Samuel Rodriguez - Look Up, and See the Glory of Jesus
Your identity in Christ will bring an end to your captivity in life. Ephesians 2:20, "We are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works which God prepared me for at the original plan that we should walk in them". If this word is for you, lift up both hands. Don't settle for distorted deliverables. By the way, this guy couldn't see anything, but he could hear Jesus, right? Hey, who speaks into you is much more important than who speaks about you. Job 42:5, "Before I heard, but now my eyes have seen". Let's finish here. Final point is don't settle for trees. This guy, ironically enough, this is so powerful. Because Jesus comes along, spits in his eyes, and for the first time in his ministry, he goes, "Did it work"? Why? Do you think Jesus is actually second guessing himself? It was a set up.
I submit you for your prayerful deliberation the following biblically substantiated supposition, what if it was with all intentionality to discover whether or not this guy would settle for trees? Real simple. Why would he ask, "Did it work"? Because he easily could've said this, "You know what, I stepped into today, and I couldn't sex anything, but at least I see something. Not clearly, but something. And I'm gonna settle for something because something is better than nothing". I argue, there are so many people, even in the church, who settle for trees. There are people that settle, "Well, I have four kids. Two of my kids are saved, two are not". No, baby. Don't settle for trees. Don't settle for half your family getting saved. Don't settle for a partial healing. I'm preaching to five people right now. Don't settle for a portion of the breakthrough. Don't settle for a chapter in the dream that God gave you coming to pass.
As for me and my house, we will not settle for trees. We won't be satisfied until we see everything Jesus paid the price for on the cross. Is there anybody here who won't settle for trees? Don't settle for an Ishmael when there's an Isaac with your name on it. Do not settle for manna in the desert when there's milk and honey waiting for you in the Promise Land. Don't settle. Somebody say, "Don't settle". Don't settle. Stand. You're... Well, you're...Okay, whatever. I had a choice. This past year, I was made an offer to settle. Let me explain. The church grew coming out of COVID. It grew, it grew, and God blew up. The county comes in and threatened us and starts doing stuff, "You have too many people, too many people". And coming into a fourth and fifth service is just gonna be, just, yeah, yeah. It's just wow.
So, by this same time where everything in the church is blowing up, I get a call from a prominent ministry in northern California. God bless them. I'm gonna mention any names but, God bless them. Beautiful ministry. Calls us, "Pastor Sam, our church is not surviving COVID". What do you mean? "Pastor Sam, we lost about 1,500 people. We have an extensive amount of debt. We have a property that I think you may be interested in". Go ahead. "We have a 3,000 seating auditoriums, we have three auditoriums. One that fits 3,000, another one that fits 1,800, and third one, a smaller one that fits 300. All on the same property, 47 acres, highway frontage, approximate worth total, collectively, close to 75 to 80 million dollars of property. And, just maybe, are you interested"? And of course I said, "I have great interest".
And so, we began, there is a measurable amount of debt. So the initial conversations, did my due diligence, you know, risk management, all of that. Made some phone calls, and we were on par. Five different conversations. Finally, it happened. Pastor says, finance committee, "Alright, let's do it. Your board meets with our board. Let's sign an MOU and let's begin the process where you take over". They called it a merger, but we were taking over. And etcetera, etcetera. So, we, you know, first, we went, "Wow, this is it". I looked at my wife and, "This is it". Spoke to my pastors around the country, my elders. So, we're excited, we're moving into the, you know, the Promise Land, right? We're coming in. So, they never told me. They just said, "We're coming in after these initial five meetings".
Now, the first formal board to board MOU contractional signing meeting. So, they never told me the questions they would ask. They just said, "Our board will ask you some questions, we sign the MOU, and there it is, we execute accordingly". So, my board met beforehand, an hour beforehand at a certain coffee establishment. I'm not gonna tell you the name. It's the one with Jezebel on the cup. So, we met with the one with the one with Jeze on the cup, and so my team sat here, I talked to them. "And so what do, guys, they're gonna ask questions, fiduciary governance, risk management, attrition, okay. Alright, what else, what else"? Liabilities, got you. "They're gonna ask you about maybe services, Slavic service, Spanish service, whatever. Yeah, yeah, yeah, good, good, good. We got all this. You ready"? "Yeah, we're ready".
Any other possible questions out there? "Guys, throw it out there, any possible question"? No, I mean, legal, spiritual. You know, I mean, yeah. Administrative, time, alright. We have the process, the timeline, implementation phases and so forth. Got you. "Okay, you guys ready? Let's go". Almond milk latte, boom. Cross the street, one mile away, walking into the parking lot, went to the office, sat down. My team, his wife is our board secretary, so we sat down right here on this side, they sat down here. So, I'm ready. "Pastor Sam, thank you for coming". I go, "Thank you". I go, "Alright, ready for the questions. Let's go. Let's see what happens here. MOU".
So, we go, alright. Just like this, his wife bears witness. "Pastor Sam, we have this first question for you". This is me. I go "Please". "Pastor Sam, here is our question". I go. "First question. Pastor Sam, our church ministry, we lean left. We wanna know, where does your church lean". This is my. Alright, 'cause no one... Who would ask that? "I'm thinking I'm being pranked. Am I being tested? Is this a test"? Like, no way would I ever, for one moment, fathom the idea of that question being a question. Out of all the questions in the universe, that's the first question. So, I'm going like this. Over here, a sign and a wonder took place right there. Nothing came out of my mouth. Nothing. My team is here, his wife is there, Jeff Carter and my team, they're all going like. "Say something. You gotta say something".
And I'm here, and the truth is, I'm fighting with the Holy Spirit, no joke. I'm fighting with the Holy Spirit because the Holy Spirit is saying, "Go ahead Sammy. Say it. Go ahead. Go ahead, answer. You know what to say. Come on, go ahead. Say it, say it". And I'm going. Surprising the Holy Spirit speaks to me in Spanish. That's not the point. So, I'm going. And he's going, "No, you're saying it. You're saying it". I'm going, "No". Because if I would say what the Holy Spirit's telling me to say, we were not gonna end up with that building, which we didn't. We ended up with other stuff. But I'm going, "I'm not gonna say it". And the Holy Spirit said, "Sam, say it".
So, finally, Holy Spirit versus Sam, Holy Spirit wins. I could've settled right there. I could've settled. But the Holy Spirit told me, "Don't you dare settle. You don't settle. Don't settle". So, I put my head up like this and I said just like, again, all witnessed, verified by everyone in the room. I went, "Well sir, thank you for asking me that question. You said this ministry leans left and you're asking me where does our church lean. With great due deference, our church, we don't lean. We stand. We stand on the Word of God, we stand on the promises of God, we stand on the finished work of Christ.
Whatever the Bible calls holy, we call holy. Whatever the Bible calls sin, we call sin. As a church, we don't lean to the left or to the right. We stand in the finished work of Christ". Is there anybody here in st. Louis Missouri who stands, who never settles for trees, but we stand in everything God has called us to stand. Stand firm, stand firm. Don't settle, don't settle, don't settle for trees. Stand. Stand with me, you are standing. 1 Corinthians 16:13, "Stand firm in the faith". Ephesians 6, "Put on the armor of God and stand". And when it's all said and done, stand.
Stand. Don't settle for tress. Don't settle for a water downed version of truth. Don't settle, don't settle for a portion of God's word. Don't settle, don't settle for trees. Don't be satisfied until you see everything Jesus died on the cross for. If you promise not to settle, lift up your hands. What did Jesus pay? What was the price he paid? What did he give us through what he did? Don't. Eternal life, John 3:16. Abundant life, John 10:10. New life, 2 Corinthians 5:17. Your entire household being saved, Acts 16:31. Healing, 1 Peter 2:24. Holiness, 1 Peter 1:16. Divine health, 3 John 1:2. A joy that cannot be explained, John 15:11. Don't settle for anything less than everything Jesus paid the price for. If you promise not to settle, lift up both hands.
Don't settle for abortion. What did he say? "I see people but they look like," what? Do not, he was viewing the new with the lens of the old. Do not permit yesterday's wounds to hamper today's worship. Do not permit what you went through to define where you're going to. In other words, we need a new wineskin, Mark 2:22, to see the new wine. In other words, for crying out loud, stop saying, "Look what the devil did," and start shouting, "Look what the Lord has done". Don't settle. If you got this word, lift up your hands. If you promise not to settle, lift up both hands. No, even in my life and my family, as with that church, where's pastor Joe? We did a... All God-ordained. This in spite of Sammy. Y'all already heard last year how God called me when I was a kid.
Years later, I'll even give you names. Avery legitimate prophetic voice in the kingdom came over years later and said, "Sammy, God says Hollywood for you". This is 2011 approximately. From there, doors opened up with Paramount, Sony, 20th Century Fox to do movies. Not in Christian studios, and God bless Christian studios, but through secular studios. I wanna be light in the midst of darkness. I want, you follow me? I did a movie about one of my board members who was a part of the inventing of flaming hot Cheetos, right? And I said, I looked at him and God said, "Sam, you're gonna make a movie about his life". 'cause of our faith in family. He came, some day, got to church, came to Jesus, filled with the power of God, and then he wanted to come out of poverty and God gave him an idea. That's the whole story.
So, I said, "That movie's, like, awesome. 'cause that's like billion-dollar industry. Alright, we're going to make it into a movie". We did it during COVID, it got put on the shelf, I got a call, "Your movie is not going anywhere". And I'm going like, "Ah". I looked at my wide and said, "Call the intercessors man, we gotta pray this thing through". So our intercessor already is praying, praying, praying through, and I got a call. It's the craziest call you can ever get. "Hey, Pastor Sam," 'cause I wouldn't settle, I wouldn't settle. Somebody even said fathom event, you know, that kind of stuff and all that. No, man. No fathom event. God bless fathom events. But no, that's not what God promised me.
So, I get a call, "Pastor Sam," we wouldn't settle. "Pastor Sam, listen, good news, a studio picked up your movie". And I went like, "Which studio"? "You're not gonna believe it. It's a studio not known for faith and family films". What do you mean? "Not only is the studio picking up your film, your film will be the first film that will stream on two platforms simultaneously for the first time in America". I go, "Who picked up my film"? "Disney picked up your film flamin' hot". And that film is streaming now, you can watch it on Disney. And when you see Samuel Rodriguez in the credits, I need you to go, "To God be all the glory, to Jesus be all the glory". But we wouldn't settle.
So, I just came from California to just impart this upon you, don't ever settle for trees. Don't settle for anything less than everything Jesus promised you and your family. Never settle for trees. The way you talk, the way you think, even the way you pray. Never settle for trees. If you make that commitment, lift up both hands. And you're never gonna settle. Don't settle for spiritual myopia, don't, what did Jesus do with this guy when he said, "I see people, they look like trees". What did he do again? What does the Bible say? He laid his hands again, but did he spit again? No. Stop asking Jesus to do what he already did. Laying hands is confirming what he already placed on him. He didn't spit again. Stop asking him to save you again, you're already saved. He already set you free. Live in the finished work of Christ and don't settle for trees.
Let me pray over you. Heavenly Father, every single person in this auditorium, those streaming, we release, unleash this word, never to settle. We will never, ever, ever again settle for anything less than everything Jesus paid the price for. In our lives, with our lives, for our lives, through our lives for the glory and the exaltation of his name. We will never, ever settle for trees. Lord God, we believe you for the new thing. We believe you for a fresh move of your spirit. We believe that your original design, your original plan for our lives is fully active and nothing will be able to hinder it. And we will not suffer from spiritual myopia. We believe that you already did it. We're gonna walk and live in the finished work of Christ. We will never settle for trees again. In Jesus' name, in Jesus' name.
If you truly received this word, give him the best shout you've given him in the past three years. Somebody shout like you'll never settle again. Pastor, where are you, pastor? Come up here real quick. I'm gonna ask you to do one thing. I'm not gonna do a long altar call or anything of the sort, but I just saw something prophetically. Pastor, come up here if you can and your lovely bride. Please, come up here. Here's what I want you to do, if you're here and you said, "Pastor Samuel, I've settled in the past few years. I'mma be honest, I didn't want to, but I did settle". And you're saying, "I feel the convicting power of the Holy Spirit that after today, I'm never gonna settle again. From this moment, I'm just gonna, here's what we're gonna do".
George, help me out George, Jesus. Go ahead, take off the mud from the eyes. When he takes, as he takes off the mud from his eyes, if you have settled and you're saying, "From this moment on, me and my family, we're never gonna settle again. In 2024, we're gonna see everything that Jesus paid the price for," come out of your seat and join me somewhere in the aisles. Go ahead, join me right now. Come out of your seat. Just join me. If you've never settled, stay where you're at. But if you settled, you're saying, "Never again will I settle," come out of your seat. Go ahead, wash right now, wash right now. This is what we're gon' do, we're gonna do something very prophetic. We're gonna engage in an act here. Pretty prophetic. You'll see this in a second. Don't settle, don't settle, don't settle, don't settle for trees, don't settle for anything less than everything Jesus paid the price for. Don't settle, don't settle, don't settle, don't settle.
By the way, we didn't get that church in the northern part of California. But then we received a call that we're getting multiple campuses in the state of California, multiple campuses. Oh, by the way, paid in full, no debt. Don't settle, don't settle. Pastors, come up here. I'm gonna close off here and probably never get invited again, but it's okay. I'm just gonna say this because I'm Latino or whatever. We're gonna do a little thing here in a second. You guys will never settle, you'll never settle. What God has for you is so amazingly great, and you think you know. You know Nada. It's beyond you. And by the way, it will always be beyond you. Not beyond the capacity, the capacity, he grants you with a character, of course, the bandwidth, no. What he asks for you is so great that it will always be greater than what you think he has for you.
It's not hype. Every time you think there's more, and then God says, "More harvest, greater anointing, more families, more communities, more campuses. More". The word more defines this year for you and your house and this church. Exceedingly abundantly above all anything and everything you could ever imagine or ask for. Somebody shout, "More". Somebody shout, "More". More, more, more, more, more. Don't ever settle. It is that big. Hear this. The assignment, the mantle upon y'all to, not just to be one of the most influential churches in your corresponding tribe. God has anointed you to be one of the most influential churches period. Period. You and I haven't discussed this, there wasn't been an agreement to talk about this. I see, and I say that with fear and trembling.
As I stated last year, there's a fine line between the prophetic and the pathetic. So, I feel the Lord and I've been in the presence of both the prophetic and the pathetic. So, if God wouldn't be, if it's Sam, I would say, "You know, I feel in my spirit," and you frame it. I don't feel anything in my spirit. The Lord is telling me to tell you God has placed a mantle where you are to convene. And it's gonna happen supernatural, organically. Not coerced, not pushed. You might not even have to sweat. It's gonna happen because you have no choice. Not because you want to, because you have to. I see pastors from all around, you think I'm gonna say all around America. No. I see pastors coming in from Australia, New Zealand, Malaysia, India, South America, Latin America, Europe, from Hong Kong. I see pastors coming in from Eastern Europe, coming into this house under your leadership as you train them and equip them and release them.
You have the anointing of Mark 2:22. They're gonna walk out with new wineskins that will be able to accommodate the wine that God is pouring out on this generation. My friends, you will be hosting some of the most significant pastors and leaders conferences in all of Christendom. This thing is gonna blow up. As you walk in integrity, God will increase exponentially the influence. Integrity is everything. And he's gonna just bless that integrity. You've been through a process, you've walked with your mess, you know what it is to go like, "Haha". And keep on walking. Even when it hurt, when it was uncomfortable. And here you are. You haven't seen anything yet. Never settle for trees, never settle for trees. Even if the trees look like Maseratis and Lamborghinis.
Don't settle for trees. What God has for you is way bigger than that. Does this make any sense in your spirit? Oh wow. Lift up your hands. I sense the Lord. Let's keep on standing for him. Oh, I sense the Lord. Everybody here with your hands raised, I promise I'm gonna give it to your pastors. Look up here for a second. Do me a favor just for a second. Everybody here, look down. Everybody please, with great due deference, look back, go ahead, look back. Look to your back, just look to your back.
By the way that's the last time you look back in 2024 in Jesus' name. You're not gonna. Look around, look around, and now look up. That, you have four options this year. You can either look down, that' shame, condemnation, your trauma and your drama. You could either look, you can look back, living in your past of what you went through, you can look around where you scapegoat and blame everyone else, or live vicariously through someone else's achievements, someone else's post. Or the fourth option, you can look up. This is the year you're gonna look up. You will not settle for trees and you will see the glory of Jesus come into your life and through your life like never before.