Samuel Rodriguez - The Malta Impartation - Part 1
Acts 28, let's dissect now. He finally gets to Malta. I'm gonna speak to you briefly on the Malta impartation. We're gonna exegetical extrapolate verse by verse. The first eight verses of Act 28.
Number one, the Malta principle: you do have to go through Malta before you get to Rome. "Once safely on shore, we found out that the island was called Malta". Need you to understand something. In spite of all you've been through in life, all the storms, all the shipwrecks you survived, here you are alive in 2024. Not because you perfectly held on to God, but because God perfectly held on to you. You're alive because you learned a principle. When life throws you rocks, you build an altar. You're here and you're alive, occupying space in this space-time continuum because God's glory is about to shine upon you and through your family like never before. You're testimony is proof that the devil is a liar. Your testimony and what's next for your life, it's gonna surprise you to a great degree and is definitely gonna surprise the world.
Repeat after me, "Greater things are yet to come". We all have a Malta. We do, we all have a Malta. It's spiritually, metaphorically, prophetically speaking. We all have to go through Malta before we get to Rome. If Rome is the outcome, Malta is the process. And the God of the process is the same God of the outcome. The God of the wait is the same God of the suddenly. The process is temporary, but the promise is permanent. And do not make the temporary permanent. Do not confuse what you're going through with where you're going to. Don't build a house in Malta. Don't sign a lease in Malta. Do not settle for Malta when there's a Rome waiting for you and your family.
Don't settle, don't settle. Don't settle for an Ishmael when there's an Isaac with your name on it. Don't settle for manna in the desert when there's milk and honey waiting for you in the Promised Land. Don't settle for surviving when Jesus paid the price so you could have abundant life. Do not settle for Malta. "What we suffer now is nothing compared to the glory he will reveal to us later," Romans 8:18. By the way, side note. And if you're going through what you've never been through before, stop whining and put a smile on your face. It only means you're about to occupy what you've never occupied before. It's Malta. We all have to go through Malta. That principle, understand, we learn somethings in Malta.
That leads us to Malta's protection. Show me holy fire, and I will show you a snake free zone. Paul gets to Malta, he's drenched, we talked about it yesterday, picks up a pile of brushwood, and then all of sudden the viper in the brushwood makes contact with the fire. He's driven out. The viper was driven out by the heat, by the fire. From Genesis to Revelation, we discover the following undeniable truth, snakes hate fire. Serpents hate fire. Vipers hate fire. And spiritually speaking now, utilizing the imagery laid out from the book of Genesis 3:15. Devils, demons, principalities, and powers of darkness hate holy fire. Wherever there is fire, the vipers will be exposed. Wherever the fire of awakening and revival is present, the vipers and snakes will be exposed. We need holy fire.
Let me repeat that. I know it's morning, but we need holy fire. In America, like never before, we need holy fire. We really don't need more churches in America. We need more churches on fire in Jesus' name. We don't need more preachers. We need more preachers on fire. We don't need more families. We need more families on fire. And I truly believe, let me just, I know it's a morning session, but let me prophesy. We are about to see the fire of God. Matthew 3:11, "Baptize in the Holy Spirit and with fire". Acts 2:3, "Tongues like fire". We are about to see the fire of God. Now, folks, theologically speaking, we have totally taken this out of context. When Christians hear the fire of God, they think it's punitive. To the believer, the fire of God is not punitive. It is protective. The fire of God does not punish you. It protects you. It purges you. It sanctifies you. But here's what I learned from Malta.
There was fire, the snake couldn't hold the fire. Show me a family full of God's fire and I will show you a family that has a snake free zone. Show me a marriage on fire for Jesus and I will show you a snake free zone. So, let me declare in Jesus' name, every... The snake represents what? The enemy, every lie of the enemy, every construct, everything that comes from the pit of hell. In the name of Jesus, your family is a snake free zone. Your mind is a snake free zone. Your health is a snake free zone. Your finances, snake free zone. And by the time you get home, after today's session, wherever there was darkness, you will discover light. Holy fire, holy fire.
Wherever that spirit is present, wherever the Holy Spirit is present, there is holy fire. "There is power," Act 1:8. "There is freedom," 2 Corinthians 3:17. "There is love," 2 Timothy 1:7. "There is holiness," Galatians 5:16. "There is victory," Romans 8:11. We are about to see, I'mma say it one more time. I'mma double down. We're gonna see a move of God like we've nev... I get pushback on this. I do get pushback. I get people that, on social media, primarily, that beautiful, unifying platforms we call social media. The non-controversial, non-intrusive reality of Facebook, and Instagram, and x, and YouTube and I get push back like, "Pastor Sam, you go around the country and around world telling Christians and telling the church that we're about to see a move of God, that we're already in it and God's gonna pour out. But Pastor Sam, you're denying the fact that we're living in the last days. Aren't you aware of the Bible? Things are gonna get darker.
So, why are you out there like lifting up the hype and this sentiment, this exuberant sort of message of, you know, God's about", listen, I'm fully cognizant of the fact that we're living in the last days. Everyone here is. We know the list. We know the list from Matthew 24. We know the exhaustive list the apostle Paul laid out to Timothy in 2 Timothy 3. Listen, we are living in the last days. Everyone can see it with no doubt. In the last days, men and women will become lovers of themselves. We call that narcissism and some of the accounts on Instagram. In the last days, men and women will deviate from their natural desires. That's the state of California. I mean, we can see it. In the last days, wars and rumors of wars, division, discord, of course, heresy, false teachings. We're living in the last days.
I don't deny these that I just mentioned, but there is a last day promise that prompts me to get in the morning, drink my almond milk latte, and come to this session. It's the last day promise. It is so powerful, it appears in both Joel 2:28 and acts 2:17. This is what God said, are you ready? "In the last days", he never said, "In the last day, I might". He never said, "I am considering". He never said, "If you do the following five things, then I might". No, he promised, "In the last days, I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh". If you believe that we're about to see an outpouring of the Holy Spirit like we've never seen before, give him your best morning praise right now in this house. Yeah, raise your right hand, repeat after me, "My family, my church, my mind, my health is a snake free zone, in Jesus' name".
Number three, Malta's promise: if you can't shake it off, Jesus will wash it off. But Paul shook the snake off into the fire and he suffered no ill effects. Before you get to Rome, you must go through Malta. Before you turn the world upside down for Jesus, you must learn to shake things off in the name of Jesus. Are you kidding me? Imagine Paul's face drenched, drenched, and all of a sudden, the snake comes out, grabs a hold of his hand. "Are you kidding me? Like, are you serious? I just survived that". In other words, listen, if this snake would have jumped off and grabbed Paul's hands, maybe six months prior, maybe Paul's response would have been a tad different. But Paul just survived a shipwreck. He shouldn't even be alive. And yet, here he is drenched and a snake jumps off. "Are you kidding me? I just survived that. Like, I would have freaked out some time ago, but not nay longer. The same God that saved me here, is the same God that will do it over here".
There is an anointing born out of adversity that empowers you to shake off everything hell sends your way. I'm gon' say that one more time. There is an anointing born out of adversity that empowers you to shake off everything hell sends your way. And he takes it. The Bible never talks about a conversation between Paul and the snake. Now, I need to put this in perspective. Hell doesn't come after you. And he just went through that. The enemy takes advantage of your shipwrecks and the moments of difficulty, of angst and consternation and flux, you survived that, the enemy takes advantage. When you are exhausted, the enemy doubles down and attempts to poison your God ordained purpose and to strangle your calling and your dream, so be aware of that. Hell doesn't come after you because you're black, white, yellow, or brown, because you're charismatic or automatic.
If you're born again, hell comes after you because you carry the glory of Jesus and you're on your way to Rome. In other words, this is for someone here, the enemy does not attack you because of the foolish things you did in your past. The enemy attacks you because of the glorious things you are about to see in your future. He wants to overwhelm your now because you're about to occupy the next. It's important to know what Paul did not do. Paul did not talk to it, panic, or embrace a cynical view of the world. He did not embrace it or tolerate it. He shook it off. Luke 10:19, "I have given you authority to walk over all snakes and scorpions". You will be able to destroy, not some, but all the power of the enemy and nothing will harm you. I'm sick and tired of seeing a church walking around moaning and complaining. I'm tired of a church that, oh, I'm tired of seeing Christians, primarily, in America sucking their thumbs in a fetal position like we're weak, like we're broken.
And all we do is whine and complain. Get over yourself. Get up in the name of Jesus. God has given you power to cast out devils and demons and legions. Nothing will stop you. Nothing will harm you. When God says nothing, he means nothing. In other words, what you went through, if what you went through did not stop you, nothing will. Through it all, I grabbed a hold of the promise. "If God be for us, who can be against us"? And nothing can separate me from the love of God. The anointing that's on you did not arrive from Amazon.Com. It fell upon you in the midst of a storm. It was born in a shipwreck. You are anointed. You are anointed to shake things off. And little side note, you will never experience your breakthrough while you are obsessed with the people that attempted to break you. Learn that.
Let me give you a word. The things that once poisoned and strangled your dream, your faith, your integrity, and destiny, in the name of Jesus, with spiritual authority, will never be able to harm you again. I will repeat that. The things that, in the past, poisoned and strangled your dream, faith, integrity, and destiny will never be able to harm you again. Let me prophesy your prayer regarding the enemy. Your prayer will stop him. Your praise will confuse him. Your peace will paralyze him. Your integrity will disarm him and your resistance will make him flee.
2 Thessalonians 3:3, "He is faithful to protect you from all harm and all evil". Why? You have the power to shake things off because you are not where you are. You are not how you are. You are not what others did to you. You are not what you did to yourself. You are who God says you are. You are what God says you are. It's not about where you are in life. It's about who you are in Christ. And when you know who you are in Christ, you will never be held back by where you are in life. Your identity in Christ will bring an end to your captivity in your life. Today is that day. Ephesians 2:10, "We are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them". Shake it off, keep on going.
Listen, it's July. It's July 2020. Three months, four months, April, may, June, July, fourth month into the COVID reality. And at that time, I was appointed by the trump administration, and I was serving on the heritage foundation national coronavirus recovery commission. I was a commissioner on that national recovery task force. I was the only pastor, the only faith leader in that team for that particular commission, drafting proposals for the president regarding COVID policy. It is three months into it. In the midst of that, I went through this season where I had to learn to shake and just look at the snakes that came out with the objective of poisoning and strangling purpose and destiny. Something happened in my family life, and some of you all may have seen this on television. It was covered extensively on good morning America and others. I'm serving in the commission.
My daughter, Evey, my eldest daughter, she gives birth to Meila. It's COVID season, and my daughter had a predisposition of having a low white blood count. Nothing egregiously low, where it required medication, in the low threes. But something that if something hits her, her immune system would be compromised. Well, she already has low threes in her WBCs. She gives birth to Meila, which tanks her WBCs more, and COVID hits her simultaneously. My daughter ends up on a ventilator. Covid in California, couldn't see her, her husband couldn't see her, couldn't see... She couldn't just take care of her baby. And all of sudden, I'm speaking to a doctor who tells me, "Mr. Rodriguez, if your daughter doesn't fight", awkward pause.
And I go, "So, listen, I'm on a commission. I've seen the stats thus far. Millennials don't die from COVID". She went, "No, but your daughter had already a preexisting condition". My daughter is on a ventilator and the doctor is telling me if she doesn't fight, she will die. I get into my jeep wrangler in California, northern California. I'm driving down aiming towards that coffee establishment, whose name we will not mention. And I'm gonna be honest, it was the most painful chapter in my life. I'm driving down, I'm a pastor, we're online, we're still open at our church, but I was speaking to pastors across America, serving in a commission, encouraging pastors all around the world, and I lost it. I was broken. I'm driving down, cap, sunglasses, and I just don't cry. Not that I'm against crying or against men crying, not even a cultural thing, I just, for whatever reason.
Last time I cried was when the Yankees lost in the world series in 2001 against the Arizona diamondbacks 'cause that small little roller from Mariano Rivera and then Luis Gonzalez, I can't believe it. And then, come one, I mean, the Yankees should have won 2,000, I mean, think about it, 09/11/2001. And anyway, different story talking, so, I just don't cry. I lost it. I start weeping like a baby driving 'cause my baby girl, this is daddy's girl. And again, I have great empathy for those who had a different outcome. And if you lost a loved one during the COVID pandemic, we know where we're gonna see each other in the presence of God and the outcome is like, it's inevitable, right? But I'm driving down, and this is, and I'm going, "God, I just, I have no idea what to do next".
Every snake jumped out. Every negative thought, every contrary, adversary, hostile, opposition, antagonistic thought just jumped out. And I'm fighting with every single snake simultaneously, and literally, they were coming after my daughter's destiny and purpose. So, I'm driving down, and I go, "I'm losing it". And I go like, "Alright, I don't doubt you for one second. I've seen too much of your glory, experienced too much of your grace. I don't doubt you. I just don't, this whole thing doesn't line up. It just doesn't. It doesn't line up. It makes no sense".
So, I went like, "I'm not a kid. I'm not even Gideon. I'm not even gonna ask you for like , I hate to do this, but you and I, we're like, you know? Like, like we", so, I'm weeping and I'm driving down Douglas Folsom Boulevard, and I go, "Do me a favor, just give me a little something something. My baby is in a hospital room, ICU on a ventilator, and you gave her a promise. You gave her destiny. Can you just do me something? Can you just do me a favor? Specific wording, send your angels into her room. Can you just invade her room please? We can't see her. We have no idea what's going on. Please, please, send your angels".
And that's it. I drive down, driving in my jeep. My daughter has no idea what I'm doing. She's on a ventilator, she's dying from COVID, no idea what I'm praying, where I'm not, no clue. This is the text that comes in from my daughter, Evey, "Dad", now, she's on a ventilator in icu. She's a millennial. She will die with her cellphone. Fact, undeniable truth. "Dad, I promise you, it's not the meds". She has no clue what I just pray, where I'm at, what I'm doing. "Dad, I promise you, it's not the meds. Dad, I promise you angels just invaded my room". I don't know you understand this. Don't tell me God doesn't answer prayers. Don't tell me God's not involved in the intricacies of our family, and our children, and our children's children.
I'm here to tell you, put a smile on your face. We are about to see a generational move of God like we have never seen before, and every snake and every viper that has risen to poison a generation will be cast into the fire of God's glorious protective presence. If you believe it, shout like you know that he shows up. I'm a math guy. The mathematical probability of my daughter texting me, and she could have said, "God filled my room," but she didn't. She said, "Angels," same identical wording that I prayed to God. She said, "Angels fill my room". So that, I knew it. I called my wife, and I went like, "Honey, this just happened". And then my sister from Philadelphia was actually praying, interceding for her with the same wording, not knowing what I was praying.
And I went too many things, just mathematical probability. It's one towards infinity. This is God. Like, you could see it's God. Stevie wonder could see it's God. God is in the midst of this, right? So, I went like, "Alright, God's in it". And I go, "What's next? What's next"? My wife said, "My God, the doctor said she's", be good, be good. God is in this. So, the next day, the next day the next day, I get the call, same doctor, "Mr. Rodriguez". "Yes ma'am, yes". "Mr. Rodriguez, I can't explain what just took place in the past 24 hours". And I go, "I can". She went, "Mr. Rodriguez, your daughter who was on a ventilator, not doing good at all, as you well know, something shifted. Her oxygen level just completely transformed. She's off the ventilator. She's not even having any additional ancillary oxygen devices".