Samuel Rodriguez - You and Your House Are Anointed For Greater Things
I want you to touch the neighbor you like the most and tell 'em, "Come hell or high water, I'm on my way to Rome". Tell your other neighbor the one you barely tolerate, tell that neighbor, you know who it is. Come on, don't fake it. Go to that person, "Come hell or high water, I'm on my way to Rome". You may be seated. You may be seated. If you're taking any notes, and good luck with that, here it is. You and your house are anointed for Rome. You and your house are anointed for greater things. Your destiny is not based on what's in front of you, your destiny is based on who's inside of you.
Acts 27, so here's the story, let me break this down. The producing mind anointing kicks in. We find the apostle Paul, he just suffered, he just literally survived a shipwreck. You've picture yourself in the middle of the sea, a Nord-Easter kicks in, a hurricane, you're in a ship with a bunch of people, in his case, a bunch of prisoners. That hurricane, that defector hurricane, just tears the ship apart. They literally end up holding on to pieces of wood. Just planks, wood and planks from the ship that is now in pieces. They get to the shoreline of the island called Malta.
One more time, a shipwrecked, the middle of the sea, a hurricane, and here's Paul. He gets to Malta, he is drenched, he's wet, soaking wet. And other prisoners, the Bible states, explicitly get there holding on to pieces, broken pieces of wood. The apostle Paul gets there, he's soaking wet, he's drenched, he's cold, and the people on the Island of Malta, they were very hospitable. They already set up some fire pits for the people that survive the shipwreck to be able to warm themselves up. Here comes the apostle Paul, he sees a fire pit, he is, one more time, drenched, cold, so he's looking for more wood. He finds brushwood.
In the brushwood was a snake, a viper embedded in the brushwood. When the brushwood, when the brushwood with the snake embedded made contact with the fire, that snake jumped out, grabbed a hold of Paul's hand. One version says, "He bit his hand". The apostle Paul does not engage in a very multifaceted conversation with the snake. The apostle Paul does not become super cynical, 'cause he had the right to become cynical.
The apostle Paul could've easily had said this, "Are you kidding me? I just survived a shipwreck, are you serious? Since the moment I accepted Jesus, my road to Damascus, the moment I encountered him, from there everything I've been through, I've been beaten multiple times, I've been imprisoned where I learned how to since a new song. I mean, I've been through a process. I survived a shipwreck, forget about the Titanic, Leonardo DiCaprio have not, not was standing. Here I am, and now this comes out. Now, there's no way this could be God's will. I'm out of here".
No! Here's the snake, took a hold of his hand, the apostle Paul... Hmm. Let a church arise that has the audacity, the faith, and the anointing to shake off everything hell sends our way. I promise you, before this session is over tonight, you will come under the anointing to shake off everything hell has sent your way. I'm either gonna go there right now in the first five and a half minutes. If the enemy has been attacking an area in your life, there's a reason for that. If he's been attacking your mind, there's a reason for that. If he's been attacking your health, there's a reason for that. If he's attacking your marriage, there's a reason for that. Your relationships, your finances, one of your children, there's a reason for that.
Stop whining, stop complaining, stop being so cynical. Whatever the devil has been attacking, God is about to use for his glory. I'mma say that one more time. Whatever the enemy has been attacking, put a shout on your lip and a praise in your heart. Whatever the enemy has been attacking, God's about to use for his glory. You and your house are anointed for Rome. Somebody shout, "Rome". So, what do you mean he suffered a shipwreck and he got to Malta, where was he going? To Rome. And hence the message. "Why was Paul going to Rome"? To look at all the different tourist sites. No. Paul was going to Rome because hashtag, because Paul went to Rome, you and I, to a great degree, are here right now.
This is where the gospel went viral. This is the trip that took the gospel from Judea and Jerusalem and Samaria to the world. This is the one where the gentiles, which you know, gentiles, hmm. Where the gentiles went like, "Ha". This trip to Rome was not anything. He didn't go to Rome for a mani-pedi, for a recital, and he wasn't going to Rome for a gathering of the "Road to Damascus association" annual conference. You'll get that by tomorrow morning. He was on his way to Rome because four chapters prior, God gave Paul his biggest assignment, Acts 23:11, read it. "That night, the Lord appeared to Paul and said, 'be encouraged Paul, as you have been a witness to me here in Jerusalem. You must preach the gospel, the good news in Rome as well'".
Paul was on his way to Rome to preach the good news on the biggest stage of the ancient world. Paul was on his way to Rome to change the world with the preaching of the gospel of Jesus. Oh, praise be God. Prophetically speaking, you and I are on our way to Rome. What does that mean? I need you to get ready, get ready. What's your assignment on this planet? What's my assignment? We hear lots of preachings on purpose and God bless 'em all, but our number one purpose, every other purpose is a derivative. It's a derivative outcome of the primary directive. Our purpose, after we are born again, our purpose is to fill the earth with the glory of Jesus Christ. How we do it may be very particular and customized, but our objective is to fill the world with the glory.
So, I don't care what you're currently reading on Facebook, or on Instagram, what you're seeing on YouTube, or on X, formerly known as Twitter, or via TikTok, or whatever ChatGPT may be telling you. I don't care what you're reading, I don't care what you're seeing on Fox News, MSNBC, CNN, ABC, NBC, CBS, Univision, Telemundo, the wall street journal, the New York times, Hawaii news. It doesn't really matter. It doesn't matter what they're saying. We are about to see more people come to Jesus. How many of y'all believe it? Hey, kings, we're about to see more people saved. I said, we're about to see more people saved. We're about to see more people delivered. We're about to see more people healed. I'm gonna say it. We're about to see more people baptized with the Holy Spirit than ever before in human history.
If you believe it, shout like we're on our way to Rome. We're on our way to Rome. Tell you we're on our way to Rome. We're about to see every demographic, every ethnicity, every generation reached. You can't stop God. An ideology, a social construct, a political movement cannot stop God. Isaiah 14:27, God's plans cannot me stopped. Matthew 24:14, "And the good news about the kingdom will be preached throughout the world. All the nations will hear it and then the end will come". Can't stop God. We're about to fill the earth with the glory of Jesus. You're saying, "pastor Sam, but you're talking about the world. I got family members that are not saved. I got sons and daughters that are bot saved," well, turn on your porch lights. Your prodigal sons and daughters.
The Bible says, "The nations will hear it". All the nations. Very specific. Not some of the nations, hmm, all of them hmm. 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. Well, 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 your 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 conduent 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 an Norwegian cruise line, royal Caribbean, celebrity X, carnival, what did I miss? All the Bougie 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 this ship on his way to Rome.
Now, Paul already heard, he already said, 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, whoosh, yes, 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, slapped around like a cheap piñata. That's slightly racist, let me take that back. Just slapped around, like a cheap piñata. And so, read it, read it. And they're being battered.
One of the craziest things you can 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 other's 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 wings of wokeism, cancel culture, ideologies, and social constructs that are counterintuitive 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 Dr. Morocco and pastor Josh, they heard this when I was with them recently in Dallas. And, when we left this conference, I initiated a part of this testimony last time, but now we're getting to the conclusive part. And if you don't remember, let me lay it out for you, but this, we share it in Dallas, and we're still living out the trauma, but I still have a twitch, which I'm still going over. Slight twitch but it just be really annoying. 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 Bible 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, and 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 miracles happening today. So, we were there, and the church really, really, really grew, and we got to the place where it's 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 that we illustrated, we went through a door, we felt God giving us a word, and 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 reached 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 he called me and said, "pastor Sam, would you have any interest whatsoever"? We are not doing good coming out of COVID. We're not doing good, well, at all. We've lost a lot of people. Would you be opened to having this emerge or take over our ministry? So we said, "This is God". You know, I mean, we thought it was God. We were like, "This must be God". So, 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 deliberations, 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've decided you. You're it". I went, "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". And I'm going, "Wow". "We need you to come in with your board, our board will be there. They can ask whatever questions they want and we will subsequently, that night, sign an MOU, and we will begin the process". "So, what questions are y'all 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've been praying and fasting. You know, this is it. It was a great property, the property had, one building fit 3,000 and second building fit about 1,000, and they had 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. And I'm not gonna give you the name of the certain coffee establishment, I won't tell you which one, it's the one with Jezebel on the cup. So, yeah, Jeze. So, I had my almond milk latte and I sat down with my team, and we wait, 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, you know, basically ask whatever questions they want, and they're not gonna prompt it, you know, prep it and all". He 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, integrational systems, and so forth, some high end systematic integrative questions when you merge or take over, right? The simple 101 Standford, NBA questions you would have out there. So, laid them out, right? So, I'm going, "Any questions? No questions... Alright, okay, you know, well, you 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, "First question, pastor Sam". "Please, proceed". "pastor Sam, we want you 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 like mirror, darkly, 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, "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, just, I go, "To be honest with you, our church, with great due deference, our church, we don't lean, we stand".