Samuel Rodriguez - The Mantle Is For The Plow Pusher
And said, "You gon' die in 24 hours". Hey kings, do you realize it's been 2800 years approximately? Guess who has yet to die? I don't know if you understand what this means for you and for me. The next time we see Elijah, what does it mean? 2 Kings 11, Elijah and Elisha are walking around together when a chariot of fire shows up, separates Elijah and Elisha. A whirlwind takes Elijah up. The Bible says he never die. The next time we see Elijah, the one that was supposed to die, guess where we find him? He's taking a selfie with Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration. Boom! Elijah. "Hey Jezebel, you said I was gon' die. Guess where I'm at? I'm with Jesus right here, right now".
What does that mean for you and me? It doesn't matter what hell has declared upon you. It doesn't matter what hell has declared upon your children, or your children's children, or your family, your generation, your state, your city, your region, America, the nations. When heaven starts it, hell cannot stop it. Somebody praise like you believe it's too late now. Somebody praise like you know it's too late. How many know it's too late now? Hell cannot stop what heaven has started. Whatever heaven started, hell cannot stop. Can't stop it, it's too late. See, 2800 years a guy has yet to die. I want you to hear me. He has yet to die. Hell said, "You gon' die in 24 hours". Heaven said, "Oh, really? Now, the opposite will take place".
Please, this may not be part of your polity, but work with me for a moment. Blame it on the fact that I'm Puerto Rican. I'm caffeinated. Whatever. I don't really care. Touch your neighbor and tell 'em, "The opposite will take place". But look at 'em prophetically and tell 'em, "Whatever hell has declared, the opposite will take place". That should provoke someone. If the enemy declared your children will be lost in perpetuity, the opposite will take place. They're about come to the... In respect to your health, the opposite will take place. In respect to your relationship, the opposite will take place. In respect to generation z, and alpha, and beta, the opposite will take place. In respect to America going to hell in a hand basket, the opposite will take place. Are you with me right now?
Whatever the enemy has declared, somebody shout, "The opposite will take place". If you believe it, give him one more praise. She declared it and it's not the first time. We're not even supposed to be here right now. Technically speaking, based upon declarations, activities, social constructs, ideologies, attempts by men to dilutes truth, love, hope, grace, and mercy in their respective generations, so many, we're not even supposed to be here right now. According to Nero, kinda wiped us out, we're not supposed to be here right now. So many attempts throughout the course of human history. Do you understand that?
Vladimir Lenin in St. Petersburg Square in 1917, "Communism will outlast the Christian faith". 1939, Nuremberg, Germany, Joseph Goebbels, the propaganda minister for the Third Reich said, "The Third Reich will outlast the church of Jesus Christ". And even the Beatles, John Lennon, you're privy to this, he once wrote that the Beatles would receive more praise, worship, and adoration than the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit combined. Well, here we are. It's 2023. We are in Maui. Here's what we know, Nero is dead. Lennon is dead. The Third Reich is gone. The Beatles no longer exist, but the church of Jesus Christ, I said, the church of Jesus is still alive and well. Praise be God.
The opposite takes place. Why? Let me reference what we said yesterday. When your integrity is more important than your influence, nothing can stop you. When you are driven by anointing rather than ambition, nothing can stop you. When your hunger for righteousness is greater than your fear of criticism, nothing can stop you. When you exchange your trauma for a testimony, nothing can stop you. And when your praise speaks louder than your pain, nothing can stop you. That's the promise of the Word of God. Here it is. This is, oh, boy. It's the mantle of when heaven starts it, hell cannot stop it. It is the mantle that will be transferred to the next generation.
I need to ask you, did Elijah place upon Elisha his fear? Did Elijah place upon Elisha his anxiety issues? No. There's no biblical basis for that. Did Elijah place upon Elisha his depression? No. There's only one thing Elijah placed upon Elijah in 1 Kings 19:19 and subsequently, Elisha picked up when Elijah went up and let it go. What was it? The mantle. Put a smile on your face. Your children will not inherit your sins. Your children, and your children's children, and your children's children children will not inherit your trauma or your drama, your mistakes or your failures, or your defeats. Put a smile on your face because your children, and your children's children, and your children's children children will inherit the mantle of legacy in faith in Jesus' name.
If you praise God for that, give him the kind of praise that let's him know you're grateful. Come on, if you believe your children will inherit, hey! If you believe your children will inherit your commitment to Jesus as Lord and Savior, a hunger for the righteousness of God, to be filled with the Spirit of God. Aren't you excited? In Jesus' name, there are no more generational curses, no more generational baggage, no more generational trauma, no more generational drama. Your children and your children's children will inherit your mantle, your anointing, your commitment to the centrality of Christ, to biblical truth, to the glory of God. Lift up your hands. Lift up your hands right there where you're at. I sense the Lord. Oh, wow.
Stand... you are standing! Stand with me. I'm gonna show you something as you stand. There came a moment that spoke to me, there came a moment when God gave me this word by his grace. I wrote a book about it called, "Persevere with power," but I wrote it during COVID. Almost lost my daughter to COVID 'cause her white blood count, she had a preexisting, gave birth to my granddaughter. It became the most difficult chapter of our lives. So, I wrote this book about persevere with power. And one of the things God showed me was a little verse, the one about Elijah running. You would read over it. It said, Elijah was about to run so he took his mantle it says, and he tucked it in. You usually read over that and go like, "Alright".
So, the mantle was not like a scarf. The mantle would be more akin to a raincoat, an overcoat that would go all the way down. So, he tucked it in, in order, it's really simple. There's no like, Revelation behind it. It's just practical science. He only tucked it in, in order to avoid doing what? Tripping. And I heard a Holy Spirit say, "Sam, make sure never trip over what I've placed upon you". Don't trip. Wherever you go, just tell the Elijahs not to trip over the mantle because unfortunately, we seen so many trip over the very things that God has placed upon us, that we haven't been able to manage effectively with integrity and there's always restoration. There's always redemption. There's always grace. So, we do that. We restore the fallen and when there's repentance, we want him to fly even higher than before but don't trip.
Somebody say, "Don't trip". I need you to look at your neighbor and tell 'em, "Don't trip. Protect that mantle". No, no, we thought about you. It's not about your repute and your followers on Instagram. It's because of your children and your children's children. They need to inherit what you carry. The Lord, the Lord looks at him and says, "What are you doing? I'm not done with you, but now that you've done this and I'm gon' show you something. Let me make you focus on. You used to focus on fires, and droughts, and rain, and you are my prophet, but I'm gon' show you, I'm gon' give you your greatest task of all". Arguably speaking, Elijah's greatest accomplishment was not ushering in a drought. It was not praying down fire or declaring, "Here comes the rain".
His number one accomplishment was successfully passing the mantle to the next generation. Do you realize Elisha did greater things because Elijah did the right thing? Can somebody remove this? I'm gonna show you how they did it. I'm gonna show you as you stand with me. 1 Kings 19:19, God speaks to Elijah, he comes out of his pick here and here. He's walking, he finds Elisha doing this. Watch. Elisha was pushing the plow. He wasn't binging on Netflix, swiping the app. He was pushing the plow. This may cause a little bit of acid reflux. If you've never pushed a plow, don't expect to carry the mantle.
The mantle was for the plow pusher. The mantle was for every single person who knows what it is. If you do your biblical due diligence in the appropriate, historical, contextualized manner, you will be privy to with the exception of the day of rest, Elisha would have to wake up being who he was to this family every single day, six days out of seven, and he would have to push the plow, break the ground, and sow the seed. And he would have to do it on good days and bad days, sunny days and rainy days. On days where people love him and on days when people hate on him, he would have to push that plow. The mantle was for the plow pusher. If you don't know what it is to push the plow, don't you dare ask for a mantle. The plow was, the plow, the plow, we push life's plow on good days and bad days. You know what it is to push the plow, to be that super grinder. You know what it is to push that plow, push the plow.
And there are days, I remember when I wanted to give up, years ago in my 20's, and I wanted to, I told God, "I'm done pushing the plow. I'm done using the context of today's message. I'm done doing this. I'm just done, done, done. I promise to you tomorrow morning so help me, you, I'm gon' wake up and I'll get a different job. I'm gonna go secular, go to a job. I have a degree. I don't need this. No way! Too much drama. Didn't sign up for this. You never gave me this when you spoke to me when I was 12 years old. Uh-uh. I'm done. Tomorrow morning, I'm waking up, so, I'm doing something different". And the next morning, guess who got up and continued to push the plow? Reluctantly, talking trash, talking smack, I continued to push the plow. Here I am going, "I don't like doing this, but I have to do it. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah".
I don't know where you're at right now, why you left me? And I tried to let go, but I discovered that sometimes you push the plow and sometimes the plow pushes you. So, I discovered that it wasn't Sam Rodriguez that got up. It's just that that Romans 8:11 thing never stops working. It gets me frustrated 'cause when I wanna give up, I can't. And when I try to give up, I can't. Why? Because the same spirit that raised Jesus from the dead lives inside of... This is, look, look. He was pushing, so Elijah came over, can you, you could read that please. Read it. And it's so beautiful. No words were exchanged. Not a conversation. Elijah was pushing the plow when Elijah came over, placed his mantle upon him and walked away like a boss. Like a boss, baby. Just no words. Like, uh-huh Mr. Plow Pusher. Poof. Elisha let go of the plow followed that man and the rest is history.
If you don't know what it is to push the plow, I may need you to leave the premises right now. Because the next ten minutes are not for you. But if you know what it is to push the plow in your family, with your kids, and your marriage, and your health, in your calling, if you've ever been there where you try to let go and God wouldn't let go of you, you know why we're here? Not because we perfectly held on to God. We're here because God perfectly held on to us. So, if you know what it is to push the plow here, here, and here, on good days and bad days, sunny days and rainy days, on days of drought and days of abundant rain, if you know what it is to push the plow, this is what the Holy Spirit assigned me to share with you this morning.
Lift up your hands. There is a mantle coming your way. It's about to shift the rest of your life forevermore. There comes a season to push the plow and then there comes a season to carry the mantle. Your days of pushing the plow formally come to an end right here, right now. So, I sense the Holy Spirit in this place. I sense him right now. There's an anointing in this place. Galatians 6:9, "Do not grow weary of doing what is right. At the appointed time, in God's appointed time. You will reap a harvest of blessings for not giving up". Psalm 65:11, "He will crown this year with a bountiful harvest". Even the hard pathways of difficulty, the most difficult areas of your life, whoo! Will overflow with his abundance.
So, I'm gon' count to three. If you're ready to let go of your plow, you're ready to pick up your mantle, I want you to come out of your seat and join me some here. I'm gonna lay hands on you and we're gonna release this mantle upon you and your family right now in Jesus' name. One, two, three. Come. It's time to get your mantle. I sense the Lord. All the plow pushers, on good days and bad days, on sunny days and rainy days, on days of love and on days of pain, and days of trauma and days of testimony, you kept on pushing the plow, you kept on pushing the plow. Oh, the mantle is for the plow pusher. Come up. There's a mantle, there's an anointing coming your way. It's about to change your life. Hey, how about this? I sense the Lord. Your children will not inherit your plow. Your children and your children's children will inherit your mantle. They will not inherit what you've been pushing. They will inherit the glory that you carry for Jesus, the glory of Jesus.
Lift up your hands, let me, por favor. Dr. Morocco you have paved the way. You are like a modern day Elijah, Christ centered, born out of grace. You have paved the way for Elijahs to rise up and you haven't seen anything yet. Your dream will come to pass. Your dream will come to pass. We're not even cognizant or privy to the number of Jezebels throughout the years, that spirit what it represents, all the different attempts, even some that you may not even be aware of. And here we are, at the precipice of seeing that become a reality and in the spirit of Ephesians 3:20, "Exceedingly, abundantly above all, anything and everything we can imagine or ask for".
This is that kind of church. I want you all to do like this. Just cater to this if you can. When I say, "One," go like this and grab your plow. When I say, "One". When I say, "Two," I want you to go like this, but it has to be with a smile like something amazing is coming my way. And when I say, "Three," I want you to go like this... Let go of the plow. Take one step in walking with that mantle. By the way, when you let go of the plow, you let go of the plow, not for a season but forever, Elijah actually came back and made a barbeque of the plow. No joke. Took care of it permanently. There is no plan b. You can't go back. Once you take that step under the mantle, woah, ready?
So, here's what I want you to do. When I say "One," when I say, "Two," when I say, "Three," boom, and then you give God the most powerful, vociferous, unbridled praise you've given him in the past three years because your plow days come to an end. From this moment on, you and your house will be carrying that mantle of a greater portion of anointing. Are you ready? Alright. So, one. Tell your neighbor, "Move over, my plow's pretty big". Some of y'all been pushing that plow for a while. You know what I'm talking about. It's been a while. Here it is... Two. Coming your way. Something amazing is coming your way. Something amazing is coming your way. Are you ready?
Something amazing for you and your house. Something amazing. One, one, two, one, two, three. Somebody praise like you have your mantle. Somebody worship like you have your mantle. Somebody rejoice! Are there any mantle people in the house? If you have your mantle, raise your hand. If you know you have that mantle and you're never gonna go back to the plow, raise both hands. If your children will inherit your mantle not your plow, raise both hands and a foot. Societal architects and cultural reformers, creatives, one more time.
I... forgive me, Dr. Morocco, give me one minute here. Close your eyes for a second. All of my creative, all of my content providers, content Creators, we're gonna walk, we're gonna Elijahs rise up not just in churches and in conferences, more importantly in the marketplace, in government. We're about to see government occupied with Elijahs and Elishas. We're about to see people with mantles in every sphere. In Hollywood, in entertainment, in sports, in technology, in science, in medicine.
We're about to see Elijahs and Elishas. The next Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerbergs, as I referenced yesterday, will be Holy Spirit-filled, Christ-centered, Bible-based, children of the living God. I've seen that, personally and it's way beyond Sam Rodriguez. I know that. I'm not ignorant. I know it's all God. It's 150% God. It's Colossians 3:11. Christ is all that matters. It's all him. That's not like hype and some affirmation verbally. I know it. I've seen it. It's all him. We're about to see this take place. We're about to see this take place like we've never seen it before. So, walk with your mantle, preserve that mantle with integrity and humility. Make sure you always give God the glory cause it's his, but don't trip over the very thing God has placed upon you.