Samuel Rodriguez - Don't Settle For Trees
I'm gonna get into the word before we get into the word. What we're gonna do is one little exercise. I come from the city of Sacramento, California. In Sacramento, California, we have a basketball team that's mediocre half the time, so, the Sacramento kings, and we are known for the team outside, like, near golden state, but, like, still... Yeah. So, yeah, we're like the little, anyway. So, we were known, and we're still known, but we were known in the NBA, you can Google this, as the most, as the loudest group of fans in arena in the entire sports complex of America. So, we broke decibel levels during the, every time the kings would play, especially in the early 2000s, it would be, matter of fact, Shaq, Shaq came in and said, "This is the loudest place I've ever been in in my entire life".
So, what I want to do at the count of three is I want to push back on Shaq's idea that was the loudest place ever he ever heard in his entire life. And I don't want to do it as some sort of emotionally exuberant exercise, what I want to do is, in light of what's happened in the past few years and coming out of the cuckoo for cocoa puffs season we were in, what I want to do is I want to demonstrate to the world, and five years ago I laid the foundation for this, that our praise expression is not a religious idea, it's not a concept, it's not psychosomatically induced.
The reason why we are so loud and animated in our praise is not because of culture and the color of our skin or the nation you come from, so it's not culturally contextualized, it's not whether or not your educated or non-educated, it's not whether or not you have money or don't have money, we all praise a certain way, and the reason we praise, we all know that the size of our praise is directly proportional to the magnitude of the hell that God took us out of. The size of your praise is directly proportional to the magnitude of the hell that God took you out of. If God took you out of little hell, then you give him a little praise, but if he saved you, if he delivered you, if he healed you, if he turned you around and placed your feet...
Somebody give him your highest! I need you to touch your neighbor, the one you like the most, and tell 'em, "Watch God show up". Tell your other neighbor, the one that you tolerate... Tell that neighbor, "Watch God show up". And now, the final thing, find a third neighbor and tell 'em, "By the time you get home. By the time you get home, wherever there was darkness, there will be light". Somebody praise like you believe what you just said. Hey! By the time you get home, wherever there was darkness, there will be light. By the time you get home, wherever there was darkness, there will be light. Let's frame it. You may be seated if you want to be seated, go be seated. We're gonna expedite them. Are there any questions? We're gonna expedite the process here.
This is, we're gonna illustrate something that's just part of the, like, if y'all don't speak Spanish, repent. John 9, I'm gonna illustrate this. We have a... What's up, man? John 9, "As Jesus was walking, he saw a man who had been blind from birth," you have to underline that part. Verse 6, this is an interesting methodology, completely unorthodox. "Then he spit on the ground," meaning Jesus. Must've been allergy season, you'll never know. Holy allergies. "Made mud with the saliva and s", look at that, "And spread the mud over the blind man's eyes". Who does that? "And then he told him," like, the irony, "Go wash yourself".
He makes the mess and tells the guy to go wash himself. There goes that entitlement mentality down the drain. "So, the man went and washed and came back seeing". Mark 8, "When they arrived at Bethsaida, some people brought a blind man to Jesus," different man, "And they begged him to touch the man and heal him. Jesus took the blind man by the hand, led him out of the village, then spitting," same Jesus, "Spitting on the man's eyes," here we go again with the spit, must've been a thing. "He laid his hands on him and asked, 'can you see anything now'? The man looked around and said, 'yes, I see people but I can't see them clearly, they look like trees'. And Jesus placed his hands on the man's eyes again, his eyes were open, his sight was completely restored, and he could see everything clearly".
I want to speak to you in the subject matter "Your mess, God's miracle". The process is temporary, the promise is permanent. The subtext with a clarion call is "Walk out of your mess". Walk out of your mess. We have two blind men, key words for today: Jesus, saliva, the process, and vision. If you're taking any notes, and good luck with that, number one, open your eyes to what you have never seen before. I want everyone here, open your eyes to what you have never seen before. As Jesus was walking along, he saw a man who had been blind from birth, this man was not losing his sight, he did not lose his sight, he never had it in the first place, he was born blind.
This circumstance facilitates the environment for Christ to reveal a functional, an ontological extension of the creative nature of providence. In other words, with the woman that had the issue of blood, he gave her back her health, with the indolent man, he gave him back his walk, with Lazarus, he gave him back his life. But with this man in John 9, Jesus did not give him something he lost, Jesus gave him something he never had in the first place. There is a difference between God restoring something you had and God giving you something you never had in the first place. Our God is not just the God that restores, our God is the one that gives us what we never had before. He is the Lord of the new thing.
This is the word of the Lord for kingdom city, for pastor Mark, for pastor Jeremiah, for everyone here. "I'm about to do something new, I've already begun. Do you not see it? I will make a pathway through the wilderness, I will create rivers in the dry wasteland. Behold I do a new thing," I need you to get ready, God's about to do something new in you. Something new with you, something new for you, something new through you, all for the glory of his name. And some people, personal note here, side bar, some people focus, allocate their time in attempting to get back what we lost when we should be asking God to give us what we never had in the first place. God is not interested in renovating your past, he is interested to releasing your future.
So, we have to ask ourselves in or families, in our faith, in our generation, in our nations, in our continents, "Are we ready to see what we've never seen before? Are we truly ready to see what we've never seen before"? Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, we can't deny that in the past three years all around the world, we have seen in our generation, unfortunately, things we have not seen before. We saw the effects of a global pandemic that killed millions. We saw the ruins of racial and social unrest destroying properties, families, dividing communities and even to a great degree and primarily in the western world, fragmenting the church. We witness and continue to bear witness to culture that insist in silencing everyone and everything that refuses to toe the line of immorally, relativistic, ideological world view that runs counter to the word and the Spirit of God.
We saw and continue to see a generation targeted by the spiritual architects of darkness with the message that there is no such thing as truth, holiness, God defined identity, righteous sexuality, and personal responsibility. And it's cumbersome upon me, matter of fact, I will be remiss. If we don't take advantage of this atmosphere with all these nations, there's so much faith in this room. And camera man, I don't know if we're streaming, are we streaming? Let's take advantage of this moment with so many nations and all I want to do is this, may not get invited back, but because there's so much spiritual authority here, I just wanna say to every devil, demon, legion, principality coming against our children and our children's children, I just got one word, get your hands off our children, in the name of Jesus. Somebody shout like it's done.
We've seen this, we've seen it, it's not hype, we've seen it. We saw the mess, you go on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, you go on YouTube... Now it's X. You even speak to chat GPT, and you will see the mess. But here it is. What if I tell you that in our families, in our faith, in our generations, in our nations, in our continents, what if I tell you, no joke, no wishful thinking, we are about to see the mess become a miracle. By faith in Jesus' name, I need you to get ready, we're about to see the mess become a miracle. And I mean, "Are you"? I am, yes. Just like the blind man in John 9, just like Mark, in every nation and very generation, and all aspects of our lives, in the lives our children, and our children's children, and our children's children's children, we need to get ready to see the mess become a miracle. We are about to see what we've never seen before.
"Didn't I tell you if you believe you will see the glory of God"? John 11:40. "What no eye as seen, no ear has heard, but the heart of man imagined is what God has prepared for those who love him". 1 Corinthians 2:9. We are about to see something we've never seen before. And if you don't think it's, if you think we're just like, it's hopeful... Let me substantiate that, let me give you my context, our context. Like, in America, some stuff is happening with ripple effects around the world and some stuff is happening in Asia with ripple effects on the world, but some crazy stuff is happening, even in my tribe, like we've never seen before. Like, this year, this year we had a football player, an American football player who died live on national television, that's never happened before.
His name is Damar Hamlin and he was playing and he died, he played for the Buffalo bills. And Monday night football, big day, millions watch across America, and this guy dies in the middle of the game and then, like the entire, we've never seen that before, the guy dies. And then both teams come together and they start praying for him. You all could Google this, go ahead. So, he dies, the teams come together, they pray and the young man who was medically, certifiably dead, came back to life live on national, there is still power in the name of Jesus. There is resurrection power in the name of Jesus. There is salvation, there is deliverance in the name of Jesus. But that's mot my word, that's Damar Hamlin. When he was interviewed post facto, they asked him, "Why are you back from the dead"? He went, "God resurrected me".
The very next day on a network, our sports network called ESPN. The very next day on ESPN, this broadcaster, the normal program, the host is talking about what happened the previous night and he's going like, "Oh, can you believe what happened? Can you believe that? Damar died, people prayed, he came back to life"? This is secular television. The guy next to him is going, "You know what, the NFL should consider some new rules about hitting above the chest, there are some implications, first, of course the helmet, and the concussions, and now", and the guy comes back, he says, "Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, we'll discuss that, but he was dead. People prayed and he came back to life". The other guy here says, "We don't know what's gonna happen now with the playoffs", I mean, it's coming around, you know, what are the implications here?
Look, there are some complications, and the guy over here comes back and says, "Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. That's not the point, this guy died, people prayed, he came back to life". And then he says, "Enough is enough, I think we should pray right here right now". And he starts praying, and in the middle of his prayer he says what? "We serve the God that has the power to heal". God is up to something. And honestly, immediately after that, in some remote city that no one's ever heard about called Asbury Kentucky. Where in the world is Asbury Kentucky? In a remote city, the Holy Spirit decides to invade a college town, and the same demographic that has been deemed as the most non-Christian demographic, generation Z, all of a sudden, the Holy Spirit filled the university, and a bunch of 18-21 year olds can't stop praying, can't stop worshipping, they had to cancel classes because they couldn't stop lifting up the name of Jesus and calling upon the name of the Lord.
I'm here to tell you, the next generation will not be lost, it will be saved, it will be saved. Immediately after that... I have a friend named Greg Laurie, he's a pastor in southern California, he produced a film called "The Jesus revolution". That film was supposed have made $7 million, U.S. Dollars, in box office receipts. It's over $50 million strong, and a few weeks ago, Greg is in pirate's cove, Orange County, baptizing close to 5,000 brand new believers in the pacific ocean. Right after that, pastor Mark, pastor Russell, and I was the wing man, I was the comic relief, I joined them in a gathering of 6,000 pastors, approximately, in Amsterdam, where a bunch of pastors representing over 138 nations got together to declare that by 2033, every single person on this planet will hear the gospel of Jesus. Y'all didn't get that.
Currently there are 3.8 billion people who have never received a viable, measurable presentation of the gospel. By 2033, the crazy, cuckoo for cocoa puffs group of people actually believes that by 2033, every family on the planet will hear that Jesus is the way, Jesus is the truth, Jesus is the light. Hey, kingdom city, I don't know if you're ready, we are about to see more people get saved than ever before. We are about to see more people come to Jesus than ever before in human history. We are about to see a move of God like we've never seen before. We're about to see entire cities get saved. Thirty percent of you believe that. We're about to see entire cities come to Jesus. We're about to see entire generations get saved. We're about to see nations come to the feet of Jesus.
If you believe it, lift up your hands. We are about to see our prodigal sons and daughters come back home. We are about to see Christ-centered, Bible-based, spirit empowered, societal architects, and cultural reformers, rise up and literally change the world. We are about to see once again, light overcome darkness, love defeat hate, and truth silence lies. We are about to see the glory of God fill the earth. I'm gonna say that one more time, "We are about to see the glory of God fill the earth". The next thing to fill the nations will not be a new version of COVID, it will be the glory of Jesus filling the nations. If you believe it, lift up your hands. Habakkuk 2:14, "For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters covered the sea".
Some of you should be asking, "How can you be certain"? Because of Luke 1:37, "The Word of God never fails". Because in Hebrews 10:23, "He can be trusted to keep his promise". And some of you should put back, should push back with some sort of eschatological world view and you should push back and say, "But we're living in the last days, pastor Sam. Oh, pastor Sam, we're living in the last days, and I know it's optimism and you're giving an optimistic message about never, people coming and just, but we're living in the last days and things are gonna get darker, things are gonna", yeah, I know we're living in the last days, guys, I've read the book, I know the exhaustive list. I've read Matthew 24 time and time again, I've read 2 Timothy 3, "In the last days men and women", I get that, "Men and women will become lovers of themselves", we call that narcissism.
"In the last days, men and women will leave their natural desires", we know what that is, the state of California. There are so many things that we know, and the Bible undergirds. There's a reason why I took a 16-hour flight, 16 hour and 15 minutes from San Francisco to Singapore, with a 1 hour and 20 minute lay over, I have to come to kl on a 45 minute flight. Why did I travel this far to be here today? Today's not just any day, this is the day before, tomorrow is my birthday, I'mma be here in this conference on my birthday. Why would I travel on my birthday week to come to Malaysia? What would prompt me not, because of the promise that he made. What promise? A last day promise. Which one? Narcissism? Deviancy? Perversion? Wars? No, those are all legit, but there's a last day promise that prompted me to get on a plane. Which one is it? Oh, it's such a big promise that he may... It appears in both the Old Testament and the new.
Joel 2:28, acts 2:17, it's the reason why I'm here, it's the reason why I lift up my hand, it's the reason why I preach the way I preach. "In the last days," he never said, "I might," he never said, "I may," he never said, "I hope to," he said, "In the last days, I will pour out my spirit upon..." Somebody praise like you know we're about to see it. We're about to see God show up, we're about to see the move of God, we're about to see, lift up your hands. Malaysia's mess is about to become God's miracle. Cambodia's mess is about to become God's miracle. Asia's mess is about to become God's miracle. Australia's mess is about to become God's miracle. Africa's mess is about to become God's miracle.
I'mma say this, America's mess is about to become God's miracle. Europe's mess is about to become, Latin America's mess, your generational mess is about to become God's miracle. Your family mess, your health mess, your mental mess, your emotional mess, your financial mess, the mess in your family and your home and with your loved ones is about to become God's miracle. 1 Thessalonians 5:24, "He who called you is faithful to do it". The mess us about to become a miracle. Y'all believe it? Y'all really believe it? The mess is about to become a miracle. The mess is about to become a miracle. So, when that mess becomes a miracle, we step into a season of instead of.
Instead of riots, we are about to see revival. Instead of lockdowns, we're gonna have open heavens. Instead of hatred, love. Instead of relativism, truth. Instead of confrontation conversations. Instead of political affiliations, prophetic designations. And instead of storming capitals, we're about to storm the gates of hell and take back everything that was taken from us. Raise your right hand and repeat after me. "I'm about to see what I have never seen before in my family, in my faith, in my relationships, in my church, in my community, in my thinking, in my actions, in my words, in my health, in my surroundings, in my nation, in my continent. I'm about to see the glory of Jesus like I have never ever seen before". If you believe it, praise like you believe it right now. If you believe it, shout like you believe it. If you believe it, pray like you believe it. If you believe it, prophecy like you believe it.