Samuel Rodriguez - Integrity Over Influence
You may be seated. You may be seated. I'mma get right into the word here. Are there any questions? Okay. I'm honored to be here. I'm gonna share with you. We are officially living in a different time as it pertains to how to best attach the scripture in nomenclatures to define our current reality in both time and space in this beautiful continuum of our human existence. What do we describe this time? Officially if you Google it, we are now officially living in the cuckoo for cocoa puffs season. Every single time you think things can't get crazier they get... Dorothy, we're not in Kansas anymore.
There is a biblical passage that resonates in my spirit. It is a mandate from heaven for yours truly to just release this wherever I go. Especially when I arrive at a church for the first time. Because we're living spiritually speaking just like the days of Ahab, Jezebel and Baal. We are. But this is not a doom and gloom message. I'm in this church because I truly believe we're about to see a generation of Elijahs and Elishas rise up in the name of Jesus. Who will shift the atmosphere towards righteousness and justice, truth and love to a great degree. You know the story. You have this iconic prophet wearing a mantle, so he had merch. He wore the mantle. He was everywhere doing his thing. He was the iconic legendary Old Testament prophet, the OG. Jesus even cross referenced him.
Amazing. This man confronts moral relativism, cultural decadence, spiritual apathy, Ecclesiastical lukewarmness. He confronts social constructs and ideologies that were counterintuitive to the Word of God. All of a sudden, having his hashtag best day ever, right after that. This woman who was evil, she was just evil, her name was Jezebel. She sends down a message which today would be a tweet. Jezebel tweeted. Are there any questions? No, it really happened. 1 Kings 19:2, she literally said, and I'm reading verbatim, "May the Lord strike me and kill me if by this time tomorrow I haven't killed you". She sends out a message to the prophet. The number one voice from heaven on the planet for his generation. Jezebel comes along and says, "In 24 hours I swear by my Gods, you will die".
She prothalied. Sounding like a prophecy, you gotta juxtapose 1 Kings 19:2 with 2 Kings 2:11. "As they were walking along," referencing Elijah and Elisha, "Suddenly a chariot of fire appeared drawn by horses of fire. It drove between the two men separating them and Elijah was carried into a whirlwind into heaven". I wanna speak to you on the subject matter, "Jezebel's tweet: when heaven starts it, hell cannot stop it". We're gonna do this, maybe one time, two times today. Touch the neighbor you like the most. And tell 'em "When heaven starts it, hell cannot stop it".
Now touch the neighbor you barely tolerate and tell that neighbor. When heaven starts it, hell cannot stop it. I talked to you about the fact that Elijah had a mantle. That mantle was the primary descriptor. It's what identified, separated him, distinguished him, marked him, as the iconic prophet of his generation. The mantle. We all have a mantle. Every single person here we have spiritual authority. We have a mantle. We have an infusion from heaven. But we just don't wear it. It's not a physical coat. Praise the God it's not just honest, our spiritual authority lives inside of us. "You have received the anointing," 1 John 2:27, "Who is the Holy Spirit, who lives inside of us". And we are about to see people with mantles rise up.
As societal architects and cultural reformers and we're about to shift this nation towards righteousness and justice, truth and love in the mighty name of Jesus. Hear this. If you're taking any notes, then good luck with that. The mantle that we have is the mantle of the spirits. Somebody say, "The mantle of the spirit". "The power of the Lord came up on Elijah. He ran all the way". 1 Kings 18:46. He had that mantle, again that mantle juxtaposing it, to what Ahab, Jezebel and Baal represented. Who was Ahab? Ahab was the king of Israel. He was what we called in California a "Mucho malo hombre".
Ahab, the spirit of Ahab... ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls listen carefully. The spirit of Ahab is alive and well. It's alive and well robbing love, killing joy and destroying peace. Spiritually speaking Ahab represents forces with access and authority that will tempt us to sacrifice truth on the altar of political and cultural expediency. In 1 Kings 16:34 Ahab was the only king who had the audacity to give permission to rebuild the walls of Jericho. I'll repeat that. No other king ever attempted to rebuild what God brought down. Ahab was so wicked he came along and said, "Let's rebuild what God brought down".
That's happening in America right now as we speak. That spirit of Ahab is trying to rebuild walls that God already brought down. Walls that separate us via the conduit of the color of our skin, our pigmentation, gender, even politics. There is this amazing attempt by Ahab to just alienate us and the divide us in perpetuity, perpetual fragmentation, even in the church. Why? Because if we are divided, we can't accomplish, we can't advance the kingdom of heaven. So, with that being said, this maybe not a popular message and I may not get invited back, which is okay. I live in California. I'll go to a lot more.
So, there it is, I just wanna remind you for that Ahab spirit trying to divide us in perpetuity, I wanna remind you there is no such thing as a white church, a black church, a brown church, a yellow church, or a red church. There's only one church and it's the church of Jesus Christ. And the gates of hell shall not, will not, may not, cannot ever prevail against the church. Jezebel was his wife, and she was nasty on steroids. The spirit of Jezebel is alive and well, persecuting, prosecuting and attempting to silence the children of the cross. Jezebel represents the manipulative, sexually coercive, perverse, corrupt cultural spirit. With all intentionality to kill prophetic voices.
To construct Asherah pole in order to marginalized the oracles of righteousness and justice. A spirit that according to the Book of Revelation 2:20, even good Christians maybe guilty of unfortunately tolerating. "For this one thing I have against you, you have tolerated the spirit of Jezebel". The spirit of Baal is alive and well demanding that truth and children in and out of the womb be sacrificed on the altar of the false. I'mma say this and I'm passionate about this.
I'm living in California, there is a spirit coming after our children and our children's children. I must say that one more time. There is a spirit like never before hell released all the Krakens to come after our children. There is something coming after our children, no conspiracy theory, no hyperbole Baal is coming after our children. We need a Elijahs and Elishas to rise up. We don't need more kumbaya or comfortable Christianity. I might get in trouble, but we need to take a minute away from preaching about the blessing and the breakthrough and with spiritual authority we need to rise up and rebuke every devil, and tell Satan, "Get your hands off our children".
I'mma do that one more time. Get your hands off our children in the name of... Nevertheless, here's a deep seminary-endorsed, biblically-contextualized Hebrew extraction, subtiated phrase. It's the phrase that says the following, here it is. All the years of seminary for this. "Don't drink the Kool-Aid". What does that mean? Let me calm down here for a moment. I don't care what you're reading on Facebook, Instagram, X, used to be Twitter, threads, YouTube, what you watch on ABC, NBC, CBS, we don't discriminate here. I don't care what you watch on CNN, Fox, MSNBC, I don't care what you're watching. I don't care.
The most powerful spirit in Louisiana and in America and on the planet today is not Ahab. The most powerful spirit on the planet is not Jezebel. The most powerful spirit on the planet is not the spirit of Baal. The most powerful spirit in 2023 is still the Holy Spirit of Almighty God. If you believe it praise like you have that spirit. If you believe it shout like you have that spirit. If you believe it pray like you have that spirit, live like you have that spirit, forgive like you have that spirit, act like you have that spirit, love like you have that spirit.
"It is not by might, nor by power, but by my", Zechariah 4:6, "Where that spirit is present there is freedom". I said there is freedom. 2 Corinthians 3:17. "There is power". Acts 1:8. "We are to be driven by the spirit not by the flesh". Galatians 5:16. "We are to be filled with that spirit, not drunk with wine". Ephesians 5:18. "We are defined by that spirit. The same identical spirit that raised Jesus from the dead lives inside of us". Romans 8:11. We are about to see more people come to Jesus than ever before. Because that spirit is still moving. Are there any questions?
Number two, it is the mantle of drought, fire and rain. Somebody repeat after me, "Drought, fire and rain". In 1 Kings 17 and 18, he carried that mantle when he unleashed the drought. 1 Kings 17:1, when he prayed down fire. 1 Kings 18:38, when he proclaimed "Here comes the rain". 1 Kings 18:41, drought, fire and rain. It serves as a rubric of what we go through in life. I don't wanna be presumptuous. If you've been through at least one drought in your life, spiritually, emotionally, relationally, health wise, be it in your career, in your calling, with your children. If you've been through at least one drought in your life, a difficult season, things were not growing, it was challenging raise one hand.
One drought. If you've been through a couple of droughts in your mind, in your life raise both hands, if you've been through so many droughts you've lost, be honest, the count. Raise both hands and a foot. If you've been through so many droughts, if I Google the word "Drought" right now, the algorithm will automatically take me to your Instagram account. We've all been through droughts. Don't tell me you've never been through a drought, we've all been through a season. We all go through a season, we have to go through to get to. The God of the process is the same God of the outcome.
There are people that wanna jump from drought to rain without ever going to the fire. And we all have to go through the fire to get to the rain. What is the fire season? Yes, the fire makes you shout and dance, praise be the Lord, but it's not the primary objective. The fire of God makes you kneel down in repentance. The fire of God is a sanctifying fire, it is a purifying fire, it makes you uncomfortable. The fie of God is when he's take things away from inside of you: attitudes, behaviors, mindsets. When pivots things inside of you, it's that sanctifying, purifying fire. And on many occasions he will remove people from around you that would've held back the fulfillment of his purpose in your life.
If you've been through your drought and you've been through your fire, I need you to put a smile on your face. It only means that you and your family are about to experience abundant rain. If its you, if it's not you, you're good but if it's you, open up your mouth and shout, "Here comes the rain". Tell your neighbor, "Here comes the rain". Here comes the rain. It is the rain of Ezekiel 34:26, of acts 3:20. It is the refreshing rain. And by the way, those that prayed with you in the drought, deserve to dance with you in the rain.
Number three, it is the mantle of speaking truth with love. What does that mean? Here comes the prophet, he has his mantle. He has the moment. He's had enough. He's tired of seeing God's children deviate from that which God calls holy and righteous. So, he has this clarinet call, this convocation on mount Carmel, it's a Netflix series, it's an opsonic, it's amazing. He calls him in, the moment, bring the people. He looks at Ahab, God's children are there, on top of the mountain, and Elijah says, "It's time for you to make up your mind, who will you serve? Will you serve their God, Baal, or will you serve the God of our father"?
1 Kings 18:21, read it. And said that God's people had to make a choice, and guess what they voted on. No, nothing. They refused to take sides. I'mma drop the mic and sit down now for about five minutes. Today's complacency is tomorrow's captivity. I'll repeat that for the hearing impaired. Today's complacency is tomorrow's captivity. You are what you tolerate. In your life, in your mind, in your body, in your spirit, in your atmosphere, in your home, in your marriage, with your children, and your children's children, in your generation, you are what you tolerate. truth must never be sacrificed on the altar of political or cultural expediency. There is no such thing as comfortable Christianity.
And number five, you gotta line up your eschatology with your missiology. What does that mean? "Pastor Sam, you're preaching about revival, and renewal, and people coming to Jesus, and light overcoming darkness, and the prophetic being greater than the pathetic". All that sounds great, but the reality is things are gonna get darker, Christ is coming. While we are waiting for Jesus to come down, Jesus is waiting for his church to stand up. truth, we must speak truth with love. I wanna hear, listen carefully again, this will get me a little, not for the purpose of getting me in trouble, but it's truth talking. If all we do is teach and preach love, that doesn't happen in this church, if all we do is love exclusively, we're nothing more than California hippies.
Someone's about to fall of a cliff and you're here and you see them, and all you do is, "I love you"! It does nothing. If all we do is speak truth, we're mathematicians. The moment we speak truth in love, truth with love, and truth for love, we change the world. The truth about Jesus being the only way. John 14:6. "What does that mean"? He is the only way. There are not five ways to heaven, four ways, three ways, two ways, there's only one way to be saved, his name is Jesus Christ. That's the beauty of truth. It's that reality. The truth about God's design for the family and marriage. The truth about holy sexuality. The truth about every single subject matter laid out and undergirded by the Word of God. Validated by both faith and science, the truth.
I was called some years ago, let me explain to you my back, I'm from Bethlehem, Pennsylvania originally. Bethlehem, that's why I have a Messianic complex. One person form Bethlehem there, bless your heart. So, I'm from Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. I'm a Penn state guy, went to Lehigh University, I preach like kirk, think like spock. So, I believe mathematics is God's language, I still do calculus, I'm a faith in science. God, it speaks to the reality. The universe and quantum physics really affirms our belief in a divine designer, and that it beautiful, you can't deny it. So, God is real, ladies and gent. The mathematical probability of you having this conversation with me right now is just, God is so legitimately, real.
I grew up with that inclination for mathematics and science, and then my parents, they're not pastors, but they obligated me to go to church. My mom gave me a choice, go to church or die. I made the right choice. Grew up in Bethlehem Pennsylvania, I attended an Assembly of God Church. I'm about 12/13 years old going to that church. This guy named Bernie Delong, from Teen Challenge Ministry, Rehearse Brooke, Pennsylvania, David Wilkerson's Ministry. I'm an 80's kid. He comes into our church for the first time. He comes in, now, I'm obligated to go to church, I don't believe in any of it. People getting, like, they fall on the carpet, like, why are you falling on the carpet? Why? And then people speaking in other languages, like, not English, not Spanish, not, it's a different, this tongue stuff. Why? What is that? I would doubt all of that.
All of a sudden, this guy comes in and he goes, "Holy Spirit,", with the choir, "Though art welcomed in this place. Holy Spirit tho,", eighties now. "The Lord says, 'there is a young boy, young man named Sammy. Sammy in this church'". By the way, if you ever wanna give a word in a Hispanic church, all you have to say is, "God says there's a word for Jose or Maria". Can you miss? No. Doesn't even have to be God, you're not gonna miss. Right? But Sammy, I'm the only Sammy in my church. So, Sammy, my pastor says, which means, "What"? So, they make me go up, I'm 12/13 years old, I'm walking up in the middle isle, which would traumatized generation z forever. They would have triggers forevermore. I'll be coming up here and I'm coming up and I'm going, "If this rapture stuff is for real, oh Lord, come Lord Jesus, come".
So, I'm coming up, I go right here. The guy looks at me and says, "Ah, Sammy, the Lord says, you look like a little boy but he sees you as a man". Everything I'm doing right now was laid out to me on that day. Again, from a mathematical perspective, the mathematical probability of what he laid out coming to fruition not as a source of a self-fulfilling prophecy or hawthorn effect. The fact that I never made a corner, he looks at me, sets everything from the preaching to the ministry, to all of that. There was a young lady in the audience right here, seated who saw it. I was about 12 years old, she was right here. Little bit older than I. She was seated and she saw it. She said, "If it's true, I'm gonna wait for that boy to grow up and marry him". That's my wife of 33 years.
So, when you're single and God gives somebody else a word, I'm kidding, I'm kidding, I'm kidding. So, this is the way he concludes it. He says, couple of hundred people we had 'em on television on TBN and Daystar recently, so you can watch the interview on YouTube. He, Bernie Delong, he says, "Wow, the Lord says, you, Sammy, will be praying for presidents of the United States of America". That's how I became an advisor for George W. Bush, Barrack Obama, and Donald Trump. I never made a call. Never sent an email. I never walked around going, "God gave me a word, I have to an advisor to the president". No, because God's promises are yes and amen.
Why am I telling you this? Whatever God has promised you and your family, and your children, and your children's children, what heaven started, hell cannot stop it. How many believe he will fulfill his purpose in our lives? Psalm 138:8. I believe that, for every, for you and your family member. So, that' show it, what does that have to do with speaking truth of love? Fast forward after advising George W. Bush, barrack Obama brought me in... again not that I don't have to vote for them in order to advise them. Some of you already judging me. Repent. So, I do have a biblical rubric that I confine to. I will only vote for candidates and support the following rubric and I will never sacrifice that because my integrity is much more important than my influence.
So, George W. Bush brings me in and then after that, barrack Obama has me participating in his inaugural prayer service at st. Johns Apsidiole Church. So, I'm here with barrack Obama in that service and I participate, but it's a private ceremony, the one before the big stage, right. Myself, Rick Warren, Yolanda Adams, Charles Blake, T.D. Jakes. So, we do that, right? So, then years later, fast forward, right after 2026 election, I get this call. I'm driving with my wife from San Francisco to Sacramento, we went to a, we're originally, my parents are for Puerto Rico, so, we were eating Mofongo in a restaurant. Mofongo is a great thing, by the way, it's, you crush the plantains, you put shrimp, you put garlic, lot's of garlic, very anointed, just don't talk to someone, they will fall back, they will get slammed.
So, but anyway, so, we're driving back home, we're San Francisco, Sacramento, it's after the 2016 election and we're on route and I get this call, unknown number on my bluetooth. I usually don't pick it up because I know it's probably the IRS, so I ignore it. So, ignore cause you don't, unknown number. Holy Spirit come to me, no joke, and says, "Pick it up". So, I pick up the call, I'm driving on route 80, home to Sacramento. Boop! It says, "We're looking for reverent Rodriguez". I really thought it was the IRS, am I right? Or it could be my cousin, Paco, from the Bronx, you know what I'm saying? We all have a cousin... No we don't. Know your audience. Okay. So, I validate it. This is what it.
"We're calling from the senate inaugural committee, the president elect transition team. Reverent Rodriguez"? "Yes, sir". "The president elect would like you to participate in his inauguration". So, I'm looking at my wife, and we're like, "Wow". You know, we're driving, so, I'm going like... I go, "Sir, I'm honored. Tell the president elected I am really blessed and honored. What would you like me to do"? "Participate," he says. I go, "Yes, wow. I really am honored. What would you like me to do"? He says, "Participate". I'm trying to get feel, is it the private one? The public one? So, I go, "Would you like me to pray"? He says, "Yes". "Would you like me to read scripture"? He says, "Why not"? As a good preacher and pastor, there was a third question I wanted to ask but I didn't. "Would you like me to raise the offering"? But I didn't.