Samuel Rodriguez - How to Face Giants
I wanna show you something, maybe, that you've not expect. Put the pictures up there. This is interesting. These two personalities will never be seen ever together outside of this sort of setting. That's Eva Longoria, and that's Cindy Jacobs. And what do Eva Longoria and Cindy Jacobs have in common? The are alive, that's about it. Well, they're both women. I just said that, right? Cindy comes into our church, man, like over a decade ago. And Cindy is a legitimate, viable, prophetic voice in the kingdom, well respected. Crazy stuff.
Again, there's a fine line between the prophetic and the pathetic. And the legitimacy of the prophetic when it's on point and it comes from heaven, it can't be denied. Her legitimacy, and I'm not here to undergird Cindy, you know, to promote her legitimacy, but it's so crazy, 'cause I went to Indonesia, I had a conference and this guy comes up, and says, you know, Cindy was next to me and he says, "Yeah, I was like a kid at a conference, a teenager, and Cindy was at in her crusade, in her speaking and she called me out of the audience without knowing me, and said, 'the Lord says, you will be at the highest offices of your nations government, period'". And he became the vice president of Indonesia. That's called like the fulfillment of a God ordained word. She gave me a word about a decade ago, where she, we were renting back then.
And the church, God was blowing up the church and we were in desperate need of a building and money. And she came and said, "Sammy, I have a word". And I'm like, "Great, buildings and money". God, give me the word. And she said, "Stand up Sammy," and she goes, "The Lord says, 'Hollywood". And I'm going like, "What"? I drove back home and my wife and I, we're driving back home, and she went, my wife looked at me and went, "Hey, what about the word Cindy gave you"? And I went like, "Well, I'm not denying it, but like, what do I have to do with Hollywood? Like, I can't even spell Hollywood". Like, I used to preach against Hollywood. And right after that word, I get a call from paramount studios to consult on a film that all of you have heard of. And a secular film with a Christian sort, well, not a Christian, a Bible, supposedly, a Bible based narrative, but it wasn't. And it came in and then after that the doors opened up.
So, the whole point here is, how does all this, God has an ordained assignment for each and everyone of us. It's not hype, it's not like wishful thinking. It's not prophetic on the wall. The moment you discover that assignment, everything changes. And then, you can measure the assignment, the magnitude, the implications of your assignment by the very hell that comes your way. If you've never been through anything then you're probably gonna end up in perpetuity serving coffee somewhere in a Starbucks at target, for the rest of your life. If you've been through hell, there is a great prophetic purpose for you and your family that cannot and will not be denied. And that speaks to it.
So, let me give you one verse to undergird this. 1 Samuel 17:40, you know this story. I'm not gonna break the story down, just one verse just to put something in your hands, and then, I'm gonna open up for q&a. "He picked up five smooth stones from a stream and put them into his shepherd's bag". This is David as you all know. "Armed only with his shepherd's staff and sling, he started across the valley to fight the Philistine". Five stones, everyone repeat after me, say, "Five stones". So, we have giants that we're currently confronting. There are giants, the giants that we're confronting now are the giants of moral relativism, perpetual victimization. I'm gonna digress here, moral relativism, there is no truth.
In the state of California, so help me God, Google this, there are school districts that are doing away with two plus two equals four. Not making that up. With the objective of making it for equity purposes. Two plus two can no longer equal four, it can equal whatever you deem it to equal. And when they start messing with God's language, which is mathematics, we're done. Get her done. We are done. That's how cuckoo the world is, right now. There is no truth, not even mathematics. Moral relativism, you create your own truth. The second big giant that we're confronting is perpetual victimization. The objective of the enemy is to convince people that we are permanently traumatized. That we are perpetual victims. If you see yourself in perpetuity as a victim, you will never be more than a conqueror and you have to bind that.
We all go through things. We're not denying, we're demonstrating empathy. We all go through journeys and we all have a narrative, a chapter, some pain, some wounds, whatever it may be, but we have to overcome that. "And we overcome through the blood of the lamb and the word of our testimony," Revelation 12:11. So, we can't be perpetual victims. And as Christian leaders, we have to push back on the idea of perpetual victimization, even in the church. And even in the church, we have to be mindful and careful. We have to confront every spirit, every vestige of darkness, but not from this sucking your thumb, infant mode, you know, shriveled up, oh, woe is me, they're coming after us, the church. Get over yourself, man. We are the church. Like, we're the only institution on the entire planet, guaranteed to never fail.
"The gates of hell", Matthew 16:18, "Shall never prevail against the church of Jesus Christ". So, we're it, act like it, walk like it, talk like it, and I mean, lift up head, man. You're not a perpetual victim. The third giant is, this is interesting, is hedonism. There's a hedonistic, perverse, deviant world view infiltrating. What you see now, regarding children is a manifestation of that hedonism. It is an attempt to groom, to sexualize children, pedophilia, the legalization of pedo... and this is not like a conspiracy theory, it's right around the corner. In the state of California, again, during COVID, in the middle of July 2020, everyone's locked down, distractions, right? You're locked down, you're worried about dying from a virus, and the government does whatever it wants.
And in the state of California, the governor signed a law removing the consequences guaranteed that if you're 22 years old and you have sex with an 11 year old, you're no longer guaranteed to be on any sex offender registry. Google it. Yanked it away. It's now at the discretion of the judge. How about that? The legalization, it's hedonism, there's perversion. Hence, the addiction to pornography on phones, and iPads, it's just the enemy. If the enemy can mess up your integrity and mess up your eyes and what you see, and what you feel, he takes away your moral authority to speak truth to power. The reason why... Oh, God help us. The reason why leadership in the church on occasion is hesitant to speak truth to power is because of the stuff that they're doing in their private lives, and it's not in alignment with what the Bible lays out as the framework for righteousness. So, it takes away your moral authority.
The framework for righteousness. So, it takes away your moral authority. The fourth giant that we have to bring down is theological promiscuity. Theological promiscuity. What does that mean? Exactly what it says. Theological promiscuity is when we abandon biblical orthodoxy on the altar of political or cultural or sexual expediency. When we try to pivot. And there are prominent influencers right now within the kingdom, who are drinking the Kool-Aid. And drinking the Kool-Aid, elevating the notion, and removing chapters from the Bible at their discretion. And we can't, unacceptable, can't happen. And the fifth giant may surprise you, the fifth giant we have to confront is internal, not external. It's spiritual scar tissue. And this is church hurt.
These are moments that even in the church environment, we acquire scar tissue, and that scar tissue after a time becomes a lid on the fulfillment of purpose and God ordained assignment. So, these are the five giants, I hope you took some notes there. I'm gonna give you some notes. Does anyone here know why David did not just pick up one stone and picked up five? I mean, think about it. He's anointed, right? Gets the anointing, Samuel, the prophet, private ceremony, his brothers, Jesse, not the public one yet. That only happen when Saul died. And three times, he was anointed actually, and the last time was right before he had took over Jerusalem. So, he gets anointed, comes against Goliath, and picks up 1,2,3,4, why 5? Anyone know? Like, if you can fight, God's gonna fight my battle, why not pick one? Anybody know?
I love the theories. Brothers, other giants and then, all the nice apostolic people go like, you know, the five-fold ministry in the book of Ephesians, you know. It was prophetic, it was a foreshadowing of the New Testament. Apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors. And you know, I'm not saying it isn't. I'mma give you an answer why he picked five stones, which is the reason we should pick up five stones. Why did he pick up five stones? It's gonna sound like I'm being, but it's, why? Because he did. No, really, that's it. So, we can't make things up. He pick up five because he did. I don't know, you may have missed it. In other words, I just don't have one stone for one giant, I have enough stones for whatever comes my way. The reason you can't be a one stone Christian. You have to have enough stones in your shepherd's bag for everything that comes against you. For the giant that comes against you, your family, your health, your calling, your reputation. Whatever it may be, you're ready for this. Hence, the five stones.
Let me give you the five stones real quick and I'mma open up for questions. Stone number one, the stone of identity. Repeat after me, "Identity". We are God's masterpiece. He created us anew in Christ, so we can do the good things that he planned for us. Ephesians 2:10, identity. It begins with that. Hence, the idea of identity dysphoria, identity moratorium is counterintuitive to the reality. The first thing God does is tells you who you are. Who are you? Gideon is in this pit, judges 6. He's in a pit hiding from the Midianite marauders. And the angel of the Lord shows up, the man is in a pit hiding from the... The angel of the Lord shows up, this so crazy. The guy's hiding, hiding in a threshing floor. And the angel of the Lord, shows up and says, "Gideon, you are a mighty warrior. A mighty warrior".
Matthew 5:14-16, "You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden". God begins by telling us who we are. He always tells us who we are before he tells us what we're gonna do, is who we are. Identity. Hence, the enemy's attack on identity. The objective to confuse an entire generation about identity is intentional for the purpose of just limiting the fulfillment of purpose and destiny. Know who you are in Christ. Know who you are, and who Christ is in you. God defines you. You're defined by the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. God defines you. It's Matthew 5:14. It's Romans 6:3, the fact that you were baptized with Christ into death.
It's Galatians 2:20, "I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless, I live. Yet, not I, but Christ liveth in me". It's that. It's the fact that you're seated with Christ, Ephesians 2:6-7. It's the fact that you're strengthened by Christ, Philippians 4:13. You are hidden in Christ, Colossians 3:3. Christ defines you. He is your everything. Gamaliel's declaration is true, Acts 17:28, in him we live, in him we move. In him we have our being. Christ is your everything.
That's what Paul said. Christ is my everything. What does that mean? When the image of God encounters the Spirit of God, the purpose of God in your life will come to pass. You're not defined by your failures, you're defined by his forgiveness. You're not defined by your trauma, you're defined by his testimony. You're not defined by your drama, you're defined by his destiny. You're defined by the hell you're going through, you're defined by the heaven you're going to. And to all the religious folk, please let me reiterate, get over yourself. You're not the defined by what you do for God, you're defined by what God already did for you. Identity. So, I wake up every single morning, fully cognizant of who I am in Christ and who Christ is in me. Identity.
Your second stone is intimacy. Say, "Intimacy". If you abide in me and my words abide in you, John 15:7, ask what you please it shall be done unto you. Intimacy. Your identity and then your time with God, your time in God. Prayer, the word, it sounds like a simple, biblically substantiated rubric, but it works from Genesis to Revelation. You talk to God, you read God's word, you do God's word, you confess God's word, you think God's word, you listen to the Holy Spirit, you're driven by the Holy Spirit, not by the flesh, Galatians 5:16, and you'll have an intimate relationship with God. Everything changes. Intimacy, you have to be deliberate about your daily intimacy. About being intimate, you don't want this to be some sort of religious ceremony, and a bunch of routines and steps you take every single day for accommodating some sort of religious checklist. It's about really hearing God's spirit.
And I mean every single day. But be careful what you ask for. Like, don't say, "God, I wanna get closer to you". And then, he wakes up at 3:30 in the morning to pray for someone and then you get upset, but you just asked him... Right? It's that sort of crazy intimacy. Everything's supernaturally changes when you have that intimate relationship with God. You hear stuff. And God reveals, there's Revelation, there's so many things that take place. Again, I grew up in Pennsylvania. I grew up, as I mentioned last year, I grew up with an affinity for mathematics. I'm still a faith in science guy. I'm still convinced calculus is God's language. And you never did good, well with algebra, repent, 'cause y'all need to get that right. That's the language of God.
So, it's beautiful, and so my mind is, the moment I had this, more than an epiphany, an encounter with the living God, and by his spirit I became more intimate, my time in him just grew. Things started to happen that were just supernatural. Supernatural things that I'm going like what, and it's in everything that pastor mike read, that's all by the grace of God. 1 Corinthians 15:10. It has nothing to do with my personality. I never knocked on a door. Like, I never went, like, you can't go to, like to a president in the White House and go like, "God told me I'm gonna be an advisor". You're gonna end up in an interesting room. In an interesting wing of a hospital, tightened up with a white little suit and it's gonna be that.
So, never did that. It's all God, supernaturally fulfilling his God ordained purpose. But it requires you to be in the right place. Here, here, and here. The heart, the head and the hand. And the things that happen are amazing, but you have to be delivered every single day. The enemy's objective is to disrupt and distract, every single day. Like, what do you do when you wake up? First thing you do when you wake up, what is it? First thing, what is it? Be honest, confession time. 1 John 1:9, let's confess, go.
What do you do when... First thing, alright be honest, truthful talk. You may not wanna lift up your hand and just hide it. Go ahead, hide your sin. When you wake up, how many have your phone right next to your bed? How many pick it up immediately? How many check your text messages, first thing? Check your, if you're over 50, your emails. Email, what is that? Anybody under 30, that's this thing that, anyway back, and how many check your social media platforms? Instagram, X, whatever it may be. First thing you do, and I was guilty of this. So, this is coming from a person that went through a restorative repentance process. First thing you do, intimacy is, first thing you do, wake up, the phones right there. First thing you do is talk to God. Second thing, take it out.
I know it's gonna sound cliche. "Oh, that's very religious". I don't care, it works. There's the algorithm of God's grace, man. You take it out and you get into God's word immediately. Don't get up from the bed before you talk to God, and get into his word. Don't dare leave your room without that discipline. Talk to God, first thing, first thing. I used to be addicted to Fox News app. First thing I would read is the news. And then, it got me in a pit. So, I just, God just, get up, pray, get into the word, and then do everything else. But that time of intimacy has to be deliberate, has to be intentional and you can't let the enemy distract you or disrupt. You with me? Say, "Intimacy".
I wanna remind you from last year of a point I shared in the message about the plow and Elijah. Every single day, there is a battle and the battle is this whole thing about, the devil's trying to... The biggest battle, Colossians 2:15, he's already defeated. He really is. So, he's living a lie. The devil is such a liar that he lies to himself, and that's why he continues to attack you because he lies to himself believing that there's a possibility he could overcome your God ordained purpose. Because he's a liar. And the number one person he lies to is himself. He can't do anything but lie. So, that's why... But if he's defeated. If Christ defeated him, Colossians 2:15, and Christ defeated every principality and power of darkness, making a public spectacle of them on the cross. He was not their prisoner, they were his.
Colossians 2:15. Why in the world is the devil still doing stuff? Because he's a liar, and he lies to himself. Your objective is to push back on that lie every single day by occupying the promises of God. And you do it, you do it with what you think, with what you say, with what you do. Your actions, your reactions, and your interactions. Because there's a battle, and the battle is what? The battle between your mind and your mantle. The number one battle you have is between this and this. Between the calling of God and the thoughts that go through your head. It's between anxiety and anointing. Fear and faith. It's between your memories and your imagination. It's between your past and your future, your dream and your nightmare. But in Jesus' name, the battle has already been won. 1 Corinthians 15:57, he already, Christ is your victory.
So, the third stone is integrity. Somebody say, "Integrity". Integrity. So, it's identity, it's intimacy, it's integrity. This is how we bring down the giants. And we lead in these trouble times. Integrity. Integrity is not something, it is everything. You heard me last year, when your integrity is greater than your influence, nothing can stop you. You write that down, memorize it. When your integrity is greater than your influence, if they are even we're gonna have a problem. But when your integrity is greater than your influence, nothing can stop you. Integrity is not something, it is everything. Live out the seven h's. I'm gonna say 'em real loud, real quick for you, if you wanna take any notes down. Good luck with that. You may wanna record it. These seven h's are part of our mantra in our church leadership, in my family, my kids.
So, it's not just a family, it's my kids. My three kids, who are like grown up and they actually look older than I do. My kids, yes, it's genetic predisposition from the mom's side. My kids... It is what it is. Always speak truth. So, my... Are we recording this? You might wanna... So, the seven h's, they haven't memorized. Georgia has it memorized. My entire church. It's like a mantra, it's like... Live a holy, healed, healthy, happy, humble, hungry, honoring life. And with that life, you change the world. There it is, the seven h's. Live a holy life, 1 Peter 1:16. What makes you holy is not what you do is who he is in you. So, your actions are a manifestation of the Holy Spirit living inside of you. That's pretty powerful. I love that. But you submit to the will of God, to the Spirit of God, and you live a holy life.
Holiness, Genesis 6:8, Noah was a righteous man. In the New Testament, that term would be just flipped over to a holy man, and God favored him. Holiness will open doors. The righteousness of God. Living a righteous life according to God's word, will, and way, will open doors that no man can ever close. Holiness is a fire wall, it's beautiful. You live a holy life. Living a holy life in every sense of the word? Oh, my goodness, you feel like superman. There's nothing you can't do. That's why the enemy attacks your integrity. He wants to bind you with shame and condemnation. This is not some sort legalistic message. Holiness is beautiful. It's not to stifle, it's not like... No, it's like amazing. To live a holy life is like wow. It's powerful. It begins with holiness. A holy life, a healed life. 1 Peter 2:24. Health. That healed life speaks to spiritual healing, emotional healing, relational healing. It works. Be healed. "But I've been through stuff". We all go through things. Be healed in the name of Jesus.