Samuel Rodriguez - Open Your Eyes By Opening Your Mouth
Wow. One, I'm not gonna rap but I, help me honor the best pastors on the planet. Pastor Russell and Sam. How many were blessed during conference? How many still have, how many are certain every Dagon collapsed forevermore in their lives? Listen, again, I'm honored to be with you. We're not living in any sort of...How can I put this? We're about to get louder and I don't mean just, we are, there have been, and then silence, and mute, and no. Nuh huh. The title of the message, I'mma give it to you, is called "Raise the volume".
I need you to touch the person you like the most around you and tell 'em, "If my volume is gonna bother you, I'm gon' give you about 35 seconds to find somewhere else to sit". Tell 'em, "I'm about to raise my volume like I've never raised my volume before. My life is about to get louder. My praise is about to go unhinged. My worship is about to become", somebody shout like you know that God's about to show up like... Mark 10. Real quick. Mark 10. There's a story here, so powerful, so many elements about it. I'm gonna shout out to all my homies from Cali. Pastor Sergio, and pastor Jason Lozano, and to all the other pastors from the states. Amazing. And to all the pastors that are here and just, here's the word of the Lord, Mark 10, verse 46.
Now, watch this. "They reached Jericho," somebody say, "Jericho". You gotta underline Jericho 'cause this can't be a cowinkydink. "As Jesus and his disciples left town, a large crowd followed him. A blind beggar named Bartimaeus was sitting beside the road. When Bartimaeus heard that Jesus of Nazareth was nearby, he began to shout, 'Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me'"! He shouted. Verse 48. Verse 48, by the way, encapsulates the notion of the cancel culture. "'be quiet'"! This is a screenshot of our current reality. "Many of the people yelled at him and said, 'be quiet'"! But I love what he did. The Bible says verbatim, "But he only shouter louder".
Every time the devil, hell, sin, your past, your thoughts, your haters, depression, anxiety, fear, confusion, the critics, tell you to "Shut up", tell you, you need to get louder than ever before in your life. He only shouted loud, "'Son of David, have mercy on me'! When Jesus heard him," he heard him. He heard his shout. "He stopped and said, 'tell him to come here'. They called the blind man, 'cheer up. He's calling you'! Bartimaeus threw aside his coat, he jumped up and came to Jesus". He threw aside his coat. "'What do you want me to do for you'? Jesus asked". Asking the obvious. "The blind man said, 'I wanna see'. And Jesus said, 'go, your faith has healed you'. Instantly the man could see, and he followed Jesus down the road". Here's the title of the sermon, "Open your mouth to what you want your eyes to see". I will repeat that. "Open your mouth to what you want your eyes to see. Raise the volume".
The subtext would be "Jericho and the shout 2.0". And "Silence is not an option". One more time before you get seated. I just need you please, anyone here in the past three years if the enemy showed up to put you on mute, if hell showed up circumstances to silence you, and yet here you are standing, I need you from a liability disclaimer component, warn your neighbor, "I am warning you". Tell your neighbor, "I'm warning you, after this conference, after this service, my life is about to get louder". Open your eyes by opening up your mouth. "When Bartimaeus heard that Jesus of Nazareth was nearby, he began to shout," he did what? Did he whisper? No. He nodded? No. He engaged in a golf clap? He did what? He shouted. Your eyes will never open until your mouth opens up first. Vision is connected to praise.
Now, this man was blind. He could not see but he worked with what he had. He could not see but he could praise. He could not see but he could shout. His optics were weak, but his vocal cords were strong. You need to stop focusing on what's weak in your life. 1 Thessalonians 5:18, "Be thankful in all circumstances," so, what do you have? I'm here to tell you, you already have what you need. Stop, "God, I'm not going anywhere until I get", no, no, you already have what you need. You have... What do you have? "But I have issues, but I have this thing going on, but", no, no. Don't focus on the blindness, Bartimaeus. Elevate your shout. You already have what you need to attract God to show up in your circumstance and shift your destiny forever more. What do you have? He goes, "No". You have a faith that moves mountains.
"In this new life," Colossians 3:11. "It doesn't matter if you're a Jew or a gentile, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbaric, or uncivilized, slave, or free. Christ is all that matters, and he lives in all of us". The Bible never states, do your biblical due diligence please. That Jesus was attracted to the man's blindness. This will mess up the way you read this passage. Jesus, exegetical extrapolation. The Greek narrative. He was attracted to the man's shout. Watch this. He wasn't attracted to Bartimaeus, the blind beggar. He was attracted to Bartimaeus, the worshipper. He was literally saying, "You're the Messiah". "Son of David" was the Aramaic context declaration of, "I know you the man".
He's literally, the blind man couldn't see but he knew he was the man because what you see in the spirit will always be greater than what you see in the flesh. I'm preaching to someone right about now. Right now, in the flesh, you may see your family broken, but in the spirit, you see your entire family saved. Hey. Right now, in the flesh, you may see something lacking in your finances, but in the spirit, you know that God will provide all of your needs according to his riches which are in glory. In the flesh, you say, "It's not enough". But in the spirit, you say, "God is able to do exceedingly, abundantly above all, anything I could ever imagine or ask for".
Raise your volume. Psalms 35:27, "Let them shout for joy and rejoice, who favor my vindication. 'the Lord be magnified," alright. Lift up both hands, we're done. Are there any questions? More people are about to come to Jesus as Lord and Savior through your life. All my cultural reformers, societal architects, your life is about to get louder. And again, if you think I'm speaking exclusively about vociferous articulation that emerges via the conduit of vibrating vocal chords and sound molecules exiting from your mouth, if you think I'm limiting it to that, you're completely off. Your testimony's about louder. The righteousness of God in you, with you, for you, and through you is about, here it is.
Lift up your hands. God is about to exponentially multiply your influence as we referenced yesterday because when your integrity is greater than your influence, nothing can stop you. There are voices in the world today that would love us to stop shouting "Son of David". There are voices that would be satisfied if we become an echo chamber of mutual affirmation. Which means what? They would be satisfied if all we do is gather on Sundays and shout here as long as we don't shout out there. There is an attempt by voices, by the critics, by detractors, and disruptors to attempt us to be muted in the public sphere. There are certain voices that would like us to go away. There are certain ideologies, and proponents, and advocates of agendas that advance, accelerate and exasperate hedonism and perversion, bigotry, perpetual discord.
Some people would love us to stop saying that, "Jesus is the only way". Some forces will love us to stop saying that, "Every life is sacred from the womb to the tomb". Some forces would like us to stop saying that, "God made men and women different for a purpose". Well, to all those forces out there and I'm not talking about men and woman. I'm talking about principalities, powers of darkness, demons, ideologies, with great due deference, with love and grace, I wanna warn you of what's about to happen next. Instead of the church lowering our volume, the church of Jesus Christ is about to get louder than ever before. It's not about us getting louder for us to be provocative, never in hatred, never to prompt confrontation. We raised the volume of love because love can never be silent. We raise the volume of truth because the truth sets you free. We raised the volume of compassion and mercy because mercy triumphs over judgements.
"Bartimaeus threw his coat, jumped up and came to Jesus". He put aside his coat. To you that might be a random act. To a poor, blind man, who was a beggar, that coat is one of his few possessions. He threw away, he put aside one of the last things he owned just to declare, "I don't, I don't, the moment I heard your voice, I'm not, I don't live here anymore. I don't need this. I'm not who I used to be. No". On multiple occasions, I was told explicitly, no joke, in Hollywood and in government primarily, "Sam, lower your volume". And I don't mean about vociferous expression. I got people that really got irritated with me because every single time wherever I went on whatever platform, I could be advising presidents in congress, on television and for whatever reason, I don't know why, I always bring up the name of Jesus. You could do your due diligence and YouTube it.
Be it from Trump's inauguration to Obama's inauguration in 2008 at St. John's Episcopal Church to interviews on CNN, Fox, MSNBC, the interview was totally irrelevant. It had nothing to do with faith. The interviews would be on geopolitical instability, "Samuel Rodriguez, reverent Rodriguez, about the Jerusalem embassy, the embassy being transferred from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, you know, what say ye? What is the geopolitical ramifications as it pertains to stability in the region? Wouldn't this prompt Iran", well, these are the questions I'm asked, so I'm answering and giving, "Well, there are some geopolitical ramifications indeed". And I give 'em all. And then, at the end I go, "But by the way, at the end of the day, let's not all forget there's still power in the name of Jesus".
Are you ready for God to shine in, with you, for you, and through you? If you're ready, you're saying, "God, let's do it. I'm never again gonna be on mute. My life will never silence. My circumstances, what I go through, will never again silence me from now on. I will raise my volume through my testimony, through my acts of compassion, through forgiving those that offended me, through moving forward, through not focusing on the past. I will raise my volume in action, word, beat, and thought, relationship, in all that I am, in all that I do. Actions, interactions and reactions. I will raise my volume". Silence is not an option. If that's you, if you're ready to raise your volume in your school, in your job, in your relationship, in your city, in your calling, in your purpose, in your mind, if you're ready volume where you'd never again will permit anyone or anything to put you on mute especially yourself, jump outta your seat and join me somewhere up here now. Go.
If you have to think about it, it's not you. But go. Go. If you're willing to leave your coat behind, leave your past behind. What God places upon you is directly proportional to what you are willing to put aside for him. Leave your coat behind as you come up here. When you let go of the things that define you as a beggar, he will place upon you the anointing that will define you as a believer. Leave your coat behind. Open your eyes to the following: to following Christ down the road. Follow God. "He followed Jesus".
God conquers, we possess, our children inherit. I'll repeat for the hearing impaired. From Genesis to Revelation, God conquers hence we are more than conquerors. He conquered. We are possessing what he conquered. We are occupying what he paid for. He conquers, we possess, our children inherit. Leave that coat behind. Never permit anything or anyone especially to place you on mute. Raise your right hand. Repeat after me. Now, I'm gonna warn you, no joke, no hype, these prayers are dangerous. I made prayers like this because I did not lower my volume, doors opened up that no man can close. Every time I lifted up Jesus, God opened up tons of doors. Every time I raised my volume, opened up tons of doors. Regardless of where I'm at. Opened up tons, he continues to because he is faithful. Raise your volume. This is dangerous. Repeat after me:
Heavenly Father, today, I stand fully committed, to raising my volume. I will never, permit anything, or anyone, to place me on mute. Your glory, your power, your spirit, your purpose, in my life will never be muted. From this moment on, I will give you, my highest praise. Not just with my lips, but with my testimony, with my actions, my interactions, my reactions, my thoughts, my posts, my relationships, my life. Today, in Jesus' name, I will raise my volume.
At the count of three, I don't want you just to praise. I want you to give God the loudest praise you've given him in the past three years. Are you ready? Here we go. Open your eyes to what you've never seen before. You're about to see God shine. Ready, one, two, three... Son of David. Messiah. Son of David. Son of David. If you received this, raise your hands. Raise your volume. Do not permit anything or anyone to ever put you on mute ever again. You're about to get louder. Your voice, your voice will be sharper. There will be clarity. Coherent, articulate, persuasive, presentation of the fullness of Christ the gospel, the good news of Jesus... That's what he does. If he can shout, cause he's coming for us, we can shout, because we are living for him.
I'mma give this to pastor Russell. I just sense just an anointing right now. Can you just lift up your hands right there where you're at? What I love about the Holy Spirit is that even when we're silent like this, we're still loud 'cause we have the maturity and the bandwidth to understand what this really means. Isaiah 14:27 is for someone here. It says the following, "What I have planned cannot be stopped. I, the Lord of host, have planned it, and nothing can stop me now". Isaiah 58:8 is for somebody, someone here. "Salvation will come like the Dawn".
I need you to get ready. You're about to see everyone around you get radically saved. Your wounds will quickly heal. I said your wounds will quickly heal. Oh, y'all better hear me. Even as I release that word, your wounds just healed, your wounds will quickly heal. Godliness will lead you forward as the glory of God will protect you from behind. Isaiah 58:8. We love you. We bless you. May the strength of the Father, the grace of the Son, the anointing of the Holy Spirit make this year the most productive, fruitful, Galatians 6:9 year of your life thus far. Hey, planet shakers, let's do one thing for the glory of Jesus. Are you ready? Raise your volume. Let's go change the world. Somebody do it one more time and get God...