Samuel Rodriguez - We Walk By Faith and Not By Sight
Corinthians 5:7, "We walk by... and not by..." Anyone who has ever accomplished great things for the kingdom has had to walk with their mess for at least one season. From Genesis to Revelation, you have never seen, a man or a woman of God advance great things for a multigenerational perspective where they build a beautiful altar for the next generation, a memorial metaphorically, prophetically speaking, leaving a legacy behind unless they have at least one season where they had to walk with their mess. That's why I'm afraid of people who've never been through anything.
There's a battle going on right now and the battle is between the mess and the miracle. The battle is between the mind and the mantle. The battle is between the thoughts in your head and the calling upon your life, between your memories and your imagination, between fear and faith, anxiety and anointing, drama and destiny. But how many here don't just hope, feel, or think? How many know the battle has already been won? 1 Corinthians 15:57. Let's land it. Stand with you. You are standing. Christ is our victory. Sometimes you walk, why do you walk with your mess? Because when your integrity is greater than your influence nothing can stop you. When you are driven by anointing rather than ambition nothing can stop you.
When your hunger for righteousness is greater than your fear of criticism, nothing can stop you. And when your praise is louder than your pain, when your praise is louder than your pain, I said when your praise is louder than your pain, there's not a devil in hell or a demon on earth that will be able to stop you. And as we land right here, as we finish, don't settle for trees. This is so Trippy because right here, why would Jesus do this? This is the moment in scripture where he goes, "Did it work? Did it work? Why was he second guessing himself? Did Jesus have a bad day? Did he not have his almond milk latte that morning"? It was all on purpose. Absolutely, absolutely, intentional. "What do you mean, Pastor Sam"? He does this and he responds and says what? "Yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, I mean, yeah. Technically, yes. I see people but they look like..."
Jesus wanted to see whether or not he would settle for trees. And he asked the question, he already knows the answer. He wanted to know if he will be completely truthful. This guy could easily have said this. You know, he could have said in his mind, "Well, at least something is better than...", right? There are so many people in the church who have settled for trees. They settle for a partial healing. They settle for half their family members being saved. They settle for a portion of their God ordained destiny coming to pass. I'm here to tell you after this cry out experience, you will never settle for anything less than everything Jesus paid, I need you to shake your neighbor and tell 'em, "Don't settle. Don't settle. Don't settle for trees. Don't settle for trees".
If you're committed to never settling for trees raise one hand. If you will never settle for trees in yourself, in your health, all the five aspects of health that I just referenced, spiritual, physical, mental, relational, financial. If you will never settle for trees, raise them really high. If you will never settle for trees in your family, raise them a little bit higher. Don't settle for two of your kids being saved and two going to hell. Don't settle for a mediocre marriage when your marriage should be striving, thriving and just blossoming for the Lord. Don't settle for perpetual debt and indebtedness and poverty from a multigenerational perspective. Don't settle, don't settle. Don't even settle for your generation to tolerate things that we should annihilate in the name of Jesus.
If you're never gonna settle again lift up your hands. When pastor Keion and I were doing the podcast I heard, that's where the confirmation came. When the Holy Spirit just told me, "You gon' preach on don't settle for trees. Tell the conference, don't settle. Don't settle for trees". God gave me a word when I was a kid and my parents are good Christians but they're not pastors. And I'm a math guy, I went to Penn State, graduated from Lehigh University. I'm a math and science guy. I still believe that science and faith are not enemies. Quite the contrary, it is the same continuum of God's deposit of wisdom. Absolutely. And math is God's language, so if you never did good, if you did not do well with algebra, repent, you need to repent.
And calculus is like speaking in tongues in the math world. It's like... But I was called since I was a kid, I mean, by name. They called, an assembly of God church, they called me out. They said, "Sammy". A guy came in, never met the guy before, the prophetic flowing. Y'all talk about Matthew Stevens, you know he was my buddy. I don't know if he's coming. He's coming. So, that's my boy. That's, man, I love him. He's legit, completely legit. And so, it just, God spoke, everything we do with the movies, doing this, doing that, just societal architects, all because I can't settle for anything less and everything Jesus paid the price for... In me and in the people around me.
So, I know we've all been through moments where we've walked with our mess. I know we've all been through chapters full of angst, and consternation, and pain. We've all been through it. I've been through it. You've been through it. But we have to be careful in exacerbating, elevating, amplifying the marketing campaign of what the enemy would like us to focus on. Which means what? For the love of holy God, stop saying, "Look what the devil did," and start shouting, "Look what the Lord has done". I dare you to look at somebody and tell 'em, "Look what the Lord has done. Look what the Lord has done". I will not settle. Don't settle for trees. 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, "I am okay," when he paid the price to give you life and life abundantly. I got a couple of minutes here. I'mma do it. If this word was 192.3% for you raise one hand. If you're gonna open up your eyes to the new, if you're gonna open up your eyes to God's DNA. If you're gonna open up your eyes to God's original plan for you and your family. If you're gonna open up your eyes to everything Jesus paid the price for and you will never, ever settle for trees ever again. In every contract negotiation, in every job offer. Are you with me right now?
I'm preaching to somebody here. In all that you're talking about never settle for anything less than everything Jesus ordained for you. So, if this word is for you, if you're saying, "Pastor Sam, I wanna", I don't know how we gonna do it. But if you need to walk out of your mess and step into your miracle, come out of your set right now and join me real quick. Go. Real quick. As you come down just lift up your hand and just watch the mess become a miracle. Hey! Take 'em. Take 'em to wash themselves. Go ahead. He goes right here. Come on, come on. Hey! I sense the Lord. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. What did Jesus pay the price for?
Salvation, deliverance, and healing, eternal life, abundant life, and new life, for you to live a holy, healed, healthy, happy, humble, hungry, honoring life, and with that life you change the world. That's what he paid the price for. Giving you identity, spiritual intimacy, integrity, influence, and innovation. Your mind, your body, your soul, and your spirit will be in perfect alignment with the word and the will of God the moment you don't settle for trees. This is gonna be a little bit tough. I want you to hear me and the Spirit of God will confirm this in your spirit. Don't surround yourself with anyone who settles.
You could have acquaintances, but watch this, remember the blind man, the one who was born blind? Why did he go wash himself? He couldn't see but he could what? Who speaks into you is way more important than who speaks about you. Y'all got that? Who speaks into you, the closest people around you who influence your trajectory. Make sure you surround yourself with people that don't settle for trees. I sense the Lord. Lift up your hands. I'm gonna give it to Pastor Keion here. Oh, I feel God.
Heavenly Father, we'd gathered here at cry out in Houston Texas, this solemn assembly, this holy assembly. With a commitment to never, ever, again settle for anything less than everything Jesus paid the price for. We will never settle for trees. We won't settle for the old. Oh, we gonna open up our eyes to the new. We won't settle for the temporary markers, we're gonna open up eyes to your DNA. We won't settle for distorted deliverables. We're gonna open up our eyes to your original design for each of us and our respective families. We will not settle for trees.
Repeat after me:
Heavenly Father, I receive this word: as for me and my house we will never settle for trees. We will never settle for anything less than everything Jesus paid the price for: salvation, deliverance, healing, eternal life, new life, abundant life. All of God's promises without exception belong to me. I will not settle for anything else than everything Jesus paid the price for.
In the name of Jesus. We gonna do something. Your heart, your head, and your hand are coming in alignment. That's you're cognitive, you're effective, and you're practical. That's information, inspiration, impartation. God is putting everything in alignment. Your thoughts and your actions. 1 Thessalonians 5:23, that's apostle Paul's prayer says, "May your mind, body, soul, may the all of you be holy, be whole, be shalom, where nothing is missing and nothing is broken". And then in verse 24 he says, "He who called you is faithful to do that very thing".
So, you're stepping into a season where God's putting everything in perfect alignment inside of you. You're gonna wake up, in the morning you will no longer wake up depressed or anxious. You will wake up prophesying, decreeing, and declaring, releasing, affirming, validating God promises in you, with you, for you, and through you. That fear that has tormented you comes to an end right here, right now. By the time you get home, wherever there was a mess, you will find a miracle. You believe it? You really believe it? Alright, Pastor Keion, come on up let me give you this. Y'all, stay right there. If you can both come on up. First lady, come on up, please. I'mma do something now that will probably disqualify me from ever being invited again. But I'mma still gon' love 'em forever.
If you can, I saw this so I'mma do it. I saw it here, here, and it's not, it's a prophetic purpose, bro. Out of this conference, the launching, like a, and I saw it this week too. I saw, like, the launch. So, this is, you've had, this is, you have no idea what this is evolving, what will evolve. You have no idea. Tag, you're it. It is what it is. Enjoy the journey. Have fun. And I really mean that, have fun. Shake off the small stuff and nothing could stop you. What heaven has started, hell cannot stop. This is unstoppable. Y'all know that, right? I mean, it really is. And on a plethora of platforms and different iterations, that's why I love this.
This is like, out of this conference, societal architects will emerge. Literally, people that will rebuild society in the image and the plan of hope, truth, love, grace, righteousness, cultural reformers will emerge. Reconcilers will bring people together. This is gonna become, and I love this. This is gonna become a very multiethnic kingdom culture multigenerational conference. It is. It's gonna be beautiful. I mean, it's gonna be great. God's gonna resource it all, blow it up even more. So, I may not get invited again, but I'm gonna ask y'all to do something. It's gonna look silly, but it isn't. It's prophetic. If you can't physically, be you, boo. Don't do it. But if you can, if you can, and maybe you can't, but if you can I want you to squat like this for a second. Just like that. Work those calves, baby.
When I count to three, I want you to jump up. Now, it's not just jumping. It's prophetic act of you being launched. Whatever held you down will never have the power to hold you down ever again for the rest of your life. That's what I saw. You will never settle for trees. Your life is about to radically change. You're about to occupy the promises of God like never before. At the count of three, you get up. You and your family will never be held down again. And give God the biggest praise. Are you ready? It's time to cry out. One, two, three. Yes, sir. Yes, sir. Somebody, shout like it's done. Praise like it's done. Worship like it's done. Cry out. Cry out. Don't settle for trees. Don't settle for trees. Don't settle. I love you. I'm honored to be with you.
Your Latino brother from Cali that's in covenant with you. May the strength of the father, the grace of the son, the anointing of the Holy Spirit make this season the best, most fruitful season of your life as you never settle for trees. I want you to keep me in your prayers. Watch our movies. Y'all know that my ride or die, y'all know that, Devon Franklin and I, we do movies together and we've done breakthrough, and we did another movie together, and flaming hot. And now, I'm doing, there's five films that I'm currently working on, five different films. To God be all the glory. It's all him. And God is just opening up. We're starting our own production company come next month 'cause we have no choice.
Just on to the amount of work, it's just crazy over the top. And he's doing some great things, and we have a wonderful church in la and in Sacramento. Pastor Keion has been to Sacramento. I'mma bring him over to la for a conference. And it's amazing. It looks like heaven, the church. It really does. It's 40% Caucasian, which is code word for white. For reals, it is. Google it. 40% black, and then, there's 10% Latino, and native American, Asians, and it's about 68% millennial. It's a young church. He's been there. They love him there. We have a statue of Keion right there next to the apostle Paul. So, you know, if you're ever in the Sacramento, Los Angeles region, we will love to host you as long as you come back home to the church.
So, listen, y'all, we love you. There's a book coming out in September. God's already blessing it, called, "Fresh oil, holy fire, new wine". I'mma do something in the back table. I'm not gonna sell books back there. If you go online and purchase this book, if you purchase this book online, you preorder it, right? We're gonna give you a book free, back there in that back table. So, you get a free book back there if you purchase this book now online on Amazon. Even if you think Amazon is the antichrist's algorithm. Hey, keep me in your prayers. Let's do one thing together. In the name of Jesus. No joke, don't settle for trees. Let's go change the world. God bless you. God keep you.