Samuel Rodriguez - Whether You Like It or Not, I'm Going In
The title by the way today is, "Whether you like it or not, I'm going in". Whether you like it or not, I'm going in. Please, just repeat after me. "Whether you like it or not, I'm going in". And here's the subtitle, "The people around you cannot stop the calling upon you". I'll repeat that for the hearing impaired. The people around you cannot stop the calling upon you. The biblical narrative is found in John 11. Let me begin with point one, and then I'll read some verses to substantiate it. Point one is the tension of waiting. The tension of waiting. When God loves you so much that he waits. That makes no sense, right? But it does. God loves you so much that he waits. You want God to show up on Monday, and all of sudden he waits to show up on Friday. But why would God wait?
John 11:3, "The two sisters sent a message to Jesus telling him, 'Lord, your dear friend is very sick'". His friend Lazarus, his buddy, his amigo, his homie. His buddy is sick. The sisters sent the message. But when the Lord, when Jesus heard about it he said this, "Lazarus' sickness will not in death. No, it happened for the glory of God so that the Son of God will receive glory from this. And although Jesus loved Mary, Martha, and Lazarus," though he loved them, "He stayed where he was for the next two days". What a friend we have in Jesus. "What a friend we have in Jesus. If you're under thirty you have no idea what I'm singing now". Yeah, Google it. Alright. Iconic song, isn't it?
Jesus had a friend. His name was Lazarus. Two sisters Mary and Martha. Dear friend Lazarus. One of his great faithful followers get sick. His sisters based on what they said stood privy to the wonder working power in Jesus. So much so they pleaded for his presence in order to save their brother. And Jesus loved Lazarus, that's what the Bible says. He loved Mary, he loved Martha. Here it is Jesus, we need you to get over here. Your buddy, one of your closest friends is sick. And if you don't get here on time he will die. He will die. But if you get here cause we've been there, we've seen you show up, we've seen you do the thing. So come here and do the thing. So, yes, all you gotta do is do the thing. And even by the way, on other occasions, Jesus didn't even need to physically show up.
There was an option not for Jesus to be there, there was an option for Jesus to say, "I'mma stay where I'm at, but I'mma do the thing from here". Boop. He didn't do either. He not only did not do the thing from where he was at, he didn't show up. With intentionality he waited. Come one this makes no sense. If you loved him, why did you wait, that's your friend. Why wouldn't you at least send the word: "Lazarus, your sickness ends today". Boom, done. Why didn't he show up in person like they were asking? What is it about God that sometimes he doesn't show up when we want him to show up? Or when we think he should show up. We wait, "God, show up tomorrow please, Monday". And God said, "No, I'm gonna show up on Friday".
What is it? True love knows how to wait. True love waits for the perfect time. True love has self control. True love knows the difference between a want and a need. True love is not presumptuous. True love is always on time. 1 Corinthians 13:4, "Love is patient". Why did he wait? There's a difference between God doing something in you and God doing something through you. There is a difference between God accommodating your temporary want and providing your long term need. There's a difference between you experiencing a private breakthrough and God giving you a public testimony. I'm gonna rewind that one. There's a difference between God giving you a private breakthrough and God facilitating a public testimony.
What does this mean, preacher man? If Jesus would have healed Lazarus before he died, it would have limited the impact. By waiting, not only did Lazarus experience the glory of Christ, but the Bible said that many came to Jesus because of the miracle. The timing of God's intervention is directly proportional to the magnitude of the outcome. The measure of the weight is directly proportional to the magnitude of the testimony. In other words, it may not be the right time for you, but when it's God's time... I wanna make this clear. God's timing is not about satisfying your feelings. God's timing is about strengthening your faith. What does this mean for you and I? I'm here to tell you whatever you been praying for, whatever you been fasting for, whatever you been fighting for, I know you been saying, "But I've been doing this for months, for weeks, some of you for years".
You need to put a smile on your face. You're not waiting because God forgot about you, you are waiting because God is preparing something greater for you. You gon' get it in a second. When God waits it's not punishing you. God is not holding back because he's tryna make you beg. He doesn't need you to make you beg. You don't need to beg God. It's not because he's punishing you. It's not because he's testing you. The reason God is waiting, he's maximizing the outcome. But the moment God says, "Now is the time". More people will see the glory of Jesus through your testimony than ever before in all of your life. You're not getting it. If he would've done it a year ago, only you would have known about it. But now God's about to do something in you. God's about to show up for you. In such a way that even your friends, your family members, even your haters are gonna have to testify, "Look what the Lord has done".
When God waits it maximize the impact. And when God says, "Now, it will not only bless you, it will bless every one who knows you. At the right time, I the Lord, will make it happen". Isaiah 60:22, "The Lord will make it happen". Repeat after me, "The Lord will make it happen". Say it like you believe it. The Lord will make it happen. Can you please touch the neighbor that doesn't want you to touch them and tell them, "The Lord will make it happen". I don't hope it, I don't think it, I don't feel it, I know. I said I know! I know God will make it happen. God will make it happen. It may not be when you want it, but it's when God wants it to maximize, to maximize the outcome.
Wait a second. Verse 4, let's read it again. "When Jesus heard about it, he said, 'Lazarus' sickness will not end'", I'm sorry. Will not what? Jesus never said that Lazarus would not go through death. Jesus said it will not what? The moment those words came outta Jesus, the moment Jesus said whatever happens next the end result, Lazarus will be alive. The moment Jesus said that the only possible outcome was the fulfillment of the words of God. Ah! Ya, didn't get that. No, no, no. The only outcome is what God promised. The moment the words came out of Jesus. The moment Jesus said it, it had no choice but for it to materialize. Let there be light. The moment God opened up and said, "Let". The moment. And that's why God cannot lie. Whatever comes out of his mouth automatically becomes the truth in the end.
If Jesus said it, it has to come to pass. It's not an option. It's not this thing. If Jesus said it, it comes to pass. There are no conditional sort of outcomes. There's no way for you to go around it and go, "But if only... If one, two". No, no, no. If God said it, it will come to pass. There's a reason Lazarus came back to life. Because Jesus never said Lazarus would not die. He said he would not end up dead. I'm here to tell you, in the name of Jesus, as it pertains to your family and your faith and your future, God's promise is the only outcome. Oh, y'all didn't get that. I don't give a holy hoot what the devil did in the past. I don't care for you to write more on Facebook about generational curses.
All I'm here to tell you, I don't care what the enemy did or what you did. The moment Jesus said it, it will come to pass. The moment there's a promise in scripture, the moment you are in Christ, 2 Corinthians 1:19-20, "All of God's promises". Not some of them. Not half of them. Not the ones in the Old Testament only. Not only the ones in the New Testament, but all of God's promises are yes and amen in Jesus Christ. Which means what? If I were you, I would put a smile on your face. Because the moment he said, "Believe in the Lord Jesus and you and your house will be saved," that promise will come to pass. If you believe it, praise like you know it.
How many believe that God's promises are yes and amen? How many believe God never lies and he fulfills all of his promises? How many believe that not some of them but all of his promises? How many believe that all of his promises? I'm gonna say something crazy. When you go back, if the Lord tarries in a few years, five years, ten years, 20 years. When you go back to 2022, I rebuke the idea that one day ten years from now you say, "Oh, I remember 2022, that was the year we came outta COVID". No, man. I need you to flip the script. I'm here to declare, you're gonna go back and say, "2022. That's the year God's promises... That's the year I saw the glory of Jesus in me like no other year prior. That's the year my entire family got saved. That's the year I went from glory to glory. That's the year I experienced breakthrough. That's the year every vestige of addiction stood annihilated by the grace of God".
All of God's promises. Hebrews 10:23, "Let us hold tightly without wavering to the hope we affirm, for God can be trusted to keep his promises". So you don't have to worry about the next. The outcomes already predetermined when you are in Christ. So when they ask you I believe everything the father said. If the father said it, I believe it. If Jesus said it, I believe it. If the Holy Spirit said it, I believe it. What's next is the fullness of everything that Jesus died for. What's next is Acts 16:31. Acts 2:17. "In the last days, I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh". What's next is the glory of God filling the earth. Numbers 14:21. What's next is Galatians 6:9, a harvest of blessings. Because the Word of God never fails. Luke 1:37.
And here's a verse you should memorize today. Luke 18:27, "What is impossible for people... What is impossible for people is possible with God". No, no, no. Somebody put up that verse back there, please, if you have it. Luke 18:27. Repeat after me, what is impossible for people is possible with God. Repeat it again. What is impossible for people is possible with God. Number two is the tension between a good advice and a great assignment. A tension between a good advice and a great assignment. So here it is. Two days passed. Jesus came along, and he determines and says, "Alright, I'm going in". And then his disciples respond this way, verse 8, "Rabbi, only a few days ago the people in Judea were trying to stone you". Tried to kill you. There's no way you're going back there. And Jesus said, "I'm going back to Judea".
Now his disciples, his friends, his brothers look at him and parenthetically speaking are saying, "There's no way you're going back there". Great decisions require great discernment. Have you ever made a decision in your life where the good people around you with good intentions advise you to do something, but God was telling you to do something different? I'm gonna ask that one more time. Have you ever been surrounded, not by your haters, not by your enemies but by great people who love you, you gave you good advice, but God was telling you to do something different? If you been there raise one hand. If you been there on more than one occasion, raise both hands. Good people with good intentions giving you good advice. It's easy when it's bad advice. It's easy when the people are not full of God or they're saying something contrary to the will of God or the Word of God.
That's easy, but when what happens, when the advice comes from good people even some good Christians, but the advice runs contrary to what the Holy Spirit already told you to do. Oh boy, that's terrific tension. There are times that people around you will tell you don't do it. There are times your family members will tell you don't do it. There are times your flesh will tell you don't do it. But the Spirit of God inside of you says, "Do it". Why did he do it? Why would Jesus go back? One more time. "I'm going back. I'm gonna go to Judea now". "Don't go to Judea. They just tried to kill you. They literally stoned you. We had to drag you out and protect you man. Are you. You, no. There's no way. Your mission hasn't been accomplished yet".
You told us about, you know, your destiny and purpose and there's no way we're gonna permit you to go back there. It may jeopardize the fulfillment of our Heavenly Father's purpose in your life. They could've spiritually and theologically justified it. Don't go back. And Jesus said, "I'm going back". Why did Jesus go back? What drove him to go back to Judea? They just tried to kill him there. They kicked him out of Judea with an assassination attempt. Why would he go back? Who was there? Who was in Judea? Lazarus. Because that's what we do. That's what we do. We as Christians when our friends and our family members are in that situation. We are willing to go back because Christians don't let their friends die in a lie. You're missing it right now. There's no way Jesus going back to Judea was not, he didn't go back to relive the trauma.
You never heard Jesus said, "I'm gonna back to Judea. But I need to go through therapy cause I have a twitch now as a result of what I went through in the past three weeks". He didn't go back to rehash the past. He didn't go back to reinforce a victimization status. He went back for his friend. He went back for his disciple. And when he went back by the way, he did not just go back: he went back to the area he was kicked out of. Watch this. He went back to Judea. Judea represents the place in your life where you were kicked out of. Not just, I'm not talking about a geographical place. I'm talking a place in your relationship. I'm talking about the last relationship fell apart.
So the relationship Judea is now a place of hurt and pain for you. That's why you don't date anymore. Or that's why you date the wrong people repeatedly. Because you lost trust. And now you have a different mindset. But all of a sudden God fills you and says go back because you're about to go back, but you're not gonna go back the way you came out. The last time they saw you, you were bleeding and you were wounded because they threw stones at you. But now you're going back. You're occupy the very area that hell kicked you out of. You... You are about to step into an area. Your finances. Judea could be financial. You experienced bankruptcy. Or credit score became nothing. Because of the debt that you got into. Everything fell apart financially. All of a sudden, God says, "Go back to Judea". God says, "Go back. I'm gonna bless you in such a way financially".
Why are you going back? When Jesus went back he, again, last time he was here what happened to him? He was stoned. They tried to kill him, and they kicked him out. And now, he's gonna go back to the very place where he experienced, literally, physical pain, threats, angst, consternation. He's going back. And this time when he went back he did something different. This time he went back, his friend Lazarus was dead for how many days? Four days. Never had Jesus resurrected someone who was dead for four days. He went back and he did what he never did before. I'm here to declare upon you, you are about to go back to Judea. This is not about you revisiting your past trauma, going back to the old sin, going back to the old relationship. No. You're going back to the old sphere. The old space. And you're about to shine the glory of Jesus like never before. You're going back. And in Jesus' name, I'm here to tell you when you go back just like Jesus performed one of his greatest miracles, you are about to see a miracle when you go back there.
And you're about to go back and say, "Aha, surprise. Last time y'all saw me here, you saw me being dragged out and protected cause some of y'all tried to kill me. I'm back, but I'm not back to confront you". Cause what the enemy wants you to do is confront the people that stoned you. I'm preaching now. I'm preaching to five people. What the enemy wants you to do is focus on the people that stoned you. Focus on the people that hated you. Focus on the people that killed you. Try to kill your testimony, your character. You're saying I'm not coming back for you, I'm coming back to tell all of my people that are dead in the tomb, "Come forth"! I'm coming back to call out all of my family members and all of my friends and I'm gonna tell them come out of your grave. I'm here to tell you there's an anointing on your testimony. You are about to go to Judea and you're about to call everyone out.
Somebody shout, "Come forth"! You're about to tell your loved ones, "Come forth". You're about to tell your friends, "Come forth". You're even about to tell some of those old haters, "Come forth". If you believe that raise your hands. If you understand that you're going, I dare you to look at your neighbor and tell them, "I'm going in". No tell them, "I'm going back in". No, no, no. Tell them, "I'm going back in". Tell them, "I'm going back in. I'm gonna claim that space. I'm gonna claim that space". That narrative will be redeemed. Judea will not be known, in your life, Judea will not be known for the place you were kicked out of and they tried to kill you. Judea will be known for the place of one of the greatest miracles in your life.
Raise your hands, both hands, say, "I'm going back in. I'm going back in. I'm going back in". He performed one of his greatest miracles. There was a threat. There was a miracle behind that threat. Wherever there's warfare there's breakthrough behind the warfare. Wherever there's brokenness there's a blessing behind the brokenness. Where there's an obstacle there is overflow behind the obstacle. And wherever you see adversity in your life there is abundance behind the adversity. I dare you to shout, "I'm going in". You're about to go back and do greater things in the very area that hell kicked you out of. You are about... I feel the Lord. You are about to go back and occupy the very area hell kicked you out of. You are about to go back and serve as a conduit for Christ to save, deliver, and heal friends and family members in the very areas you were pushed out of.
One more time, say, "I'm going back in". Repeat after me, "I'm going back to Judea". And just make this declaration, "I'm about to witness the salvation, the deliverance and healing of people I know in the very area where the enemy attempted to take me out". My goodness. The place where they tried to break you will be the place of your breakthrough. The place where they wounded you will be the place where God will do wonders through you. The place of the mess will become the place of the miracle. If you believe that one more time raise both hands and say, "I'm going back to Judea. I'm going in with my prayer. I'm going in with my praise. I'm going in with my worship. I'm going in with the Word of God. I'm going in with the Spirit of God. I'm going in with the blood of Jesus. I'm going in in the name of Jesus".
There are areas you were kicked out of you need to go back and claim. But one more time, you don't go back to fight the people that threw stones your way. You go back to call the people that are dead in the tomb to come out in the name of Jesus. And by doing so those that stoned you in the past, do your biblical due diligence. When Jesus went in and resurrected Lazarus, did they try to stone him now? Was there one person who dare pick up a stone and try to kill him this time? No. The moment Jesus looked at his friend who was dead for four days and said, "Come forth". The haters had no other choice, but to say, "That's the Son of God".
You wanna shut your haters up show them the glory of Jesus. Somebody get, if you wanna shut the haters up show them the glory of Jesus. Show them the glory of God. Can I just say something? It's not like as a church we've never been kicked out. We've been kicked out of Judea. What's a Judea for us? As a church corporately. In America, the church was very influential. The first schools that started public education began via the conduit of the church. We were kicked out. There was an attempt, they stoned us on the way out. We don't want that Christian stuff in here. Yeah, the church. We were strong. And even, some people say crazy stuff like, "Hollywood is of devil". Oh no, it isn't. And in the beginning no it wasn't, by the way. And it won't be. Let me explain why.
Hollywood in the beginning, in the 1920s, Charlie Chaplin, Errol Flynn, Buster Keaton, a bunch of other famous stars back when the industry kicked off, you know they would attend the church of a woman preacher her name was Aimee Semple McPherson, Angelus Temple. They would go to church. Charlie Chaplin was involved in the first creative team, media team, Charlie Chaplin. Hollywood stars, the most famous star in the entire world would go to a spirit-empowered Christ-centered Bible based church. So in the beginning Hollywood and Christianity, absolutely. And then, they kicked us out. Yeah. Science, come on. From Isaac Newton to Kepler and then they kicked us out. And so, politics and then they kicked us out.
Why am I telling you this? Cause we... we... I need you to look at your neighbor with a smile and say, "We". We're going back in. I said we're going back in. We're about to look at school boards in California and we're going back in. We're about to create more content for Netflix and Amazon Prime, for studios, and there are artists in this church. There are creative young men and women that God has anointed. We're going back in. We're not going back in to establish a theocracy. We're going back in to shine the hope, the love, the grace, the truth, and the mercy that is found in Jesus. If you're ready to go back in and occupy the very area hell has fought to keep you out of, now give God the biggest shout of praise! I dare you to shout, "We're going back in. We're going back in. We're going," is there a church ready to go back in?