>> My dahter ended up in ICU in a ventilator. Coming up, Samuel Rodriguezshares his daughter’s health crisis thatcaused him to cry out to God. >> But it would be great right now if you would invade her room in ICU. I can’t talk to her. Her husband can’t see her. Her baby can’t see her. Can you just fill her room with your angels right now? I get a text from my daughter in ICU. From Survive to Thrive!Next! JAMES: I think it would be appropriate if I just stood up and shout because this is a man that I believe to be as anointed as anyone on the planet. He is the president of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference and there are over 42,000 churches right here in the U.S. that he oversees. And then really, hundreds of thousands around the world that he impacts with his leadership. I have preached at the New Season Christian Worship Center in California, which is just quite a challenging place sometime, and yet he’s learned something that he’s written a book about, From Survive to Thrive. Not just surviving but thriving. And really, this is not pointing to materialism or the monetary, it is talking about the riches of God’s kingdom power and his purpose fulfilled in us, and the fruitfulness of that commitment, and the fullness in joy of living there. And so Sammy Rodriguez, this place is always packed when you are here. And of course, we have the pandemic. We didn’t preach Sometimes we can tend to but they would be standing and cheering for you. So I want you to know I love you. I thank God for you. You are absolutely one of my favorite people on the planet. Thank you for being with us. SAMUEL: I’m honored to be with you. You changed my life years ago, growing up watching this show, this program, this ministry; and then when we finally connected and I had the privilege of ministering for your anniversary. It changed my life. If someone, for whatever reason, if they’re really bored and somewhere down the road someone writes the bio of Samuel Rodriguez, there is a chapter — there has to be a chapter about your influence in my life. There has to be. You marked me. There are people that influence you and then there are people that mark you and help define you, that’s what you did. So I love you both. Thank you for being who you are. You literally are light in the midst of darkness. You changed my life, and I know you’re changing the world. Thank you for having me. JAMES: Well, you know when I listen to you and I watch your ministry I think about Jesus looking down. And then you know sometimes I hope he looks down at us and turned to his Father and said, “Dad, look there. James and Betty are really doing your will. Look at them! And look at all of the people that love each other because you’re in them.” I think when God looks down at you and when he and Jesus talk, I think they discuss one of the most beautiful miracles on the planet. And the fact that you and I can be close and really love each other, and neither one of us for one moment desire in any way to use one another, we just want to be yielded to kingdom purpose. We’ve lost our life in His kingdom purpose. We’ve found it. And I’ve got to be honest with you, if everybody understood what it is to lose their life to find it, and they understood that meant to lose it in His kingdom purpose. Which means as long as you’re here, you’re here for his kingdom purpose. The King is here. He has come. The kingdom is at hand. It’s in us. And I’m telling you, you moved from just surviving to find life, and that kingdom life that he invites us into to express through us, this work doesn’t even cover it all. youreak it down. SAMUEL: That’s what compelled me to write the book. The sort of perpetual modality of one staying in survival mode in perpetuity; right? Why survive in perpetuity? If I were to engage a biblical narrative as a metaphor, every single person right now in the audience watching this, every single person is either in Egypt, the desert, or the Promised Land. Every single person is either failing, surviving, or thriving. The vast majority of people stay stuck in survival mode in perpetuity — forevermore! They never reach the thriving. Again, they get it’s not material wealth. Come on! In this pandemic we discovered what truly is essential and it is not the money in your bank account, it’s not any of that. It is what money cannot buy that is truly essential. But thriving speaks about the kingdom reality. It is Matthew chapter three. It is repentance that leads to kingdom. It’s the message of John the Baptist: If you repent