Samuel Rodriguez - Drought, Fire, and Rain
You may be seated, we're gonna expedite the process here. Man, oh wow, show me your glory. Let me share with you what the Spirit of God placed in my heart for this assignment this morning. And to put it in a 21st century context, we'll biblically substantiate this in a second. Many moons ago, there was a lady named Jezebel and she tweeted... Are there any questions? Of course, as you all know, this is before Elon Musk took over Twitter. "Hey Elijah, in 24 hours, you will die". 1 Kings 19:2, and Jezebel sends this message to Elijah, "May the Gods strike me and kill me and kill me if by this time tomorrow I have not killed you, as you have killed them".
That's a de-facto, old-school tweet. 2 Kings 2:11, I'm gonna juxtapose Jezebel's tweet, her threat with what took place in 2 Kings 2:11. "As they were walking along and talking, suddenly a chariot of fire appeared, drawn by horses of fire. It drove between the two men," referencing Elijah and Elisha. "Separating them, and Elijah was carried by a whirlwind into heaven". 2 Kings 2:13, "And Elisha picked up Elijah's mantle". I wanna speak to you on the subject matter, the collective metanarrative of show me your glory, "Jezebel's tweet, the threat vs the testimony". The subtext is this, "When heaven starts it, hell cannot stop it". I need you to 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". On one side we have the threat on the other side we have the testimony, and I wanna remind you from the get-go, the testimony will always be greater than the threat, what God has placed upon you, will always be greater than anything hell can place in front of you. If you're taking any notes, and good luck with that. It begins where we are fully cognizant of the fact that we're living in a time, without a doubt, where the spirit of Jezebel, and Ahab, and Baal, are alive and well, but we carry a mantle. That mantle is greater than the threat. I'm gonna repeat that for the hearing impaired, the mantle is greater than the threat, the anointing inside of you is greater than anything hell can send against you. I wanna repeat that coming out of this season. Melbourne, Australia, the anointing is greater than the threat, the Spirit of God inside of you is greater than any hell that can be in front of you. The Spirit of God inside of you greater than any weapon formed against you.
Number one, that mantle, and I wanna just frame the mantle to give it clarity, it is without a doubt the mantle of the Spirit. Everyone repeat after me, "The mantle of the Spirit". So, we're juxtaposing, the mantle versus the threat. The mantle of the Spirit, "The power of the Lord came up on Elijah, he fastened his clothes around his waist, he ran". He had this mantle, Elijah had a mantle in 1 Kings 19:19, he places the mantle upon Elisha and then, subsequently, we read it, Elisha picks it up when Elijah, finally, is taken up. Let me just, I am convinced and convicted, that we're living spiritually speaking, just like in the days of Ahab, Jezebel and Baal. We are in Australia, in America and all over the world, we cannot deny the following, listen Ahab, let me give you some background here, Ahab was a... The spirit of Ahab is alive and well, robbing love, killing joy, destroying peace. Ahab is alive and well, that spirit, it represents forces with access and authority, attempting to prompt us to sacrifice truth on the altar of political and cultural expediency.
The spirit of Ahab is alive, in 1 Kings 16:34, Ahab was, he was cuckoo. Ahab was the first king that ever gave permission for the rebuilding of the walls of Jericho. No other king, in Israel's history, ever had the audacity to rebuild what God knocked down. This guy comes along and says, I give permission for you to rebuild what God knocked down. The spirit of Ahab is alive in Australia, in America, around the world, there are things that God has already addressed, that the spirit of Ahab is trying to bring back up again. And I don't wanna get in trouble here but that spirit of Ahab is truly made manifest as we continue to see racial strife, and discord, and ideologies, permeating every single sphere of society for the purpose of dividing us in perpetuity because of the color of our skin.
So, Ahab loves to see us divided by race, which reminds me to tell you. There is no such thing as a white church, or a black church, or a brown church, or a yellow church, or a red church, there's only one church Australia, it is the church of Jesus Christ, and the gates of hell will never prevail against it. Jezebel was his wife so, this man was bad, and he had a wife, and she was nasty on steroids. And the spirit of Jezebel is alive and well persecuting, prosecuting, and attempting to silence the children of the cross. Jezebel represents a manipulative, sexually coercive, perverse, corrupt cultural spirit intent to kill the prophetic voices, to silence truth, and construct Asherah poles in order to marginalize the oracles of righteousness and justice.
A spirit that exploits the moments in our lives when we are exhausted, a spirit that according to the Book of Revelation 2:20, "Even good Christians may be 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. If you haven't noticed, there is a spirit like never before, coming after our children. There is a spirit coming after our children, there is a spirit unleashed on the planet, coming after our children. But let me prophesy, we, our generation will not be defined... Our generation will not be defined by Ahab, or Jezebel, or Baal. Let me prophesy planet shakers, we are about to see Elijah's and Elisha's rise up in the name Jesus. And we will confront Baal, and we will declare, get your hands off our children.
So, here's a deep seminary endorsed, biblically contextualized, Hebrew exegetically substantiated phrase, whatever that means. Found it on Google, don't drink the Kool-Aid, which means do not conform to this world. I don't care what you're reading on social media, what you're watching here on your abc, or on bbc, or CNN, don't drink the Kool-Aid, I wanna remind you, that's why we're here. The most powerful spirit on the planet today is not the spirit of Ahab. I need the church to recognize this, we have to... Wait, get off you fetal position, let the church stop sucking her thumb, stop whining about everything, we're not victims, we're more than conquerors, stop complaining, stop posting your complaints.
The most powerful spirit is not Jezebel, the most powerful spirit in Australia and around the world is not Baal, is not Ahab. Are you ready in 2023, the most spirit is still the Holy Spirit. If you believe it shout, like you have that spirit. Praise like you have that spirit, worship like you have that spirit. Preach like you have that spirit, live like you have that spirit. "For it is not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, sayeth the Lord". The Spirit of God is still moving, I'm gon' say it again, the Spirit of God is still moving. I don't care if you deplatform me, I'm gon' say it loud and clear the Spirit of God is still moving. Nothing can stop it, nothing. Where that spirit is present there is power. I said there is power. Act 1:8, "There is freedom". 2 Corinthians 3:17, "We are to be driven by that spirit, not by the flesh". Galatians 5:16, "We are to be filled with the Holy Spirit, not drunk with wine". Ephesians 5:18, "We are anointed with the Holy Spirit". 1 John 2:17, "We are defined by that spirit". Romans 8:11, "The same spirit that raised Jesus from the dead lives inside of us".
All the Holy Spirit people shout like you have that spirit. And camera man, where are you? Give me a tight shot... I wanna make this clear, in light of what happened in the past three years. Not getting in trouble, just making it clear. There is not a legislative initiative, an executive decree, a court decision, a social media campaign, or even a virus that can stop the Holy Spirit from moving. Is anybody ready to see God show up? You can't cancel the Holy Spirit, you can't deplatform the Holy Spirit, you can't defund the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit cannot be stopped. Are there any questions?
Real quick, I gotta expedite the process, number two, it is the mantle of drought, fire and rain. Somebody say "Drought, fire and rain". So, the mantle is the mantle of the Spirit. It's the anointing, 1 John 2:27, New Testament, it's Christology, it's New Testament, new covenant application of the reality from an Old Testament narrative and completely elevated by the vicarious atoning finished work of Christ. It is the mantle of drought, fire and rain. 1 Kings 17:18, "The mantle embodied and represented a prophetic spiritual authority upon this holy man of God, it was his testimony". It was on him when he unleashed a drought. In 1 Kings 17:1, it was upon Elijah. In 1 Kings 18:38, when he prayed down fire, it was upon him in 1 Kings 18:41, when he said, "Here comes the rain". Somebody say, "Drought, fire, and rain". This really serves, drought, fire and rain.
As an outline of a journey to a great degree, arguably that each and everyone of us must got through. Drought, fire and rain, let me ask? I don't wanna be presumptuous, if you've been through at least one drought, emotional, relational, financial, physical, spiritual. If you've been through at least one drought in the past three, five years, raise one hand. If you've been through a couple of serious drought where nothing was growing, where things were dry, raise both hands. If you been through so many droughts in the past three, four years, five years, that you lost count how many droughts you been through, raise both hands and a foot. If you been through so many droughts that if I Google the word drought right now, automatically the algorithm will take me to your Instagram account... We all go through droughts, all of us go through droughts.
If you've never been through a drought ever in your life and you been serving Jesus for years, please come up at the altar call, at the end, 'cause I wanna worship you. We've all been through droughts, but here's the thing, people wanna jump from drought to rain without going through the fire. And the chronological order of 1 Kings 17:18, elevated through the life of Christ especially in the gospel of Matthew, really tells us, it's drought, fire and rain. We all must go through the fire to get to the rain. The fire is Matthew 3:11, baptism in what? "In him who are, Holy Spirit and with fire". The fire season in your life is not what you think. The fire of God doesn't make us dance and shout and got whoo, the fire of God will get you on your knees in repentance. The fire of God is a sanctifying fire, it is a purifying fire, it is a purging fire.
Be careful what you ask for, don't you dare ask for the rain if you're not willing to go through the fire. Because the fire will precede the rain, the fire season is when God actually does a work in your life, where he will remove the stuff inside of you, that would've held back the fulfillment of his purpose for you. And on many occasions, he will not only just remove the stuff inside of you, he will literally remove people from around you that would held back the fulfillment of his purpose in your life.
So, if you have been though your drought and you have been through your fire, I need you to put a smile of your face, because the next thing coming to you, and your family, I'mma say this right now, planet shakers get ready, if you've been through your drought Melbourne, and you've been through your fire, the next thing coming you way, hey, hey! The next thing coming, is anybody ready for this, the next thing coming your way is nothing less than abundant rain. Somebody shout, "Here comes the rain". Tell your neighbor, "Here comes the rain". Is anyone here ready for an outpouring from the glory of Jesus? Here comes the rain, Ezekiel 34:26, "In the proper season, I will send the showers they need. There will be showers of blessing". Deuteronomy 28:8, "The Lord will send rain at the proper time from his rich treasury in the heavens. And will bless everything you do". Acts 3:20, "The times of refreshment will come from the from the presence of the Lord". One little side note, those that prayed with you in the drought, deserves to dance with you in the rain.
Number three, it is a mantle of speaking truth with love. So, with this mantle, the mantle of the Spirit, the mantle of drought, fire, and rain, the prophet Elijah, came along and he confronted Ahab on top of the mountain, he looked at God's children collectively and said, "Today you must make a choice. Will you follow the Gods of Ahab and Jezebel. Or will you follow the God of our fathers"? One of the saddest verses in all of the Bible. The Bible said that, "God's children said nothing". We call that political correctness, they said nothing. Let me lay out a quick rubric for you. Today's complacency is tomorrow's captivity. I'll repeat that, today's complacency is tomorrow's captivity. Number two, you are what you tolerate. In life, in your mind, in your relationship, in your health, in your circumstances, in your community in your generation, in your nation, you are what you tolerate.
Number three, truth must never be sacrificed on the altar of political or cultural expediency. Number four, there is no such animal as comfortable Christianity, get over yourself, there is no such thing as kumbaya Christianity, there is no such thing as silent Christianity. No, no, no, Christianity by its very definition is the counter-cultural, alternative narrative to the conformity of this world. So, it's different. And number five, we must reconcile our eschatology over missiology, which means what? Listen and I'm gonna get in trouble here, in the 20th century the church was so focused on getting out of here, that we abandoned our God-given mandate to change the world around us, because we were so involved in escapism, we abandoned our responsibility to be light in the midst of darkness. To be the greatest force for good on planet earth, do you really know who should be taking care of the poor? The church of Jesus Christ.
Do you really know who should be leading the March for biblical justice? The church of Jesus Christ. Do you really realize who should be taking care of the addict, and the homeless, and the suffering, and the widow, and the orphan? The church of Jesus Christ. But we were so focused on, "We're getting outta here". Listen, I believe Jesus is coming down, but while are waiting for Jesus to come down, Jesus is waiting for his church to stand up. Call upon the name of God, call upon the name of the Lord. It is the mantle of speaking truth with love. We have to activate this mantle in our current landscape, by embodying Psalm 89:14, "Righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne, truth and love lead the way as attendants". It's truth and love, somebody say, "truth and love". If all we do is preach about love, we're nothing better than California hippies. 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 preach the whole gospel and we change the world. But we can't be afraid...
Let me get somebody here to help me out on stage. Where's Tim? Where's my partner, amigo, compadre, or Jason, or somebody, yeah somebody to help me out here. I gonna do something real here. Get me somebody quickly run up here, and help me out just hold the microphone for me. Somebody who hasn't been raptured yet. Yeah, come, c'mon, he has breached every security protocol right now but... Sure, here hold the microphone for a second. This is a book I wrote during COVID called "When heaven starts it, hell cannot stop it" by coincidence, what we're sharing today. So, just wanna show you something here. Afraid of the dark, here's the page, afraid of the dark, you see that? Push your plow, meet your mantle. There goes that. The mantle of spiritual momentum. The speed of life. This book is now discounted.
So, we will be, I'm gonna need your help, the mantle is speaking truth with love. God blessed the book, and he blessed it, and he did something great with this book, but the fact that I ripped pages from my book, will do absolutely zero as it pertains to securing the advancement of the kingdom of heaven here on earth, in these very difficult times. Let me have an old school Bible, which means a physical Bible, grab that for me, great! Holy Bible, new international version, let me do the same thing here. Ready? Alright, when I count to three, I want you to shout and I'm gonna start to rip pages off from the Bible, for example, I mean, obviously, if we're not willing, if there's chapters that we ignore because they are so difficult to preach in the 21st century, if we're not willing to preach it, might as well rip it off. If we ignore it because we're gonna get unfollowed and they're not gonna like us, if we ignore it because it's gonna start things up, might as well just rip it off.
So, let me go to Romans 1, non-controversial, so, let me rip, right, on the count of three you all help me just shout, let me get to Romans, and y'all shout, and I'm gonna rip this baby off. Ready at the count of three, you shout and I'm gonna rip it and then we're gonna go through other chapters, especially in the New Testament and rip 'em off. Yeah, 'cause if we're ignoring them, why have them there in first place, might as well. At the count of three are you ready? I'm sorry? You're saying, no? Then why do we live like some of the pages are missing? Planet shakers, why do we preach like some of the pages are missing, why do we pray like some of the pages are missing, why do we act like some of the... If we are to see Baal, and Jezebel, and Ahab defeated, we have to preach the whole word and nothing but the word, so help us God. We have to teach our children and our children's children, that there is still power in the authoritative Word of God.