Samuel Rodriguez - Say The Word
This is the way the Bible introduces the world to one of the most famous prophets. 1 Kings 17:1, "Now Elijah". I love that. That's like an intro phrase, "Now Elijah". Now Elijah. I love this, "Now Elijah". Now you! Now you filled with the glory of Jesus. The world saw the old you, the broken you, the depressed you, the anxious you, the addicted you but now they're, "Now Elijah who was from Tishbe in Gilead he told king Ahab," this is the way introduced we're to this man. "He told king Ahab," king Ahab is the king of Israel the most powerful political man here it is, here's what Elijah tells him this is how we're introduced. "As surely as the Lord the God of Israel lives, the God I serve, there will be no dew or rain during the next few years until I give the word".
You missed it. We're introduced to this prophet by this prophet meeting it would be equivalent to Sam Rodriguez today looking at Joe Biden and telling president Biden it's not gonna rain until I give the word! And right after, secret service takes me out to the asylum. This is crazy that's what he did! He meant that's the introduction! The prophet looks at the king and says it's not gonna rain until I say the word. Isn't it crazy that the prophet Elijah in his mouth! And, by the way he said it, he said no more rain, and it stopped raining. No, you missed that. You're saying Elijah was a unique individual. God gave him a special impartation. I want you to know something, the words that you have, what comes out of your mouth has the power to close up heaven or open up heaven in your favor. How many believe the words that come out of your mouth matter?
So, I wanna, here it is, point number one, if you take any notes as usual good luck with that, point number one is when your testimony produces your identity nothing can stop you. I'll repeat that when your testimony produces your identity nothing can stop you. "Now Elijah from Tishbe in Gilead told the king," here it is, again he begins by telling him it's not gonna rain. No background, no background information or you think. What if I tell you that in his name and in that verse is all the information you need from Elijah? I'll prove it. Elijah means, in the Hebrew, Jehovah is my God. You missed it. His name means Jehovah is my God! His name, when Ahab would say Elijah in the Hebrew, Ahab was saying: Jehovah is your God.
Think about that. Who is the king of Israel meeting with? A man whose name is Jehovah is my God. He is from Tishbe, which means I'm a dweller I know how to inhabit, and he's from Gilead which means testimony. You're gonna get this by tomorrow morning. Elijah means this: Jehovah is my God I am a person who dwells with a testimony. When your identity comes out of your testimony nothing can stop you. When who you are is the outcome of what God did in your life, nothing can stop you. When you're a child of the cross and fruit of the empty tomb and product of the upper room nothing can stop you. Jehovah is my God. I know how to dwell, and I come with a testimony! We live in a crazy world I told you officially, officially, the past 19 months have now been described as the official cuckoo for cocoa puffs season.
That's the name of the past 19 months the world is broken, the world is corrupt, how do we fix it? We don't need more technology, we don't need more politics, we don't need more ideologies, we don't need a new app or a new platform. The only answer for this broken world is Jesus Christ of Nazareth. But, but, Jesus cannot be preached, and will not be preached in this generation! Unless we see a generation filled with the spirit of Elijah. What do I mean? We need some modern day Elijah's to rise up. We need some people like Elijah that really believe that when they speak a word that word will come to pass! We need cuckoo people crazy people! Elijah didn't give a holy hoot if people criticized him: and they did. You know he dressed differently! Elijah had a different diet! He wouldn't drink coffee from Starbucks.
Samuel Rodriguez, repent! He wouldn't dress like other people! He dressed differently! He looked differently! That's why when John the Baptist showed up they called him Elijah! He looked like him, walked like him, ate like him! We can't conform to this world! We wanna make a difference, but we wanna look like the world, act like the world, think like the world! No! Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls the moment a generation with the spirit of Elijah rises up we're gonna see Ahab, Jezebel and Baal defeated by the power of the risen God! We need modern day Elijah's, we need modern day Elijah's to stand up. We need men and women like Elijah who stand up and say Jehovah is my God. I dwell in his presence, and I come with a testimony. Raise your right hand and repeat after me, "Jehovah is my God. I live in his presence. And I come with a testimony".
I don't know if you understand what this means, I'm gonna be very honest with you. I'm sick and tired of hearing everybody else stand up for their respective causes when we have the greatest cause to stand up for. Everyone is standing up for something and we have every cause on the book and some things are legitimate, worthy of standing up for, but the vast majority are not. Some causes are righteous but the vast majority are not. Here is the issue and this may get me in trouble some people we have no problem telling people who we vote for, but some of us are quiet about who we live for. And who we live for is a lot more important than who we vote for. Really, you wanna change the world, you wanna make a change, you wanna make a difference it's time for God to activate the Elijah in you.
We need modern day Elijah's to rise up! In Facebook, in Instagram, in Twitter, in YouTube, and TikTok! And for those of you that know what TikTok is...yeah TikTok. We need modern day Elijah's to rise up in the barrio and in Beverly hills: in your house and in the White House: in media and in the market place. I'm gonna ask one time, I'm gonna prophecy it, I believe we're about to see that. I can't deny the fact that Ahab is alive and well: that spirit is alive and well. Ahab was terrible. Ahab was even worst! Because he married a woman called Jezebel. Jezebel was evil, wicked! She's the wicked witch of the west, and the east, and the north, and the south! I mean Jezebel was horrific! Jezebel would build Asherah poles she would actually build a pole in every village to remind everyone of their captivity. She actually, built a pole that would remind the people of God your God Jehovah he's not with you, he doesn't even exist, he's not even real.
I'm gonna show you how captive you are. Let me remind you of your slavery, and they would build Asherah poles. She would ask, "Where are the prophets at? Where are the prophets"? And once the prophets were identified she would kill each and everyone of them. She would kill the prophets! She would come after the preachers: she would intimidate the people of God. She was wicked! She demanded babies to be sacrificed! I mean, if she didn't like you they would kill your babies! They would rip the babies out of the womb! This woman was, don't you tell me the spirit of Jezebel is not alive in 2021. Absolutely! Ahab is alive! Jezebel is alive! The spirit of Baal is alive! That's the spirit of child, of worship and idolatry and of worshiping the wrong thing and worshiping a lie.
Don't tell me we're not worshiping lies in 2021! Absolutely! And that's what Elijah confronted the spirit of Ahab! The spirit of Jezebel! The spirit of Baal! But, I wanna remind everyone here, and everyone streaming the great theological phrase! I went to seminary for 35 years for this phrase! I went to Bible college for 52 years for this phrase! I did the Hebrew, the Greek, and the Aramaic to be able to share with you the following deep theological phrase! Don't drink the Kool-Aid! That's the phrase! What is the Lord telling you Samuel for the church, real deep, don't drink the Kool-Aid! Ahab is not more powerful than Jesus! Jezebel is not more powerful than Jesus! Baal is not more powerful than Jesus! Jesus is still the name above every other name! Jesus is still the name! If you believe that praise like you know it! Worship like you know it!
Is there anyone here not ashamed of the gospel, raise your hand. If you're in this series God's gonna activate the Elijah in you. I promise you if you're listening to this, I am not ashamed of the good news about Christ. It is the power of God at work saving everyone who believes Romans 1:16. I see the generation with the spirit of Elijah rising up around the world as I travel: Sacramento, Los Angeles. I see, I see, I see, I see, I see a generation rising up just like Elijah. I see a generation rising up not being afraid to confront the spirit of Ahab, the spirit of Jezebel, the spirit of Baal. We need courageous believers to rise up. We need courageous believers to, and I mean when no one else is rising up they rise up. And then they're gonna ask you why aren't you fearing them. Then you're gonna look at them with just that audacious faith and say why am I not afraid of Ahab or Jezebel or Baal? Simple, God has not given me... Anybody know what we're, God, has not given me a spirit of... but of power and love and sound mind!
Are they're any Elijah's in the house here, today? It's that reality, it's that reality now. Now, I need to break this down. Ooh, here we go. He married Jezebel, Ahab married Jezebel, and let's do a public service announcement, camera man give me a tight shot for the streaming audience, tight shot. If you're single. That was the announcement. Y'all, got that? Cause some people I love Jesus but I wanna marry Jezebel. Five years later your life is falling apart and you come back and blame Jesus. Jesus looks at you, and says the two most important decisions you make in your life is who you serve, your Lord, whose your Lord, and whose your spouse. Are you with me, right now? Don't marry Jezebel. I said don't marry Jezebel. Don't marry Jezebel, don't marry Jezebel. This is for somebody there. This message brought to you by DontMarryJezebel.com Elijah looks at the king of Israel whose name was what?
Oh wow, 'never preached on this before. I just thought Ahab was the dumb king who married a witch. That's the way I grew up thinking, right? Cause you, and I'm a preacher, you know, your read 1 Kings 18, you focus on that, 1 Kings 17, but man you gotta do your biblical due diligence and put everything into context. Hermeneutics, you have to understand the entire story. So, Elijah was never written about, but Ahab was. What? 1 Kings 16 talks about Ahab his rap sheet, he had a rap sheet. I'm gonna read it for you. Quoting from the Bible verbatim. This is 1 Kings 16: 29-34, about Ahab, "He did more evil in the eyes of the Lord than any of those before him". Oh, he considered it cool and trivial to commit all the sins he wanted. It was cool to sin: not like today. He married Jezebel and he began to serve Baal and worship him. He setup an alter for Baal in the temple!
The temple that belonged to God! He setup an alter for the false God! He made Asherah poles just like Jezebel, and then here's the one that captures it all in Ahab's time hiel of Bethel rebuilt Jericho. Now, that's the part I wanna land on that you probably never heard before. You know why Ahab, why God just went like, "Ahab, oh, no, no, no... Oooh-oh". Because, Ahab, everything he did was embodied in one act. It was all wicked. He rebuilt Jericho. You missed it. Ahab was the king: no other king did it. He gave authorization for the rebuilding of Jericho! Many of you should be asking: "So, big deal, what's Jericho"? Jericho wasn't just any other city. Some of you... What is Jericho? Jericho was the city that was brought down when Joshua and the Israelites stepped into the Promise Land. Know the story, Jericho represents the obstacle that, God's people lived in Egypt for 430 years, 40 years in the dessert.
When God said, "I'm gonna give you the Promise Land," they leave the dessert. This is the dessert, that's Egypt: this is the Promise Land. When they step into the Promise Land the first thing they found was a Jericho: a city that was fortified with the strongest walls in the world. You couldn't bring that city down, and that city was there, and they had to defeat Jericho in order to conquer the fullness of the promise. Now, I'm going speak to you prophetically: some of you are right here. What does that mean? This represents that whenever you step into a new season not in the dessert whenever you step into the promise the first thing you will find is an obstacle. You'll find the devil will create something to keep you in your first step in order to impede you from conquering the fullness of the promise.
So, many of you are right now facing your Jericho, you're right here your no longer in Egypt you're not in failure, you're not in the dessert going around! You stepped into the promise, but you're stuck in step number one! You're stuck right here! Here's the rest of the promise. God did not ordain you to just step into the promise: he ordained you to occupy the fullness of the promise! To conquer all of the promise! And some of you are here right now looking at a wall in front of you, looking at a devil in front of you, looking at a sickness in front of you, looking at something negative in front of you I'm here to tell you that's why that song we sang is so important! They were stuck right here, they were right here, and God told them here it is you're gonna make a sound like the world has never heard before.
There is a wall in front of you, my children. This is the land that I gave you, and that is occupying your land. Oh! But you're gonna make a sound like the world has never heard before. And the moment you make that sound the walls will have no other choice but to come down. I'm here to tell you when the church in America and around the world takes off the mute button, and we start shouting unto God with the voice of triumph the walls will come down! Is there anyone here ready to see all the walls come down? They found Jericho every time you step into a new season you will find an obstacle that the enemy creates with a purpose of hindering your progress. The enemy wants you to get stuck in the beginning of the season in order to prevent you from conquering the fullness of the season. Ah, when the people heard the sound of the ram's horn they shouted. Suddenly, the walls of Jericho came down and they collapsed.
When God's people stop being silent and make the sound, all obstacles must come down. I'm gonna say that one more time. When God's people get the mute button off and make a sound, all of the obstacles will come down. I didn't write the book. I'm sorry. I know it seems illogical, it seems even a little bit crazy, it seems kinda silly: a bunch of people shout and all of a sudden the walls would come down. What would really happen? I didn't write the book don't blame me, am I supposed to remove that chapter from the Bible because it's not cool in 2021 to talk about a church that shouts. And it's not just about a shouting church here in service: it's about our testimony. It's about your influence. It's about your integrity. It's about your life raising you. Not in a way that is irritating, but in a way that prompts attention.
And by the way, your not being loud for other people to hear you. You're being loud so every devil falls down every demon you missed that part you missed it, you missed it! You think your shout is for other people to hear you. No! In your shout every knee shall bow and every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord! That's why! I'm on count to three, somebody shout like every devil has to fall. Every demon has to fall. Every addiction has to fall. I wish you would get this. Covid has to fall! Diseases have to fall! Cancer has to fall! Raise your voice and watch everything the enemy has placed before you fall! Shout unto God with a voice of... I dare you to raise your hand, and repeat after me: "All the lies must come down". Say it like you believe it, "Every generational curse must come down"! Say it like you believe it, "Every addiction must come down! Every vestige of darkness must come down"! Repeat after me, "The same God that whispers in my ear is the same God that shows up when I shout"!
You have no idea what you just said! If you only understood, it's coming down. I'm telling you it's coming down! There is a sound coming out of your life, out of your testimony! What God is doing in you, with you and through you will prompt everything around you that is not of God to come down! You believe that, say amen. That's why silence can't be an option. That's why, and I get it it's a lot more than the vocal cords guys, it's your life. It's what you do in private, it's who you are when no one sees you. You're presence needs to be loud for every devil, demon, legion to fall. Now, I'm gonna wrap this up. Here it is. Watch this, Ahab, Ahab does this, "I give you permission to rebuild Jericho".
I don't know if you're getting this, the walls of Jericho came down all those years before. God brought them down when God's people shouted, and Ahab is the first king, who does this? How wicked can he be? He wants to rebuild what God knocked down. That's the spirit of Ahab. The spirit that wants to rebuild in your life the stuff that God already defeated. And you're telling me Ahab doesn't wanna do that? Sure. Some of the thoughts going through your mind that remind you of your past. This is, right here, this is the place where Ahab attempts to rebuild Jericho. Look at me. Look at the hand whoop...Poof, right here. This is where Ahab gives permission for the rebuilding of Jericho. This is where Ahab says, "Go ahead rebuild". No, rebuild, rebuild, bring that stuff up back again oh!
But there is a problem. When Joshua, years before, hundreds of years before, when the walls came down, Joshua chapter 6, when the walls came down, Joshua looked at the walls that were on the floor. God's people stepped on top of them. Let me declare again that your children will walk upon the ruins of what you bring down in your generation. I'm gonna say that one more time: your children and your children's children, and your children's children children's children will walk upon the ruins of what your bringing down, today! Oh, you missed that! No, you're missing it! Your children and your children's children, children's children's, children's children's children will walk upon the ruins of what you shout down in your generation! And Joshua said this when the walls came down he said the following "May the curse of the Lord," not the blessing. Oh, snap! "May the curse of the Lord fall on anyone who tries to rebuild Jericho".
Before Joshua died Joshua said, you see those walls that God brought down if anybody tries to rebuild them they are cursed. You're not getting this. And God said, "I agree Joshua: I sign the contract. Anybody who tries to rebuild Jericho will be cursed". Oh boy, so, I hear the Lord say this and I say that with fear and trembling, there are Ahabs in our communities, even in our nation attempting to rebuild what God already knocked down. Some of you will get that by tomorrow morning. Even in family lineages, even in cultural context, even in our spiritual matrix there is an attempt by the spirit of Ahab to rebuild Jericho. I heard the Lord say clearly, "Samuel, tell them that Ahab is alive attempting to rebuild," in our minds, and in our thoughts what God already defeated, and brought down.
And, God told me to tell you this, and I say that again with fear and trembling do not permit the devil to rebuild Jericho in your mind. There's a release when I said that, do not permit Satan to rebuild Jericho in your mind. Do not permit the enemy to rebuild Jericho in your mind. Do not permit in your relationships, in your language, do not, this is why you're hearing this message you're about to rise up and tell Ahab. You're about to confront the spirit of Ahab, today, and you're gonna say, "Ahab, you can try all you want: you can give out all the permits you want. What God already brought down there is not a devil in hell, a demon on earth," hey look, I dare you to look at Ahab and say, "Ahab not even you nor your Jezebel witchy wife, nor the Baal false God that you serve! There is not an authority on this planet that can ever bring back up what God already brought down"!
Is there anybody here willing to say that? If you are, raise your hand and repeat after me, "The walls that God brought down", you're about to speak something powerful, "Will never be brought up"! I dare you to say, "The chains! The chains that God broke in my life are broken forever! I declare, the walls of addiction will never be rebuilt! The walls of sexual immorality will never be rebuilt! The walls of multi-generational poverty will never be rebuilt! The walls of genetic predisposition to infirmity will never be rebuilt! I declare that everything that Jesus brought down will never, can never, shall never be rebuilt, in the name of Jesus"!
Now, give God that shout! Everybody, lift up your hands. If the walls in your life came down and they're never gonna be re-built lift up one hand. If the walls that God knocked down in your life can never be rebuilt because when Jesus said it was finished he meant it. Because you believe that he said, "It is finished". He never said, "I am finished". He said, "It is finished". Wooh! Hey-hey! He said, "It is finished". John 8:36, oh, "For he who the son sets free"!