glory to the name of God—

if you're not willing to take the position of a learner and gain the insight and knowledge necessary so you can actually move in freedom.

I'm just reviewing.

So again, you'll be saying about Real freedom calls for responsibility. And here's the final thing I want to share in this review.

The enemy, the devil—

hear me— he has always been intimidated— watch this— by your destiny.

Can I submit to you tonight, you're going somewhere.

There's a, there's a plan that God already designed for your life. Matter of fact, the scriptures declare that God decides, or he declares or decrees the end from the beginning. So God has already decided where you end up. He's already decided where you're going. He's already decided what your life should look like. And the reality is, the enemy understands the power and authority of your destiny. So this is why in life he fights you so hard. So that you won't fulfill the destiny or the plan that God has designed for your life. All right, so you have to decide, man, that you want for real what God has for you so you can really be free. I also taught— and this is— I'll say this and then we'll get into tonight, but we'll review that bondage.

Glory to the name of God.

Many times is misunderstood when people actually leave it, because they think because they left bondage they're actually free. But honestly, and I gave a type and picture of the children of Israel— the children of Israel were in bondage in Egypt.

I'm going to say that again, they were in bondage in Egypt.

Hear me, glory to God. And Moses went down, and we'll talk a little bit more about him later, uh, and he, he was a deliverer. He went down to deliver them out of the hand of Pharaoh, which— Pharaoh, I talked about this before— is the spirit of limitation. And, and as I'm talking tonight, there, there are several of you, live or by replay, who are operating in the spirit of limitation. Or you're operating in the spirit of Pharaoh. Pharaoh is limiting your progress. You're, you're yet— watch this— out of his care, but you're still in wilderness. These people came out of Egypt and start complaining to Moses about why he would bring them from their master. Why would you bring us out here to die? When we was in Egypt, we had food. You know why you had food? Because the master wanted you strong so he can keep you a slave. He took care of your children, future slaves. And the reality is it took them 40 years to go into the Promised Land, which was actually freedom. So you have bondage, deliverance, and freedom. It took them 40 years to go a 12-day journey because they feared confrontation and they steal had an Egyptian mentality. As long as you have the mindset of sin and Egypt and the systems of the world and not embrace the mysteries of the kingdom, you're gonna always be stuck going in a cycle and never really obtain freedom. Oh my God, at the level that God would have you to obtain it.

Are y'all with me tonight? Glory to God.

So tonight we're going to introduce an element to freedom that I think is very important. And I think I need to back up and talk about mystery because this series is called The Mystery of Freedom. And so as we teach this, because as 2026 has come God spoke to me and he said, son, this is going to be a year of true freedom and true release for those that will receive it, for those that would do the work. All right, and the reality is you— we have to unravel the mysteries that cause us to really truly be free, because again, it's a lot of people that are still in bondage in their mind That's why their life still looks the same. Saved, but nothing really has changed because the mindset has not shifted. There has to be a paradigm shift in your mind that causes freedom for real. Freedom is not going to church. I'm sorry, freedom is not praying loud. Freedom is not falling in the floor. Listen, freedom is not studying your Bible. Freedom— watch this— is getting up out of the floor, leaving church. Oh my God, leaving studying your Bible. Glory to the name of God. Going into the world, taking authority, moving in influence, operating as a person of responsibility who understands that you have a key responsibility for dominion. Oh my God tonight. You got a responsibility to take control. You got a responsibility to be in charge. Are y'all with me?

Glory to God.

So let's back up and talk about mystery, because I need you to be clear on what a mystery is and why we're teaching this this way. So let's, um, go to Mark chapter number 4.

Glory to God. And verse number 11. Somebody please type that in the comments for me. Mark 4, verse 11.

This is Jesus talking, and he says, unto you it is given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God, but unto them— listen to this— that are without, all these things are done in parables. Verse 12, that seeing they may see and not perceive, and hearing they may hear and not understand, lest at any time they should be converted and their sins should be forgiven them. So powerful. I'm gonna go back and deal with that in a moment. Let's look at 1 Corinthians 2 and verse number 7.

This is the Apostle Paul talking to the church at Corinth. Somebody type that in the comments for me, please. Uh, 1 Corinthians 2. Thank you, thank you so 1 Corinthians 2, uh, verse 7.

The Bible says, we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery.

Hear this, even the hidden wisdom.

Glory to God, which God ordained before the world unto our God. So first of all, let's deal with, uh, real quickly, Mark 4:11. We read it. Jesus said, is given unto you, you and I. As kingdom citizens, as people who serve the King. Notice I didn't say churchgoers. Notice I didn't say religious hype, or people who are in the mainstream of religion and religious activity and religious verbiage, talk a good game, glory to God, but not really functional as kingdom citizens. Watch this. There are people that even know a lot of kingdom lingo and linguistics but do not actually live the life of a kingdom citizen. Saved, hear me, born again, but have not unraveled the mystery of the kingdom when God says it is available for us. For everybody else, it's a riddle, it's a parable, it's something that appeases their interests until they have a right to understand the mystery.

Oh my God.

And it's a shame that there are people in church who still are just getting their interests appeased and not really unraveling the mystery of the kingdom of God. Oh, oh, you go to church, you say you got a relationship with God, great. But I doubt it because God is a king, and when a king decrees a thing, it becomes a law. And his main thing with his citizens is to release decrees out of his mouth concerning our future and our destiny. And if you are unclear— oh my God, for real— about where you're going, what God has called you to do, what you should be doing, I very seriously doubt, ladies and gentlemen, I doubt if indeed you have a relationship with God, because God would never leave you confused. He's going to deal with you about you, because the very reason you exist is to fulfill a kingdom purpose.

Oh my God. So what is a mystery, Michael Woods?

It comes from the Greek word mysterion. Mysterion is a secret that was previously hidden but now made clear so that purpose can be fulfilled and problems can be solved. So it's given unto you to know the mystery of the kingdom, the domain, or the rule, the authority, the power of the King so that you can fulfill your purpose, your destiny, maximize your potential. Hear me, hear me, family. Hear me, hear me. Glory. Maximize your potential. God have mercy. And problems for real can be solved.

The world is in trouble. There's a lot of problems that go unsolved. Oh boy, because we got a whole lot of people who have not unraveled the mystery of true power and authority. They're not really free because they don't know the mystery of getting free.

Oh my God. Oh my God. But you touch yourself and say, I was born to fulfill purpose. Say that. Say, I was born to solve a problem. I need you to believe that.

I need you to receive it.

You were born to fulfill purpose. You were born to solve a problem. And I talked about this a little Sunday. Your assignment is the problem you were created to solve. Everybody listening to me tonight, there is a mantle innately built in you from the time you left heaven, went into the loins of your parents— glory to God— and became an embryo. It was only because there's an assignment on earth you must complete. Everybody's not called to be a preacher. Everybody's not called to be an apostle, a prophet, an evangelist, a pastor, teacher. I wish we would get past that. There are many issues in the world that need to be solved, and you need to find your place.

Glory to God.

All right, all right, all right, all right, all right. So let's understand what freedom really looks like from this perspective then. So if I, if I, if I walk in purpose which is the original intent for God creating me. So God created you with an— he intentionally created you and I for a specific purpose. That's the reason why your heart beats. Matter of fact, let me submit to you in 2026 tonight— I've been teaching this for 35 years, but let me say it again tonight.

Glory to God. If your heart is still beating, it's an indicator that your purpose is still necessary.

I'm gonna say it again.

If your heart is still beating, it is an indicator that your purpose is still— my God, tonight necessary. I wish I had some help here.

Oh my God, your purpose is needed on earth.

Glory to God.

Your purpose—

glory to the name of God—

is being used by God to bring transformation. Hallelujah to those that need it. Are y'all with me tonight? So it's God's original intent. He didn't make no mistake. God didn't sponsor no junk. He didn't sponsor no flops. You are supposed to be here. I'm spending too much time in the introduction, but I, I need to really deal with this. So truth then about who you are becomes a prerequisite to freedom. All right, again, freedom comes with work and responsibility.

Watch this. So Let's, let's, let's just deal with it. Glory to God.

So let's look at John 8:32. The Bible says, and you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. I really don't have time to teach this the way I could tonight, but I just want you to be clear really quickly right here. Thank you, Lord. That truth is a prerequisite to freedom. What I need— what do I need truth on? What truth do I need to know? Well, the first thing I need to do to know the truth of God's word, I need to know what God's word said. So this is why I tell y'all, y'all need to fall in love with the word of God. Many people give so many other things priority over God's word. See, when you fall in love with the truth of God's word And then through that truth, you begin to develop real, real relationship with God. I'm not talking about some phony, fake, just because you said it relationship. That truth becomes a priority. What the word says, you do. Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy, oh boy. And, and then watch this, the other side of that, when you fall in love with the word and fall in love with God, the truth of who he is, now he reveals to you the truth of who you are. Oh boy! Oh God, I feel like running through this church. Listen, he reveals the truth of who you are. So, but, but it starts— I gotta discover the truth of the word. Nothing I'm saying tonight will matter if you don't believe the word of God is true. You don't believe God is truth. Jesus said it. He said, I'm the way, the truth, and the light. Okay, I don't have time, I really don't, but the Bible says if you know truth about word, God, yourself, it brings freedom. Now watch this. You cannot— and I gotta lay a backdrop because once I get to what I'm gonna talk about tonight, I'll be almost through. I just need to lay a backdrop for where I'm going. Hear me? But you gotta divulge and take a deep dive into prioritizing truth, man. Prioritizing the word, not your screen time on Facebook, TikTok, Instagram.

I gotta be careful because I'm on there right now.

But you ought to find opportunity even through these platforms to feed yourself truth, not garbage, not following the latest trend. And you got something to say about everything, and all you do is, is watch, scroll your phone, watch videos all day. The reality is you got to tap into new dimensions of truth, new dimensions of power, new dimensions of anointing, new dimensions of glory.

My God, my God. Okay, okay, okay. So truth is a prerequisite to freedom. This is, this is part of the mystery. I'm going somewhere.

Watch this. Entitlement And sin is the second thing I want you to understand about freedom. Oh my God, it perpetrates or it becomes a substratum to bondage. Sin keeps you in bondage. Let's read John 8:33-35. Let's read it. They answered him. So he said, now truth gonna make us free. They answer him saying, we're Abraham's seed. And we're never in bondage to any man. Here we go. How sayest thou, you shall be made free? Now, if that is not entitlement— that's entitlement, man. We're Abraham's seed. We ain't gonna never be in bondage. And how can you tell me that I need to know truth about you, about your word, about myself? We ain't saying— this is what tends to happen. People get stuck in an old mindset, an old system. Watch this. The thesis of God is timeless. I'll say that again. The thesis of God is timeless, which means it doesn't change. He has different devices and different methods. He, he cannot be put in a box. He's God. The way he does things is the way he does things. And you cannot lock him into an old system. Watch this, he is progressive, and he's always going to be God, but there is always progressive revelation of who he is. Oh, oh, there's always a progressive revelation of who He is.

Oh boy, I wish I had some help here. I wish I had some help here.

God, Jesus, God, I feel like I'm losing y'all. But listen, you cannot get stuck in old wineskins. You can't get stuck in the way you did it 20 years ago, 25 years ago. God is progressive, and because he's timeless, you cannot lock him into a certain season of time where he did things a certain way. You must go in the progression that he's moving. Lord have mercy. Verse 35, watch this. Wait a minute, no, verse 34. And Jesus answered them, okay, you, you want to stay stuck there, but verily, verily, I say unto you, or seriously, seriously, I say to you, whosoever committed sin is a servant of sin. So wait a minute, he's telling them, y'all are of Abraham, but you're in sin. Now I want you to get out of your mind for a moment, while these are sins, the quote-unquote big sins like adultery, fornication, homosexuality— they sins now, all of them— but the word sin is harmatia in Greek, and it means to miss the mark or come short. Many people are bound and don't experience true freedom because they are— they may not even be doing the big sins, but they're missing the mark, coming short, because they're misaligned with purpose. They're misaligned. Watch this, and we'll talk about these two things in a moment. Two of the five things I'm going to talk about throughout this Freedom and Power piece They're misaligned with place and person. The reality is, when you are not in the right place, when you are not aligned with the right persons that, oh my God, are moving you in a direction of fulfilling purpose, I'm sorry to tell you, you're missing the mark.

Hermitia, you're in sin and you're bound. Oh boy.

Okay, uh, yeah, I can really go deeper.

I, I mean, we can get into a lot of things about, you know, being in the wrong.

Oh, okay, let me, let me just move. Let me just move. Let me just move.

Okay, I'm gonna move because I ain't got time. I really don't. My time really is running out already. Oh my God.

Verse 35, the Bible said, the servant abided not in the house forever, but the son abided forever.

So watch this.

If you're slaves, if you're in sin, missing the mark, and even if you're proclaiming, I'm a member of this church, or I'm a part of this family, oh my God, and you, you, yes, this, these things are your claim to fame. I'm a part of this denomination. This person is my apostle. This person is my bishop. Watch this. The reality is the Bible says you will not abide in that house forever Oh my God, if you're in sin, you need the Son to pull you into eternity. Jesus pulls us into eternal freedom, and that's what we need. You need the Son to pull you into freedom. You need to be connected as a part of his family where you're not just delivered and have a badge of identity from a— oh my God— sect or organization or group or people. Oh my God, that you identify with, that you find the comfort in saying, I know them, I'm a part of them. But listen, if you're missing purpose, if you're coming short of what God planned, you're in sin and you need the Son to bring you into freedom. Which brings me to verse 36.

There can be no freedom without Jesus. 'Cause 8:36 says, "He who the Son sets free is free indeed." Watch this, free indeed, or in all aspects. So you're not just free from hell and going to heaven, but when Jesus really sets you free, you're free financially.

Yeah.

You're free emotionally.

Watch this.

You ought to be free from sickness and disease. Oh yeah, man, you ought to be free. Glory to God. From everything that's not like God. You ought to be free from the systems of the world. You ought to be free from the opinions of man. Glory to God. You ought to be free Ah, God, to flow in who you are.

You're free indeed. Glory to God. And nothing has you bound. Well, I'm telling you, this is going to be the year of freedom.

Glory to the name of God. So how do we unravel this mystery of freedom and power?

Then how does power tie into freedom? Why is power important to freedom?

I'm glad you asked, because power— exousia in Greek, or what exousia is, authority, influence. Dunamis is inherent authority, ability, which means it's power that comes from another source.

So all power is delegated power. All authority is delegated authority. It comes from God, right? So in order to really move in true freedom, I gotta tap into power. There's another power called kratos, which is supernatural strength. Watch, that comes on my physical man. Uh, Samson often moved in kratos, which is supernatural ability to to do things you could not do in your natural abilities. When you flow in power, you have to understand it doesn't always start with you. So to unravel this potential that's in you, it has to connect to sources. The main source is God, but then God creates other areas of power that we must connect to to enhance our potency, our potential, our power.

I'm telling you, I feel like running for real, man.

I really hope y'all getting this tonight. God wants to unravel—

let me look back here and see how many folk on here.

Oh, we got 15 folk on. I need y'all to share this. Glory to the name of God. We need to unravel the potency so that the potential— watch this— God is omnipotent, omnipotent. He's all power. Potent is power. Your potential that you have not tapped. So watch this. Potential is not what you— hallelujah— can't do is really what you have not done and still can do. It's not where you have not been. Are y'all hearing this? Is where you still can go. You have something in you that's dormant, and that's what I want to help tap tonight. But you got to have the right connections to bring this power forward. So tonight I'm gonna go through this quickly. We're gonna unravel the mystery of power and how it connects to my freedom. If I really want to be free, I got to tap into power, but I can't tap into power if I don't understand the mystery of power. The first thing I got to do to understand the mystery of power I have to understand the power of place. Somebody say place. I talked a little on this. I hit it Sunday, and I've— again, I've been teaching this for 35 years about assignment, people, places, particulars, provision, problems.

Watch this.

Beyond that aspect of it, place is important. You cannot— glory to the name of God— really tap into who you really are and flow at the highest level of power and freedom that God wants you to flow in until you understand the power— whoo—

of place.

Place. Watch this. Places shape your identity. Places shape your behavior. The wrong— the wrong place can shape the wrong identity. You ever heard the term being at the wrong place?

Oh my God, at the wrong time.

And there are people who have been in the wrong place at the wrong time and lost their life. Watch this. There are people who have been at the right place, yeah, at the wrong time. And oh my God, because the timing was out of line— hear me— and it wasn't time They were on target but out of time. You could be on target but out of time. Yeah, God could have said it, you're on target but you're out of time. So you got to make sure you're at the right place at the right time so that you can make the right connection, because places shape your identity, they shape your worldview, they influence how you behave.

Listen, let me, let me just go here.

There are some people who were at home. There's no wrong way to be at home. They were in a place at their house, but they were violated by someone in that place that shaped the identity that was not what they were born to be.

Oh, y'all ain't got to say much.

They molested, raped in by some demonized, nasty individual who, oh my God, was out of their mind to touch a child in that way. Are y'all with me tonight? So we might as well tell the truth. Glory to God. And some behaviors, some attitudes toward sex and sexuality shifted because of that place. And there's no wrong way to be at home. You are innocent. And I want to say to somebody tonight— I don't know why I'm going here— that was molested, that was raped, that was touched inappropriately when you were a child, God wants to set you free. Oh, Shabbat! God wants to set you free tonight from that bondage of that wrong touch in the wrong place. Glory to God. You are at home. It's not your fault. Stop blaming yourself for those demons that was in that person. I don't care who it was, they were full of demons. And the reason you are like you are, the reason you act like you are, you respond to things the way you do, is because you are innocent. You are violated, but God wants to set you free tonight. Sumuntu rabakasa tatavansi. Oh, glory to God! God wants to deliver you from places that shaped the wrong identity, that gave you bad theology, bad behavior, that gave you a bad worldview, that ruined your perspective on life. Places, my friends, are important.

Lekeish katataba soto rabatai.

Rebi kush katataba. Your place is important. So watch this, you need to manage your place. Jesus said this, he says, I go to prepare a place for you, that where I am you may be also. Most people took that out of context in, in Saint John's Gospel, chapter 15. They, and they think he's talking about, okay, I'm going to heaven and you're coming to heaven behind me. That's not what he was saying. He says not where I'm going, where I am. I'm going to prepare a place that where I am you may be also. God has— oh my God— places for you where he exists. Lord have mercy. And, and, and you— not where I'm going, but where I am. You need to be where he is. I never want to be where God was. I always want to be where God is. He didn't say where I'm going, he said where I am. Oh my God, Pastor Jeffrey moved from the DMV to Atlanta, Georgia. Place, place. He moved from one place to a new place. Glory to God. So that he can align with purpose, in line with destiny. Place. Some of you connected to this ministry, you left one place and came to this place. Oh my God, so that you can align and connect with power and with the freedom, because you needed to be in the right place. Some of you are holding on to places you need to let go of. Glory to God, you're expecting— oh my God— something to be resurrected in that place. You, you got to let go of those old places. Yeah, you did that in that place, but God has prepared a new place. Glory to God! To shape a new identity, to give you new revelation of yourself, to show you who you are. Okay, let me give you some scripture. I'm almost done, I'm almost done.

God has sent Ezekiel to a place.

Ezekiel 37:1, the Bible says, the hand of the Lord was upon me and he carried me out in the spirit of the Lord and set me down in the midst of a valley, a place which was full of dry bones.

Oh my God, the reality is assignments happen in places. Purpose is fulfilled in places.

Learning occurs in places. Miracles happen in places. But you have to make sure— watch this— notice what the hand of the Lord was upon him. So that means God set him in the place. God set members in the church according to 1 Corinthians 14. Some of you don't realize how you ended up in this place. Some of you that have not yet come yet, glory to the name of God, you belong in this place. You've been fighting it, glory to God, and you've been trying to resurrect— listen, I'm telling you, you've been trying to raise the dead in the place you're in. Listen, it's easier to give birth to a new baby than to raise the dead. And I'm telling you, some of you are God is calling you even while I'm talking out of the place you're in. That— listen, you're holding on to that church because it was your grandmama church. It was your mama church. The reality is you got to let it go. It's dead. It's over. Glory to— ikébá is written over the door and you see it and know it, but you're still holding on to that place. And in order for you to get truly free and connect to the source, you got to understand the power of place. And listen, by no means am I telling you that God cannot visit you anywhere, but what I am telling you, there are some places— glory to the name of God— that make the visitations of God consistent and constant. Oh, glory to God! And that's what you need, and that's what you want. I'm almost done, I got to get out of here, I'm, I'm over time almost. Glory to—

so God God sent Ezekiel to a place. I read that just for the context of you got to let God set you in the right place. Glory to the Name of God. Glory to God. So you can fulfill assignments. So you can get connected to the power source.

Watch this.

God sent Elijah to a place. 1 Kings 17.

Where did he send him?

1 Kings 17. Somebody type it in the comments. Verse number 3, he says, "Get thee hence and turn thee eastward and hide thyself by the brook Cherith that is before Jordan.

And it shall be that thou shalt drink of the brook, and I have commanded the ravens to feed thee there." Oh my God.

Oh my God. In other words, watch this.

The place where you are, Elijah, the source of your strength, of your sustenance.

You cannot drink, you cannot eat from this place any longer.

You must go to the Brook of Cherith. Oh my God! And receive what you need there. Watch this. Elijah was a prophetic type. Listen, there are many of you listening to me tonight, you're prophetic types, you're apostolic types. You need to be in a house in a brook where you can be fed the sustenance you need. Watch this, you cannot keep hanging around dry brooks because you can't give what you need to others if you're not getting what you need yourself. Oh my God, tonight, watch this. Here's what I love, the ravens, a dirty bird, an uncommon bird that no one will want to eat from was the bird that fed the prophet. See, you think what you need is in a glamorous place many a time. Oh my God, oh my God. You think what you need is an iconolistic celebrity type leader. Oh boy, I hate to talk like this because people think I'm hating, but I really ain't hating because I'm very satisfied who I am. I'm, I'm extremely successful in everything God has called me to do. The reality is, listen, I'm just telling you the truth tonight. The mindset of people is iconolistic. I was in a meeting yesterday and I was telling the person I was in the meeting, I said, listen, the church has become iconolistic. This is why I have shied away from branding myself, putting myself out there like that. The reality is this thing is about God. Right. I need you to understand something.

I need you to understand something.

You need to be in— you need to be open to receive the miracle that God wants to give you, however it comes.

And there are some places God will send you that you may not necessarily want to be.

I'm here to tell you, the Jordan was nasty. It was dirty. Elijah, I promise you, did not want to be right in front of the Jordan at the Brook of Cherith. He didn't want to be fed by ravens, but guess what?

Those ravens took good care of him until that brook dried up. Y'all ain't got to say nothing to me. All right, so watch this. Jesus came to a place. The Bible said, for God so loved the world— a place, not the church, the world, the cosmos, the cosmopolitan system, the world, the Earth— he came to earth, that God sent him as his only begotten son so that we can believe in him so we wouldn't perish and have eternal life. But he had to come to a place to fulfill his assignment. Listen, the house of God— yeah, some of y'all not gonna like me right here— it's a place. Yeah, I had a meeting this week with Pastor Jeffrey talking about some of the shift in services and things that we're going to do. You should never complain, hear me, when you have an opportunity to come to the house of God, the place he is designed for your breakthrough, the place he's designed for your deliverance. Some of us will prioritize other places. Well, I got to be at home, I got to be at the stadium, I got to watch the game, I got to do this, I got to do that.

Listen, many of you will remain stuck because you don't understand the power of place. See, you gotta— when God puts his name on a place, God, and puts his stamp of approval on a place, it influences purpose, it influences your potential, your power, it influences your perspective. Let's look at it. Deuteronomy 12, verse Number 5, Deuteronomy 12:5. I'm almost done. He says, but unto the place which the Lord your God shall choose out of all your tribes to put his name there, even unto his habitation shall you see, and thither shall you come. So when God puts his name on a place like Rhoda Church at 1410 Santa Fe Trail in the Anointed Touch Plaza in Ellenwood, Georgia, when he puts his name on a commercial building and says, this is the place where I want you to come and meet me, you should always want to come thither to that habitation. I don't— again, I don't ever want to be where God was. I want to be where he is. I was talking to my realtor today, Mertis, glory to God, and we're talking about these 33 acres that that we're getting ready to buy.

Glory to God.

Hallelujah. When I was talking to her, she had already sent me the pictures of the land. We're getting ready to get surveys. We're getting ready to get appraisal. Glory to the name of God. And we're getting ready to make an offer and put a contract on this land. Glory to Jesus. Listen, and we're gonna build God a city and we're gonna build a habitation for him there for ministry and marketplace. Glory to God. And we're going to really bring transformation in this area through that compound. Listen, whether it's there or here, God puts his name on a place. Good God, you ought to want to get to that place as often as possible without excuses. Some of y'all make too many excuses for me about coming to the place where God has put his name. I know you say, God at my house, but he ain't put his name on your house. Oh, he there, but his— your name on your house. Oh God, that's why we got the local church. Glory to God. So he can inhabit this place and we can come together and experience him as a corporate man. Oh God, I gotta go, man. I gotta go. Let me give you another— Psalm 84. Psalm 84, verse 1. The Bible says, how amiable are thy tabernacles, your place the places where you dwell, O Lord of hosts. How amiable— the word amiable means worthy of love— how worthy of love are thy tabernacles. So the house of God is worthy of love.

I ain't gonna get to the second one tonight. My God, my time gone. House of God is worthy of love, people. It's worth the love. It's worthy of love. It's Worthy of love.

It's worthy of love. So every time you get to come into the house of God and love on the tabernacles, the place where God dwells, and fellowship with him corporately, you should want that.

It's power in place, because again, places shape identity.

Listen, that's why I don't get it.

Some people will go— I, you know, I tell my wife all the time, she'll say, we want to go to this.

I ain't going there. I'm not— yeah, I'm just not going everywhere and wasting my time in places that won't influence my power, that won't influence my freedom. I need to be in places that will influence my freedom so that when I go to the places I'm assigned, I can influence those places where I'm called to go.

Watch this, watch this.

We started a church in Jackson, Mississippi, Felicia and I. And for a whole year while we were planning that church, we would go down on Saturday night and have Sabbath services on Saturday night. And people were wondering probably, why would they do that?

Why would they drive there, come back, have church here on Sunday and plan that church?

Well, we had to be in that place because the group of people that we had to impact in that time we were planning it was necessary. We had to create reconciliation with our sons and daughters that needed to be a part of that time of planning. We had to deploy another apostle, my daughter, who is pastoring there now. The reality is we had to be in the place. If we never would have went to that place, that wouldn't have happened. Places are important. Let me give you one more.

Let me give you one Come on, Psalm 33:1, 33:3. Uh-huh, yeah. The dew of Hermon, and that's the dew of the descended upon the mountains of Zion.

Watch this. For there in a place the Lord commanded the blessing, even life evermore. So eternal life and blessing is in the right places. I'm telling you this, you gotta unlock the mystery of place. You got to start celebrating place. And not just your house. The world is bigger than your house. It's bigger than your street. It's bigger than your neighborhood. There are places you are called to conquer. There are places you're called to touch. There are places you're called to be a blessing in.

Oh my God, power place, man. Don't curse the places that God has ordained. Celebrate those places. Embrace those places. Love on those places. Glory to God. I got to quit. I, I got, man, I got 4 more points, but Sunday is coming. Glory to the name of God. So I'm going to stop right here because, again, I, I don't want to overwhelm you, but in order to operate in the freedom that you've been called to, you got to unravel the mystery of power. Oh God. And this was just one point. I'm going to jump in both feet Sunday. But you got to learn to embrace the places joyfully-yam and priority that God has given you so that your identity can be shaped, so that you can be influenced, so you can grow in the grace of God and in the power and in the assignment and the purpose and the plan that he has for your life. Let's pray tonight. Father, in Jesus' name, I thank you for I thank you for your goodness, your mercy, your grace. I thank you for kindness and favor toward us. Thank you for the power that is connected to freedom that comes through places. I pray tonight for every person under the sound of my voice. First of all, I pray again for those that were in an innocent place and violated in an innocent place. Father, it's not their fault. Fault. There is no way to be at home wrong. So Father, I'm asking you to heal, deliver, because many times in wrong places our identity has been shaped.

We've gotten bad theology, we've embraced bad lifestyles, we've embraced bad behaviors because of wrong place. I'm praying for the person tonight under the sound of my voice that abides or lives in a place that is affecting their behavior, that is affecting their lifestyle. Father, bring deliverance out of the place. God, give them freedom in the name of Jesus to connect in the right place where they can have peace and soulace. And, and, and God, that you can get the glory out of their life in the mighty name of Jesus.

Father, I'm praying for clarity about places, spiritual places, tabernacles, churches, places where we'll grow and learn and be developed.

There are people under the sound of my voice, God, that, that need to connect to Rhoda Church and have not. I decree and declare, God, that you will cause them— they follow us online and go to their, their assembly on Sunday, God. But God, in the name of Jesus, you set the members in the church.

I declare in the name of Jesus that you will cause those that belong in in this house, those that you have set in this house, that they will get the freedom to connect to this place. And we give you praise and glory for it now. Thank you that what's to come in our life will be freedom, power through place. Thank you for places, God. Where we are is just as important as who we are and what we can do. Help us to be in the right place. So that our gift can go forth with authority and power. In Jesus' name. Amen. You know what, guys? It is only in the right places— stay with me. Stay with me, guys, tonight. Stay with me. It's only in the right places where you'll find the freedom to move forward. Many are stuck in deliverance. And what—

you know what?

Watch this. They went from bondage to the wilderness, and then the original Israelites didn't even go in the Promised Land. Matter of fact, Moses even died in the wilderness. Another message for another day. Don't die in the wilderness. God wants you free. Listen, tonight I want you to sow seed tonight. I need every person under the sound of my voice to get a seed of $26 and get it in the ground tonight. Don't delay. Pastor Jeffrey, uh, Lady Felicia, if you're on here, put the ways to give up. rotterchurch.com/donate is our website. Glory to God. Cash App, Rother Church. Zelle is info@rotherchurch.com. Our PayPal is Church One. Glory to God. So please, guys, those of you that give to this church, connected, help those that are connected with us tonight on how they can get seed in the ground. Again, I want you to—

this is—

we're setting ourselves up for this year through our giving. So I'm instructing you, and I'm saying make the sacrifice of $26 tonight on this Thursday night. Get it in the ground and watch God multiply it on your behalf. Listen, Listen, as we're moving out of this tonight, I want you to prepare to be with us on Sunday. Listen, every person under the sound of my voice, if you're connected to this church, I need you to bring someone with you on this Sunday. Let's pack this place out. Send out a text, send out a flyer, start texting folk now. Get a commitment from them. Follow your text up with a call, and let's pack this building out on Sunday. God is trying to bring us into into freedom. And I'm gonna finish this on the mystery of power on Sunday. Well, I probably won't finish the whole mystery of power Sunday because there's so much to this that God has given me. But we're going to be unraveling mysteries that connect to freedom all year long. So I need you to make sure that you invite people.

You're blessed.

You're blessed to be a blessing.

Amen. I love y'all, man. Y'all be blessed.

Y'all keep me in your prayers. Keep Lady Felicia and I in prayer. As we continue to do the things the Lord has called us to do. We love Rhoda Church. We love our partners and friends all over the world. Thank you for your support. We're just looking for a supernatural year of freedom. Glory to God. And it starts with understanding power. Y'all be blessed tonight. I love y'all. Peace.