VISION POWER | DR. MIKE WOODS, SR | 13 MAY 2025

Oh, well, praise God and welcome everyone to our midday Bible study on this Tuesday. I pray that you're blessed. And that you're favored today, and that you're walking in the promises of Jesus Christ. You know, Jesus really is real, man. He's our friend. He's our King. He's our brother. And what I love about Jesus, he looks out for us in a very real way, man. And I'm just so grateful to him. And I'm thankful for all of you today. I pray you're well, man. Uh, this is the day the Lord has made. Hallelujah! And we rejoice and we are glad in it. We love God, uh, with all of our heart, mind, and soul. And if you're just joining us, guys, I need you to do me a favor. Uh, y'all know what I'm about to say. Y'all already know what I'm about to say, right? Sharing is godly. And the question remains, have you shared this yet? If you're coming in live or by replay, I need you to go ahead right now today and share this teaching. It's going to be phenomenal, it's going to be off the chain today. Um, the Lord dropped something in my heart about vision. I want to share it with you. Glory to the name of God. And I know you're going to be blessed by this teaching. So take a moment, guys, while we're getting it together, uh, to go ahead and get this shared. Glory to God. Also good, glad to see Stephanie, good afternoon. Glory to God. Hope you had a great Mother's Day, um, you and that blessed young man of yours. I pray you had a great Mother's Day. Um, God bless you, daughter Shariel. Good to see you. Glory to God. Good to see everyone on today. Glory to God. Hallelujah. Good afternoon. I think that— I think that says beautiful one. Good afternoon. God bless you. Thank you all for being here. Listen, do me a favor, kind friends. I need you to share this. Uh, it's so important. It's so nice to be nice, and the Bible says you are blessed to be a blessing. Glory to God. So be a blessing and share this teaching. I believe that as you listen, uh, intently today, uh, to this teaching, I believe it's going to be revolutionary. It's going to change your life. We are streaming right now over 5 different platforms, uh, 3 Facebook pages, YouTube, and Instagram. So wherever you're joining us, um, whether you're on the Rhoda Church Facebook page, Dr. Mike Woods Facebook page, uh, Michael Woods Facebook page, or whether you're on @apostlemike on Instagram or Rhoda TV on YouTube, wherever you are, I need you to help me today to share this live stream. I believe it's going to be a blessing to your life. Amen. Glory to the name of God. Let's pray, and then we're going to jump into the heart of this today. Glory to God. Father, in Jesus' name, yes Lord, yes, yes, we say yes Lord, yes to your will, to your way, God. Yes Lord, we will obey God. And Father, today I pray that as your people come into this live stream God, that they will have an ear to hear what— not what Michael Woods says, but what the Spirit will say to the church. Father, I pray that your people will be blessed by you and never impressed by me. Have your way, God. Have thine own way, Lord. Have thine own way. Hallelujah. You are the potter, I am the clay. Mold me and make me in your will. As I am waiting, yielded and still. God, have your way here today. And Father, I pray that the paradigm of every life that hears this message will be shifted immediately into a place of vision power, and they will access the power of vision. And we praise you for it now, in Jesus' name. Amen. Glory to God. God is so good. Hallelujah. He's so good. He's so amazing. And beside him there is no other. Once again, family, please do me a kind favor. And share this. Glory to God. Share, share, share, share. Glory to God. Um, we, we're fasting till 3 o'clock today, and I pray that those of you that are connected to us have been fasting. Um, well, I was out with my father last night. I didn't get up at 5. My alarm went off, and I honestly was about to get up anyway, and I realized I only had been asleep about 3 hours and wasn't thinking I still needed to get up and pray. And, uh, but when I did get up, I did pray. I pray you guys prayed today. Um, I pray you spent some time with God. Glory to God. God is so good. He's so amazing, man. Um, I want to talk today again about the power of vision, right? And I want to kind of lay a backdrop to this. I believe it's going to be a tremendous blessing to everyone that were here. Vision is a real thing, and, um, I'm gonna hit some scriptures on my way, so just stay with me. Glory to God. And your life is better with vision, man. Um, you got vision, you actually have hope. Glory to the name of God. Because vision comes from God. Vision is real. Matter of fact, I want to submit to you in the beginning of this that God is the supplier of vision. Therefore, you need a relationship with God so he can adequately, uh, adequately apply vision to your life. So many people out here are living life without vision, man. They're living life, uh, following out the patterns that they were taught by parents, teachers, friends, things they've observed. And really, your life should be patterned after what God has seen for your life. and your life should be daily aligned with his plan, not your desires, not your will. Watch this, not your own plans. Your life should be consistently aligned with what God has already seen. Do you hear me? Uh, vision deals with what God has already seen. As a matter of fact, let's get a quick working definition of vision. It comes from the Hebrew word harzon, and harzon deals with the idea family. That this is God's optimal reality. Hear me, for your future. Vision is God's prophetic perception. It's his revelation, is his dream, is his oracle. Hear me, for your future. It's his optimal oration, is what he's spoken, what he's decided. It's his prophetic utterance concerning your life. So can I, can I introduce you to a concept? You didn't get introduced to prophecy when a prophet prophesied to you. Uh, the chief and the master of all prophets is God. God speaks and things happen. And before you were formed in your belly, God knew you. Uh, the word knew is yada in Hebrew. He spent time with you and he spoke into your life. He ordained you, sanctified you. He gave you order and structure. He placed systems and destinies in place for your life before you were ever born. So real vision comes out of what God already saw, what God already spoke. The problem is many people have not seen or heard— hallelujah— what God has said. Are y'all hearing this? So yeah, you got to be able to see what God is saying. That is vision. You ever been talking to someone and they said, 'See what I'm saying?' Well, that's vision. God has spoken something. You got to actually literally see what he has said. You got to get a visual of what God has spoken about you. And I'm so glad, man, you know, I know that there are people that, you know, may not understand who I am and may not understand who God has called me to be. But you know one thing I'm clear about? I'm clear on what God said about me. Me. So I don't care who it is. I don't care if it's my mama. I don't care if it's my daddy. I don't care if it's my sister, my brother, my friends. I don't care what anybody else's perception is of me. I live for the audience of one. I live to please God. You can have whatever perception you want of me. My perception is to live out my dream in God, and I dream and vision with God surrounding the purpose and plan that he has made for my life. And you know what? The most miserable and frustrated humans in the world are the humans that have sight and no vision. Sight is a matter of the eyes. Vision is a matter of the spirit. And you have to line your spirit man— not your flesh, not your soulish man— your spirit man with what God has said. And you gotta see You gotta visualize it, not just hear it, but you gotta see what he is saying. And because when you visualize your life behind all of these false perceptions, all of these false ideas— hear me— concerning who you are, and all these other things that have been spoken over your life, all of these negative traumatizing word curses that have been spoken over you, and you live your life competing against a word curse, competing against somebody saying you're nothing, somebody saying you just like your mama, somebody saying you're never gonna make it, you're just like your daddy, somebody telling you you're dumb, you're stupid, you're crazy. Listen, at the end of the day, you, you will never progress trying to compete against a word curse because it's a curse. It's something to stop you. It's something to impede the manifestation of God's plan and God's idea. Lord, I feel like teaching this afternoon. I pray y'all feel like listening. Glory to God. Hallelujah. It's, it's designed to impede God's progress in your life. And I'm telling you right now, family, that ain't how God wants you to live. Listen, the greatest gift ever given to mankind It's the gift of vision, not the gift of sight. Some people rejoice that they can see with their eyes. I rejoice that my eyes work. I'm grateful. But the greatest gift you have is to see what God is saying through your spirit, man. It's a gift, and you have access to that gift. You just got to spend enough time outside of your stuff where you can focus clearly on who God is, what God is saying. Hear me, so you can walk that out. You know, eyes that look are a common thing, man. Everybody is common, you know, people got eyes, right? But eyes that really see— hear this— are rare. Eyes that look are common, but eyes that see me, hear me, are rare. So you can look and observe and get your own little perception of a thing, and you'll perceive it based on flesh and soulish ideas because you saw it. But when you start looking at things and people and situations through the eyes of God, one, you're gonna handle them different. You know, I watch how people handle me because at the end of the day You know, if you in my presence and all you got to constantly do is reevaluate who you are to me, it says a lot about you and that you're really not comfortable with who you are. You ain't comfortable with who I am because you want me to reinforce or confirm who you are. And the reality is, if you— if you were— I don't spend time talking to people about me, my abilities, my gift, my money, my blessings. No, because I'm very comfortable and secure in who God has made me to be. So at the end of the day, I don't have to have lengthy discussions with you about who I am. And if you know who I am, glory to the name of God, you're never going to have to try to convince me of who you are because you're going to be clear. One, I see who you are because you can be saying one thing and I still can see you ain't that. Are y'all hearing this? Because I don't care what's coming out of your mouth, it's the fruit that your life carries. Secondly, oh my God, if you had revelation of me, you're never going to violate me, because where there's revelation, it brings an end to violation. But where there's no revelation, there's always violation. When you have not been revealed to people, they are going to violate you. And that's why you don't need to roll with people to whom you have not been revealed to whom they don't have a vision. The opposite of the Hebrew word harzan, vision, is ra'ah. Okay, here we go. Which means to generically see. Watch this. And those who generically see oftentimes bring injury. If they can only see you with their natural eyes— people who cannot see you in the spirit, even if they have a good heart toward you if they can't see you the way God sees you, at some point they're going to bring injury to what you're trying to do, even if it's not on purpose. Because they can't see, they injure your steps because they feel like they figured you out based on fleshly observation. But I want to tell you today, don't never let nobody just recognize you, because watch this— God can never be recognized, he has to be revealed. You can't just recognize God through religion. And just because you've done things a certain way and you done for all these years put a God sticker on it and called it God, and it ain't no bit more God than nothing else. Come on, that you're doing— the reality is God is God and he's real and he has to be revealed. You can't— he can't be revealed just because you're in a church or, and you go to church or you've been doing church all your life. No. Or you've been preaching all your life. You gotta deliberately, strategically, intentionally spend time with him so he'll give you a revelation of himself. Lord, I feel like teaching this word today. I pray y'all feel like listening. Some people don't want to, want to hear this, man, but then, because everybody wants to do their thing, everybody wants to scroll, everybody wants to look at what everybody else is doing. That's why social— why social media is so popular, because most of y'all nosy. You scroll and you're just looking at everybody else's life? What if you took that time, you were scrolling, seeking to see yourself the way God sees you? Yeah, today, oh yeah, oh yeah, we're talking about, glory to God, vision power. That's what we're discussing, vision power. So stay with me, glory to God, and get some— get your life right, get something out of this, glory to God. We're discussing vision power today. So let's get in it. Let's get— let me give you some quick facts. I want you to write this down. Quick facts about vision power. Number 1, I want you to write it down, and we're gonna put some scripture on this. Glory to God. And if you ain't interested in shifting the paradigm of your life, if you're not interested in seeing further than you saw, let me submit to you right now, this ain't the live for you. Okay, if you want to just be entertained, if you want to keep your same income bracket, you want to keep your same level of understanding in your familiar— your family relationships, listen, this ain't the live. Because if you sit here and you listen to this and you apply it, I'm telling you right now, this truth is number one, it's gonna set you free. Number two, it's gonna create a paradigm shift in your mind. And you're gonna start thinking differently about your life. I don't have time to play games with people to whom I have not been revealed, and you shouldn't play games with that neither. People that just know you from the flesh level— oh my God, I don't have time. I don't— I just, I just do not. And when your value goes up and it increases mightily, glory to God, when you understand who you are through the lens of God not through the lens of your mama, your daddy, or your friends, or your family, but who does God say you are, man? If I base my life on what people perceived of Michael Woods, I would not accomplish any of the things I've accomplished in my life. And, and guess what? You have to learn to live for the audience of one, to bring pleasure to what God saw, to please him by fulfilling what he saw about you. Are y'all here? Glory to the name of God. So, quick facts about vision power. That's what we're talking about. I want you to write these down real quick. Number 1: Vision is the source of hope and life. Somebody write that in the comments. Again, we're on Instagram, we're on Facebook, we're on 3 Facebook pages, and we're on YouTube. So wherever you're watching, I want you to engage. Stay with me. Praise God. Write in the comments, glory to God, vision is a source of hope and life. So again, if you could see things the way God sees them concerning you, no matter how bleak, no matter how hard, no matter how many obstacles you have in front of you, if you can look at God's prophetic utterance, what he— I'm not talking about what some man spoke to you, I'm saying what God has said directly about you and through relationship what he has said has been revealed. I'm telling you right now, no matter how hard it gets, it'll give you hope. There are seasons in my life I've gone through things, man, I mean so hard I felt like committing suicide. I felt like ending my own life. That spirit was challenging me and tormenting me. But you know what brought me through? Glory to God. Vision. Matter of fact, one of the seasons I was in, I was battling, man, and was literally getting ready to take my life. Got my daddy on the phone. My God used my daddy to say, look, all he said was, I want you to remember all the reasons you have to live. And I started thinking about vision. I started thinking about all the things God promised me he was going to bring to pass in my life. And you know what? Instantly, that spirit of depression and despondency and frustration— oh, sheba! It was lifted out of my life, and I got up from that place, and I started pursuing vision. And I'm here today to tell you, I'm telling you, I see vision coming to pass every single day. Every single day, I see parts of what God promised me coming to pass. In my life. Glory to God. You got to make up your mind that vision is going to be your source of hope, it's going to be your source of life, man. You live for where you're going. Can I submit to you what you're dealing with now has nothing to do with where you are? The attacks, the challenges, the things that the enemy are throwing at you, they have everything to do with where you are going. Oh boy, I dare you rub your belly and say, I'm going somewhere. Glory to God. Oh, just rub your belly, say, I'm going somewhere. Glory to God. I want you to understand it. You're going somewhere. Glory to God. You're— glory to God. You're going somewhere. And the attacks are to get you to focus on them so you don't keep going. I'm here to submit to you, keep going and keep your eye on the vision. So you— but so you got to spend time with him. So you can get the vision though. This is— that's the important key, because you don't want to get, uh-oh, a pseudo version. Here we go, of the vision. You don't want to get a pseudo version of the vision, a fake vision. That's what pseudo is— fake, counterfeit, not the real thing. You want the real thing. And that's going to be your source of hope in life. Write this down. Number 2, glory to God. I already kind of dealt with this one, but vision makes suffering, trials, and pain bearable. Yeah, I kind of already dealt with it. It makes suffering, disappointment, trial, pain bearable. When you got a vision, you can endure hardness, because you understand it's temporary. You understand my life has a vision from God over it, and what I'm dealing with right now is not going to kill me. What I'm dealing with right now is not going to destroy me. What I'm dealing with— oh boy, I feel like Ronnie, glory to God— what I'm dealing with right now is not going to take me out. It's not going to take me down. Glory to the name of God, I'm gonna win because I got a vision. Oh boy. Again, if you stop by this live to be entertained, wrong live, wrong live. Uh, you're not gonna be entertained, but you will be changed if you stay here. Glory to God. Hallelujah. Number 3, write it down: vision— here we go— inspires work. Lazy people, they don't have vision. Glory to God. They do not have vision. Watch this. The Bible said where there is no vision, the people perish. The word perish there is a word that they slowly disintegrate and they slowly are moved to poverty. But when you got vision from God, it inspires you to work on it. But if all you do is sleep all day, if all you do is sit on the couch all day, if you never work, it's an indicator you have no vision. And I'm not talking about you going to labor at a job every day. That ain't a part of God's vision. See, you need a vision that's going to work you out of that labor. See, there's a difference in work and labor. I'm not going to talk about that, another message for another day. But the reality is you need a vision that will put you into your true life's work. Because working at McDonald's, working at the manufacturing plant, uh, being a— oh my God— a forklift driver, that may not necessarily be your end. There is a vision that's greater than what you're doing. I'm not saying you, you don't have to do what you got to do until it manifests. What I am saying If you're giving them 8 hours, you need to be giving your vision 8 hours. So that means if you're working 9 to 5, okay, you need to be working— glory to the name of God— 6 to 2 in the morning, and then get you 7 hours of sleep and go back to work, because you want to work your way out. Okay, y'all don't like that, do you? But when you got real vision, hear me, it inspires work. Work. When you want to do something with your life, when you want to have something, it's going to inspire you to work. Glory to the name of God. All right, write this down. Number 4: Vision energizes your faith. Because any vision that comes from God— hear this— you're gonna need faith in God to fulfill it. I'm gonna say that again: vision energizes your faith. See, when you've got a real vision to come from God, you understand you can't do it with your own means anyway. I was telling church Sunday, it ain't enough human beings in the state of Georgia to give money to help me fulfill the vision that God has given me. It's too big. I need supernatural interference. Glory to God. I need supernatural— glory to God— provision to do what God has called me to do because bigger than what people can do. While you need people to help you with vision, you also need first and foremost God, because his vision— and then you need to let him supply the people. Don't go out here picking people, hear me, that ain't called to roll with you. Oh my God, you trying to walk with people that have no calling to roll with you at all. You gotta let that go because they ain't calling the roll with you. They ain't calling around with you anyway. They ain't on your level. So what you got to do is find eagles that can fly with you. Glory to God. And you got to energize your faith through that vision because it's gonna— let me— this is a— this is an indicator right here. It's always an indicator that the vision really is from God. If it's bigger than your money, if it's bigger than your resources, if it's bigger than your manpower, because you got to depend on God to supply the need. I told the church Sunday, if it's his will, it's his bill. Hear me, if it's God's will, you, you need to stop trying to take care of God's business. If it's God's will, it's his bill. He's gonna place the people to help support the bill. Or he's gonna supernaturally supply. I've seen some supernatural money, supernatural money in my life a whole lot, but just this week we saw it again. Uh, Pastor Jeffrey, our church administrator, and I— he's also our musician— so we was over at the church, uh, trying to find a glitch in our sound system, uh, and so while we were working it out, I grabbed my mic and I started worshiping. Well, I can't play with worship, so I started worshiping and God came in. Right? Uh, I started weeping. The glory was there. And so once we came out of there, I went back to the soundboard and I saw the, the offering bucket sitting up at the front of the church. And I said— and now I'm one at church, mind you— Sunday before last, Pastor Jasper actually preached. And I said, so, uh, because this was before this past Sunday, I said, Pastor, did you leave this out here, the bucket? He said, yeah. I said, was there anything in it? Did y'all get the offering out? He said, no, everybody gave online pretty much. He said there was nothing in there. And so I came up and looked in the bucket, and there was a $100 bill folded up with 20s up under the $100 bill just laying in the bucket. I looked at him again. I said, you sure you checked this bucket when you left church? He said, I'm positive, Apostle. He said, and I— and no one came up to give while I was receiving the offering. Well, we video everything. Glory to God. Guess what? While he was receiving the offering, no one came up to give. No one, glory to God, gave money in. And then the same people that were in the church that would have given like that were there, glory to God, when I spoke on this same Miracle Sunday. They said, no, nobody did it. Nobody admitted to it. That was supernatural money. That was placed in that bucket. Nobody, nobody with a key went in and do it. I mean, I've covered all the sources, okay? Listen, supernatural provision is real, and, and God will prove to you that he will supply. Glory to God. Because he's not going to depend on people to do what he needs to get done, especially if they're not willing and obedient, okay? Okay, I gotta go. So vision energizes your faith. Now, number 5, I already said this, I'll say it again, but these are some facts about vision power. Vision is God's optimal reality for your future because vision gives you personal hope and it ignites discipline because you understand there's a reality that's greater than you. So let's go to Proverbs 19:21. One. Let's go here, because vision really starts with a supernatural purpose that God has ordained for your life. Matter of fact, touch your belly. Say, I'm a person of purpose. Say, I'm a person of significance. Say, God has a plan for my life, and I will obey what he has planned. Amen. Hallelujah. Glory to God. So Proverbs 19:21 says this, it says, there are many devices in a man's heart, nevertheless the counsel of the Lord that shall stand. So there are many devices, that word in Hebrew means plans, ideas, concepts, innovations. So when you come to this planet, and as you are shaped in iniquity, as you're groomed and educated by the systems and the structures of this planet, you begin to give birth to plans, devices. Are y'all hearing this? So in every one of us, there are a lot of things that we could choose to do. But watch what the Bible say. He says, nevertheless, even though those plans are there, it is the counsel of the Lord— the word counsel can be interchanged for purpose in Hebrew— the purpose of the Lord that shall stand. So the thing that lasts throughout eternity, the thing that is effective, the thing that carries the greatest benefit, is the purpose of God. Matter of fact, touch yourself, say, I'm a person of purpose. Because God— say this with me— because God has placed within me a vision that gives purpose and meaning to life. So in each one of us, God has placed within us a vision that gives your life purpose, that gives your life meaning. So the very vision that God gave you, the very vision that God has already— or the oracle over your life spoken by God, his optimal reality for your future— that's the thing that gives you purpose and gives your life meaning. So you got to discover that. Watch this. Your vision is never your decision. Hear me, family, it's your discovery. I'm gonna say that again. Your vision is never your decision, it's your discovery. Ah, God have mercy. And so you got to discover purpose. So what is purpose, Michael Woods? Let's get a basic understanding. Purpose is the original intent for the creation of a thing. In other words, if it's the original intent, that's reason. So it's the original reason or the original why— hallelujah— something is created. So just like this tripod the camera I'm looking at is standing on, just like these lights in this studio, uh, that are standing on these stands, they are created with purpose. The manufacturer manufactured these items with purpose. This camera has a lot of buttons on it, has a lot of features, a lot of which I'm very familiar with. I'm an expert at some of which I'm not yet an expert. But at the end of the day, the reality is the camera is filled with so much purpose to duplicate the best picture possible. I've learned about the camera by consulting the manual. I learned why certain buttons exist and what they do. See, the manufacturers— Canon sent a manual with the camera. Your life has a manual. It's the mind of God. It's the word of God. You got to consult the manual to find out how your vision operates and find out why you are here. See, purpose doesn't deal with who you are. It doesn't deal with what you can do. See, who you are is identity. What you can do is potential. Why you are here is purpose. So why you are identified as who you are and why you have the what, the potential that you have, is rooted in vision and purpose. All those things are null and void if you don't know why. If you don't know why you're intellectual, if you don't know why you know math real well, if you don't know why you were born in a certain family, you have the culture and identity you have, none of it really is going to make matter. You're going to be all over the place. So you got to consult— hear me— the manufacturer's manual. Glory to God. Hallelujah. Thank you, wife. Glory to God. You, you got to consult the manufacturer's manual so that you— hear me— can function effectively in your identity and in your potential. Oh boy, we're going somewhere with this. So can I submit to you— write it down— you were made on purpose with purpose. The Bible says you were fearfully and wonderfully made. So again, it behooves us to discover this purpose. Are we here? It behooves us to discover this reason for being alive. Lord, help us today, Jesus. I got to get out of here, man. I got— I'm gonna go, I'm gonna go. But are y'all getting anything about it out of this so far? Are you— is this blessing your heart? Glory to God. I want you to receive this, man, because if you do, your life will forever be changed. Glory to God. And God will do great and mighty things through and in you. So you got a purpose. You made on purpose. You're fearfully and wonderfully made. God took time to make you the way you are so you could fulfill your purpose. Everything about you is designed so that you can fulfill purpose. So if you ever really want to be clear about purpose— what placates you? What stimulates you? What, what makes you go? Watch this. What would you do, hallelujah, effortlessly, even if you're not getting paid Glory. Don't— those things point to purpose. Glory to God. And ultimately, if you'll do it for free, ultimately money will fall. Glory to God. The support follows when it's purpose, because again, if it's his will, it's his bill. I got to get through this. So here's a tragedy: most humans have no idea, family, what their purpose is. They live every day and are not clear about why they are here. My God, today, God have mercy. God have mercy. You got to know why you're here. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. You can't live according to someone else's perception, and you can't let people create purpose for you because we got a lot of that going on. What people will create a purpose for you and tell you you're them, and they have totally missed God. I've seen it so many times. People have put people in places that they did not belong. It wasn't who they were. And so you got to discover this why, man, because when you as a human being— when you and I as human beings are unclear about purpose, watch this— abuse is inevitable. When we don't know the purpose of our lives, we'll abuse it. So if I don't know why I exist, I'm gonna— that's called life abuse. I'm gonna abuse my life. I'm gonna waste time. I'm gonna blow through money. I'm gonna treat people bad. I'm gonna have temper tantrums. I'm gonna always live under the auspices of my trauma. And by the way, you know, if you sit running around here talking about somebody triggered you and you got trauma, man, you just— you need freedom. You really haven't gotten delivered. You haven't gotten the liberty that you need. Glory to the name of God. Because if you still can be pushed into demonic activity and you could be pushed to act out of your character, you yet need deliverance. Glory to the name of God. Me and my son Ben was just talking about that on the phone. You know, he, he's, uh, teaching as a professor on the university level now. And, uh, in addition to all of his great stuff he's doing as an actor and a singer, you know, he has some students that, you know, have some jealousy in their heart and see his youth and his wisdom and they want to challenge this. And we was talking about one of the students that was challenging who he was and how he was so tempted to get out of character because Ben sent me the text and stuff the dude was saying. But I told him, I said, son, I commend you, you handled that extremely well. Hallelujah. Because at the end of the day You know, that was to lure you out of character. He said, yeah, he, he been— said, yeah, he out here trying to get me out of my character. And Ben told me what he wanted to say to him, and I'm— and I said, so I'm proud of you, man. You did the right thing. You held your peace, and you, you understand that vengeance is mine, said the Lord. And, and you understand that you have no need to prove yourself to him. That's a good thing, man. So you, you don't— when you're clear about your purpose, you have to prove nothing to nobody. Glory to the name of God. When you're clear about what you could do, you ain't got to prove one thing to nobody. Are y'all hearing me? Are y'all hearing me? Glory to God. Hallelujah. You don't have to prove not one thing when you know who you are. That's why you got to be— watch this— in a church and a ministry that can teach you how to tap in. And that's not a plug for Rhonda Church, okay? Rather, church has purpose. Rather, church is going to attract the people that's supposed to attract, and, uh, and that's all we want. The Bible said he set the members in church. Well, nobody ain't supposed to be there, but you need to be in a place where you're getting the teaching that you need so you can grow and mature. I was talking to a guy yesterday on the phone, a realtor, about some property that I'm looking at that once our lease is up in this building to buy for the church. And, uh, just trying to get all the logistics in place and starting to be proactive and work on this. And, you know, the guy told me, he said, man, I got the perfect building for y'all. Uh, COVID shut this building down. We worshiped in it, uh, with our former ministry, and it's just been sitting there. And, and he described it, it seemed like it might be a good fit. But what got my attention was that, yeah, we ain't been back in the building And I ain't been back to church, me and my wife, since then. We left and started our own ministry where we just kind of preach online and help people. I said, okay, see it. So, so what started turning in me was, first of all, he's not connected to leadership to stir the gift that's in him to even help nobody else. He wasn't deployed. He went out because the church closed because of COVID So he just decided, ain't going back, I'm just do my own thing. No, you need a leader. Every leader needs a leader. Every human needs a pastor to help you stir purpose. Amen. Okay, all right, I'm gonna keep moving, I'll keep moving. So we're clear, vision and purpose is not your discovery, not your decision— I'm sorry, it's your discovery. You got to discover it. Why? Because God already decided it. So you can't decide it. He decided it. Let's move. Go to Romans 8:28, because vision and purpose collaborate. There's a vision-purpose collaborative. Are we here? Oh my God, I, I gotta get through this, man. Glory to God. Romans 8:28 says, and we know— oh boy, here we go. This word 'know' is not, um, gnōskō in Greek. Gnōskō is knowledge that is gained through a process by relationship and experience. So gnōskō is knowledge that you gain through trial, through tribulation. This knowledge is ordo in Greek, and it is perfect and absolute knowledge. It's knowledge that can't be changed. So, and we know, so now we have received knowledge, watch this, that cannot be changed. Here it is. 1 1 2. That's order. That's absolute knowledge, right? You can't change that. I don't care how good you get at math. You can be the calculus champion of the world. The root of all math is gonna be addition and subtraction, and it's still gonna always work the same. 1 plus 1 gonna be 2. 1 minus 1 is going to always be 0. That's the reality. That's order. That's absolute. So in your life, there ought to be some knowledge through situation that brought revelation about God, his way of doing things, that you gain, glory to God, about him that cannot be changed by anyone. It's perfect and absolute. I always say it, an angel can come and preach another gospel. Hear me, guys. Hear me. Hear me. Y'all liking comment this video, please share it, because people need this teaching, man. Listen, I always said an angel can come and preach another gospel and tell me Jesus is not Lord, I'm gonna tell him he's a lying angel. Because at the end of the day, I have real relationship with the Father, because that will be a demonic spirit and not an angel from heaven. The reality is that I don't care who gets up and say we need another Bible and say we need another canon. The Bible, wrong. these are people that have never really had encounters with God. These are people that want to change the context of the scripture to align with their lifestyle. They want the scripture to align with what they want to do. Listen, if you want to be gay, if you want to be a whoremonger, if you want to be a lesbian, if you want to be a liar, if you want to live in sin, all right, don't bring God in to justify that. Let that be your choice. But the Bible is right. God is holy, and he's looking for people that will live out a holy purpose. Somebody said, oh, Apostle, here we go, there you go with the holiness stuff. Yes, yes, because God is holy, and therefore we also should be holy. My time is gone, man. Let me keep going. And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God. Here we go. If you love me, you'll keep my Commandments. You can't tell me you love God and you ain't doing what he say. He said, to them who are the call, uh, kletos in Greek, to them who have a purpose and distinction that God have personally spoke to. There's another word for call called kaleo, which is an outcall, a general call to everyone listening to do the same thing. Kaleo is personal. God comes to you and calls you into purpose. He's according to his purpose. I told you, purpose is his, and the calling is where you get the vision, where you see what the purpose is. You cannot get the vision if you don't know God. You cannot get the vision if you just jump, shout, speak in tongues, spit, blow bubbles, fall out on the floor, and you really don't know God. I have a problem that you say you could navigate the complexities of the spirit so well You could— you're so deep, you're so wonderful, you fall out, you breathe, and people lift up off the floor and fall out. But you have trouble navigating the simplicity of your own life. How in the world are you so deep and your life so jacked up? That— oh my God, that's a problem. That's a problem. I'm losing people as I teach. It's okay, it's okay. I will still tell the truth. Glory to God. I'ma still tell the truth because it's all things do work together for the good. But there's a principle there because we'll quote that for all things work together for good. Okay, I want you to keep reading because it's not going to work together for your good, one, if you don't really love God. Um, that word agathos in Greek, which means you express unconditional love to him through behavior, right? So your behavior is a reflection of your love. If you love me Feed my sheep. If you love me, keep my commandments. Do what I say. Come on, church. Come on. Yeah. Oh my God, Jesus, listen, it ain't gonna work together for good if you don't love him and if you're not loving him the right way. So I'm, I'm here to teach, to let you know what that word means. Agathos. It's behavior. It's love that is expressed. Love is a verb. You cannot be a— whoo— consistent sinner and running around here talking about you love God. You ain't fall because you keep doing it because you want to do it. It's not failure because you're repeatedly doing it and you're playing the grace card. Devil is a lie. You're not showing love, and that's why things don't work together for your good. Oh, I gotta go, man. I gotta He said, called according to his purpose, uh, propos in Greek, that which is proposed. So that says to me that the plan, the why, is a proposal. It's a proposed way of living, propos in Greek, where we get proposal. He, he, he, he— a proposal is very detailed. I write proposals all the time for my business, glory to God, and to potential clients. So proposal is a detailed document detailing number one, the scope of work, uh, number two, the deliverables, what you're delivering, and the investment involved in the contract. Now, with God, when he proposes a purpose, he wants you to understand the full scope. So he gives you vision. He tells you where you're going, what you're gonna do, who you're gonna be, how you're gonna live. He already knows He shows it to you, gives you the scope, and he tells you even in the process of purpose, if you walk out this purpose in the calling, this is what I'm going to deliver, this is what I want you to deliver, and this is what I'm going to deliver. It's understood. Purpose is not a guessing game. God wants you to have clarity as to how you are to be functioning on Earth. It's not a guessing game. He's going to tell you the deliverables, and he's going to give you a vision of what those deliverables are. Are y'all hearing me? Glory to God. I'm almost done, I'm almost done. See, a vision, a dream that's not aligned with purpose— watch this— eventually becomes a nightmare. Because when you got pseudo fake dreams, fake visions and you ain't dreaming with God, that stuff gets delayed. It never comes to pass. You get frustrated. It becomes a nightmare because you thought it was God and it never happened. Oh my God. Oh my God, that's crazy. While I'm teaching that same— I wonder, was he watching the live? Glory to God. Well, I pray he got what I was saying. Glory to God. If he was that same realtor, glory to God, that I, I was just talking about up was calling me. Glory to God. I'm gonna get out of your way. Listen, too funny. All right, glory to God. I'm ready for it though. I don't care if he did hear me, because I'm gonna help him move on to that next phase. My plans are to help him anyway. Glory to God. So listen, but when you align purpose and vision, it guarantees success. When you align purpose and vision together and live your life according to what God has created and live it in the confines and under the auspices of his desires and his plans for you, success is guaranteed. Watch this. And you pray through the purpose, you pray through the vision. Y'all heard me say it before. I'm closing. Every failure in my life was a prayer failure first. Every success in my life was a prayer success first. Glory to God. Greatest thing my daddy taught me was how to pray. The greatest example he ever gave me— he was a hard-working man, that was a good example. I love that. I work hard because I saw him work hard. But the greatest thing my daddy gave not his ability to preach. He's a great preacher, he's a great teacher. I glean from him there too. But the greatest thing my daddy ever imparted into my life was prayer. And every time I exemplify a life of prayer, I've been successful. But every time I fail to pray through on the thing, I've always had failure. So every success was a prayer success first. Every failure was a prayer failure first. I want y'all to take that home today because I'm done. See, when vision and purpose marry— watch this, and I'm closing— they give birth to the future. And I want you to shift your life today and let vision and purpose come together. And have a baby called your future and walk out the joyous, the peaceful life, the prosperous life that God has planned for you. And yes, you and I both, we've been through hell, we've been through pain, we've been through struggles, but thanks be to God, we got the victory today. Hallelujah! And we can live and we can operate it from a place of strength. In the mighty name of Jesus. Let's pray. Father, we give you praise and we thank you for this word. We thank you for every person today. And Father, we pray that vision and purpose will be a thing, that they will pursue it, they will discover it. I pray for every person, live or by replay, under the sound of my voice, that they will discover vision, that they will discover purpose, that they will discover that power of purpose that locks into vision. And Father, we thank you for what you've spoken. May we see what you have said, and may we live it out and continue to operate under what you say. And we bless you for it, Lord. We erase every word curse, every burden that people placed on us with words, every false position, every false placement. We destroy it now, and we open our ears to hear what you're saying to us. Us. In Jesus' name, amen. Glory to God. I love y'all, man. Thank y'all for tuning in today. Listen, I need you to do me a favor. I need you to be a blessing to ministry. Can y'all do that? Glory to God. I need as many— the ways to give on screen, they're scrolling at the bottom. Listen, I need as many of you that will to get a $21 seed today. That's what I heard, and I only do this when I spirit, but I need as many as you can to trust God. Whether you're live or by replay, I want you to please be obedient. Get a $21 seed in the ground even now and give unto the Lord. Glory to God! Would you do that? Would you be obedient? The Bible says more blessed to give than it is to receive. The Bible also says, glory to God, if I communicate to you spiritual things, you should communicate to me your natural things. So listen, I want to challenge you to give a seed of $21. Every person watching this live or by replay, 2-1, 21. Get that seed in the ground. The ways to give again are scrolling at the bottom of the screen. I want to invite you to give. While you're giving, I want to challenge you to join us this Thursday night. Glory to the name of God at, uh, Rotha Church for our Thursday Night Thirst. Glory to the name of God. Listen, this Thursday, this Thursday we're gonna stream Thursday Night, uh, Thirst from the studio, and we're going to trust God that we have so many that join us. So we're praying for that now, that we have, because the week after that, the week following, Thursday Night Thirst will be in person at the church. So I think that Thursday is going to be— let me look at the day. Glory to God. Hallelujah. So this Thursday the 15th, that following Thursday, I want to say it's the 21st or the 22nd. I think it's the 22nd. Glory to God. But that night, that Thursday night, we will be inside of the building. Glory to God. So I want you to be in place. I want you to come get the word and then join us this Sunday at 9 AM. Glory to God for another Powerful. We had such a powerful Mother's Day service. Glory to God. God was with us. He met us there. We prayed for all the mothers in the building. It was a good service. Glory to God. And we just look to go higher every time we enter the place. Listen, I love y'all, man. Y'all join us, bring a friend with you, and I promise you, you'll be blessed. Uh, if you've given, may your seed multiply a thousand times more. I thank you for your seed. May heaven smile upon you you is my prayer. I bless you today in the mighty name of Jesus. Y'all have a super day. Thank you so much for watching.