Samuel Rodriguez - Let's Go Back To Judea
This is not one of these prepackage sermons I've preached before. This narrative was written last night. Right before I caught the flight to come here and I've been traveling from California to get here. So, we got up... Went to sleep about 1:05-1:08 in the morning, got up at 4 o'clock in the morning to be here right now. And I'mma speak in a very accelerated manner cause I have so many Starbucks in my system right now. So, I just, I asked the Holy Spirit, "Give," this is like we're gathering the prophets coming out of the pandemic. "What are you saying"? And I just heard the Spirit of God. So, I started writing it last night and it took me and it, the title is a little bit different than the usual and it's fresh. And, it's for this gathering. And the subject matter is "Let's go back to Judea". And, you'll understand what that means in a second.
John chapter 11, if you have your Bibles on your phone, on your iPhones and if have an android please get an iPhone. John chapter 11... Just serious. The entire world. I mean, you're making it complicated, right? The rebels, right? Right? "Yeah, yeah. Oh yeah, Samsung". John chapter 11, you know the story, the Lazarus story. Once upon a time there was a man named Lazarus, who was a friend of Jesus and this journey, right here, there're number of powerful declarations made by the Messiah that undergird, prophetically speaking the season we're currently living in. John 11:7 "Finally, he said to his disciples, let's go back to Judea," his disciples objected and said, "Rabbi, only a few days ago the people in Judea were tryna stone you".
And by "Stone you," that's not a Berkeley, California reference by the way. "Are you going there again"? They tried to kill you, there was an assassination attempt, you wanna go back to the very place they tried to take you out. Jump, jump, jump, go forward. Verse 25, here's another declaration from Jesus. First, I wanna go back to Judea. "Jesus told her, 'I am the resurrection and the life, anyone who believes in me will live even after dying. Everyone who lives in me and believes in me will never die, do you believe this?'" Martha. "'Yes Lord,' she told him. 'I have always believed you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one has come into the world from God'". Jump to verse 40. "Jesus responded 'didn't I tell you that you would see God's glory," with the caveat, "If you believe". Then Jesus shouted, verse 43, "Lazarus come forth". The 44th verse "And the dead man came out, his hands and feet bound in grave clothes, his face wrapped in head cloth and Jesus told them, 'unwrap him and let him go'".
So, just let me take three declarations from the Messiah here. Let's go back to Judea "If you believe, you will see my glory... Unwrap him and let him go". These are three powerful transformative atmosphere shifting declarations, stemming from the mouth of our Savior. These declarations, each of them, they undergird with great prophetic and practical application, what we must engage in, in our current reality. We're living in a very interesting time ladies and gentlemen. There is so much out there and even in... On the prophetic scale there is so much out there. Somehow, we're in the midst of something, juxtaposing not necessarily creating dichotomy between the prophetic voices expressing the fact that we're about to see more people come to Christ. There's a global awakening, the power of God.
And I do believe that, by the way. I truly believe that. On the other side of the prophetic scale, we have the "Get ready for food shortage," and "Get ready for this," and "Get ready for that," and "Things are gonna get darker," and you know, "Dorothy, hey, forget about Kansas," all a that. So, we have this scale and we have this scale. Where do we land? We land in the reality that Jesus is still the hope of glory, we... We land on the fact that if we're still on this planet, more importantly if the spirit of the living God, which he is, is still on this planet we can with great biblical undergirded truth declare that we are still about to see more people come to Jesus as Lord and Savior than ever before. But, these three declarations... Let's begin with number one, let's go back to Judea, repeat after me, "Let's go back to Judea". What does this mean? If you're taking any notes, then good luck with that. Here's the first prophetic declaration from John 11 for our current day and age, I need you to get ready.
And I wrote this yesterday and I sense God telling me to release it. I need you, I need Sam, I need all of us I need apostle Brazelton, doctor Randy Clark, each and every one of you. Joel, really... I need pastor joey from Washington state. I need pastors here that I know to get, here's the word, get ready to occupy the very area hell as fought to keep you out of. I'll repeat that for the hearing impaired "I need you to get ready to occupy the very area hell as fought to keep you out of". Let's go back to Judea. He said, "Let's go back". His disciples, his friends, his brothers look at him, and parenthetically speaking, "What in the world are you talking about? You can't go back there. The last time you were there they tried to kill you".
Why would he ignore the advice of the closest people around him? Why would he go back to the very place where they attempted to kill him, assassinate him? He went back to the place where they threw stones at him, where they attempted to kill him. Why would he go back? I wanna be clear, he did not go back to Judea to relive the trauma. He did not go back to Judea to rehash the pass: he did not go back to reinforce a perpetual victimization status. He went back to perform one of the greatest miracles in his ministry. Jesus went back. He resurrected someone who was dead for four days, something he had not done before. We all have a Judea: we all have that place. We all have a place in our lives where we have experience warfare and possibly even walked out with some wounds. We all have a place and I'm not talking about a geographical place necessarily.
In all probability, it's more of a spiritual place, a season, a relationship, an assignment where we experience so much push back that for that season we had to depart from that place, even if it was just emotionally, spiritually and mentally. Judea. Jesus said, I'm going back to the very place they kicked me out of. When God tells you to go back to Judea, whoo, it's not to revisit the pass, it's to unleash something new. Oh! Here we go! When God tells you to go back it is only because he has anointed you to do what you did not do before. Jesus went back in and performed one of his greatest miracles and here's the word "Wherever there's a threat there's a miracle behind that threat, wherever there's warfare there's breakthrough behind that warfare, wherever there's brokenness there's a blessing behind that brokenness. Wherever there's an obstacle right now in your life there's an overflow behind that obstacle in your life".
We're going back to Judea and here's the clarion in call, prophetically speaking you may be aware, I may be aware of what the enemy did in the past. Jesus said, "We are going back". So, here's the word. I'm here to declare by faith through Christ that you are about to go back. Every single person here we're about to go back, ho-ho, and we're about to occupy the very area hell has fought to keep us out of. You are about to do greater things in the same area that hell kicked you out of. You're about to go back and serve as a conduit for Christ to save, deliver, and heal friends and family members in the very area where you were pushed out of. I don't if you're getting this, but we're going back. I dare you to raise your right hand and repeat after me "I'm going to see what I've never seen before in the very same area where I was attacked before".
I don't know if you know what you just said but, I don't know if you know what you just said. If your Judea is your children, you're about to see the glory of God with your children like you've never seen before. If your Judea is your marriage, you're about to see God show up in your marriage like you've never seen God before. If your Judea is your city, your community, and your generation, we are about to see the glory of God like we have never seen before. If you believe it, shout like you're going back to Judea. I'm going in to witness the salvation, deliverance, and healing of people I know in the very area where the enemy tried to take me out. The place where they tried to break you will be the place of your breakthrough. The place where the wounded you is the place where God will do wonders through you. The place of the mess will be the place of the miracle.
Oh! I sense God, I sense God. The place, the place. We're going back to Judea: we're going back to Judea and you're not... Jesus did not go back which he could have but he didn't. Jesus did not go back like this, he did not go back "I'm going back to Judea to prove my haters wrong". You don't live to prove anyone wrong. You live as a testimony of the finish work a Christ. You live to prove the gospel right. And what's you're insurance polly, what does that mean? What am I saying right now? I'mma get in trouble, doctor Clark. Here we go, where, Judea is the place where we get kicked out of that somehow, we gotta go back and occupy it, and do greater things than before. We have Judea's, I can tell you.
Let me speak corporately now. As Christians, as followers of Jesus, as disciples of Christ we have a bunch of Judea's that we must go back and occupy. For example, they kicked us, there's an educational mountain that's Judea in 2022. They kicked us out of Judea and right now in Judea, forget about Lazarus dyeing and being in grave clothes. In the educational Judea, right now because they kicked us out, we see an attempt right now to sexualize our children. We have a spirit of unbridled sexualization, its perversion. I may not get invited, but if a 32-year-old adult approaches my six-year-old grandson to talk about sexuality, and sexual organs, and gender, that is pedophilia ladies and gentleman and we need to stand up and, you know what we need to do? We need to go back, they kicked us out of the education. We need to rise up with truth and love and say "We're going back to Judea of education in the name a Jesus".
The education mountain is a Judea: the government mountain is a Judea. We need to go back and influence our political discourse with Psalm 89:14: "Righteousness and justice, truth and love," we need to push back against the notion, and it's still within the American church and even the global church, but more the, the church is still divided between this idea that we should not get involved, that somehow it becomes so sticky, oh, it divides people. Christians should not be involved politically: Christians should not talk about the political discourse. Quite the contrary, born-again Christians filled with the Spirit of God we need to influence. That's why all we've done, we have abdicated we are permitting for donkey worshippers and for elephant worshippers to dominate the landscape when the worshippers of the land show up and say, "In the name of Jesus, let's bring the and agenda that's transformative".
There are areas. The Entertainment Judea: back in the 1920s, a man named Charlie Chaplin would attend the church led by a woman named Aimee Semple McPherson, he would attend the church. And Hollywood, some of the most prominent actors and actress from 1920s-'30s, they actually attended was Angela's temple. We need to reoccupy, we need to go back to that Judea, we need to go back and do what we never done before. I am believing prophetically, kumbaya-Christianity comes to an end, complacent-Christianity comes to an end, "Woe is me"-Christianity comes to an end, sucking your thumb-fetal position, wining, moaning, complaining, posting Christianity comes to an end. There is an army rising up in the name of Jesus that says, "As for me and my house, we are going back to Judea and occupy the very area hell as fought to keep us out of".
If you're ready to occupy your Judea, now give God the best praise you've given him. Lift up your hands. Repeat after me, "I'm going back to Judea, I'm going in, I'm going in with truth, I'm going in with love, I'm going in with righteousness, I'm going in with justice, I'm going in with a fresh anointing I'm going in empowered by the Spirit of God. As for me and my house we are going in. We are going in". Let me declare it again, you are about to occupy the very area hell as fought to keep you out of. The very area. Jesus said, "I'm going back to Judea". Received push back from those around him. Why should we go back? Let me give you the insurance policy. Here's why you should go back: here's why I should go back.
Deuteronomy 31:8: "The Lord goes ahead of you, he will be with you, he will not fail you or forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed". Isaiah 52:12: "For the Lord will go before you and the God of Israel will be your rear guard". And here comes Isaiah 45:2, here's the word of the Lord, "I will be go before you and will level the mountains. I will go before you and will level the mountains. I will break down gates of bronze and cut through bars of iron". I hear the Lord say, "I level the mountains. I am the God that breaks down the gates, and I cut through the bars of iron". Leveling the mountains means obstacles, breaking down the gates, the gates of hell shall not prevail, that's all opposition. The bars of iron imprisonment, that's oppression. Obstacles, opposition, oppression, what a mighty God we serve.
The Lord says, "In the season, I am leveling the mountains I am breaking down the gates, I am cutting through the bars of iron. By the time you get home, you will discover the mountains leveled, in the name of Jesus". Let me repeat that one more time, "By the time you get home, you will discover mountains leveled". As I speak right now, by the time you get home, you will discover the gates broken: and by the time you get home you will discover the iron bars removed. He does it. Get there: get to Judea. Get there. Get over your past and get there. Get over the pain and get there. Get over the shame and get there. Get over the rejection and get there. Get over the fear and get there. Get over the anxiety and get there. Jeremiah 6:16. If you don't know how to get there, here's the map, here's your Waze, your Google maps. This is what the Lord says, "Stop at the cross roads and look around ask for the old godly way and walk in it. Travel its path and you will find rest for your souls".
I'm about to occupy, you are about to occupy the very area hell as fought to keep you out of. Is that rhetoric? Absolutely not. I have, Jason's with me. You saw Jason last time when were here in October. We released, we were preaching on the prodigal son in our church, a few weeks right before palm, the week before palm Sunday. And just a prophetic infusion of God's grace filled the auditorium, and we were streaming live around the world like we do every Sunday morning. And something really interesting happened. So, we're preaching about the prodigal son. And we reference the verse from Isaiah about leveling the mountains, removing the obstacles, doing away with oppression, and seeing the immediate breakthrough. That's why it's not hype: it's not rhetoric. You have to be determined with great intentionality.
That second declaration, "Haven't I told you that if you believe you will see my glory," when it is impossible it officially belongs to God. The moment it becomes impossible, it officially belongs to God. I'm going to repeat that 'till you get that in your spirit. The moment it becomes impossible, it officially belongs to God, the moment it becomes impossible, it officially belongs to God. Jesus said, "If you believe, you will see my glory". All things are possible, but you must believe. It's about what we believe, it's not about what we hope for. It's not what we aspire, it's what we believe. You are what you believe. What do we truly believe? We need believers to rise up. And I mean, no hype, no rhetoric, no exUberance.
What do we truly believe? If you truly believe, if you truly believe that he who calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved, if you truly believe that there is still power in the name of Jesus, if you truly believe that we have authority over all principalities and powers of darkness, Luke 10:19, if you truly believe it, then you live according to your belief system. So, we were in a service and we were, Jason, where's Jason? Jason can bear witness, and you can Google people and email them and just verify. Do your due diligence.
We were in the service and I'm preaching on the prodigal son. Our campus in Los Angeles is pastored by a friend of mine, a friend for over 30 years. I'll give you names. My friend's, campus pastor's name, Charlie Rivera, that's his name, Charlie, Los Angeles. Charlie's our campus pastor in L.A. so, we preach in Sacramento. We do a hybrid model and when he preaches, he actually preaches my sermon with the condition you can add on but you can't take away. It is what it is. So, Charlie is preaching on the prodigal son the same day I'm preaching on the prodigal son. There's just one issue, Charlie's being living through a prodigal son moment.
For over six months, Charlie's daughter in her mid-20s randomly out of the blue, raised in home, Christian home her entire life, left home, no communication, no text messages, no phone calls to such a degree, that Charlie and Betty, they called law enforcement: the thought something tragically happened. They verified somehow that she was alive. But a very peculiar circumstance. Charlie is preaching the message of the prodigal son. For six months no communication with their daughter. Zero, whatsoever. Their daughter not being cognizant of anything happening at church. Charlie's preaching on the prodigal son, and he's broken cause he living out the message of the prodigal son.
In the middle of Charlie reading the narrative about "And then the father was waiting for the prodigal son and he saw him from a distance," guess what happens? In the back of the auditorium, like a Netflix movie, that's why I'm telling you complete revival. In the back of the auditorium the doors open up. This can be scripted. You gotta go, "You gotta be kidding me". In the back of the auditorium, he's going, "And the father saw him from a distant". And he's broken 'cause he's living this thing out. And inside, he's praying "Man, I wish this would happen to me right now".
All of a sudden, the back door opens up, the daughter who has been a prodigal for six months, zero communication, opens up the door. She's crying, she has no idea what her dad's preaching about, no idea what's going on. She just sees her dad preaching: she walks into the door. Charlie sees her, he's thinking, "I am no, this is an illusion, a mirage. This is not happening". She walks in midstream: he stops the message, runs to her like the father and the prodigal son. Picks her up... The prodigal daughter comes back home. That's not it. I'm at church, all of a sudden, I get bombarded: just releasing the word. We stood there and we said, "You gotta believe. What do you believe? You are what you believe. Do you believe your prodigal sons and daughters are coming back home"?
And I ask that. No, no, not hope, aspire, think, wishful thinking. How many truly believe that your prodigal sons and daughters will come back home this very year? And all of a sudden, we had people, Jason can attest to this, getting crazy text messages going like, "What's going on here? My daughter who hasn't talked to me for two years," "For three years," my son who has been, boom, involved in drug addiction, meets with pastor loren ditmore, says, "Dad, I have no idea what's going on. Just something is driving me, I'm coming back home".