Samuel Rodriguez - Your Ship May Not Make It, But You Will
Let's go a little bit prophetically rogue here for a second. Raise your right hand, repeat after me. Repeat after me, "I decree and declare that in the next 12 months more people will come to Jesus through my testimony, my ministry and my mantle of anointing than in the previous twelve years combined". Oh, you're on your way to Rome. Romans 1:16, "I am not ashamed of the gospel". Everyone's gonna hear it. Are we streaming? Thank you. Bible says, "The nations will hear it".
All the nations, very specific. Not some of the nations, all of 'em. We are streaming right? Every nation on the planet will hear a viable presentation of the gospel, the full gospel message that Jesus is the only way, the truth, and the life. Not some watered down, flimsy, dimpsy, woke, cancel-culture, no, we're talking about the gospel message that Jesus is the way, the truth and the life, the resurrection and the life. Every nation will hear it, every nation means every nation, which means every communist nation will hear the gospel. Every muslim nation will hear the gospel.
Every generation will hear the gospel. Millennials will get the gospel, generation z, generation alpha and it's beautiful. Every letter in the alphabet will hear the gospel. No, y'all didn't get that. Do I have to be more specific? Every letter in the alphabet, AARP, GOP, LGBT, from A to Z, everyone's about to hear that Jesus is the way. God loves you. "For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth shall not perish but have everlasting life". Are there any questions? Yeah, somebody say, "Come hell or high water, I'm on my way to Rome". That's you Rome. Your Rome is for God to use your life for people to come to him as Lord and Savior.
All of your actions, words, deeds and thoughts become a conduit of evangelism, every single day. That's Rome, the fulfillment of your God ordained purpose. Ephesians 2:10, "You are his masterpiece, his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works. To do this which he prepared before the beginning of time". Wow. Number two. You and your house are anointed, this is interesting, for the storm and from the storm. And the question you have to ask is, what drives you? Here it is, the storm does not define you, the storm reveals who you really are.
So, let me explain the story. Paul, here's the word of the Lord, we read it, Acts 23:11, "You're on your way to Rome. The big day. The big stage. This message is about to go global, beyond the Jews, are you ready"? "Yes Lord". No other specific details were laid out, just, "You're going to Rome". Now, Paul was on his way to Rome, but he wasn't on the way to Rome on a Norwegian cruise line, royal Caribbean, celebrity x, carnival, what did I miss? All the Boujee people, viking cruise line. He was on his way to Rome on a prison ship. That part was never brought up in Acts 23, that detail was left out by coincidence.
So, here's Paul on a prison ship appealing a conviction as a Roman citizen, he said, "I have this right". So, he comes around, he's on the ship, on his way to Rome. Now, he already, Paul already heard, he'd already sat, he looks at those in charge and says, "This is not the right time to sail y'all". It isn't. They ignored him. They start sailing and all of a sudden, what happens? A storm. A nor 'Easter. The nor 'Easter. The Bible says, "And they were being slapped around". The ship was being battered, moved around. The waves, the wind, the waves, the wind, the waves, the wind. Slapped around like a cheap pinata. That's slightly racist, let me take that back. Just slapped around like a cheap pinata. And so, read it, read it. "And they're being battered".
One of the craziest things you could read in Acts 27, the Bible says that those in charge, the captain of the ship, they decided that it would be better to be driven by the storm, do your biblical due diligence please. They decided it would be better not to fight the storm but rather to be driven by the storm to increase the possibility of them making it. What drives you? What drives me? We are all driven people. Everyone here is driven. You're either driven by your past or the future. You're driven by the pathetic or the prophetic. You're driven by problems or promises. You're either driven by nightmares or dreams. You're driven by the flesh or the spirit. You're either driven by Google searches or godly searches. You're driven by drama or by destiny. By trauma or by testimony. What drives you? Some people are driven by praise, others are driven by criticism.
As it pertains to others opinions of you, if their praise did not make you, their criticism cannot break you. So, we have too many Christians that spend more time reacting to what comes from hell rather than what comes from heaven. Too many believers driven by the winds of wokeness and cancel culture, ideologies and social constructs that are counter-intuitive to the word and the spirit of Almighty God. Driven by opinions and feelings instead of driven by truth and love. What drives you? What drives me? Are you driven by anointing or ambition, as I referenced last time I was here at the end of my sermon impartation? What drives you? Your hunger for righteousness or your fear of criticism? What drives you?
I went through an incident that doctor morocco and pastor Josh, they heard this when I was with them recently in Dallas. And when we left this conference, well I initiated a part of this testimony last time, but now let me give you the conclusive part, and if you don't remember let me lay it out for you, but this we shared in Dallas and we're still living out the trauma of it. I still have a twitch which I'm still going over. It's just a slight twitch but it's just really, you know.
So, during COVID in California, we went through an interesting season and by the grace of God we were able to just continue doing church in a very viable, safe way, and God protected our congregation and our flock in a very supernatural way. So, we had it, and the church grew as a result. And it grew, and it got media attention, the New York times did a feature, one page story in not even a negative light, it was a positive feature in the New York times, one entire page. Which is, of course, it really proves that there are miracle happening today. So, we were there and the church really, really, really grew and then, and we got to the place where it was like we have more people than chairs per service and so forth. And what do we do?
Pastor Eva and I, there was a sermon in our church and that we illustrated. We went through a door, we felt God giving us a word and the county came in, told us, "Y'all have more people than chairs, y'all gotta do something or you're gonna suffer the consequences thereof". Which is basically fines and so forth. So, we reach the point of, "Thank you God for the harvest. We have no complaints. None whatsoever. Thank you for the growth. We're not complaining. Anybody here complaining"? No. We just need a bigger place. So, all of a sudden, we got a call, and the call came in and it was, "You're pastor Sam".
We have a church in the region, beautiful pastor and a great ministry. A friend, but in the region and called in and said, "pastor Sam, will you have any interest whatsoever? We are not doing good coming outta COVID, we're not doing well at all. We've lost a lot of people. Would you be open to having this merger to take over our ministry"? So, though we, we said, "This is God". I mean, you know what I mean, we thought it was God, we was like, "This must be God". So, we all, you know, we went, "Alright". We had initial meetings, their financial team, their board with yours truly regarding, you know, what the possibilities and so forth. So, we did our initial due diligence, our legal deliberation and so forth. Created wineskins for resources, it came with an incredible amount of debt, but even the debt would be addressed through collaborative relationships that I have in the kingdom.
So, alright, here we go. We laid it out, and after about five meetings, all through zoom, I got the call, "pastor Sam? There were three possible churches, we decided you. You're it". And we we're it. We're it. I felt like I was in third grade again, right? You're it. You're part of our team, you're it. You're it, you're it. And I'm going, "Wow". "We need you to come in with your board, our board will be there, they could ask whatever questions they want, and we will subsequently, that night, sign an MOU and we will begin the process". "So, what questions do y'all are gonna have"? "No, that's up to the board, I have no idea. Let's see what the board has, and you all come in". "So, okay".
So, I met, my board and I, we got together, and we'd been praying and fasting. No, this is it. It was a great property, the property had one building fit 3,000, a second building fit about 1,000 and they have a third auditorium that fits 300 with 45 plus acres highway frontage, it would be perfect. So, we went there, before we went to the meeting I met with my board at, and I'm not gonna give you the name, at a certain coffee establishment, I won't tell you which one, it's the one with Jezebel on the cup. So, yeah, Jezzie. So, so I had my almond milk latte and I sat down with my team, and we went, I went like, they said "Pastor, do you have any clue"? I go, "I have no clue. They explicitly stated they're gonna just go basically ask whatever questions they want and they're not gonna prompt it, prep it at all". They go, "Alright, what questions will they have"?
So, I went through my, like, linear sequential maybe some fiduciary governance questions, some risk management questions, attrition, integration of systems and so forth. High end systematic integrative questions when you merge or take over, right? The simple 101 Stanford MBA questions you would have out there. So, lay them out, right? So, I'm going, "Any questions? No questions? Alright. Okay, we know. We know, what, are you ready"? "I guess so, right. Like, let's go". There shouldn't be any surprises. So, we went across the street, literally, and we went into the building. I sat here, my board sat here, pastor was here, their board was here, and they look at me, this is about what drives us.
And so, we're here and they look at me and they go, "pastor Sam, thank you for coming". "Thank you for having us". "Well, here it is. This is the meeting". "Yes, it is"? "Well, our board has some questions for you". And I go, "Please, go ahead". "First question," first question. "First question pastor Sam". "Please proceed". "pastor Sam, we want you to know that our church ministry we lean left. We wanna know, where do you lean"? I thought I was being pranked. I'm not kidding. I'm thinking, "No, this is not", you know, and then part of me, I'm a Trekkie, so I'm going, I'm in an alternate universe right now. This is like mirror dark league, I'm not even here. I'm just. And I'm going like, "What just happened"? "And we lean left where do you lean"?
And I'm going like, and a sign and a wonder took place right there. You wanna hear it? Nothing came out of my mouth. Right, my board and my family would say, "That's a sign and a wonder". And so, nothing. And I mean, so help me God, this is like all verified by both sides and it's gone viral and all that. And nothing would come out. And I'm going. And my board is here, Kim Higgs and Jeff Carter and nick, they're all here and they're going, they're like going, like, "Pastor, say something. You gotta something. You gotta say something". 'Cause nothing's coming out, it looks awkward, silence. Nothing came out.
The reason why nothing came out, Sam Rodriguez is having a fight with the Holy Spirit, right there. And I'm having a fight 'cause the Holy Spirit is immediately telling me, "Go ahead Sammy, say it". And I'm going like this, because if I would say what the Holy Spirit is telling me, I knew I wasn't gonna end up with that church. And he's telling me, "Go ahead Sammy. Say it". And I'm going like, so, I'm having a fight with the Holy Spirit and of course, Sam Rodriguez versus Holy Spirit, Holy Spirit always wins. So, Holy Spirit just got me, so I lifted up my head like this, just like this, and I went, "Thank you for your question. Thank you. So, you stated this ministry leans left and you wanna know where we lean, how we lean"?
And I went like this, I go, "To be honest with you, our church, 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". I said, "In other words, whatever the Bible calls holy, we call holy. Whatever the Bible calls sin, we call sin. We don't lean one way or another, we stand". Are there any believers in maui today that don't lean but you stand? If you stand lift up your hands. If you really stand lift up both hands. If we want to see revival we need to stop leaning and start standing. If we wanna see the explosion of that Rome anointing and see people come to Jesus like never before, we have to stop leaning and start standing.
Lift up your hands. I feel the Lord. I feel God. Stop leaning, start standing. I'm tired of seeing believers and influencers in the kingdom that lean. We need a church that stands. Kings is the church that stands. The disciples that come out of this ministry around the world in 1,200 different locations, you don't lean, you stand. From Hawaii to Alaska to Dallas and all points in-between, there's an army of believers in the 21st century that will not lean, that will not be driven by the winds of the culture but rather we will stand in the finished work of Christ.
If that's you, shout like you're standing in praise. Stand, stand with us. You are standing, stand with me. 1 Corinthians 16:13, "Be on the alert, stand firm in the faith". Stand up. What drives you? They preferred to be driven by the winds. Will we be driven by the winds of our culture? Stand up for biblical truth. Stand up for righteousness and justice, and for the love of holy God, stand up for our children. Stand up for our children. I said, stand up for our children, and our children's children, and our children's children's children.
Stand up for holy sexuality. Stand up for the familia, the ohana. Stand up for Godliness, for life, for religious liberty, biblical justice, for racial unity, for the gospel. And don't get upset with me please, I hope to be invited again, but don't just stand up here in the church, stand up in the school board meeting, stand up in the middle of target, stand up in the voting booth. Wherever you go, don't lean, stand. "Put on the full armor of God that when the day of evil comes," it's here. "You may be able to stand your ground".
And after you've done everything else... Raise your hand. Permit me to declare and release an anointing, a prophetic impartation. This church around the world through this amazing mantle of leadership that has never leaned and always stood for truth, you're gonna see this ministry known around the world as a ministry that never leans but rather stands on the finished work of Christ, on the Word of God without ever compromising. As a result, God's about to give you the greatest harvest you have ever received in all of your 44 years of existence. If you believe that, somebody shout like you're about to see it and receive it. How many believe you're about to see the greatest harvest ever, than we have ever seen? Repeat after me, "I don't lean, I stand".
And as you stand with me, my final point is real quick so you can stand. One of the craziest words that makes no sense because it's crazy, slapped around. Driven by the winds. It backfired. The hurricane intensified. The thing is falling apart. And God gives Paul word, he gives him a word via the conduit of his constant communication to the Holy Spirit. Even via dreams God speaks to us. Through vision, through words of impartation, the word of wisdom, the word of knowledge. He still speaks to us. He gives Paul one of the craziest words you could receive, read it, just outrageous.
Imagine if you were Paul in the middle of a ship being slapped around in the middle of the sea, right? And here's the word, "Hey Paul"! "Yes Lord"? "You see that ship you're in"? "Yes Lord". "You see it"? "Yes". Paul hears the word, "Gimme the word God". "That ship you're in". "Yes". "That ship will not make it". Like, who does that? Who gives you a word, "You see what you're in"? "Yeah". "It's not gon' make it". But read the other part of the word, "But you will". Can I preach now for one minute and eighteen seconds for everyone here who lost a ship in your life?