Mario spoke a word over Beeville, stating that God would use this crusade to demonstrate His power. The people were ready. The Tent was full and the presence of God was tangible from the beginning of the night.

The worship team once again led a powerful time of worship. Their ministry brought the crowd into immediate encounter with the presence of God, as song after song elevated the people’s faith.

Mario took the platform with great urgency. This wasn’t just another tent meeting, it was a divine appointment with destiny for an entire region.

He began his sermon titled, “Let It Rain,” by asking what causes rain? It’s not a weather report, not a scientific explanation. The answer is found in the Book of Deuteronomy.

“It shall be that if you earnestly obey My commandments which I command you today, to love the Lord your God and serve Him with all your heart, with all your soul, then I will give you the rain for your land in its season, the early rain and the latter rain, that you may gather in your grain, your new wine, and your oil” (Deuteronomy 11:13-14).

The condition for rain is serving God.

Mario didn’t hold back, he said, “We have created a Christianity that allows you to be blessed by God without serving Him, that allows you to know about God without being a servant of God.”

 

He called the Church to account, “We can’t expect God’s blessing while living in compromise, while dabbling in Christianity, rather than diving into full surrender.”

He told the story of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh, the cult leader who took over Madras, OR in the 1980s, buying the bank, the supermarket, the city council, even turning the Assembly of God church into a trash dump. This sex cult poisoned a salad bar, committed domestic terrorism, and enslaved an entire American town. Then Mario read in the newspaper Rajneesh had declared “Jesus failed when He died on the Cross.”

When he read that, anger rose up in Mario. He responded by renting a gymnasium at one of the schools, then took out a full page ad for the meeting and the headline read, “Did Jesus Fail When He Died On the Cross?” And the people came and filled the hall.

Mario asked the people one question, “Do you want to get rid of this cult?” And they responded, “Yes!”

He told them to stand to their feet and make a covenant with God, to serve Him. And he said that God told him if the people did that, in 30 days one of his leaders will turn state’s evidence against Rajneesh, he’ll be indicted by the Attorney General, and within a few months be on a jet out of the country.

The people all stood and declared, and thirty days later Rajneesh’s right -hand person turned evidence against him. And three months later he was deported back to India where he died in 1990. The land he had polluted was restored.

“What are you going to do if it doesn’t rain?” Mario challenged the Beeville crowd. “And what are you going to do if it does?”

He told them they were in a lose-lose situation if they mock this, because no matter what, I am going to have joy, I am going to have peace, I am going to have an unbreakable relationship with Jesus.

Mario then presented four keys to bringing the rain:

1. Serve the Lord (Deuteronomy 11:13-14)
God’s blessings are tied to our service. Not just knowing about God, but actively serving Him with all our heart and soul.

2. Fear the Lord (Jeremiah 5:24)
“They do not say in their heart, ‘Let us now fear the Lord our God, who gives rain, both the former and the latter, in its season. He reserves for us the appointed weeks of the harvest.”

Those who fear God have an appointment with blessing. An appointment with harvest. You’re not hoping for a breakthrough – you’re scheduled for it!

3. Ask the Lord (Zechariah 10:1)
“Ask the Lord for rain in the time of the latter rain. The Lord will make flashing clouds; He will give them showers of rain, grass in the field for everyone.”
The first word is “ask.” Jesus said, “You have not because you ask not.” We must become people who ask, who seek, and who knock.

4. Wait on the Lord (James 5:7)
“Therefore be patient, brethren, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, waiting patiently for it until it receives the early and latter rain.”

Of all the instructions, this is the most important. Never. Never. Never give up!

Mario told of reading about the widow in Luke 18 who sought justice from an unjust judge, who feared neither God nor man. She troubled him day and night, at breakfast, at the car wash, everywhere, until he gave her justice. Jesus said we should “always pray and never lose heart.”

Then came the moment that shook the Tent.

Mario described studying youth culture as God commissioned him for the new tent ministry. He thought about his own generation, the baby boomers who saw JFK assassinated, lived through Vietnam, watched prayer banned and abortion legalized. They had it hard. But as he studied modern young people he saw the wholesale destruction of their dignity, their independence, and their hope.

“At 3 o’clock in the morning, the room I was in grew dark. I could smell death. Satan began to taunt me, saying, ‘You will never reach the youth. Let me tell you what will happen to them. They’re going to kill themselves. They’re going to pervert themselves. They’re going to sit without hope. And I’m going to pull the plug on every last bit of decency until it drains out of them.’

“Then,” Mario said, “The glory of God filled the room. And God roared back, ‘BUT I WILL POUR OUT MY SPIRIT ON THEM.'”

The people cheered and praised God.

This led into the altar time and the response was immediate and powerful. Mario didn’t just ask for hands. He commanded those who wanted new life in Christ to stand and come forward. They came from every section. Young, old, broken, searching, hungry for Jesus. As they streamed forward the atmosphere shifted from desperation to celebration.

Mario told the people, “I feel absolutely that I have nothing to do with this except that Jesus, in His mercy, used me. I am a servant of Jesus.”

Mario prayed with these new believers and then directed them out for ministry with our volunteers. This is a great chance for us to get their information so we can connect them with great churches in the area to help disciple them. And also to pray another blessing over them.

Then the healings began. It’s always an immediate and marked shift in the atmosphere. You can feel it in the air. It is like there is a thickness, an electricity, and an expectancy.

A woman in the aisle was touched. God revealed she had a painful illness for many years and it was leaving her body right then.

Another woman received healing for internal issues that plagued her for a long time.

Mario said there were seven men all with heart disease, and then five more who were women. He called for them all to stand and they did, all over the Tent. As they stood Mario commanded the disease to leave in Jesus’ name.

Then he said there were twenty five people with diabetes. People began to stand without being asked. And they were prayed over.

Mario then had everyone who needed a healing in their body to raise their hands. And then had those around them lay hands on them and pray for them. I feel like this is always a crucial moment in every tent event, when the people begin to understand that it is not Mario, but it is Jesus. And they too can pray for people and see them touched and healed.

“I have not withheld your mighty acts from the great congregation” (Psalm 40:10).

Mario quoted this scripture then called for those who had been healed to stand to their feet and give God all the glory. The Tent was suddenly full of people on their feet, crying, and praising God.

He told the people this crusade isn’t just about individual miracles. It’s about corporate breakthrough for an entire region.

“When the Lord led me to Beeville, I knew immediately that God wanted to do something with the water crisis here,” Mario announced.

The drought affecting the area isn’t just natural, it’s spiritual. And God is tying the breaking of the drought to the breaking open of revival.

God is building an army. Not an army that fits in comfortable church culture. Not an army that’s satisfied with programs and performance. An army of frustrated saints who hunger for more. An army of pastors who kept their integrity. An army of believers who are tired of playing church and ready for war!

This is Beeville’s moment!