The Spirit of Offense, Part 4: Don't Be Offended By Truth | Dr. Mike Woods,Sr. | 23.FEB2021

Hey guys, y'all come in, please. I'll come in and share for me, okay? Hello to everybody that's here, whether you're watching live or by replay. I need you to do me a favor, I need you to share this. This is going to be a great teaching that many people need to hear, all right? So you guys come in, come in, come in, come in, come in. Come in, come in, come in. I'll give it a few seconds, guys, and we're gonna get started. Hallelujah, Jesus! We bless his high name. Come in, share, guys. Come in and share. Hallelujah! Glory be to God. Welcome, whether you're watching us on my personal page, Roderick Church YouTube, Whether you're listening to this podcast, I need you to come in, guys. It's going to be great today. It's going to be absolutely phenomenal. Come in. Hallelujah, hallelujah, glory to God, glory to God. And say hello, guys, if you're coming in. Let us know where you are, where you're watching us from, and share. The Bible says we're blessed to be a blessing. All right, we're blessed to be a blessing. We're blessed to be a blessing. Glory to God. We're blessed to be a blessing. We thank the Lord. We thank the Lord. Hallelujah, hallelujah. Glory to God. So share this for me, ladies and gentlemen. Please share. Hope everybody's having a happy Tuesday. I'm excited to teach this today. Um, it's going to be a great word. All right, so y'all come in. We're gonna give it a few moments, just a few moments. I love you guys. Y'all come in and please, by all means, I need you to share this. Hallelujah! Glory to God! We give you praise. Hallelujah! We give you honor, Lord. We macrograph you, we sublimate you, God. Hallelujah. And besides you, there is no other. Hallelujah. The grass wither, the flower fades, but your word, hallelujah, it stands forever, dear God. And we give you all the praise. Eba sa mo tora kiske. We give you all the glory, we give you all the honor. We magnify you, God. We bless you, we honor you, God. We praise your name, God. We honor your great name, God. You're wonderful and mighty. You're wonderful and mighty. We bless you, God. We lift you up and we exalt you. We give you the praise, God. We give you the glory. Wonderful Jesus. Hallelujah. Shabba seth. Y'all come in. I'm just sharing with a few people and we're gonna get started in just a moment. Excited to teach this word today. Hallelujah. Y'all come in. Whoo! Hallelujah! This is going to be good. We've been teaching about offense and we going to keep teaching about it today. Is that all right? Glory be to Jesus! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Wonders! We bless you, God, and we are Yes, God, you're worthy, you're wonderful, you're mighty. Hallelujah! You're glorious, you're awesome. Otababoskatai ibababasulede samokushkayebohote ubadasemasedede otai. We give you praise, God. Amasedohosa. Yes, Lord. Yes, Lord. Come on in, guys, and do me a favor. I need you to share whether you're watching live or by replay. I got a few more moments, I'm gonna get started. All right. Yes, Lord, we bless you. Yes, Lord, we praise you. Yes, God, we give you the glory. God, we give you the honor. We thank you, God, for your goodness, your mercy, your grace, your favor. God, you're wonderful and mighty. Yes, Lord. Come on in, everybody. Please share. Shalom. We give you the glory, we give you the honor, God, and we give you praise. Hallelujah. So whether you're watching live or by replay, I'm glad you're here, and I'm gonna jump right into the heart of this today. Uh, there is again a word from the Lord, and, uh, Hello to everyone that's joining. Glory to the name of God. I want to share this, uh, because, uh, I missed too many days sharing it, number one, but it was just heavy in my spirit this morning because we got to continue to unpack this because offense is so deadly. So we've already covered this in a very huge way, and, uh, we've talked about some amazing things along these lines. We've talked about how champions refuse to be offended. We talked about people who are easily offended. All right, just— I'm just reviewing really quick and then I'm gonna jump into this. The selfish, the insecure, the negative. Oh my God, people who are an easy mark for Satan because they bite the trap and they take the— they take the bait every time, every single time. They're miserable. Uh, people are offended. They don't realize that they're hindering God's plan for their life. People who are offended are unwise. People who are offended are not free because guess what? Forgiveness is freeing. So we've taught these things. We've also taught that there are 6 types of offense: taking offense, giving offense, offended by the truth, offended at God, offended with the Holy Spirit and offending yourself. And I kind of just briefly went over those things, but today I'm going to start unpacking— unpacking, I'm sorry— each one of those types of offense one by one. Um, and so we got to continue to be determined not to take offense because it's stagnating. And we definitely today, we cannot be offended by truth. We cannot be offended— hear me, guys— by truth. Let's pray. Father, in Jesus' name, we give you praise, God. Thank you for another opportunity to share your word, God, this Tuesday afternoon. And I pray, God, that those that are watching live, that they will stay with us, they will share, they will bless somebody else, God. I decree and declare, God, that this word will go out in power. It will go out in authority. Ema sorekeskaba osia bamba dosia. Yes, Lord. And I thank you that victory will belong to those that receive it. And I thank you that we will purify ourselves of offense, and offense will not affect us one way or the other, but we will win and we will be victorious, God. In the mighty name of Jesus, we do pray. Thank you for the light, the illumination, and the intelligence of the Holy Ghost. In Jesus' name, amen. And thank God. So let's real quickly, let's jump into this today. Listen, welcome again to everybody that's watching us live, about replay. I know people will catch this replay, but if you're live right now, I need you to share it because there are people online possibly that need to hear this. Glory to the name of God. And listen to me, if you are— glory to the name of God— watching us by replay, I also need you to share. So let's jump into this word. Um, I want to go to our foundation scriptures for this, and then we're gonna, we're gonna jump into today's teaching about don't be offended by truth. It's a dangerous thing. To be offended by truth. But let's first look at, guys, uh, let's go in the Bible. Let's go to the scripture. And, uh, I got my Bible here, so we're going to go to Philippians 1. Philippians 1. Let's go to Philippians 1. Praise God. And, uh, we're going to read verse 9 and 10. These are our foundation scriptures for this series. All right, so the Bible says this. Philippians 1, uh, verses 9 and 10. You'll find these words. It says, and I— and this I pray, hear me And this I pray, that your love may abound yet more. Hear me, yet more and more. That your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all judgment. Verse 10, that you may approve things that are excellent, that you may be sincere and without offense until the day of Christ. So we're clear that it is the will of the Father for us to be without offense until Jesus returns. All right, and, uh, we have to work very hard to let things not offend us, because if we get that thing in our heart, we'll make bad decisions, we will get stagnated, and most of all, we will block the blessings of God from flowing effectively into our life. So he says, let love abound more and more in knowledge and in judgment. So you gotta get knowledge about what you love, and you got to make sure you exercise the right judgment, all right? And you gotta love. And it's just the bottom line to this. Let's go to Psalm 119. Let's look at— these are foundation scriptures, guys. I'm not going to unpack them. I've already unpacked them in other teachings. Psalms 119. And again, if you're watching us live or by replay or listening to this podcast, I need you to share this, whether you're watching on Rhonda Church page, my personal page on YouTube, wherever you're watching us. I need you really to share this. Psalm 119, and we're going to read verse 165. Glory to God. I feel good in my spirit today. Praise God. I feel, I feel hope in my spirit. Praise the Lord. I feel God moving for his people. Hallelujah! I feel God opening doors. Watch this. Psalm 119:165. Verse 165 says this: Great peace have they which love the law— love the word, love God's way of doing things, right? And nothing shall offend them. So when you get offended, you need to immediately question your love for God's way of doing things. All right, because at the end of the day, the Bible said when you love the law and you walk in peace, he says nothing shall offend you. Let's go to Matthew 24:10. These are just foundation scriptures, and if you're watching me live, please type these scriptures on the screen. Matthew 24 and verse 10, you'll find these words: And then shall many be offended. Hear this: And then shall many be offended and shall betray one another and shall hate one another. So this is prophetic. Jesus is talking about the last days, and I'm telling you, we're living in this now. You got preachers fighting each other, offended by each other. You got saints in the church fighting and offended with each other. And listen, this is just no way to live. And then you gotta large group of our society, all right, who definitely doesn't want to hear the truth, and they will rise up in offense if you start speaking the truth. And I can tell you the truth about that. I can tell you about all the emails and threats I get in DMs because I teach about whoremongers and homosexuality and lesbianism, and I talk about things that need to be discussed And people don't want to hear that because they get offended by truth. But let me tell you something, guys. First of all, one of the reasons— and I'm gonna jump right into this— you don't need to be offended by truth is only the truth— come on now— is going to set you free. I'm gonna say that again: you don't need to be offended by truth because only the truth is going to set you free. It's only the truth that sets us free. So we got to be willing to open our heart to receive truth when it's spoken to us and stop getting bent out of shape when we hear truth. And you know what's so crazy? We don't mind hearing truth about somebody else, but when the truth is about us Come on, we get bent out of shape many a times. And let me tell you something, you got to be careful, ladies and gentlemen, to not get offended when the truth is about you. So let's go to John 8. Come on, let's go here, let's go. John 8, let's walk this out today. John 8, we're going to look at a lot of scripture because the word is the truth and it's going to set us free. 8:31. And, and we're going to read verses 31 and 32. The Bible said, Jesus— then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, if you continue in my word, you are my disciples indeed. Wait a minute, let's stop right there, man. Let's stop right there, many people. Let, let's stop right there, okay? He says, if you continue in my word. You are me— are my disciples indeed. Let's deal with that. So being a disciple deals with the discipline to continue, continue in his word. Wait a minute, that word continue, the Greek word is meno. And it means to abide, M-E-N-O, to abide, to remain. Watch this, to— watch this— move into as a residence. So you know how you are in your house, you're comfortable in your house, you live at your house, it's your home, there's peace there, there's love there, there should be joy in your house. All right, so wait a minute, so the Bible says if I'm a disciple, I need to move into the word. So I can't deviate from the word to the left nor to the right. I need to be accurate every single time and build my life— watch this— around everything God says. Otherwise, I'm not a disciple. It didn't say live by the word every now and then. It didn't say live by the word when you felt like it. It did not say live by the word— hear me— when it was convenient for you. When— wait a minute— when it worked in your favor. But it said continue in his word even when the truth of the word comes to you and it may literally pierce something in you that goes against the congruency of the word. Come on. And instead of being offended, the Bible said continue, continue. Be disciplined enough to receive the word when it makes you happy. And watch this, and to receive the word when it's rebuking you and correcting you. And this is the problem with the world today. It's a problem with preachers, apostles, prophets. Nobody wants to be corrected because everybody's right, because they get— they can get in front of this phone and run their mouth, they think they're right. But let me tell you something, everybody's got a perspective, everybody's got a point of view, but all perspectives, all opinions— watch this— have no permanency unless they're based in God's word. Because the only thing in life that is permanent, that is absolute, is God's word. And that's why you got to move in, discipline yourself, and build your life around the word of God. So watch this, he said— watch this, he said— he said to the Jews who believe in him, continue my word. In other words, don't go back to the Torah and just living by that only, Jews. Don't go back to just living by the Old Testament. Don't go back to your old ways, saints of God. But continue in the word daily, even when you're tempted— come on— to do something outside the word that may be hurtful to someone, that may be offensive to someone. Watch this: to take offense, to be offended by the truth, to be offended at God. He said continue in the word. Watch this, verse 32. He said if you do that, you're my disciples indeed. Verse 32: And So if I continue in the word, one, I'm a disciple indeed. Okay, indeed I'm a disciple. Wait a minute, wait a minute, let me just deal with that because I feel like I'm going too fast. So the word indeed is alethos in this text in Greek. He says most certainly. He said, so if you continue my word, most certainly you are my disciples, or for a truth You are my disciples. Watch this. Y'all like reality TV. That's why people watch lives, 'cause they like reality. In reality, hear me, you are my disciples indeed. And the Bible says, you shall know the truth. So you're my disciples for real, come on. And you shall know, I love this. The word know in Greek here in the text is gnōskō. Gnōskō is knowledge that is gained through a process, by relationship, through experience. So wait a minute, so as I walk out the word and develop a relationship with the word— hallelujah, glory to God— as I process the word in my life, the Bible says I will know truth. I will become one with truth. It will be resolved through my process of study, my process of practice. Not just study, but practice. Not just hearing the word, but doing the word. He says, I'll know truth. Wait a minute, what are you saying, my goods? I know truth. Okay, elithos is what we talked about. Indeed. But aletheia is the word truth in Greek. Oh my God. Which means— oh boy— you'll know what is true under any consideration. So the moment you doubt anything in life, the Bible says, whoo, you can put the word of God up against it. Wait a minute, man. You could put the word up against it and you will discover what's truth and what's a lie. You could put the word of God up against the world system anytime, and the word has enough history where it's going to win every time. The word, I'm gonna tell you right now, has won more wars than any Air Force, Marines, Army, Navy, or, or of any country or continent. The word has defeated more— oh my God— impossible situations than any other source. So you learn the truth about what is— oh my gosh, that's why you can't be offended by the word, because it's your source of life. It's only the truth that makes us free. Wait a minute, Michael, what do you mean? Elephero. Free. Elephero. Okay, which means you are set at liberty. And watch this, you have now dominion. Oh, you now have dominion over the thing that had you bound. You ain't just free running around. But now you got control over the lies that the enemy has told you about yourself that offended you. You got dominion over sin. You got dominion— oh my God— over low self-esteem. You got total influence and authority when you accept truth over what had you bound. You ain't just saved, but you got authority over what had you bound. Whoa, which means you ain't out here helpless and falling prey to what had you bound. Come on, before you found truth. Oh Jesus, are y'all with me? Let me check this thing and see if y'all give me some hearts, if y'all on here or something. Listen, let me— listen, y'all gotta grab this today. You will know truth And truth makes you free. Glory to God. So here's what I know. Again, y'all just live with me right now. People need this word. Y'all share this, share it please. So y'all got that part? You can't be offended by true. Why? Because truth is the only thing that sets us free. I need y'all to type that in the comments, guys. Type, truth is the only thing that sets us free. Ah, my God, today. So watch this, here's another piece. You cannot be offended by truth. Why? Because if you have the Holy Spirit, the Holy Ghost, in your life, the Holy Spirit— watch this— has come to guide us into all truth. Y'all, you don't believe it, you don't believe it. Let me go to the Bible. You don't believe it. Let's go to John 16:13. Come on, we teaching the word today. John 16:13. Hallelujah, hallelujah! The Holy Spirit wants you to know the truth about your purpose, your assignment, your destiny, your relationship. Oh, y'all not hearing me. So why are you going to be offended by something that's going to lead you and guide you into all truth, all freedom, all liberty? Eletheia, again in Greek, about your life. Watch this. How be it— listen to this— how be it, John 16:13, when he, the Spirit of Truth, is come, listen, he will guide you into all truth. Wait a minute, you can't tell me you got the Holy Ghost and you offended by truth. Come on. Oh, oh, oh, oh. Because when he comes, he got— he leads you to the truth. Why? Because he knows the truth is the only thing— oh my goodness— that's going to set you free. Wait, oh, wait a minute. Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait one minute. He's very clear that the truth is the only thing that's going to set you free. So he leads you and guides you to truths about what will bring you financial freedom, for truths that will bring you freedom from things that you got hang-ups with. He leads you into truth about things that— watch this— offend you and how you can get free from them. That's what the Holy Spirit does. He said he'll lead us and guide us into all truth. Listen, the only reason you stay ignorant is because you ain't listening and following. Because guess what? You cannot be guided or led— oh, come on— until you follow. You can't do it. It's impossible for you to— watch this— put an address in your navigation system in your car Simple. And then you choose to not listen to it. First of all, why did you even put the address in if you wasn't gonna follow what the navigation said? Listen, I've been— my mom, who is a wonderful lady, I love my mother, she's a just a blessing, but my mama likes to be in charge. Even when she's in my car that I own, that I paid for, okay? She doesn't own my car. She's my mother. I respect her. So we could be going somewhere and, uh, we put it in the GPS. The GPS is talking, and mother wants to be in charge so much that she'll hear the GPS say something. Oh no, we can't go that way. That ain't the right way. This thing taking us the wrong way. First of all, Ma, you don't even know where we're going. You don't know where we're headed. So let's follow the GPS. And look, because I respect my mama there, because this ain't happened one time, it'll happen a few times. So because I respect a few times, I don't listen to her. So okay, well, you, you know, okay, so let's, let's Follow what you're saying. And guess what? We ended up lost because we should have been listening to the guide. That's all your GPS is, it's a guide. That's what the Holy Spirit is, he's a guide. The destination is always truth. Listen, the Holy Spirit is never going to lead you to a lie. Oh my God, it's never going to lead you to a lie. Me and my wife are Uh, we, we have been binge watching this show at night. I mean, we, we do what we do all day and then we'll wait to 12, 1 o'clock in the morning and start watching this show on Hulu called Saints and Sinners. Craziness. These people in the church, man, and the stuff they're doing. You know what I resolved? And I told my wife, I said, people like this for real? The stuff these folk doing is people in the church doing the same stuff. And the reason they do it, because they do not have the guide, or they have him, they're ignoring him. So your ignorance is connected to your inability to follow the guide. Oh, you gotta follow him, and you got to know you're following him and not you. Okay, all right, all right. He said he will lead you guide you into all truth, for he will not speak of himself. Wait a minute. But whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak, and he will show you things to come. So the Holy Spirit doesn't even talk because he wants to talk. He's one with God. He hears what the Father says, tells you, and why wouldn't you follow? He's God. He's your personal GPS, your personal guide to truth. You should never end up deceived if you listen to the Holy Spirit. Listen, I can vividly, guys, recall in my own life when the Holy Spirit began to guide me into truth about myself and my behavior. You know, because some things in my past I was doing, I felt like I deserved it. I felt like because I had had such a terrible life and I had been through so much that I just had enough grace that God was gonna let me get away with what I was doing. Not because I had the Holy Ghost, there was a compass in me. Oh, Shabbat! Can I tell you something? When the Holy Ghost starts showing me about me and my behavior, it was very painful. And you know what? My flesh tried everything to get away from what he was showing me and to continue to justify my mind that I had a right to what I was doing because of what I had been through. Listen, some of the proof— listen, some of the truth I had to face, let me just be honest with you, because I was going through certain things in my life and didn't know why I was going through them. Some of the truth I had to— I said, I'm just transparent and honest, probably more honest than most people, and so don't judge me. And don't look at me crazy like you just left heaven to watch this replay or get on this live, and then you're gonna go outside somewhere and get in a chariot and go back to glory. No, you got issues too. I'm just a little more honest to tell where I come from because I want to help you. All right, so some of the truth I had to face about me— first of all, a lot of things I was dealing with in my life, the Holy Spirit said, son, You the problem, Mike. You the problem. You think everybody else is the problem. You blame everybody else. You're angry, you're mad, you're offended, but you the problem, dude. Look at you. You the problem. You ain't forgave this, you ain't forgave that. You got this in your heart. You're bitter. And so this is why you're doing that. Guess what else he said to me? He said, you got a pride problem. Oh, that hurt because I thought I was humble. He said, dude, you got a pride problem. And this is when he gave me the revelation. He said, dude, you need to know the truth about you. You got a pride problem, and the middle letter of everything that separates you from me is the letter I. P-R-I-D-E. Pride come before a fall. I said, oh God. And he starts showing me how I was proud and arrogant and didn't have a pot to pee in and a window to throw it out at that time. But proud. The devil is a liar. I'm telling you, when I look back over it now, I'm so glad I yielded and finally gave in. I said, Lord, deliver me. He said, he can't tell. He said, you got a sin problem. He said, has nothing to do with what happened to you when you was a child, that a, that a grown woman slept with you when you were just a teen, a young teenager, 13, 14. He said, that ain't your problem. You think that you, you can just do this because that happened to you? No, you need to let me deliver you. You need to let me heal you. I— watch this— he said, I allowed it to make you better, not make you worse. And some of you watching me this afternoon, or by replay, whenever you're watching or whenever you're listening— listen, God bothered you to make you better. Some things happen in your life. You were molested to be made better. You were raped. See, we don't get it, but not to be bitter, not to be offended, but really so we can help people in those situations. Oh my God. Oh Jesus, help us, Lord. He said, you got a sin problem, dude. Sin separates you from me. S-I-N. That's when he gave me that revelation. I was like, oh my God, that's— I— he's looking— Lucifer. Lucifer. I. L-U-C-I-F-E-R. Come on, man. He was separated from God because he said, if I can exalt myself above the Most High We gotta deal with it. We gotta let him deal with us. Listen, he even said to me, he said, boy, you're negative, you're hard to get along with, you're selfish, you feel sorry for yourself, you don't face reality, and you do not confront the real issues. And I started boo-hooing because that was hurtful. I said, God, I thought you loved me. He said, dude, I do. That's why I'm telling you the truth so you can get free. You can't help nobody like this. You got tons of preachers call themselves apostles. Oh, you got so many female prophets and apostles out here who bitter and hurt and hate men, and they got a vendetta. And so they preach out of their bitterness, and they're spitting that poison out over people. Listen, the Holy Spirit comes to tell you the truth about yourself. When it shows up, do not reject it. Receive it, okay? Receive it, receive it. Hear me, receive it. Listen to me, receive it. You'll get further quicker if you receive it. You only will create delays trying to get away from it. If I would have accepted what the Holy Spirit was speaking to me sooner than I did, I'd have been a lot further than I was. I'd be a lot further than I am now. Thank God for what he's done in my life, but let me tell you something, it's been a hard road getting to this place of freedom. And a lot of people deal with this and don't want to accept it. They preach over it, they pray over it, they worship over it, but they still offended. Oh my God. And most of the time offended by truth. Listen, the Holy Spirit is called the Spirit of Truth. That's what we just read. When the Spirit of Truth, which is the Holy Spirit— let me just show you in context. Go to John 14. Please type these texts on the screen so people that coming in can see them. John 14:17, the Bible says, praise God, even the Spirit of Truth whom the world cannot receive because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him, but you know him, for he dwelleth with you and he shall be with you. The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Truth. So again, how can you have him and reject— oh my God, oh my God— the Spirit of Truth? Listen, I need you to understand something. Truth— if truth and the Holy Spirit is synonymous, and truth and Jesus is synonymous, Hear me, that means when you— hear me— reject— oh my God— when you reject the Holy Spirit's truth and reject the truth of Jesus and his word, you're rejecting Jesus, you're rejecting God. That's who he is. I'm sorry, I mean, I had to go through it. You got to go through it if you want to get to that next place of freedom. I'm not even talking about the next level in your anointing, your gift, man. Everybody's talented and gifted. God gives that to you. That stuff is without repentance. Did you know that? Wait a minute, did you know that? Gifts and callings without repentance, and that God will use you for people And some of you have learned skillfully, skillfully how to manipulate the Spirit of God when it comes in a room and use it to minister to people. And then when you come out of that, you jacked up because you can't get a breakthrough because you got offense to truth. Oh my God. Go to Matthew 11:6. Matthew 11 Hallelujah, Jesus! And 6, because I want to show you that truth is not soft and easy on the flesh. Holy Spirit ain't no punk, man. Holy Spirit is a gangster, and he's carrying truth. I'm telling you right now, he's coming with truth, and he want— his whole goal is to get you free. To get you to become a dominator over systems, structures, and situations that had you bound, so that he can use those systems and structures and situations that were in your life to get the glory out of your life. Listen, listen to me. 11:6. And blessed is he whosoever shall not be offended in me. Wait a minute, let's just start right there. So you wonder why, again, you're not blessed. Makarios in Greek— makarios is an indwelt quality. It is supremely endowed by a deity. Watch this. It is happiness and joy that comes as a result of you being one with a deity. Oh my God, listen, that's what it— blessed ain't a Rolls-Royce, a mansion, a million dollars in the bank. Those are just byproducts of the blessing. Blessed is having the stamp of the Holy Spirit in you, the indwelt quality of deity. His truth, his fruit in you, stamping you, and you are one with it. And the oneness you have with what's on the inside manifests in your life. That's blessed. That's blessed. Yeah, that's blessed, man. And there's nothing greater than that. So he says, blessed I hope y'all look at blessed different now. Is he whosoever shall not be offended in me. Wait a minute, so a lot of the reasons we don't get the stamp— because the stamp, the blessing, is God, the Holy Spirit himself. The blessing is the Holy Spirit. That's why when we read texts like the blessing of the Lord makes rich and adds no sorrow— watch this— you need to just interchange that for the Holy Spirit because it's the stamp, the indwelt quality of a deity inside of you that you are aligned with, that you moved into his truth. So the Holy Spirit makes rich and adds no sorrow. Yeah, yeah, hallelujah. So he said, blessed is he who shall not be offended in me. So you can receive it if you make the choice, and you can grow and matriculate and mature and maximize your potential in the Holy Spirit when you are not offended by his truth. See, you got to have one of those moments I had. The Lord said, Mike, you're a problem, boy. You the problem. It's just how you talk to me. You got a pride problem, dude. You're negative. How you gonna have faith and you negative? You, you need to declare that negative will not proceed out of your mouth, and then all you're going to use your mouth for is to build up a brother or sister. Because words are constructive or destructive. You got to get that negative mic out of your vocabulary. See, he's going to come to you. What you going to do when the truth come to you? Are you going to be offended? I ain't got much time left. I got to keep moving, guys. So, so truth ain't soft and easy on the flesh, man. You got to receive it when it comes. Let's keep reading. Verse 7: And as Jesus departed, Jesus began to say unto the multitudes concerning John. So he's preaching truth, right? What went ye out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken with the wind? But what went ye out for, for to see? A man clothed in soft raiment? Behold, they that wear soft clothing are in kings' houses. But what went ye out to see? Listen, y'all, listen. A prophet? Yea, I say unto you, and more than a prophet. So here we go. So Jesus said, look, You're not here to see something that's going to be soft on you, that's going to be easy on your flesh. Come on. He said you came to see a prophet, more than a prophet of God. Listen, verse 10. He said, for this is he of whom it is written, behold, I send my messenger before thy face which shall prepare the way before thee. Watch this. Prepared away. That word prepare in this text, kētāskouzō, kētāskouzō, that's the word in Greek. And watch this, it means to equip thoroughly, wow, to construct, to build, to furnish, to make ready. Watch this, by pressure. I know you thought it was gonna be easy, man. He— I know he said, take my yoke upon you and learn of me, for my yoke is easy and my burden is light. Yes, his yoke is easy, his burden is light, but his preparation in your flesh ain't easy. It's tough, it's hard, and you got to be willing to take the hard truth and get free. Because he wants to furnish you. He— watch this— he called you in the furnace of affliction. He put you in affliction to birth out of you who you really are. The fire. Yes, Shabbat. The fire is there. To get you ready, to get you prepared. Once you tried in the fire, Job said, you shall come forth as pure gold. Hear me, John came preaching truth, but he didn't come in soft clothes. This text, John is preaching here, he didn't come in soft clothes. The truth regarding our present condition, hear me guys, Hear me, guys. Hear me. It prepares the way, furnishes us, gets us ready for greater blessings. And many people have not really walked into the greater because they won't receive the truth about their present condition. No, it ain't your mama, it ain't your daddy fault. It's you. It ain't your siblings, it ain't your co-workers, it's you, shorty. And you gotta get yourself together, and you gotta open your, ah, your ears and your heart to receive truth. It's you, shorty. And you gotta stop. Look, come on, Adam, you still operating in that old Adam blaming. It's the wife you gave me, dude. It ain't your wife, it's you. So you gotta check you and get you together. Oh, listen, we cannot go— and I got to get out of here, guys, I got 2 minutes— to the next level. Hear me, unless we receive truth about where we are now. I'll give you an example. I walked in Lenox Square Mall one day. and I was looking for a particular store. I went to the directory. When I got to the directory, there was a big arrow on the board that said, 'You are here.' I had to assess my present position and many— and probably my condition too, because I had to decide the route. I had to decide if it was too far. And I could not get where I was going until I knew where I was. And listen, you can't be offended by truth. You gotta know where you really are. All right, listen, let me give you an example. Lord said to me one time Yeah, he said, Mike, you're bearing fruit, you really are, and you're helping people. I was in my Jackson church at this time. He said, you're bearing fruit, church is growing, you're helping people, you're growing leaders. He said, but I can use you in a greater way if you lay aside pride and selfishness. I was like, ah, God, listen, these are the kinds of things we gotta face to make progress. I was doing a revival, no lie, truth be told. I don't know where this man of God is now. His name is Michael Sharp. God help us. Michael Sharp. Thank you, Holy Spirit. Michael Sharp was a pastor in Vicksburg, Mississippi. This was years ago. I had did a revival for him, and we were— we went out one day during the week. I did— that was back when I was doing week revivals. People were being blessed with prophesying, casting out devils, whole nine yards. God was moving. All right, we went out to eat lunch, and his son was there. And I always been an athlete, always been an avid basketball player. Until my son, Michael Woods Jr., beat me when he turned 21. And so I turned to golf. Glory to God. At the end of the day, because I like to win too much. But let me tell you something. Michael Sharp said to me, because his son was sitting there talking trash about beating me in basketball. I said, dude, man, don't get it twisted. I'm profitable. I'll take you down through there. So We went— we found a court, man. We're out of court, and I went out there and spanked this dude, ripped him a new one on the court, man. And I said, I hope you don't hold it against me, sir. I'm still the man of God. He said, no, I appreciate you playing with me, Prophet. So we got back in the car, and the pastor looked at me. He said, I don't want you to get offended. He said, but the Holy Spirit wants me to say something to you. I said, what is it, man of God? He said, if you were consecrated, you would be what? More powerful than you are now. Dude had peaked my card. Oh my God, he rung my bell and I was mad. I was so hot at him. And in pride, you know what I did? I said, dude, you don't know nothing about me. I pray all the time. I spend way more time in prayer than you. But you know what? He was right. My life had literally no consecration. Oh my God, I was gifted, I was anointed, I knew how to flow in the things of the Spirit, I prayed before meetings I prayed before I went to preach. I prayed to get a message. But my personal walk at home, I didn't get up and pray like I do now. I didn't confess the word and study the word. My consecration was whack. And the prophet, he clocked me. And I got back to that room. And the Holy Spirit whooped my tail and said, boy, you listen because he's right. You will have way more power and authority in me if you consecrated yourself and spent quality time with me daily. Not just when you had a meeting, not just when you had to preach. Let me tell you something, preachers, saints of God. When the truth comes— listen, from that day forward, I started consecrating, and I started seeing stuff I'd never seen before. I've seen people who were born blind, could not see, Pray for them and their eyes pop open and they now can see. I've seen AIDS patients— Abba, surikiska tabaya— be healed. The bloodstream full of AIDS and disease, on their way to death, and God healed them. I've seen children and adults deaf, could not hear in any way. Prayed for them and their ears popped open. I've seen God do awesome things just out of accepting truth and going to the next level and progressing. Listen, some of y'all, you spend too much time being carnal. You spend too much time on social media. You spend so much time trying to be like— you worrying about who like your post. Who's following you? And live it out. Some of you don't want to accept the fact you broke because you won't do nothing different to create wealth, or you broke because you're not a tither. That's true. Some of you are like that. Some of y'all struggle in your finances because you listen to truth like this and you won't even sow. You won't even sow into ministry. And the scripture tells you if— and I don't do it for money, I'm blessed. But if I'm communicating spiritual things, you should communicate natural things. You can't expect God to bless you, you're not a tither, you're not a giver. Come on, man, come on. It's just, it's just truth. You need to check yourself. The old— when I was— oh my God, when I was young and out, out there, and they would say, you better check yourself before you wreck yourself. I'm saying that to you tonight. Let the Holy Spirit today— I'm sorry— check you before you wreck you. Listen, I need you guys to get it together. Let's pray. Oba Simon Kiske, let's demasa. Just come on, right where you are, right where you are, right where you are. Iman say la bahosi. Let's pray. It's a few of y'all still left with me. Glory to God, whether you're watching me live or my replay. Let's pray. Father, in Jesus' name, I speak over this people watching us, whether live or by replay or listening to this podcast, and I decree and declare, God, that they will be open to truth, even though the truth will hurt. The truth will make them examine themselves and take introspective and look at themselves in a way they never seen themselves. But God, open their lives up to real truth, and I praise you for it now. And as you do that, let them progress, God. And Father, we repent for the days and the times we reject the truth, and we praise you for it now. In Jesus' name, amen, and thank God. I love you guys so much. My time is up. Listen, I need you to support ministry, whether you're watching live or by replay. We need your support. I need every one of you to plant a seed into ministry. It's simple. You can go to Cash App and plant a seed via Cash App to Radha Church. That's our Cash App. Somebody type it on the screen if you're still with me. Listen, I need you to give. I need you to trust the Lord in your giving today. All right, we need you. We need your support. We need your help. Please trust the Lord with your giving. Put it in the ground because God, Abba Sekor Abba Kehaya, he rewards the heart of a cheerful giver. Listen, you can also give online, rhodochurch.com donate. If you're watching us, please type that on the screen so people will know how to give. Listen, you can also give via text. Text the word RADAH, R-A-D-A-H, to the number 77977. That's RADAH to 77977. I love you guys with the love of the Lord. Embrace the truth. Don't be offended by it. Listen, tomorrow We're going to get in depth around the subject truth hindering process and progress. It hinders process— I'm sorry, offense hinders process and progress. And so I want to talk to you about that, and I promise you, uh, your life will never be the same. Y'all be blessed. Remember to share this, and remember, as you share it, your decisions set you up for dominion.