THE STORY OF A KING, PART 6: BORN TO BE REJECTED | DR. MIKE WOODS, SR.

Ah, well, praise the Lord. God bless you everyone. Welcome to Thursday Night Thrust. I am Dr. Mike Wood Sr. For those of you who are uninitiated, welcome tonight. I I pray that you've had a great Thursday. I pray that the blessing of the Lord that makes rich and adds no sorrow—

glory to God—

is with you and upon you. I really believe tonight is going to be a tremendous blessing. So guys, tonight I need you to do me a favor really quickly. I need you to go ahead and by all means, I need you to share this experience now. I need you to do really 3 things. If you're joining us right now, I need you to comment below, say hello. Uh, anytime you come into a live stream, believe it or not, uh, if you were able to see the code in the back office of how live streams are structured in the coding of the actual stream online, you would see that anytime you come in, your, your entire profile is like a room. You walked into a room and your room is coming to a room that you're a part of. So we, we know what happens when we come into a room, right? The most important thing is that you don't be rude. You want to speak to everybody there. So if you're here tonight, say hello. I want to welcome you. Glory to the name of God. And also, I want you to do me a kind favor. Glory to God. Do like Pastor Jasper is being a champion for this stream tonight. Glory to God. He is tagging people below glory to God, in the comments, um, trying to ensure that those people he loved can experience the same word that he's being blessed by. Now, what does that mean for you? The Bible says you are blessed to be a blessing. So indeed, glory to God, if the broadcast or this stream is a blessing to you, then you should share it. I mean, Pastor Jasper is currently on a sharing frenzy right now, tagging people below. I'm telling you right now, uh, you need this word from the Lord. And matter of fact, one of the people he tagged is here. Uh, I'm going to attempt to announce your name—

Kim Meb She Power Brown!

Welcome! Glory to God! My daughter Cherie is doing the same thing. She's on a taggin' frenzy right now. Listen, I want to invite every one of you, whether you're live or by replay, to do the exact same thing. Somebody needs to hear this word. Glory to the name of God. And I believe it's going to be life-changing tonight.

So please, guys, for—

by all means, go ahead, tag, share, comment below, say hello. And finally, I want you to hit that like like button. And the reason we want you to do it, not so that, you know, people will think you like me or anything, but really what that does— because let me tell you something about spiritual streams that come through social media, and, and I hope they're listening because they don't think I know this, but I do. The reality is they throttle the traffic of these streams so much because they, they strive to be such an open community for everything. So they, they really control how spiritual, uh, entities, uh, stream because at the end of the day they don't want this to get out to everybody. So it's our responsibility to get it out. You know, we're working on something right now and hopefully we'll be able to launch this in 2025 Well, we'll be able to actually launch our own Apostolic Network that will stream on live Roku TV, it'll stream to Apple TV, uh, it'll stream to Fire TV, and people be able to watch it on television and online, uh, through every platform. And we will have control of our own algorithms and how it's distributed. Uh, I mean, unless you're like super popular with top thousands of people following you, millions of people following you, you know, those people are going to engage. But really, they throttle the popular people's traffic too. The only people that really lock in are the people that have bought into that person's vision. So guys, I love you, I appreciate your help, uh, thank you for tagging, thank you for sharing. We're gonna get ready to jump right into this. I'm gonna come back, we're gonna pray. I want to play the opener. Glory to God. Uh, for our teaching tonight. Uh, we're continuing our series on the story of a king. Glory to God! This is part 5. Glory to God! And tonight we're talking about the fact that Jesus was born to be rejected. And, um, this is going to be really good because it relates to all of us, right? Because I don't care who you are, you've been rejected in life before.

Glory to God.

And so tonight I want to teach you how to deal with that root of rejection, how, how, how to strengthen your perspective on how you walk with God even through rejection, just like Jesus was able to fulfill his purpose even though he was despised and rejected of men. Glory to God.

So good evening, Zion.

God bless you. Good to see you. And by the way, before we play the intro, I want to just publicly say, uh, especially for our Rada family that's on here and those that are watching live or by replay, I had an amazing meeting with Zion Jasper on last night, and she is now our new director of social media. She's going to assume that role full-fledged. She'll hit the ground running in 2025, and I'm super excited about her being on the team.

Y'all welcome Zion.

Put some hand claps down in the comments. Y'all welcome her to the administrative team, and I think she's going to be a phenomenal director of social media. She'll be able to help us distribute effectively for the church, create a whole nother presence for the church that's on social media. People follow me a lot, but we need people to follow the church. Amen. Glory to God. So welcome, Zion. We love you, uh, and we appreciate God for the gifts that are in you, and we're looking forward to seeing them come forth. Praise God. All right, let's, let's, let's listen to this video, uh, the opener for this series, and then I'm gonna be back and we're gonna teach the word tonight. I love y'all, man.

Y'all be Could have been a night just like this one, the air filled with anticipation, and that light so bright in the night sky that it beckoned for shepherds and wise men to follow. Imagine to their surprise when they arrive and find a tiny baby laying in a manger surrounded with nothing more than farm animals. How could this be their king? How could the Savior of the world be here in this place? And yet they were compelled. They bowed down right there and worshiped him. You see, they knew that something beyond comprehension had just transpired. The hope of all mankind has just shown up before them, that Jesus, although a baby, had come for you and for me. He came to give us a hope and a future. He came so that we might have joy and light. He came so that no matter what circumstances we find ourselves in, all we have to do is call on his name and we would be saved. This is the story of Christmas. This is the story of the greatest gift ever given. The story of a king, the savior of the world. Born in a manger for you and for me.

Well, praise God!

Hallelujah!

Do you believe that he was born for you?

Glory to God! I don't know about you, but I believe that he was born for me.

He was born that I may be able to do life together, better and together with him. Listen, if you believe that that tonight, why don't you put your hands together and open your mouth right where you are and just give God some praise, give him some worship, give him some glory. He, he left his throne in heaven to come so that we could be redeemed, so that he could show us what it's like—

hallelujah—

to live as a person that follows the instructions of his Father. Glory to the name of God. And I'm telling You ought to celebrate that every day. You ought to give God glory every day, because it's not just about really this time of year. This King came into the world so that his kingdom can exude, so his kingdom can reign through us every single day, man.

And I'm telling you, and I'm so glad about it. Hallelujah! Just give him praise, give him thanks. We give God glory and honor tonight.

Father, we give you We praise, we thank you for this opportunity. Glory to God to teach your word tonight. And I pray, God, that your word will go out with power, it will go out with authority. God, I pray that your people tonight will be blessed by you and never impressed by me. I decree and declare, God, that no weapon formed against me can prosper. No weapon formed against your people can prosper. God, I declare tonight that we are victorious in the mighty name of Jesus. And I thank you that there'll be no hindrance, there'll be no impediment. We bind everything that's not like you, God.

We loose the blessing of God that makes rich and adds no sorrow. And we decree and declare, God, hallelujah, that we walk under the auspices of your promises, God. And we thank you. If you said it, it is so.

And we believe it in Jesus' name. Amen and amen.

Hallelujah.

Father, we thank you for the light, the illumination, and the intelligence.

Hallelujah.

Of your word tonight. Let it come forth in Jesus' name. Amen. We love the Lord.

Hallelujah.

What a mighty God we serve. He is so good. He is so kind. He is so wonderful.

Glory to God. Let's jump into this tonight.

I believe again we're going to be tremendously blessed. Glory to God. I believe God is going to get the glory. Hallelujah! Out of this teaching. Listen, if you have not shared this, guys, please go ahead and be diligent in doing just that. Share this teaching. Tonight, glory to God.

All right guys, let's get into this.

Tonight we're talking about the root of rejection, and, uh, we're talking about how Jesus was actually born to be rejected. Matter of fact, let's go to, praise God, the book of Isaiah. Let's start here tonight. 53:3. Glory to God.

Isaiah 53:3.

You, you've seen this verse before.

Hallelujah.

And, uh, we're gonna go to it again, and, uh, we're gonna try to extrapolate something a little different out of this tonight. Again, stay with me tonight. I promise you, you're going to be blessed if you do. Um, I want to read 53. Glory to God. Um, and 3. Hallelujah. The Bible says this, it says, he is despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief.

And as we hid, as it were, our faces from him—

listen to this— He was despised and we esteemed him not. So key things here. The Bible says, and this is Isaiah prophesying even before Jesus is born, about how Jesus—

hear me— would experience earth. Now it's very important to know how the prophet is speaking.

He's speaking in the present tense. He's prophesying, saying he is despised, he, and rejected of men.

And, and he, he's, he's describing the lifestyle because if you read verses 1 and 2, uh, it talks about how he grows up.

It talks about him being revealed.

The reality is the prophet sees that he's gonna be despised.

I wanna look closely in the beginning tonight at those two words, despised and rejected. Let's look at these two words closely, despised and rejected.

So the first word, despised, it comes from a Hebrew word, b'azah, B-A-Z-A-H. Now this word means to hold in contempt. To disregard, to regard as despicable.

Hear that.

To spite and to devalue. So here it is, Jesus is born and has already perceived that he would be devalued, he will be despised, he will be placed in contempt. He will already be— in other words, he will be prejudged as one not worthy of life.

Hear me, before he is born.

Now that's powerful.

Now, and I'm gonna need y'all tonight to stop crying over when people despise you, because I'm gonna tell you something.

If you're in God and you've never been despised You probably are not walking at the optimal level of your purpose, of God's potential and God's plan for your life. Because when you operate in a— from a sold-out place, you're gonna be despised.

When you choose to be different, when you choose to raise the bar—

hear me, guys—

Hear me, when you choose to raise the bar, glory, sheba, and live according to a different standard, you will be despised.

Watch this, because Jesus was—

and you, wait a minute, you said you was a Christian, and the common definition of Christian is to be Christ-like.

So if you want to be like Christ Part of the things that's going to happen in your life because you're anointed, because you're gifted, because you're smart, and because you made up in your mind you're gonna be serious about God working through your life— you're gonna have some people who are going to despise you. So here's what I need you to do tonight: stop whining about it. Jesus was despised. Guess what? Who do you think you are you gonna be despised too. All right, so I need you to grab that. Secondly, he was rejected. Let's look at that word. Let's look closely at it. The word rejected is shadel. And watch this, it means that he was—

oh God—

one lacking respect. He was one, shadel, that people did not want to be around. Oh my God, we're talking about Jesus that walked on water, and he had great crowds. He had great people that followed him. The people that wanted him wanted him.

They followed him for the fish and loaves.

But the religious system, the system of the world, the kings and the priests, the Sadducees— glory to God— and the Pharisees, they, they rejected him. They despised him. They didn't want to be in his presence, and they wanted to do everything to ensure that he was one that lacked.

But they couldn't control that because he was supernatural.

Wow.

Now watch this, watch this. They rejected him and despised him so much that they killed him. Oh boy, wait a minute. Yeah, the religious system is the biggest spirit Jesus fought on earth, and it's his biggest rejection he had on earth.

You'll always be rejected by religious people.

They're going to call you crazy. They're going to tell you a cult. They're going to say something's wrong with you— speaking in tongues, lifting your hands, worshiping and crying, dancing and shouting, obeying the word. Yeah, because religion never empowers to higher levels.

So it's going to always despise and reject truth. It's going to reject people who operate in a standard of righteousness and a standard of holiness.

Oh my God, I'm gonna get through this. I know this sounds boring to you because we don't want to hear this, but the end of the day Everybody's not going to celebrate you. Everybody does not think that you are the cat's meow and the dog's bow wow. Everybody don't think it. I'm sorry, I wish I could tell you otherwise, but the reality is everybody doesn't believe that you're going to be— if you're in, in it with God for real, you're going to be despised, you're going to be rejected.

So we're gonna walk through tonight to find out where the root of rejection comes from in our life and how we mishandled it. And we're gonna look at some results of mishandling rejection when it came.

And going forward, what we're gonna know now is how to deal with rejection and create—

oh my God— opportunities for growth and increase and witness and transformation through rejection.

Are y'all hearing me?

Oh boy. All right, let's go. So what is rejection?

I'm glad you asked. Hallelujah, I'm glad you asked.

Rejection is— all right, let's, let's look at this. Rejection is to refuse.

Anybody ever been refused? Okay, let me say it like this.

Anybody ever been told no and you accepted it it as rejection. The reality is you're not going to always get what you want. You're going to get told no sometimes. Some people take no because they're so sensitive as rejection. Children, sometimes your children, even after they get grown, don't know how to accept no because they have a sense of entitlement. Listen, The reality is, when you go to work every day and make your money, you got grown children, that's your money. It ain't their money, and they're not entitled to it. Glory to the name of God. And you have to break that spirit of entitlement off your children because they think that they're just entitled to have what you have and not learning the principle on how to produce it themselves. The reality is, guys, you're gonna hear no. And it's not you're being rejected all the time if you hear no. But rejection is to refuse. It means, watch this, to throw away as in if you have no value. That's what they did to Jesus. It means not to use or notice. Jesus wasn't sitting around waiting for them to invite him to preach at the synagogue. Now when he went in the temple, glory to the name of God, uh, he baffled them in the temple. They didn't want him there because he was carrying something different. But you know, some of us are waiting for people to accept us because, watch this, we are addicted to approval. Oh boy, we're gonna— I'm gonna work on you tonight. Listen, you gotta make up in your mind See, Jesus wasn't addicted to approval because he— it was already clear that he was going to be rejected, that he would not be accepted because he was carrying something different. So also, rejection deals with the fact that I'm not going to use you or notice you. I've dealt with it in my life.

Glory to God.

There are people that know you can help them. There are people that know that the anointing that's on your life Hallelujah!

Carries great value.

But they'll, they'll watch it. They'll steal your messages. Glory to God. I know this for a fact. I know, glory to the name of God, popular preachers that watch my videos. They don't think I know it, but I know it. Glory to God. You gotta understand, Ronatech is a tech company for real, so I know what people are doing. So here's the reality. Watch this. Glory to God. I know people do this. I've heard them preaching it.

Here's a reality, here's a reality. I don't mind that because I understand that I'm going to be rejected because of what I carry.

I had one preacher tell me, uh, in the city, he said, I can't invite you to preach at my church.

I love your ministry and I believe you will bless my people, but two reasons I can't invite you to preach.

Because you may preach one of the messages I've already preached that you preach. And secondly, if you come in here and preach, all of these people are going to start coming to your church, and I can't risk that. How, how crazy is that?

And this preacher got 2,500 to 3,000 people sitting in front of him every single week, and that's what he said to me.

So I'm telling you People will see what you carry.

My God, today, hallelujah!

And they will reject you. They will not notice you. They won't use you even though you could help. But I want, I want to help you tonight not to take that personal. Hear me, guys, it ain't personal when they reject you. It's a sign.

Glory to God. Yeah, the quiet part out loud, Pastor.

Yeah, the reality is you have to keep being you. And listen, you're in good company if people are pushing you away. You're not going to be accepted by everybody. So I want to look at the word roots because again, I want to show you how you've let roots of rejection affect your perception, and how roots of rejection will cause you to handle other people incorrectly.

Oh my God, today, my God, today. Because a lot of things you do in life, a lot of your reactions, a lot of— a lot of how you draw back from people, it deals with rejection in the past. And there's a root in your life that needs to be destroyed so we won't step out in greater dimensions. In greater levels and to change our environment. Hear me, because we're afraid of being rejected by what is uncommon to us.

So let— so the root of anything is the starting point.

Hear me, guys, it's the starting point.

It's where things begin.

It's the first growth from seed.

So when something is planted, the first growth of it is the root. And what has happened, because you let seeds of rejection get planted in your life in the past, they started growing.

Hear me, guys.

Hear me, guys. They started growing. I need you to hear me.

And Now it has caused you, praise God, to miss God on some things and to miss some good relationships and to miss some good opportunities.

Hallelujah! Hear me out, family, hear me out.

I need you to— are y'all listening tonight?

Glory to God! You got to deal with this root, and if you don't deal with it, you're going to continue to be stagnated Are you going to continue to go in circles? Glory to God. You're going to continue to have problems. Listen, here's what I know. Here's what I know for a fact. If you don't deal with this, you're going to sabotage your future in a way that people you really need to work with you in purpose Hear me, guys.

They're not going to be able to work with you because you're going to push them away.

Or if you let them in, you're going to be so guarded that you can't accept what they're bringing to your life. So let's deal with this root, man. So first of all, what you got to realize about seeds, family, is that Seeds— hear me, guys— seeds are buried, they germinate, and then roots develop. Let me show you how root system starts, all right? And they go down before fruit and branches are ever seen above the ground. So what happens is root systems are developed under the burial site of the seed that are designed to give the fruit or the branches life as they come forth. Hear me, family. Oh my God, oh my God, you got some root system working that we got to deal with. Some stuff that was spoken to you over your life as a child, some stuff you went through in high school where people were rejecting you. Some stuff you've gone through with siblings where people are rejecting you, and the system has created fruit. Because you know why? We'll see this in a minute. The roots create the fruit. Listen, if you got rotten fruit that comes forth, that means you got rotten roots. So rotten roots roots equal rotten fruit. If you got good fruit, that means you got good roots. Glory to God! If you got good stuff coming out of your life, that means that you have good roots being planted. And I want to tell you something: when you came to Jesus, he planted some good seed in you, and you got to let the power of Jesus Christ and his love and his— oh my God— and your faith in him and his ability, glory to God, to assure you that he's got you. You got to let it destroy those root systems so you can move forward. So it takes time, even in the natural—

here, listen to me— to uproot. Hallelujah.

Root, bad roots that's been rooted in soil.

I mean, it could take years, man, especially if it's a tree or something that's developed a root system and you're trying to salvage the root system. I, I've seen, uh, in articles where they've talked about the time it takes to salvage the life force of a tree, which is the roots.

I mean, it could take months because the systems that are created.

I'm telling you, you got an advantage in the spirit because Jesus Christ is in your life. Glory to God! And Jesus can uproot every system. Oh my God, oh my God, family, I need you to hear me. He can, he can give you a clean slate and he can grow a spiritual root system in your life where you're producing fruit for the kingdom. And that's what we want.

We want you— we want you to be—

we want to allow these seeds to be replanted. Watch this. The Bible says that the sower— so Jesus gave this prayer. The sower sowed the word, and some fell on good ground, some fell on stony ground, and some fell on— all right, you got— you got—

you got where I'm going with this. That word that fell on stony ground, it never came through. Even though the word was there, it, it never took a good root because there was too many other systems in place to block the good seed from coming forth. So let's— tonight I want you to open your mind up, and I'm still an introduction because we're going to deal with these systems tonight.

And we're going to get them uprooted. Glory to God.

So the question becomes, are you dealing with root or fruit?

Okay, are you dealing with root or fruit? Yeah, are you dealing with root or fruit? Glory to God. Are the things you're seeing in your life um, your attitudes, your— the manifestation of God's promises, or the, the bad things that keep happening in your life, the cycles you keep going through. Is this a result of bad roots, or is it the fruit of God coming out of your life?

You, you need to be able to discern the difference.

Or do you have good fruit that comes from good roots, or do you have bad fruit that comes from bad roots?

And I'm telling you right now, all of the bad stuff that's under the curse of the law, it's coming out of bad fruit. Let's go to Luke 10. Let's get into this. Luke 10. Luke 10.

Glory to God.

And 16. Luke 10:16. Stay with me tonight, guys. I'm not gonna be long.

I just sound like it.

I just sound like it. Glory to God. Stay with me. Watch this.

This is Jesus talking, and he says—

listen to this— he says, he that hears you— listen to this, guys. Oh my God. Heareth me. And he that despises you— watch this. Despiseth me, and he that despises me despises him that sent me. So this is the first verse I want to give you tonight to help you not take rejection so personal. Jesus is on your team. Glory to God. And the Bible says, here he that hears you— that word hear is ako in Greek, so that word means them that listen to you and receive the fullness of what you have to say. The Bible says when they hear you, they hear me. Glory to God. That's why we got to be very careful what we're saying out of our mouth, what we're speaking. Glory to God. A-K-O-U is where we get words like acoustics. Glory to God. So that— and when you got good acoustics, you can hear the full clarity of sound. Uh, the Bible says when you're speaking the things of God and people hear you They're also hearing him. So that's why we gotta season our words with grace. I posted something about this last week. Glory to God. That's why you can't let blessing and curse come out the same mouth. How you're telling me you're born again and you're telling everybody else you're born again, but every word that comes out, every other word that comes out of your mouth is a cuss word? Come on, man. Come on, you cannot tell me you are— because guess what? When people hear you, they hear him. So you don't want— oh boy— people to equate what you're saying. And you're saying you're of God, that it's okay for you to be talking like that. You got to stop that cussing. You got to deal with those words. Bridle your tongue. Glory to God. The Bible said, out of the abundance of the heart does a man speak. So in your heart should be the word, in your heart should be life, and that's—

glory to God, hallelujah— what you should be speaking. Praise God, that's what you should be saying.

You, you got to bridle that tongue. You got to— I don't know what you asking how to, Stephanie, but, uh, glory to God, how you get your tongue tamed. If you're asking about that, I hope you ain't cussing, Stephanie. I hope Glory to God. The reality is, glory to God, if you want to stop cussing, you have to put— because out of the abundance of the heart do you speak. So you got to fill your heart with what God says. How do you do that? You hear the word, glory to God, and your mouth responds according to what's in your heart.

Hallelujah! Glory to God! I need you to hear me, guys. I need you to hear me tonight.

So Jesus said, if they despise— if they hear you, they hear me.

Let me keep going.

He that despises you— watch this— also despises me. So instead of you getting upset and bent out of shape, you're not being despised alone. You're not being rejected alone. Glory to God!

Hallelujah!

Jesus said, I'm being despised with you. And so what we gonna do is shake the dust from our feet. They didn't receive us, glory to God. So we're gonna shake the dust from our feet and we're gonna keep it moving. Oh boy, glory to God! And we're gonna keep it moving. My God, tonight I love it. Oh boy. Yeah, okay, I got you, Stephanie. I didn't— you, your profile picture on this screen did not look like you were one that used them kind of words. I just wanted to make sure I was— I want to ask you a question.

Glory to God.

But yeah, you're absolutely right. There is no way it could be so. Glory to God. And that's what the word says. How can blessing and curse come out the same mouth? So Jesus says, now if you despise me, hallelujah, watch this. You despise him that sent me.

Okay, wait a minute.

So not only are you being— you rejected me, you rejecting Jesus, and you rejecting God the Father. So, so listen, don't get bent out of shape when you get rejected. There's a reason why— hear me, guys— you're being rejected. Go to Luke 2:52. Luke 2:52. 52. Same chapter, go back to chapter 2, verse 52. Hallelujah, we're gonna get something tonight, we're gonna walk this out. There's a reason why you're being rejected.

Glory to God. Luke 2:52. Ushabati kisalandi konsatabaya.

Watch this, the more you increase and grow, the more you'll be despised. Watch this. And Jesus increased in wisdom— listen to me, family— and in stature. So again, if Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, so when he was born into this world I need y'all to hear me. He ain't little baby Jesus no more. He has increased, glory to God, in wisdom and in stature.

Glory to God.

I need you to hear me. Glory to God. So if Jesus sets a model for how we should live, that means we should be increasing in both wisdom and stature. Let— okay, so let's break that down. So what, what does it mean that he increased, Michael Woods? I'm glad you asked. Uh, that word is prokopto in Greek, and the word literally means that he— that he was increased. There means he was promoted, he was moved further, he was advanced. And watch this, he was actually— it means to beat forward. God, I need you to hear this, which means that he increased by hammering or stretching. So we understand when we receive the word, the word is hammered in. Good God, good God, the word of God is like a hammer. Glory to God. And it breaks means things in many pieces. So you could stretch material or metals out by heating them with a hammer. You can make it more pliable. Glory to God. So Jesus was stretched because he was God incarnate. He was God and man. Oh boy, glory to the name of God. So he had to learn humanity because he was always God.

So let me tell you something, the reality is because you got to increase and grow.

You got to become better. Let me give you this: if something is not increasing you, it will ultimately decrease you. I'm gonna say that one more time: if something is not increasing you, it will ultimately decrease you. For those of you that sit up in these dead church churches. I, I said this and I'll say it again, I would not attend a dead church if I was the pastor because I need God. Glory to the name of God. You sit up in these churches where the preacher, all he does is give you 3 points and a hoop on how to keep your blood pressure down. Glory to the name of God. And you never grow and you're frustrated and you complain about it. Listen, Listen, don't you complain because you don't get to complain about what you permit. Glory to the name of God. Hallelujah. Glory to the name of God. I need you to understand something. The reality is, praise God, you need to get out of there and reposition yourself so you can grow. Glory to God. There are people who are gifted and got gifts in them. Your pastor don't know how to deal with them, and you've been sitting there for years because they can't deal with your gifts. You got to get out of that situation. Some of you are tied to things because of loyalty to family. Loyalty— you're emotionally attached to something that's killing your growth. Oh boy, oh boy, oh my God, it's killing your growth. All the preacher does is look at you as a stockholder and shareholder that keeps the business of their ministry functional. They can care less about your soul, your growth, and your increase. And you sit there and endure it in the name of loyalty and being emotionally attached. And you know what? In order to grow, in order to increase, you got to make emotional sacrifices so you can increase. Pastor Jasper says, so there's a direct correlation between your level of increased growth and the level of rejection.

Absolutely, sir, absolutely.

And, and we, we know in order for Jesus to fulfill his purpose, he had to be rejected on high levels to the point of death. His purpose was to die and resurrect. He never— glory to the name of Jesus— Jesus would have went to that cross without that level of rejection and fulfilling his purpose. Lord have mercy. Oh God, we love you. Hallelujah.

We give you praise. We give you glory.

We give you glory. We give you glory. Glory to the name of God. We honor your name, Father. I'm telling you right now, while I'm teaching, some— somebody under the sound of my voice, live or by replay, you're being stretched. Hallelujah! You're being stretched, and God is doing something new. God is doing something fresh in your spirit, in your assignment. Glory to the name of God! Even as I'm teaching, chains are breaking. Glory to God! Hallelujah! And the very fiery trials that you've endured, God is going to use those trials— glory to God— in this season you just stepped into. Oh boy! To cause an accelerated growth. To push you into destiny. Somebody ought to give God praise and glory even now. Hallelujah! We bless him, we honor him. But watch this, watch this. He said, and Jesus increased. So what did he grow in? Glory to God.

Hallelujah!

What did he grow in? What did he grow in? The Bible says here he increased in wisdom. This word wisdom in Greek is Sophia, which is skill. Oh my God! Which is intelligence, which is ability. And you notice the word Sophia.

So in the Greek, that's a feminine connotation, because reality is females a lot of times have a lot more attention to detail in things they do, whether it be decorating, whether it be dressing, whether it be cooking, whether it be cleaning.

That their attention to detail is far greater than men on a lot of levels. So the Bible says here that he increased in wisdom. He increased in skill. He increased in intelligence. He increased in ability. He increased in recognizing the details. Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy. Listen, I need you to understand that God, whoo, Shabbataya, libunkushyantatabaya, God, I give you glory, is that he is increasing your skill spiritual intelligence. Even as I'm talking, I'm telling you, you're about to tap into more things than you ever known in the realm of the spirit. Oh boy, you no longer will you be satisfied at the surface. God is about to take you deeper. And I hear that God, he says it's going to require a deeper anointing and a heavy consecration. So you got to make some spiritual sacrifices so God can deposit in you a stretched spiritual intelligence that ushers you into places where you've never gone before, into things you've never done before.

Glory to God.

I'm telling you, this—

yeah, God, I love you, I love you, I praise you. He was stretched in— I'm getting too happy. He was stretched in wisdom, listen, and in stature. Okay, so, so I, I like to break— I'm a wordsmith, I'm an etymologist, so I love words.

This, this word—

here we go, here we go, here we go— is helika in Greek, and it means maturity and, watch this, time of life. So it has a twofold connotation here. He matured as a man. He grew up. He became a grown man, and he matured in—

hallelujah—

being God incarnate. He, he matured in the realms that he was supposed to walk in as the master on Earth, huh? So he learned in the realm of the spirit through spending time with his Father what it was going to take to walk on water.

Glory to God.

What it was going to take in power. Glory to God. He, he learned the science, the supernatural science, because science is just knowledge.

So he got the supernatural science behind—

glory to God— what it would take to speak to a juniper tree.

Glory to God. And it bear fruit or die.

Glory to God.

What it would take to raise Lazarus from the dead. He understood how to operate in this realm through growth and maturity.

Watch this, don't let your desire to flow in gifts defeat your maturity. See, sometimes people will take it as rejection if you don't let them go forth before they're ready. Okay, do you realize Jesus was on Earth 30 years? His ministry was 3 years.

He did more in 3 years than many of us would ever do in a lifetime. He did some stuff, but he didn't come forth until it was time until the time had come for him to come forth. He matured. What was he doing all that time? He wasn't just chopping wood as a carpenter. He was spending time with the Father. He was expanding his synergy with his daddy. That's why he could say, when people ask him, what are you doing? He said, I'm about my father's business. I do what I see my daddy do. That's heavy, man. That's heavy. That which means I don't move until Daddy moves. I do what I see him do. I'm duplicating, imitating what my Father is doing because I'm walking in another dimension. I'm living from heaven to earth, not earth to heaven.

I got to get out of here, man. Oh boy, I got to get out of here. Oh Jesus, I got to get out of here. I need you to hear me. I need you to hear me. Listen, he increased in wisdom and stature. Watch this, wait a minute. And in favor.

Oh God. So rejection, we see here, rejection comes because of wisdom, because of growth in stature, and because of favor. But also, if you let rejection and the system systems of the roots of rejection control your life, you'll miss wisdom. You'll miss— hear me, guys—

favor. You'll miss maturity. Oh God, oh God. He grew in favor. Oh, shaddan.

With God, hear me, family, and with man.

So watch this, the word favor is charis in Greek. Charis is grace. It's where we get words like charisma. It's a gift. It's graciousness. Graciousness is divine influence. It's—

watch this—

it's loving kindness. That affords privileges. Glory to God.

So I'm telling you, if we stop using grace to only atone sin—

and how do you do that, Michael Woods?

Stop sinning. Okay, stop sinning. You will have to use grace all the time to atone sin, because most people only think that charis is for the atonement of sin, and it's not. It's the empowerment toward good deeds. It's the empowerment toward honor and privilege that would not be afforded without grace, without favor. What is this saying?

This is saying God is wanting to open doors for his people that you can't open for yourself.

Oh my God, I want to tell you, every one of you under the sound of my voice, there's a grace and there's a favor over your head. Glory to God, that's willing to take you as high as you want to go. The reality is you got to receive that grace, you got to receive that charis. So we, we teach grace and favor just for— and now you got folks out here teaching it as a license to sin. So you got folks living in sin saying, God love me and I got grace. The reality is No, grace comes to mature you, grow you up, empower you toward righteousness, empower you toward privilege, empower you toward the ability to do the right thing. Oh boy, we don't want to hear this kind of preaching.

I know it.

I'm almost done, my time almost gone. Okay, so he said he had it with God and with man. God is wanting to give you favor with people that you wouldn't get favor with on your own. Favor in areas that your natural circumstances suggest you shouldn't have favor in. Can I submit to you, you have stepped into a season— I don't know who this is for, but somebody needs to receive this— where all of your nos, all of your rejection, all of your despising is about to become yes. Glory to God. Everywhere you've been denied and turned down God said, go back, I'm about to give you—

whoo—

favor. Glory to the name of God. It's not based on your ability, it's based on his supernatural ability to grant privilege and opportunity. It's a free gift because you're a citizen of the kingdom. And Jesus was born to be rejected to show us how—

my God— to be rejected.

Because here's the thing, and I'm gonna close with this, you don't want—

listen to this— to operate in this realm of rejection where that root system, that seedbed, is causing your life to miss wisdom, which, remember, skill, intelligence, ability, Sophia. To miss maturity, malika, growth, glory to God, in the area of your purpose and God's plan, and favor, charis, opportunities that you can't create for yourself, things that your circumstances say are impossible but God says they are possible.

If you allow the root root of rejection, because Jesus was born to deal with this for you. You got to get it out. Get it out tonight. I commanded to go in the name of Jesus. If you're watching me live or by replay, I command the root of rejection. I apply the blood of Jesus to that root system, and I command it to be destroyed tonight in the name of Jesus. And I command the seedbed grace and mercy and the love of God to be planted in the life of your people tonight. And I declare that a system of good fruit will begin to manifest.

I'm not finished, but I'm about to quit because you got to beware— listen to me, guys— of poisonous roots that come to rob you of your— oh my God. Oh my God, of your blessings. You got to be aware.

Go to Deuteronomy. We're going to close with this scripture.

Deuteronomy 29:29 and 18. Lord, I pray y'all got something out of this tonight. I'm not finished. I'm gonna quit.

I'll finish this Sunday. So we're gonna have a part 2 to The Root of Rejection. I knew when I opened this up tonight— glory to God.

We were going to take up some time. Glory to God. Deuteronomy 29. I knew when the Holy Spirit started talking this yesterday, actually, to me, it was going to be long, but we'll finish it Sunday. I'm going to let you go. Glory to God. Hallelujah. 29:18, listen to this.

It says, of Deuteronomy, it said, lest there be, should be among you man or woman or family or tribe—

listen to this— whose heart turneth away this day from the Lord our God to go and serve the gods of these nations, lest there should be among you a root— listen to this— that bear gall and wormwood.

This spirit, those two things right there, gall and wormwood, Glory to God.

They, they represent what this root system can do of rejection if you allow it to keep operating in your life. Hear me, guys, hear me. So first of all, Rosh in Hebrew is gall, and it, it is the gall, the venom, or the bitterness, or the poison.

Glory to the name of God.

Of a serpent. So when you're operating in the root of rejection, it's because you have allowed yourself to be bitten by this venomous spirit, and it releases poison in your spirit. And that poison is designed to destroy your destiny. Just because they rejected you as a child and you was always the black sheep and you were the outcast.

Stop saying that. You're not that anymore.

Glory to God. You gotta let the blood of Jesus purge you of all that poison because you have a past and people reject you because of your failure.

You got to let that go. That's poison that keeps you saying, oh, they're not going to receive me, they're not going to hear me because I made a mistake in the past. Listen, I could talk about that because I've been there. I have made mistakes in my past that there are people still that hold my past against me, and they're missing the blessing of God. But I choose to not be afraid of faces.

Glory to God.

I choose to live as a redeemed man who's been free from his past. So I don't let— there was a time I used to let that rejection control how I did things. Never again. Glory to God. Glory to God. I'm not— I'm telling you, it's been a long time since I've been there. And I'm telling you right now, you have to go on from people pushing you away.

Oh my God, that's the gall.

He said there's a root that bears gall and wormwood. Wormwood is lanah. Glory to God. Which is also Bitterness, poisonous, but it is a cursed.

So now you have the venom of a demon, of a serpent that's released in your spirit.

You have a cursed thing, hear me, that's spirit. So if you're operating in rejection, if you're letting rejection control your life, you're allowing a cursed thing, hear me guys. Hear me, guys. You're allowing a cursed thing—

glory to God— to control your movement, to control your future. Listen, I've had family reject me just as recently as this week, man, and I think in prayer that's what birthed this word for tonight and now for Sunday. Glory to God, because I was dealing with what the words that were being said to me, and I knew if I would let that sit up in my spirit, it would have been poison, because it came from someone I love so much.

It came from someone that I really want to have reconciliation with and have a strong relationship with, a person that I should have a strong relationship with. And to hear them speak concerning me the way they did, it was nothing but a demon, because none of the things they were saying apply to who I am. And I'm telling you right now, I felt initially very rejected. Bam! The Holy Spirit said, don't you let that set up. You're my son, you're my king in the earth, my glory is upon you.

You.

Glory to God. You accept what I say about you. Glory to God. Oh, glory to Jesus. You got to accept what God has spoken over your life, not what warlocks and witches and the people in your past— the poisonous children. They didn't know they were being used by the devil. God knew your future, so He let that— my God, that enemy start talking when you was young.

Oh boy, watch this. People who have been molested, people who have been sexually violated and raped, many times they take that as rejection. So they can't love, they can't purely love others because of what happened to them. Listen, you gotta let it go and you gotta receive the grace of God because everything bad is under the cursed. We're blessed. And when we came into Jesus, the Bible said there's no condemnation to them who are in Christ Jesus, who— umansiatai abaya korababasi andalaboya— who have been made free by the law, oh God, of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus.

We're free.

So be free tonight. In the name of Jesus. Glory to God.

Oh, I wish I can keep going, man. Glory to God.

Because I want to show you some of the results of rejection.

I'll do it Sunday.

I'll do it Sunday. I think you got this tonight.

Listen, let's pray.

Let's, let's, let's, let's, let's pray.

Glory to God.

Because, because if I keep going, we're gonna be here at 9 o'clock. Glory to God.

So it's almost— so I'm gonna stop. it's already 9 o'clock.

We're gonna be at 10 o'clock.

Glory to God.

If I keep going, so, so let's, let's pray. Glory to God. Hallelujah. We give you glory.

You can move forward in life.

Sometimes we'll take life events, man, as rejection, and we can't move forward. But I want to tell you, man, The thief comes to steal, John 10:10, kill and destroy. He has come that you might have life and have it more abundantly.

Hallelujah. Receive the blood of the Lamb.

Father, in Jesus' name, I thank you today. This livestream.

I thank you for every person that joined us on the 3 Facebook pages we're streaming from, on Instagram, and on YouTube.

I pray God for every person listening to this live or on replay of this broadcast this night. I decree and declare that they will deal with the root system of rejection.

I pray God that we made it clear what it looks like.

And I pray, God, that you give them clarity.

Father, I plead the blood over them tonight in the name of Jesus.

And we rebuke the thief that comes to kill, to steal, and destroy. And we release charis, grace, favor with God and with man. And we thank you that you'll give them life and that more abundantly. And no weapon formed against them— in Jesus' name.

Amen.

My God, guys, I love you with the love of the Lord.

Thank you tonight for being on. Thank you for joining us.

I want to challenge your faith tonight. When I got on here tonight, the Lord said, I want you to challenge every person listening to give. Whether you're here tonight live, both replay. Normally, you know, we just say you want to support the ministry, yeah, but there's a sacrificial seed that you must put in the ground tonight.

I need every person under the sound of my voice that will say, Apostle Lewis, I'm going to make a sacrifice of $97 tonight.

And that's the number he gave me, and I'm just giving it to you.

Don't shoot the messenger. I'm gonna get my phone because I never ask people to do things I don't do.

I give.

I believe in the ministry God has given me. I know my ministry is good ground. I don't get a salary from another church.

Anytime you sow into ministry, you're helping us do what God has called us to do.

And I need tonight as many any of you that will be obedient to the Spirit of God. The Bible says that many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. Trust God tonight, not me. Believe the word of the prophet. The Bible said you're apostle. I need you to trust him. Ways to give, I'm going to put them up on the screen.

Glory to God. And I want you to get somebody Thank you, Lord. We give you glory. We give you praise.

We give you glory. Pastor Jasper is helping us as well.

He's putting the ways to give up. Hallelujah.

I need every person that's following with us now, whether you're Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, glory to God.

I need you to get that 9 $37 seed.

Some of you may be led to do more.

If you are, glory to God, do that.

Do what God leads you to do tonight. And Father, as they obey, I decree and declare that their seed will multiply 1,000 times more, in Jesus' name.

Shur-u-ru-sa. 5 ways you can do it.

Waterchurch.com/donate is our website. You can do it that way.

Every other way is on the screen as well.

Get your seed in the ground, guys. We love you so much.

Thank you so much for your support.

We can't do this without you. I said it last week.

I heard a preacher say it We don't need your money.

Don't listen to that.

That right there is a statement that I will never make because we do need your money. And not so much just because we're trying to build an empire and take care of budget. We need it because we want you to be blessed. You know, that's the exchange system between heaven and earth.

Give and receive.

It's the exchange system.

You fail to do that, you're setting yourself up for a curse. You're setting yourself up not to be in the circle of supernatural provision, which is— tithes and offerings put you in that circle where constantly provision is coming to you. And you know, the Bible says also, if I sow to you spiritually, I should reap of you naturally. So I want you to tonight to be a blessing to ministry.

Glory to God.

This, this is going straight to ministry. If I'm, if I'm taking an offering for me, I'm gonna put my cash envelope in.

Glory to God.

This is for the church. So let's sow into the Lord tonight. If you were blessed, get seated.

I love you guys.

My wife has cooked, so I got to get off of here and get out of this studio so I can go sit at the me, and she made me some lasagna and salad, and I can't wait to eat.

All right, listen, if you're in the Atlanta area, guys, for New Year's and you ain't got nothing to do, now you do. Glory to God.

New Year's Eve celebration, December 31st. We're starting at 9:00. Comedian Double D's going to be in the house, uh, my guy Baba W. Awesome spiritual saxophone. This is the prophesy of that saxophone. Glory to God. I'm going to preach the word. We're going to minister.

We're going to lay hands.

We're going to prophesy, give you a word to go into your 2025. You need to be in the house.

Glory to God. Listen, and if you want to come this Sunday, just go on and come Sunday and then turn around. I'm telling you, you come to this place, you're going to get addicted.

If you're in the Atlanta area, come and be a part of what God is doing at Rider Church. I love you guys so much, man.

Y'all be blessed. And remember, glory to the name of God, your decisions set you up for the next level. Thanks everybody for all the comments and the love. I love you so much. Thank you so much. Love you.