The Spirit of Offense, Part 6: DON'T BE OFFENSIVE | Dr. Mike Woods | 25.FEB.2021

And we honor his great name. Yeah, you guys, come on in, come on in. Hallelujah! Wonderful Jesus, mighty God. It's Thursday night and we give God praise. Hallelujah! And we give him glory, we give him honor, we lift him up and we exalt him. Beside him there is no other. We bless him, we bless him, we bless him. Yes, God, we bless you. We bless you, we honor you. Thank you, God. Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Lord. You're good, you're good, God. You're good, you're mighty, and you're wonderful, Lord. Hey guys, y'all come in and share for me. Uh, this is going to be great. I'm gonna just give a few moments for people to gather and get in. I'm gonna share this with a few people myself. But you know, the Lord is good and he is greatly to be praised. Hallelujah! Beside him there is no other. He's a good God, he's a mighty king. Oh, blessed be the name of the Lord! I was glad when they said unto me, let us go into the house of the Lord. Hallelujah! Make a joyful noise unto the Lord. The Lord is the light of my salvation. Whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life. Of whom shall I be afraid? When the wicked, even my foes, came to eat upon my flesh, they stumbled and they fell. Hallelujah. Though an host should encamp against me, in this will I be confident. One thing I've desired of the Lord, and that will I seek after, that I may dwell, hallelujah, in the house of the Lord all the days of my life. Glory to the name of God. We give him praise. We give him glory. We give him honor. We lift him up. We exalt him. We extol him. Beside him ain't no other. Hallelujah. He's wonderful and mighty. He's glorious and awesome. He's good, and he's good all by himself. Oh my, thank you, God. Thank you, God. We bless you, Lord. We bless you, Lord. We bless you, Lord. Hallelujah, hallelujah. Glory to the name of Jesus. What a mighty God we serve. What a mighty God we serve. Oh, shaddai, masorabadia, shekuta kasaya. We bless you, Lord, and we give you praise. We give you praise. Hallelujah, we give you praise, God. You're good. Y'all come in for me tonight and do me a favor, y'all share this. We just worship the King. Hallelujah, hallelujah. I lift my eyes to the hills from whence cometh my help. My help comes from the Lord who made heaven and earth. Oh God, we give you praise. Oh God, we give you— oh, she calabasero. We bless your high name, God. And we worship and adore you, Jesus. We give you all the glory, all the glory. Come on, the worshipers are worshiping. Yes, Lord. We give you glory, God. We give you glory. We give you glory, Jesus. Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah. Oh God, you're a God that keep all of your promises. God, your promises are yay and amen, and we worship you tonight. God, thank you that you are a covenant-keeping God, and that, that you promised, that, that you promised, God, you will do So we take a few moments just to lift you up, God. And you said in your word, if you be lifted up from the earth, that you would draw all men unto you. So Father, from the sincerity of our heart tonight, we lift our hands without— oh, shakaraba, oh, siata— without shame, without wrath, or without doubt. And we lift up holy hands to you, God, hands cleansed and washed in the precious blood of the Lamb. And we worship, oh God, and we thank you tonight for your amazing love. Hallelujah! We thank you for perfect love that casts out fear. Hallelujah! Hallelujah! We give you the glory. We give you the honor. We give you the praise. We worship, we adore you, God. We give you glory, God. We give you honor. You're wonderful and mighty. Oh, bless the Lord, oh my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name. Hallelujah. Bless his holy name. Bless his— oh, Shana, we give you glory, God. Blessed is the man that walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful, but his delight is in the law of the Lord. Ah, yeah, yeah. Yes, God. Yes, God. Sunday. And in the law of the Lord he does meditate both day and night, and he shall be like a tree, planted planted by the rivers of water that bringeth forth fruit in his season. His leaves shall not wither, and whatsoever— oh my God— he does shall prosper. Father, the king shall joy in thy strength, O Lord, and in thy salvation. How greatly shall he rejoice! Thou hast given him his heart's desire and hast not withheld the request of his lips. God, we worship you. God, we give you glory because you are our strength. God, you are our salvation, and we greatly rejoice. God, we greatly exalt you because you have given us our heart's desire, God, and you have not withheld the request of our lips. And God, you have— oh my God, You have preserved us with blessings of goodness, and you've set a crown of pure gold upon our heads. And God, we asked life of thee, and you gave it to us. You— we asked length of days of you, and you gave it to us. And so God, hallelujah, we glory greatly in your rescue, in your salvation. But God, you did not allow— or shabandi asa— our enemies to triumph over us. God, we give you praise, we give you glory, we give you honor. We declare tonight that the earth is the Lord's, hallelujah, and the fullness thereof, hallelujah. The world, thank you, God, and they that dwell therein. For he hath founded it upon the seas and established the world upon the floods. Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord, and who shall stand, hallelujah, Hallelujah! In his holy place, he that hath clean hands— yes, God— and a pure heart. God, so we ask you tonight, clean our hands. Yes, God, purify our heart so we can ascend. We don't want to be religious, God, in no way. God, we want to ascend to the hill of the Lord that we can fellowship with you, that we can be one with you. Oh God, oh God. And God, we have not lifted our soul up to vanity, God, nor have we sworn deceitfully. And God, because of this, your word declares we shall receive the blessing of the Lord and righteousness from the God of our salvation. And Father, tonight we receive it, we accept it, God. We open our hearts And God, we declare that we are the generation that seek you. Hallelujah! We are the generation that pursue hard after your face, your presence, that inquire of your mind. We do not do things in our own strength or our own power, but God, we worship. Hallelujah! God, and we adore you tonight. We give you the glory. We give you the glory. Hai, yandala lalabo sataba. Lift up your heads, O ye gates, and be ye lifted up, ye everlasting doors, and the King of Glory shall come in. Who is the King of Glory? Yes, God, the Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle. He is the King of Glory. So lift up your heads, O ye gates, and let him in, let him in, let him in. Because unto thee, O Lord, do we lift up our soul tonight. We lift up our mind, our will, and all of our emotions, God, and we place it in your hands. And God, we yield our soul to you, and we say, God, have complete control. And as David said in Psalm 25, oh my God, I trust in thee, and let me not be ashamed. And let not mine enemies triumph over me. Yea, let none that wait on you, God, be ashamed. And we wait on you tonight. I want somebody that's popping into this live, just wait on the Lord with me. There's something that needs to happen in our land. There's something that needs to happen in the earth realm, and the only way it will occur is that when we offer pure worship up to God, when we lift up holy hands. Thank you, Jesus. And a clean heart. The only way we can totally defeat coronavirus— I know you were waiting on the vaccine. I never was waiting on that. I've been pleading the blood of Jesus since day one, and we still understand there is power in the blood of Jesus. And I'm telling you, I've seen the blood of Jesus heal more people from coronavirus, from AIDS, from cancer, from blindness, from deaf ears. Hallelujah. From high blood pressure, diabetes, ailments of all kinds, from broken hearts, from broken lives. The blood still works. And so God, we cry out to you tonight for our land, and we plead the blood of Jesus. We plead the blood of Jesus. We plead— ah, ishka, shotoro, mamande, lelalamando, koshi, ataya, shemande, lelidi, antokoshi, abrekaya. Oh God, we plead the blood, and we say, Satan, the blood is is against you! Oh shadda na nana na man so rabaye! The blood is against you coronavirus COVID-19! The blood is against you hamda da da bo shyah! You've dwelt in this land long enough oh and we serve notice on you tonight you must be evicted! Oh sha ba ba ma mandala bah! We rebuke death! Oh God! And we say we have the victory in the name of Jesus. Oh, takasi. I wish I had somebody tonight to worship with me. Worship with me. Hallelujah. If you're coming in, please say hello. Please type in the comments. Glory to God. And let us know you're here. Like this video and please share it. I'm gonna teach the word in a moment, but something is happening in the realm of the spirit. Listen, even while I'm talking, there is something accumulating. Listen to me, in the heavenlies, glory to God, there is a grace that's happening right now in the heavenlies. There is an accumulation of power that's being released to be superimposed upon your life, your family, your children, your finances. And I'm telling you right now, while I'm talking, hear the word of the Lord. Opportunities are opening up. Oh, shakata, bababa, Sunday. There's a major shift, oh my God, happening in the earth right now. And if you will get under the spout, if you will shift your position, I'm telling you tonight, it will surely change your condition. The reason why your condition has remained the same, because you have maintained the same position. But if you would shift your position tonight, if you would move out of your carnality, move out of your flesh— oh my God, I'm telling you right now, the glory of the Lord will superimpose itself upon your situation and you will never be the same. Eba sandalo bohosie. Iba bahaia, iba kose tamaya. You will never be the same. So Father, tonight I pray for your people, and I decree and declare, as we have exhorted you and worshiped your great name, that your people will be blessed by you and never impressed by me. I thank you that the power of the living God would rest heavy upon this teaching tonight. I thank you for the light, the illumination, and the intelligence of the Holy Spirit. And I decree and declare, dear God, that we will operate under your auspices and your auspices alone. Bind my lips to your word. Bind my heart to your word. Bind my spirit to your word, God. And may I only articulate those things that you will have me to say. And Father, draw people from the north, the south, the east, and the west to listen to this this word. Listen, if you're here tonight on YouTube, on Rhoda Church Facebook page, or right here on my personal page, listen, the power of God is here, and I need you to share this quickly with someone. Because as we teach the word tonight, we— oh my God, I received that Holy Spirit— that he's going to send his word out with a spermatic authority, and it is going to penetrate the very embryo of your spirit and God's gonna impregnate you with a future that you have not even thought about, and you're going to be released into a place of glory that you've never experienced, that you've never seen. Come on, I need you to grab this tonight. I need you to receive it. God is moving for us right now. Oh my God, oh my God, open your spirit, change your position. Father, We thank you now and we glorify you now in Jesus' mighty name. In Jesus' mighty name. Oh, bless your word, bless your word, bless your word. In Jesus' name. Please share, ladies and gentlemen, please share. This live stream tonight needs to be packed with human beings that need to hear this word. Listen, God is calling his church, I'm telling you right now, back to power. And listen, we need to get rid of all of the politics, all of the churchy games we're playing, all of— and I'm telling you right now, God's calling us to a place of power that we never seen. I know some of you, some of you people that's faking— listen, you think you're operating in it. And again, I said this, I was teaching for another program, uh, about today. And there's some people that are so deceived, they can go through all of the motions, but they couldn't heal a flea with a headache because they have no power working through their life. They couldn't cast out a demon if it sat in their lap because they have no power. And the church today, because the world is in need of something real, something tang— They need the manifested, expressed glory of God. Not your yelling, not your hollering, not all of the stuff you go through to act like you're spiritual and deep. The world needs results. Hear me, the world needs results, and that's what they're looking for, and that's what they're expecting. Let's jump into the heart of this word tonight. Listen, Listen, I am teaching— glory to the name of God— we're continuing our series on the spirit of offense. And again, if you're just joining us, please do me the kind favor, ladies and gentlemen, and share this. Somebody needs it. Comment below, let me know you're here, let me know that you're with us. Glory to the name of God. No matter where you're watching tonight, if you're watching by YouTube, if you're watching by Facebook on Rhoda Church or right here on my live Facebook page. Just let us know you're here. Glory to God. And go along with us. I'm asking that there would be someone that would be a prophetic scribe tonight. Glory to God. And that you would put down the scriptures we're going to share. Listen, we're going to teach the word of God and we're going to take our time and share with you tonight because at the end of the day, again, this spirit of offense is a serious demon. And this is part 6 in this, uh, expository— expository— I'm sorry, not expository— expository series of systematic teachings, because I want to make sure that you grab this, okay? I want to make sure that you get all of this, and I don't want you to miss anything, because offense is a very serious deal. And I want you to make sure you go back and watch the rest of the teachings because it'll catch you up to where we are. You need this in your life because offense really does slow down progress. We talked about that yesterday. It stagnates you, it keeps you in the same place, and many of you don't understand why you're going in circles. Let me tell you, you're going in circles and you're in the same place and your life cannot progress because you're operating in offense. Either you're giving offense or you're taking offense. You're offended by truth. You're selfish. You're— and that offense leads to bitterness, resentment, unforgiveness, all right, and stagnation. And that is not where you want to be. So tonight we're going to unpack this issue of being offensive. And if I was giving this a title, we would just call this Don't Be Offensive. Listen, I'm telling you tonight, whatever you do, if you're not taking offense, please don't be the person being offensive, right? So the first thing I want to share with you is, in order to not be offensive, hear me, is you gotta operate in meekness and humility. To not be offensive, you have to operate in a spirit of meekness and humility. And that same spirit of meekness and humility— listen, it's the same meekness and humility that actually gives you the ability to receive truth. In 2 Kings 5, let's start right there. That's a good place to start. 2 Kings 5. Let me open up my Bible here. 2 Kings 5. And y'all stay with me tonight, those of you that love the word. If I— you know, I ain't got to have thousands of people on here. I just need 5, 10, 15 people that love the word of God. Glory to God. And then share it with somebody that loves the word, because everybody don't love the word. People love foolishness. They want to scroll. They want to do their own thing. Let them. I'm, I'm, I'm not even into that. Let people do what want to do. At the end of the day, you gotta love progressing in your life and increasing and growing and maturing in things of God enough to receive. And you apostles and prophets that think you know everything, listen, I'll be getting on some of y'all lives. Most of y'all that I'm watching live, and even some of my friends, some of y'all— and you may not like me for this, and I'm not being offensive, I'm telling you the truth— you need to receive the truth, man, woman, Some of y'all need to sit down and be taught again. Most of y'all, I'm watching y'all and I'm like, oh my God, they're just teaching totally out of their flesh. They're talking out of their flesh to appease the people that are watching them. And some of you need to be sent out. And I could tell that you have not been a student in a long time. And I always say, if you the smartest person in a room all the time, you in the wrong room and you need to change rooms. You need to figure out a way you can become a student. Listen, I'm a student every day. I listen to people who can teach me something spiritually, financially, as a husband. I'm trying to learn how to be better in every area of my life, and I listen to people who have the capacity to teach me. Some of y'all, I could tell you ain't been a student because I'm listening you. And some of the stuff you're saying, listen, some of that stuff is crazy. I was listening to one apostle, this dude. First of all, I just don't believe nothing about him is apostolic, first of all. But he calls himself an apostle because somebody put that on him. He really is not an apostle. At most, he's a good pastor. But in the end of the day, if you're an apostle and cannot teach the word, and you ain't got no oil on you when you're teaching the word, and you just letting your people, them few little people you got, pump up your head and tell you you're apostolic, man. Look, don't be offended, don't be offended. It's immature. Don't take offense, and I'm not being offensive. I'm telling you the truth in the spirit of meekness and love, and I'm telling you something that somebody probably should have told you a long time ago. Sit down and be a student so that you can be effective when you get up before people. All right, and, and in order to receive what I'm saying, and I'm going to give an example, meekness and humility are required to receive truth, and meekness and humility is required for you not to be offensive. So in the humblest way I know how, in the humblest apostolic aggression, right, I told y'all yesterday the truth ain't easy, it ain't soft, it comes hard. And some of y'all just need to sit your tail down, get off in front of your phone, please, and open your Bible and study and sit under the tutelage of somebody that can teach you something. Are you okay? Y'all ain't gonna hear— okay, oh, whatever. Let's go, let's go to 2 Corinthians 5. Let me move on, all right, because I don't want you to get offended. And if you get offended please don't, please don't. I'm trying to help you. Sit down. Just sit down and become a student so you could be a benefit to the people you teaching. Cause, bruh, you ain't ready. All right, sis, you're not ready. And some of these people got thousands of people jumping on their stuff And I'm like, what in the ham sandwich is going on? They ain't ready. And then you got all these people buying in and being led astray. Oh God, how can the blind lead the blind? They both fall in the ditch. Second Kings 5— I'm sorry, 2 Kings 5. Let's read this text, all right, beginning at verse number 1. Now Naaman captain of the host of the king of Syria, was a great man with his master and honorable, because by him the Lord had given deliverance unto Syria. He was also a mighty man in valor, but he was a leper, right? Verse number 2: And the Syrians had gone out by companies and had brought away captive out of the land of Israel a little maid, and she waited on Naaman's wife. And she said unto her mistress, would God my Lord were with the prophet that is in Samaria, for he would recover him of his leprosy. Now verse 3, I'm just going to kind of pack some of this as I go on. Verse 3 gives us an indication that prophecy carries a level of power. And I want to say to everybody listening to me tonight, if you're filled with the Holy Ghost You have prophetic power inside of you. I dare you, touch your belly and say, I have prophetic power. Glory to God, you got prophetic power inside of you. And also, it indicates that every person under the sound of my voice— watch this— needs a prophet. Because Naaman was a leper, the handmaiden had discernment, said to Naaman's wife, Look, if your husband was with the prophet, he would not have leprosy. He would be healed because the prophet carries prophetic power. Wait a minute, saints, what are you saying, Michael Lyris Woods? I'm saying that, are you really prophetic if people come around you and instead of being healthy and made whole— hear me— They're sick and dying. Wait a minute, are you hearing me? So let me keep reading, let me keep reading. And one went in and told his lord, saying, thus and thus said the man that is of the land of Israel. And the king of Israel said, go to, and I will send a letter unto the king of Israel. And he departed and took with him 10 talents of silver and 6,000 pieces of gold and 10 changes of raiment. Now watch this. This. For those of you that struggle— see, most y'all watch this— for those of you that struggle with giving to the prophet, here's one of many examples of how a man with leprosy understood that I need to not go before this king empty-handed, nor his prophet. So he prepared an offering Listen, that to go along with his request. Hallelujah. He said he brought the letter to the king of Israel saying, now when this letter has come unto thee, behold, I have therewith sent Naaman my servant to thee, that thou mayest recover him of his leprosy. And it came to pass, when the king of Israel had read the letter, he rent his clothes and said, am I God to kill and to make alive? That this man does send unto me to recover a man of leprosy? Wherefore consider, I pray you, and see how he seeketh a quarrel against me. And it was so. When Elisha the man of God heard that the king of Israel rent his clothes, he sent to the king saying, wherefore hast thou rent your clothes? Let him come now to me, and he shall know that there is a prophet in Israel. Now here's, here's, here's Here's the story. Watch this. At first, and I'm gonna read all of this, Naaman was very offended when the prophet went to him because Naaman didn't want to receive what was being said. But watch this, when he received a miracle, his attitude changed. If someone— watch this— has offended us, we can change our attitude also and receive a miracle. But you got to humble yourself. It's a meek attitude that's necessary to receive. Naaman shows us, hey, I can't get offended by this word. I need to change my attitude so that I can get the miracle this man is carrying in his belly. It. Okay, let's go to James because y'all don't believe that. Somebody said, I don't believe that. Still, it's in the Bible. Let's go to James. Let me show you James chapter 1. Y'all, y'all funny, man. Verse number 21. Glory to God. If you watching live about replay, glory to God, just touch yourself and say, I must be meek and I must be humble to receive. Glory to God. And see, here's the problem again. A lot of y'all think you know everything. And that's why you're not receiving nothing. You're giving, and you're giving out stuff in error. You're giving out stuff without power. You're giving out stuff without the anointing because you're never a student. Oh God, watch this. James 1:21 says, wherefore lay apart all filthiness. Come on, let's stop right there. Filthiness, riparia in Greek. Filthiness, uh, things that defile you or dishonor God. So he says lay aside the filthiness and superfluity. Oh, paresia in Greek, that word means superabundance, superior things that you do— watch this— just to gain, hallelujah, pleasure or naughtiness. Superfluity of naughtiness. In other words, he said some of you are operating in an abundance of naughtiness. Oh boy. Oh God. A kakia in Greek, uh, with malice. You got a desire to injure not just others, but it's naughty when you desire to injure yourself. Whoa. Because you refuse to be a student and you always get offended at truth. Truth. Oh boy. And then you become offensive to others because you're not— see, when you're not qualified to do what you're doing and you're just doing it, it's offensive to others because you're giving them something that ain't even right. And again, that doesn't even come from heaven. It has not been tried. It has not been tried in the furnace of affliction, and you're releasing it, and it didn't come from God, it came from your flesh because you need approval. But the Bible said lay aside the filthiness, lay aside superfluity of naughtiness. And watch this, and so once you lay aside filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness, you can receive with meekness the engrafted word which is able to save— soteria in Greek— rescue your soul. So Tyrio deals with the idea that God rescues over and over again. So he said, if you receive with meekness, with prietes, prietes, prietes, with meekness, with a mildness of disposition, with a gentleness of spirit. So you ain't receiving in meekness if you're like, okay, I got it, I receive it. No, you're mad, you're offended. You got to humble yourself down and get a disposition of being mild. As I receive it in the name of Jesus, I receive it with meekness. The engrafted word, the engrafted word, that's what it said. Enphytos, engrafted. Enphytos, which means, watch this, the inborn, implanted by nature. Watch this, engrafted or implanted by others' instruction. If you have a skin graft, they simply move some skin from one place and put it in another place. I'll say that again. They move it from one place and put it in another place, but they graft it in. They interpenetrate it into the skin where you cannot tell that skin was moved from here to there. When the word is engrafted in your life, you cannot tell— oh boy— you cannot tell the difference between your lifestyle and the word. Oh, see what happens. Go to 2 Corinthians. Let's go, let's, let's rock this word tonight. Come on, shout it! Y'all stay with me, stay with me. Don't, don't, don't do that. Don't, don't lose hope. I know you want to go watch TV or something, but you need this. Uh, let's go to 2 Corinthians 3. Hallelujah. And verse number 18. Glory to God. Show you what happens when you receive the word with meekness, because it contains power to save your soul, your mind, your will, and your emotion. Watch this. 2 Corinthians 3:18 says, but we all with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of God. Wait a minute, so I should be being changed as more— the more the word— that's why these lives where we're teaching the word is important, and we ain't hyping you up and making you run all over the place, because what's happening in this instruction, we are engrafting something in your soul, in your spirit, in your life. That's actually changing you every time you receive it into the image of God, from one stage of glory to another stage of glory, which means now you can glory to God, grow in glory. Listen, let me tell you something. Between glories, glory to glory, between there in the middle, glory to glory, in the middle of that glory glory, all right? There's always more truth to face about you. There's always more truth to receive that you may not like. But you'll never get— you can preach about glory all you want. I hear people preaching about glory, talking about glory. Ain't no— they've been in the same glory for the last 5 years. Ain't no more glory from 5 years ago to now because they haven't been a muted. They haven't— they haven't— watch this— received a word— watch this— that could possibly offend them, but been mature enough to not be offended. Oh my God, in this place tonight, y'all not hearing me. Between glories this, there's always more truth to face. Guys, I need you to grab this, man. Hallelujah. So, so let's go to 2 Timothy. Let's go, let's go. We right, we working this meekness thing tonight. Let's go to 2 Timothy. We gonna get through this tonight. 2 Timothy 2:24-26. I love the word of God, man. Hallelujah. The Bible said, and the servant of the Lord word, must not strive, but be gentle unto all men. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Apt to teach, patient. And you know, I pray all the time, Lord, help me, one, because real apostles have this aggression that flow through them, because real apostles Authentic apostles take on the— watch this— the nature of Jesus. And his greatest nature is compassion. But that's a— oh my God, it's an aggressive nature as well because he's a deity. So his office is flowing through you because apostles are descendants of Jesus. Okay, we ain't got time to teach about that. I can break that all the way down, but I don't time. I just— what I want you to understand, I have to pray to move in compassion because the chiefest gift of all apostles is compassion. So I have to pray that God will allow me to be gentle because sometimes stuff can come across just because of my personality and that aggressive apostolic nature. It can come across too tough maybe. So I have to— God, help me be gentle with all men. Some jokers, you know, I've been gentle enough and you got to do a little, you know. But at the end of the day, I'm like, God, help me to get this to them. And then watch this, be apt, be ready. Not only be apt, not only means be ready to open your Bible, jump in front of your phone, jump in front of your iPad, but it also means, guys, listen to me, to be prepared to teach. So you don't just be ready to teach because you feel like teaching, but you need to be prepared. How do you get prepared? You gotta study the word on your own. Study to show yourself approved, a workman that need not be ashamed, rightfully dividing the word of truth, apt. Okay, then you gotta find a way to be a student. Every day you need to be learning something, so when it's time for you to teach teach. You're apt to teach. Okay, let me keep reading. Uh, verse 25. Well, he said, and patient in meekness, instructing those that oppose themselves. Oh my God. If God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of truth, verse 26, and that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil who are taken captive by him at his will. Wait a minute, first of all, Timothy is not talking to sinners. This text is to the church. So this is a whole new twist because he says, in meekness, instructing those, instruc— instructing. Yeah, uh, paiduo in Greek, those who oppose. Watch this, instructing, systematically teaching them. Watch this again, engrafting the word into their life. Those that oppose, that are against themselves. You can be your biggest enemy. I dare somebody to type in the notes, I got to get out of my own way. Type in the comments below, I got to get out of my own way. I gotta get out of my own way. Because some of you oppose yourself because you refuse to be humble and receive teaching and receive the word of the Lord. Lord, I'm not gonna get to— don't be offensive, because this meekness thing is working on us. You got to stop opposing yourself. The moment you start rejecting truth and rejecting the word, you're opposing yourself. Ah, you're opposing yourself. You are in your own way, and the very thing you need to receive, shorty, you running from it because you think you know everything and you got something to prove. I said all the time, and I say again, live for the audience of one. The only person you want to bring pleasure to is that dude up there, that dude in here, God. Stop offending yourself, stop opposing yourself, he said, because if you do, God peradventure— I love that word, uh, me pote, me pote, M-E-P-O-T-E, uh, peradventure deals with this. It means perhaps or whether or not. So in other words, he's saying You got to instruct those that impose themselves so if God perhaps will move them to repentance, because the word will bring conviction. See, if they don't hear the instruction, they'll never repent if their sin is— if where they're falling short is not exposed in teaching. Ah, if, if where they're not making it is not exposed in teaching, y'all, they'll never repent. They'll never change their mind. See, repentance is not just, Lord, forgive me of sin. Repentance, metanoia in Greek. Ah, Lord, repentance. Yeah, metanoia, metanoia, metanoia. It means that you change your mind, you change your heart, you change your behavior. Mind, heart, behavior. And when you truly repent, you've changed all three of those. And so when you hear the word, instead of being offended and opposing it— whether or not you're driven to repentance or not is based on you receiving truth when it comes. But if you reject it, you won't repent, and you'll keep coming short. And sin— oh my God, harmisia in Greek— sin, which means to come short. So you're not just sinning if you're an adulterer or fornicator— of course those are sins— or lesbian, homosexual. That's not the only sin. You're sinning when you're coming short of your assignment, coming short of your anointing. You're not growing. You're operating in a spirit of arrested development that offense puts you in because you stagnated, and now you won't receive the truth. Lord, I sure had other plans of something else I was going to be teaching tonight, but somebody needs to hear this. Glory to God, whether live or by replay, I'm telling you right now, I, I'm not turning no stones the rest of this year. I understand clearly God has mandated me. He said, son, you must— because I was talking to Apostle Howard, I said to him, I said, man, there's work to do. And we must be more apostolic than we've ever been, because at the end of the day, part of the apostle's role is to correct, is to bring order, is to rebuke. So at the end of the day, a lot of people not gonna like it, and I don't care, because I must do what the Father has sent me here to do, and that's bring order. Hallelujah. And at the risk of popularity for those that want it, the remnant that want to go higher, the remnant that want to move into the next place, I'm gonna bring order. Glory to God. I don't have time to play games with nobody that don't want to get it right. Come on, man, let's get this right. Let's stop half-stepping because you got— because just because you can. Yeah, I mean, at the end of the day, you have stepped just because you can't have prayed, have fast, have studied, and then you want to get up in front of people. Sit down. Okay, be gentle, Michael. Sit down, please. Sit down and be a student. That's all I'm asking you. Oh my God. Oh, okay. So the Bible said when this happens, he'll repent to the acknowledging of truth, that they acknowledge the truth that was spoken. That's verse 25. I'm still in 2 Timothy 2:24-26. So when you acknowledge that truth and you don't get offended, you receive it, you repent because you acknowledge the He said you will recover yourself. Watch this. So once that happens, the real you will emerge. I had so much offense in my life, and I really didn't know my value. I didn't know who I was. I didn't know what I brought to the table. I didn't know God's perspective or view of me. It was only until I got that junk out of my heart and dealt with me and received the truth about me that God gave me a real revelation of myself. Some of you just being what social proof is telling you to be, because you look at social proof and you say, oh, that person's doing that, they're popular, I'm gonna do to do it. That's not you. Be yourself. Come on, Shawty, be yourself. Stop doing what you want to do and do what he told you to do. Oh, this ain't popular. I know, I know, I know. But you gotta stop faking the funk and be yourself. You got to recover yourself. Some of you got split personalities in the spirit, and it's all because you offended of truth. And every time truth comes about you, you reject it and you won't change. So you are chameleon in the spirit. Ah, oh my God, you blend into every environment. You do things to prove to people you are who you are, and You ain't got to do that, shorty. Come on. He said, recover yourself out of the snare, because that's what it is. And this is church folk. And no preacher, no leader, no believer should be ensnared by the devil who have taken them captive— watch this— at his will. He can use you and play you like a puppet when he want to because you got offense in your heart. I told you offense is one of Satan's deadliest traps, and he uses it to pull you in. And he'll bait you in with something you think you're doing that's right and is really wrong, because you think you're right but you're really wrong because you reject the truth. And you never really recovered yourself. There are a lot of people out here, man, that's so far gone from who they really are, and they ain't recovered their self. They living to please people, and guess what? That ain't the will of God. I'mma tell you something: always be who you are. I got to get out of here. Amen. Let's go to Psalm 45. Let's go to Psalm 45. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I hear you, Holy Ghost. I'm teaching this as the Holy Spirit is giving to me. Listen, I hear you, Spirit of the Lord. Psalm 45. Psalm 45. Uh, Psalm 45, and we're gonna look at verse number 4. Let's do that. Hallelujah. Y'all love me, I love y'all, I love y'all. Live or by replay, I hope y'all didn't run when you start hearing the truth. Don't reject it, receive it. Don't reject it, receive it. Psalm 45. Thank you, Holy Ghost, for this. Thine arrows are sharp in the heart of the king's enemies. Is whereby the people fall under thee. Let's read verse 4. I'm sorry, I read the wrong verse. 45:4. And in thy majesty, watch this, ride prosperously because of truth and meekness and righteousness. Woo! And thy right hand shall teach thee terrible things. That's heavy. Heavy, man. That whole verse is heavy. What is— what is the psalmist— this is a, a didactic psalm. It was a psalm that was written just for the king. And matter of fact, I've quoted a few of them tonight, even in the beginning. Didactic psalms were written for worship for the king, and also as a— David was wise— as an instruction inside of the song or the prayer that the king may learn something about God. Or it was a prophetic utterance to the King. Now he says, and in your majesty ride prosperously because of truth and meekness and righteousness. Hear this: truth, meekness, and righteousness, they all go together. And when you operate in them, watch what it says, you will ride prosperously. Safely. Tsalach. Tsalach. Tsalach in Hebrew. Watch this. You will succeed. You will advance swiftly. Tsalach. Which means God sends his spirit that causes you to advance swiftly. Many of you stuck and your stuff is slow. Your business slow. Your ministry slow. Y'all not talking. Your marriage, everything slow because meekness, ah, righteousness and truth are not your portion. You reject truth. You refuse to be meek enough to receive it. And then many of you will not do what's right because you want to do what you want to do, and it don't Don't go that way, shorty. If you want to ride prosperously, if you want to ride in the car that is a prosperous car, or you want to ride in the realm of the spirit with Jesus prosperously, and you operate under the auspices of his ideas and using his resources to accomplish the things you need to accomplish in the kingdom— oh, that's where I want to be. So we got to walk in truth. We gotta walk in righteousness and meekness. Oh God, he said, 'Cause, and your right hand will teach you terrible things.' Watch this. The right hand was the king's authority, and it's always a temptation to use your fleshly authority, your free will. Yeah. Your— the king had free will in his right hand to rule and to make decrees and to make law. But he said, obeying this right hand, obeying your free will, yeah, it's going to teach you some terrible things. And what teach there means— what the word is, yaira in Hebrew— is going to irrigate your life with terrible things. You'll learn them through experience, not you'll sit down and be taught. No, your right hand is going to cause you to experience some terrible things because you chose to follow after your free will, to do what you wanted to do, and not trust in His Majesty, his truth, his meekness, and his righteousness, and let those be the very things that rule and control your your life. Listen, a proud person, man, is never going to receive correction, is never going to receive instruction. You know what? Proud people delight in telling other people the truth, but they cannot receive the truth about themselves. And that statement hits a lot of preachers, man. I could just be transparent to you about me. There was a time in my life and ministry where I would preach the truth. I would preach hellfire and brimstone and be happy to preach it, but I struggled hearing the truth about me. God had to deliver me from that. I could not live in the realm of glory I live in I live there. I don't have to display it on Facebook and tell you I'm in the glory, because if you— okay, let me not even go there tonight. Okay, all right, so yeah, gentle. All right, gentle. Okay, Jill, thank you, Holy Ghost. Jill. Yeah, so I had issues, man. Let me just talk about me. I had issues, and a lot of my blessings was blocked because I would get offended at the truth. And many a times to defend my personal revelation of myself, the deceived revelation of where I thought I was, and not looking at those scandalous, scandalous things that was in my heart. Whenever somebody brought them to me, I would rise up angry and mad and retaliate, when that ain't the way that goes, man. You gotta be able to receive just as much truth as you give. And the more effective you are at speaking truth to others is a— oh my God, watch this— it's going to be a direct correlation of your aptitude to receive truth about you. I know you think there ain't nothing to be said. Yes, there is. There's some things brooding beneath the surface that needs to be talked about. And you know, many times what we do, we judge other people and we're doing the same things that we're judging them for. Oh my God, oh my God. Listen, there are people that, you know, they judge people for eating the wrong things and not exercising. And they don't exercise neither. It's just like a husband judging his wife for being overweight and he got a belly. That's a problem. Why don't you lead by example with your pot belly self? Okay, gentle, gentle, gentle. And get on the treadmill. Come on, come on. Yeah. And, and instead of judging and making excuses Because that's what happens. Many of us are deceived by excuses. An excuse is just a well-planned lie. Make an excuse why you— some of you listening tonight, you're making excuses why you don't want to receive the truth. You're making excuses why you don't want to sit under a word that will bring deliverance into your life. Yeah, some of you are dancing and shouting over offense, shouting over unrighteousness. And you need deliverance. Some of you preaching and you need deliverance, and you are judging other people for things you're doing. How about you get delivered from fornication and you can work hard in the pulpit preaching it? Glory to God. How about you get delivered from being a lesbian and you can really preach to lesbians and help them because you understand what it took to get you delivered? How about you get delivered from homosexuality? And then you can preach it. But you can't preach something— you, if you're a drunkard and a liar, come on. If you're not walking in the same, the right assignment, and trying to be something you're not, you can't judge somebody else for doing that because you're doing it. Because you're unwilling to hear the truth about you, you make excuses. Okay, let me go to Bible because y'all, y'all, y'all about to get offended. I don't want you to do that, so let me go to Bible because saying this, this nigga, him. Uh, Romans 2. Let's go to Romans 2. Thank you, Holy Ghost. Romans 2, verse 1. Okay, your excuses don't work. Excuses are the nails that houses of failure are built from. Let that marinate a minute. Excuses are the nails that houses of failure are built from. Most of the time you're going to continue to fail over and over again because you make excuses for not being meek, not receiving the truth, not operating in righteousness. Romans 2:1. Yeah, gentle, gentle, gentle. Therefore thou art inexcusable. Oh God, you without excuse, right? Oh man, whosoever thou art that judgest, for wherein thou judgest another, thou condemnest thyself, for thou that judgest does the same things. Listen, you start passing judgment on people that got the same issues that you got. You're condemning yourself, and there is no excuse for that. Let's receive truth and get you together, right? Okay, let's go to Luke. I'm gonna get out here. Luke 14. You're inexcusable. You're inexcusable. Yeah, verse 16. Yeah, you're inexcusable. I'm going to show you some men that wasn't facing the truth, and they were making excuses. All right, so 16 says, then he said unto them, a certain man made a great supper and bade many. Verse 17, and he sent his servant at suppertime to say to them that were bidden, come, for all things are now ready. And they, with all consent, begin to make excuse. The first said, I have bought a piece of ground and I must needs go and see it, and I pray to have me excused. Verse 19, another said, I bought 5 yoke of oxen and I go to prove them, and I have to pray. I pray that you make me excuse. Another one said, I have married a wife and therefore I cannot come. These men were not facing truth. They did— the feast was prepared, the word was ready to go forth. They started making excuses and excused themselves from a life-changing experience. Listen, they were making these excuses because they were running from truth. Oh, I'm busy, I gotta work, I gotta do this. Listen, you better find yourself somewhere getting some truth. These men right here in this text, they had a serious lack of want-to, and they were blaming the things they had accumulated themselves and the people they had brought into their lives themselves. And you can never allow things you own and people you have inside of your culture to prevent you from getting transforming truth that's going to change your life. Oh boy, oh boy. Yeah, okay, okay. See, an excuse is— yeah, I hear you, Holy Ghost— it's reasonings. I gotta go, my time is gone. And theories. Hear me, reasonings and theories that try to pull you away from the will of God, from the knowledge of God, from truth of God about your life. Okay, 2 Corinthians. All right, yeah, let me go to word. 2 Corinthians 10, yeah, verses 4 and 5. Let's read it. The Bible said, for the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds. So a stronghold is a barrier, a wall that is built in warfare usually that is designed to keep what's inside inside and to keep what's outside outside. So when there's a stronghold up in your mind, in your spirit, and when truth comes, that stronghold— come on now— is going to fight to keep the— oh boy— to keep the truth out. But the Bible says we cannot pull this stronghold down with carnality, but we got to lean on God and say, God, help me pull down— oh my God— this stronghold so truth can get in. And the reason the stronghold is blocking truth, because he wants to keep in all of the religion, all of the deception, all of the excuses, all of the reasons why you can stay where you are. Come on. But you got to pull that stronghold down. And watch this, this is how you do it. One, you got to cast down imaginations. Logismos, logismos, imaginations. This— watch this, this word means a compendium or a compilation of images Oh God, and their nations, or nations of images. Yeah, nations of images in your head, nations and cultures of images from your past, from previous teachings, from what you believe is right in the secular realm. So these nations of images, whoo, hey. Is keeping truth out to promote you from glory to glory. So you got to cast down those imaginations. Watch this: and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God. So inside of the stronghold, you got nations of images. Oh my God, you got logismos in there. You got image nations of cultures and lifestyles in the past. And ways of doing things that are contrary to your forward progression and movement in God. You got to pull down those nations of images, otherwise you're going to stay stuck. Come on, Shawty, you're going to stay stuck if you don't pull it down. Watch this: and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, which Because it's in there, it's got some authority to raise up when it wants to, to snare your mind and your thought process when you want to. And watch this: bringing every thought to the obedience of Christ. You got to cast down the reasons and theories, the computations in your mind, the logismos in your mind. The stronghold's got to come down. So you can get truth in there. Because we become deceived through reasoning contrary to the truth. Deception happens because we start reasoning and making excuses that are contrary to what God is saying. Okay, you don't believe it? Again, go to James. I thank you, Lord. I thank you, Jesus, for the word. Lord, I thank you for the word. Somebody ought to thank God for the word. Word. Hallelujah. James 1:22. Hallelujah, Jesus. The Bible says, but be ye doers of the word— watch this— and not hearers only, deceiving ourselves. So when you hear the word and don't make application, you're deceiving yourself that it's just okay it's okay to watch a teaching on a live and not make application. You're deceiving yourself that it's just okay to show up at church on your Bible study night and not apply what you hear. You're deceiving yourself when you go to church on a Sunday morning, hear the message, and don't apply what's being taught. You're operating in a level of deception that is very destructive. Oh my God, that is very destructive because you're reasoning now contrary to truth because your actions are not in alignment with what you're hearing, what you're receiving. So instead of receiving, you're deceiving, you're deceiving yourself that it's just okay to let this word go in one ear and go out the other. Spiritual revelation, information, and education without application is constipation. You're stuck, you're not moving, you're straining to get it out, to get the destiny, to get the purpose, to get the assignment out of your life. See, when you don't accept truth, even your enemies— you start making excuses for your enemies. I thought I was going to move into Don't Be Offensive tonight. This just really was another part accepting the truth, man, and not being offended by truth. So listen, you got to stop making excuses for your enemies. Some of you want your enemies to be your friend. No, they're enemy. The devil's an enemy. And what you got to do is destroy them out of your life. Okay, y'all don't believe it? Deuteronomy. Deuteronomy chapter 7. And I'm closing. This is my last scripture and I'm out. Deuteronomy chapter 7, verses 1 and 2, right? The Bible said, when the Lord thy God shall bring thee into the land whether you go to possess it, and has cast out many nations before thee, the Hittites, the Girgashites, and the Amorites, and the Canaanites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites, 7 nations greater and mightier than thou. So here, here's what you understand. These nations of image, you got to have God's help to cast them out because they're spiritual and they have spiritual power. All right, so you got to spend some time with God to cast those images down because watch this, scripture said they're greater and mightier than you in the flesh. So you need to lean on your spiritual self and the power of the Holy Ghost to disseminate them from your life. And when the Lord God, verse 2, shall deliver thee deliver them before thee, thou shalt smite them and utterly destroy them. Thou shalt make no covenant with them and show no mercy. Listen, stop showing mercy to the things that are holding you back. Stop being nice to the enemies in your mind. Stop being nice— glory to the name of God— to the enemies that's working through people that's trying to discourage you. Glory to the Lamb. Turn my Bible off. That's trying to discourage you keep you out of the will of God. Are y'all hearing me? You got to listen. You got to decide, I'mma stop making excuses for these enemies and I'm going to utterly destroy them. Utterly destroy them. Utterly destroy them. And you do that with the word. You do it with truth. Jesus said, you shall know the truth and the truth truth will make you free. Let's— oh my, yeah, bossy. Let's pray tonight. Sorry, listen, if any of you are offended, that wasn't my purpose. I'm trying to teach you how to receive truth, man, because you'll never grow If you don't take introspectives, open your ears to hear what God is saying about you, and really be a seeker of truth concerning you so that you can transition from glory to glory. That's what I want to pray for tonight. I want to pray, one, that you will become meek and humble and righteous, and it will lead you to repentance. And that through your repentance you'll be released from the snare of the enemy. And that secondly, because of that, you'll grow from glory to glory, and you'll continue to increase and increase because you've had a good practice of receiving truth. I'm gonna tell you something, just because I'm an apostle in office, I'm still a child of God first. And I am not above correction, rebuke, chastening. I have to position myself to receive the truth. Yeah. And listen, just because you're an apostle, a prophet, evangelist, pastor, teacher, or wherever you serve in the kingdom, you're a child of God. You're not above the truth concerning you. You want to get from glory to glory? You want to operate in real power? I want to pray for that tonight. And then thirdly, I want to pray that you will utterly destroy your enemies, that you'll stop making excuses about why you're not receiving the truth, but you will utterly destroy your enemies. You will pull down the strongholds and the reasonings and the theories in your life that are stopping you from growing, that are keeping you in the same place. Ah, let's pray tonight. Father, in Jesus' name, I thank you for your goodness, your mercy, your grace, your favor, your kindness, God. And so, number one, God, I pray tonight in the name of Jesus that you will position every person under the sound of my voice, whether live or by replay or listening to the podcast, I declare, God, that you will position them to receive truth, Lord, and give them a mind like never before, to open their heart, to be meek, to receive truth so they can operate in the righteousness of God. And as they do this, God, they'll be released from the snare of the enemy, and he'll no longer be able to play games with their life and keep them stagnated. I bind the spirit of stagnation in the name of Jesus. I bind the spirit of pride and arrogance, and I thank you that under the sound of my voice are a humble people who move in humility in the mighty name of Jesus. And secondly, God, I pray that you will take your people from glory to glory, God, that they will increase more and more, that they will grow into the image of God, hallelujah, and that between the glories they will face that truth that they need to face concerning themselves so they can get to that next level of glory. So many are stuck, God. So many are operating in yesterday's anointing, yesterday's glory. But God, there is a need to go from glory to glory. So tonight, Lord, I'm asking you to help us to go from glory to glory consistently and fervently. And thirdly, tonight I pray that we will eliminate all excuses from our life for receiving truth. And God, we will utterly destroy our enemies, and we will pull down the strongholds in our mind. We will cast down theories, hallelujah, and imaginations, nations of images that control us. And keep us stuck, I command it to be gone in the name of Jesus. Pull it down, pull it down in Jesus' name. And I glorify you for it now, Lord. In Jesus' name I pray, amen and thank God. Listen, thank every one of you for listening again, and whether you're watching me live or by replay I love you, and I'm teaching the series only because the Lord has led me to teach it. There are so many in the world that operate in the scandalon, the offense of Satan. It's a trap, and he baits us in and makes us feel like we're okay, and we're not. Listen, I need you to make sure you get it together. We're gonna keep teaching it until the Lord says stop. Listen, I love I love you, I love you, I love you. We want your support in ministry. Don't scroll, don't move right now. The Bible says if I communicate to you spiritual things, you should communicate your natural things. Our church, Rider Church, is growing, expanding our outreaches, and there's some things we're trying to get done in this quarter. We need your help. I was praying today and the Lord told me me over the next few days begin to challenge the people we would speak to, to plant a seed up and above your tithe or your normal partner gift of $31. And he said, as you sow this $31 seed tonight, your days ahead— hear me— your next 31 days, this next month, in the month of March, is going to be a release of accelerated blessings financially that's going to begin to flow into your financial ideas, financial innovations are gonna flow to you. I need every person that hears my voice now, whether you're live or by replay, I need you to be obedient and sow a seed of $31. There are 3 ways you can give. You can text the word RADAH, R-A-D-A-H, to the number 77977. That's RADAH. 77977, or you can give online at rhodachurch.com/donate, or you can give via Cash App using the Cash App Rhoda Church. I'll pin it to this post so you can reference it, but please, if somebody's from the church or from our team is online, just put the ways to give in the comments so people can follow those instructions and give their seed. Unto the Lord. Listen, I love you guys, and until next time, remember, share the word with a friend. And, and listen to this: your decisions set you up for dominion. God bless you.