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"Here as in Heaven."
For more information visit : garden.church
You're listening to the Garden Church podcast. We're in a series called church on fire, a journey through the book of acts. This is a story of ordinary people filled with the spirit, carrying the presence of Jesus into every corner of the world. The same spirit that raised Jesus from the dead is alive and in us today. Join us as we step into the call to be people set on fire for his mission.
Darren Rouanzoin:Alright. Thank you. 11:00. Good morning. Let me try it again.
Darren Rouanzoin:It was like the 9AM with those who volunteer. Good morning. Alright, let me see your Bibles. So we have we have yeah, 11 you won so far. You beat nine in two ways.
Darren Rouanzoin:There's three more options, three more three more prizes you can win. Go to Acts chapter two. I'm gonna preach the exact same text. I'm I'm giving an overview of the work and the role of the Holy Spirit in the book of Acts. That's today.
Darren Rouanzoin:I'm gonna examine the role of the Holy Spirit through the book of Acts and what the the Holy Spirit does in the church today. I've got 10 points. But before that I wanna do a little intro. Can we jump into some questions? Why is it that so much of the church today lives without the power of the Holy Spirit?
Darren Rouanzoin:You know, we know about the Holy Spirit but we don't really experience him or his presence or his power. I wanna give you three, there's probably lots of lots of reasons I could come up with but by way of introduction, I wanna just offer three observations that I've witnessed in leading the last seventeen, eighteen years, in the church of why we don't live in the power of the Holy Spirit. Number one is the church has been shaped by secularism. So we as the western have been more influenced by Greek philosophy and the enlightenment scientific revolution and the rationalistic thinking. More of that than the scriptures themselves.
Darren Rouanzoin:We, trust in human strength and reason and strategy over his presence. And I would argue that in my experience traveling around the world teaching on the ministry of the Holy Spirit which I have, the people who are most in opposition to the Holy Spirit are Christians. The people who are most resistant to the supernatural are followers of Jesus. It is my experience right now that when we go out of these walls and we go to the gym and we go to coffee shops, everyone is open to the supernatural. That's why they're going to psychics, that's why they're doing Ayahuasca trips to connect with some spirit guide.
Darren Rouanzoin:They're That's why they have a spiritual experience with yoga and tai chi and soul cycle. They are open to the supernatural and the church is hesitant. We're If not outright oppositional to things because we want order. And we'll talk about that over the next couple of weeks. Today, it's the tenfold works of the Holy Spirit in the book of Acts.
Darren Rouanzoin:Next week, it's tongues and prophecy. So you don't wanna miss that one, because that's gonna be great. Number two, the church has disciple people into consumer Christianity. What we've been taught, what we've experienced, what we've been grown up in is a church that's about inspire inspiration and entertainment rather than being filled and sent. We don't expect much from God in our gatherings gatherings other than some good content.
Darren Rouanzoin:And we prefer as disciples the methods of comfort, safety and control over Jesus' ministry himself. So we don't, we are not taught to expect the ministry of healing in our services. We're not taught to pray boldly as we go. We're taught to consume spiritual goods. And because that's what we're taught, that's what we expect and that's what we experience.
Darren Rouanzoin:It says John Wimber said, we see according to our expectations. Many times our expectations come from conditioning. We are taught to expect certain things in the Christian life and miss what God is doing if he acts outside of our expectations. I grew up not believing the ministry of the Holy Spirit was for today. So the experience I had as a Christian was none of that activity in the book of Acts or in the New Testament was for today.
Darren Rouanzoin:I lived that experience until I was filled with the Holy Spirit. And I was confronted by the world of the New Testament in the present day and age. That God does heal the sick. That God does give sight to the blind. That God does heal deaf people.
Darren Rouanzoin:In fact, we took a guy who was new to faith to India years ago. I'll never forget it. He was from New Jersey, a wrestler, had a thick New Jersey accent and he was FaceTiming inexperience to his wife because what happened was we were doing a ministry of healing and for pastors in India, about 500 pastors. And I had prayed, I had invited people to come forward, we're praying, laying hands, praying for them. And there was a guy who was deaf, couldn't hear out of his ear, both ears.
Darren Rouanzoin:And I was praying for him and I I teach when you do the ministry of healing, you can pray lots of Jesus prayed twice for the guy who was blind, saw the trees and then he prayed again and then the guy got healed. I can pray 70 times. Alright. If Jesus prayed twice, can pray 70. So I prayed like seven times, not exaggeration.
Darren Rouanzoin:Finally, I'm like, Joe, come over here. And Joe's like, what do I do? I'm like, well, just tell the ear to hear. And I kid you not, I'm working my best prayers. Joe from New Jersey with a New Jersey accent who barely knows Jesus goes, alright, ears open here.
Darren Rouanzoin:And the guy freaks out and runs. And we asked the translator what happened? He's like, oh, he heard. He he can hear. He's gonna go tell his wife.
Darren Rouanzoin:We're like, bring him back. We gotta tell his testimony. But that night as Joe FaceTime, he says to his wife, this Jesus blank is real. The church has become too busy for the presence of God. We don't operate in the things of the spirit because we're fast paced, we plan hard, we rarely slow down and the Holy Spirit requires us to wait and listen and receive not through our power but his.
Darren Rouanzoin:So we are very fascinated today in the role of the Holy Spirit in our life and the church. Luke as he writes the the story of acts, remember it's season two of a two season series. Season one is the gospel of Luke and of all of the gospels that one is filled with the ministry of the Holy Spirit. In fact here's the in the first four chapters here's all the mentions of the Holy Spirit. In fact, if you just do an overview, it's it's it's overwhelming how much the Holy Spirit is active and what's the point?
Darren Rouanzoin:Luke wants you to see that the life and ministry of Jesus is one filled and empowered by the Holy Spirit. Jesus's life and ministry was filled and empowered by the Holy Spirit. So what the spirit did in and through Jesus, he now does in and through the church. It's the same ministry. And so I want us as followers of Jesus to expect God to move in power.
Darren Rouanzoin:And that's what Pentecost is about. The Pentecost is the day the spirit comes and gives birth to the church and fills his people. And forever the world has changed because of what happened two thousand something years ago, fifty days after the Passover. So, why don't you guys stand with me real quick? I wanna read Acts two, the day of Pentecost if you are able.
Darren Rouanzoin:Grab the scriptures, open to verse, one of chapter two. I'm gonna read this to you. You ready? I'll let you get there. I love hearing pages turn.
Darren Rouanzoin:I wanna just let you know because people are like, why do you keep talking about physical Bibles? And you can bring it like you I don't This isn't a religious thing. When I read this, I'm not distracted by infinity. I'm not distracted to go and see who text me. I'm not distracted to see what the post tell me likes.
Darren Rouanzoin:I'm not distracted to buy something on Amazon or look at those shoes that I really want. This allows me to focus and why is that important? Because attention is the doorway to spiritual life. I think if Jesus was alive today he would say, where your attention is there your heart will be also. And so let's just bring our attention from it.
Darren Rouanzoin:You And look, you can use your iPad. I'm not gonna shame you publicly much longer but let's just do it. Verse one. When the day of Pentecost came, were all together in one place and suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came in from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them.
Darren Rouanzoin:All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit. And then they began to speak in other tongues as the spirit enabled them. Now they were staying in Jerusalem, God fearing Jews from every nation under heaven. When they heard the sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment because each one heard their own language being spoken utterly amazed. They asked, aren't these who are speaking Galilean?
Darren Rouanzoin:Then how is it that each of us hears them in their in our native languages? Parthians, Medes, Elamites, residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and parts of Libya near the Serene. Visitors from Rome, both Jews and converts to Judaism, Cretans and Arabs. We hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues. Amazed and perplexed, they ask one another, what does this mean?
Darren Rouanzoin:Some however made fun of them and said they have had too much wine. The word of the Lord. Go ahead and grab a seat. You're learning some high church liturgy stuff, well done. Standing, sitting, responding.
Darren Rouanzoin:The pastor, the leader says, the congregation says. So we have in the story which we went through last week. Remember, I told the un I I shared the untold story of Pentecost how it's the fulfillment of five major narratives of the Old Testament. At Pentecost is Eden Eden being restored. It is Babel being reversed.
Darren Rouanzoin:It is, I wanna get this right, Sinai renewed. It's the temple being rebuilt and it's exile over. Now, the spirit comes and it's this crazy experience. The language that Luke uses to describe it is is something that we're familiar with whenever we have any cool experience. Like if I tried to explain to you the sunrise I had over the Grand Canyon, I'm gonna use language that won't do it justice.
Darren Rouanzoin:I'll use simile, like, such as. That's what this is. The spirit isn't wind. The spirit is like wind. It's like a violent wind which draws us back to Exodus to the story of the theophany of God's presence coming down on Mount Sinai and bringing the covenant to Moses and Israel.
Darren Rouanzoin:He describes what look like tongues of fire. If you've ever had an experience, it's hard to make sense of it unless you've experienced it yourself which I've never seen tongues of fire separate. I have been in rooms where the presence of God shook the room. I have seen God's presence come into a moment where you just wanna lay down and no one can move. There's nothing but silence.
Darren Rouanzoin:I've I've been I've had experiences in 02/2007, I experienced the presence of Jesus being filling me with his holy spirit for what I would say was the first time. I would say that was my baptism. That was my baptism. That was And how do I describe it? Well, I would use language like I was confronted by an ambush by the love of the father.
Darren Rouanzoin:I felt what felt like warm electricity vibrating in my body. I felt like the spirit was comforting the deepest wounds and drawing me to a great future all at the same time. It's for those that have ears to hear and eyes to see. I can tell you about the time in 2018 when I had just finished the sermon at this massive conference in Causeway Coast Vineyard and I was exhausted, ready to go get a meal and go home and these college students came and they said they wanted to pray for me. I'm like, okay, fine, pray for me.
Darren Rouanzoin:And I fell over and I for that time would be the first time I'd experienced being intoxicated in the Holy Spirit. I I was there for forty five minutes, John was in the room, John's not in this room, he was here at the first and they had to carry me out of the meeting. I I have no I love order. I love theology. I love having control.
Darren Rouanzoin:And I had what was less control. The only way I could describe it is what it was like when I went to u s UCSB and partied and I was intoxicated. I sat at the only restaurant open in Northern Ireland in this small place called Cor Lane and I leaned against the Mcdonald McDonald's window trying to make sense of this experience. What was it for? I don't know but it expanded something in my soul.
Darren Rouanzoin:Where every time the spirit would move for about a year, I I would get low and then I would get a little tipsy. And for someone who really likes control, that's crazy. Do you know what I'm talking about? Now I'm not saying that experience, you figure it out with your theology because I'm still wrestling with mine. But I wanna share with you today the role of the Holy Spirit.
Darren Rouanzoin:So let's start with some good theology. Is this okay? Again, I told you what I'm gonna do is show you that you can be intoxicated in the spirit and rich in biblical theology all at the same time. That the two do not oppose each other. Is that okay?
Darren Rouanzoin:How am I doing right now? Is this okay? Wait till you get to these notes. Here we go. Who is the holy spirit?
Darren Rouanzoin:First, it's not an it. Stop calling it it. It's a him. It's a person. It's not a force to wield.
Darren Rouanzoin:He is a presence to enjoy. He thinks, look at these are all from the old and new testament. He thinks, he teaches, he reminds, he bears witness, he guides, he hears, he speaks, he glorifies Jesus, he discloses him. He has a mind and a will he loves. He can be grieved, he cries out, he leads and witnesses, he shows, he speaks.
Darren Rouanzoin:He can be sinned against, he's lied to, he's insulted, he's encouraging and in comforting. When Jesus speaks of the role of the Holy Spirit, he uses in John 14 Greek language, he says, another counselor, another which is really unique and if we were doing a theology study right now, I'd pull out the Greek, I don't have time. But in the Greek, are two words for another. One that's of a different kind and one that is of the same kind. And when Jesus says another counselor he means of the same kind.
Darren Rouanzoin:Meaning, it's just he is just like Jesus. You with me? Now in the Old Testament, we're doing quick theology of the Old Testament. The spirit would often come at specific moments. So we know the spirit was around during creation that's in verse one and two of Genesis one and two.
Darren Rouanzoin:The spirit of God comes upon and gives power and prophecy to kings and prophets and kings and priests and for all you creative folks, the first person anointed by the spirit is an exodus is an artist. For the sake and all are like, yes, I knew it. Just because you create something doesn't mean it's inspired by the holy spirit, just saying, okay? But what's unique about the presence of the Holy Spirit in the Old Testament, it's for specific people for particular time for a specific purpose. So there's bursts of power not always abiding in his presence.
Darren Rouanzoin:Now, Jesus when he speaks about the role of the Holy Spirit, he says, I love this. Think about this and I want you to do a quick audit when you think about your Christian life. If it's living up to the promise of Jesus. He says on the last day of the festival, Jesus stood and said with a loud voice, let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me as scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.
Darren Rouanzoin:The Christian life is to be like a person who becomes a river of living water. You are the fulfillment of Ezekiel forty seven's river prophecy where the old the the the tabernacle, the temple, it starts small and then it goes deeper to the nations. You are that river through the power of the holy spirit. So that river flows to the nations through you in the power of the Holy Spirit. That's what Jesus promises.
Darren Rouanzoin:And then Pentecost comes and the book of Acts is this historical theological description of what is going on and why it's going on. But we as followers need to be immersed in a in the proper understanding of the Holy Spirit. So what I wanna do today, if you're new to church, I'm so glad you're here. I'm giving you lots of theology but hopefully you can tell by the tone that we live in a moment where people are more curious than ever before about Jesus. You don't have to be Christian, you have to pay attention to recognize like podcast, music, like there's a, what's his name?
Darren Rouanzoin:Forrest Frank has more streams on YouTube and and subscribers than Drake. Do you know that? Do know on YouTube? Yeah. So there's something going on in the world where there's this resurgence around Jesus, Christianity, God and I wanna tell you, there's also powers in this world that are not holy.
Darren Rouanzoin:There are spiritual beings that are not holy that the world is messing around with that maybe you've dabbled with. And I wanna say, yoga won't heal the wounds of your heart. Right? Your self mantra practice in the mirror is not gonna empower you as a parent. You need a savior and he wants to inhabit your soul, your being with his presence and that is the holy spirit.
Darren Rouanzoin:You good? So let me give you Give me like twenty three minutes to go through 10 quick things with stories. You're alright with that? Point number one, let's take notes. I wanna see those papers write notes.
Darren Rouanzoin:If you have a phone, you can take it out. Tap that thing in front of you. Don't know if that works. It'd be great if it'd be like, here's my notes and you could tap it and the notes pop up. But then you'd you'd be distracted on your phone.
Darren Rouanzoin:So no, let's not do that. Verbal processor. Number one, the spirit continues the ministry of Jesus. In the book of acts, it begins with, in my former book Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus began to do and teach. Right?
Darren Rouanzoin:So the the book of acts is part two. It's a continuation of part one. But what Luke wants you to know is that the Holy Spirit comes to continue Jesus' ministry. What was Jesus' ministry? Proclaiming the good news of the gospel that God's, kingdom is available here now.
Darren Rouanzoin:You can live the way you were designed to live in Shalom. A life marked by peace, wholeness, justice, forgiveness, right relationship. Yes. You can live in a healthy relationship with your spouse. That's a promise.
Darren Rouanzoin:Right relationship, you can have the right relationship with your true self. That false self, that shadow self, that ego that's corrupting your relationships that's causing all sorts of tension in everywhere you go, that can be restored and redeemed in Christ because we receive our identity, we don't create it. That's Jesus' ministry and he wants to restore all things back to the way they were intended. So he wants to empower you to bring about his ministry everywhere you go so you'll heal the sick, cast out demons free. Those who are oppressed, you'll give sight to the blind, deaf will hear oil of gladness instead of what?
Darren Rouanzoin:Morning. Morning and despair. The spirit is God's empowering presence meaning Jesus is still at work. You good? Point number two is according to acts, you're gonna see this for the next, however long it takes me to get through this series.
Darren Rouanzoin:The spirit of God empowers witness. Now, the word witness we've talked about, it's a transformed life that points to Jesus. You see we live in a moment where you can self create your identity. Right? All these practices like Jocko Willink says, discipline equals freedom.
Darren Rouanzoin:The problem with that philosophy of you doing all the work is it creates a religion. It creates a pharisee culture even if you're not a Christian. It creates a pharisee culture that my job is to fix everything and the problem is that's gonna end in slavery as Galatians says. Don't take on a yoke of slavery, instead walk, live by the spirit. So the expectation is that it's the spirit of God that sets us free, that transforms our life.
Darren Rouanzoin:We can do everything we can but it's his presence that will ultimately empower the transformation we're looking for. Couple years ago, I get a text message on Christmas Eve or two days before A day before Christmas Eve specific. This couple in our church leaders, they say that, the husband is an alcoholic and he's been not caring for the family, they've been trying really hard and it's gotten really bad and they need help. So I meet with them on Christmas Eve, my wife and I and it begins this long year and a half journey of meeting with this couple, they have five kids and they go through this season of of suffering where the husband is in and out of rehab, in and out of of crisis. We would get calls all the time.
Darren Rouanzoin:He goes he'd be sober for a few weeks and then fall and fall into temptation or or or get relapse and then he would be crazy at the house and get kicked out. We'd have to call the cops. There It was crazy and our our leaders, our elders were walking with this couple and it was a year and a half of multiple expensive rehabilitation where it's caring for the family, providing meals, support, cleaning, all the things that you do as a local church. And it got to the point where it was so bad, he wasn't living at home, he was gonna be homeless and he was like, I just wanna move home. He was from another place in the process of immigration and the the thing is if he went back home, he could never come back to The US, would take ten years or so.
Darren Rouanzoin:So he'd leave his family. And it was so bad and I was so over it. I was like, let's buy the ticket and send him. Like you know, boundaries are what you need at certain times. So we did, Saturday night we did and that next Sunday, he showed up at church because his daughter was getting baptized and his wife text me and said, remember you were preaching on deliverance that Sunday.
Darren Rouanzoin:Sat in two services watched his daughter get baptized and my wife in between services said, all the elders are here, why don't we go pray for him? And I'm like, I'm done praying. I don't have faith for that right now. You guys pray. He's like, nope.
Darren Rouanzoin:She's like, nope. Dragged me over. We're gonna pray. Go into this room. I'll share the details of the prayer next week because it pertains to tongues and prophecy.
Darren Rouanzoin:So come back for that part two, that deeper story. But in that gathering of prayer in a moment God broke in. And he says, I heard Jesus say surrender and trust me. From that point on he's been sober two years. That day but with going to rehab, stayed through rehab all the way, reconciled, his life is completely transformed.
Darren Rouanzoin:He says every day I say thank you to Jesus for saving my life. It's the spirit of God that empowers witness. Let me just say that testimony is for somebody here. For you and overflow or in this room or if you're listening online, there's so many people watching. The testimony of Jesus can set you free.
Darren Rouanzoin:His testimony, we'll bring them up at some point and share it. Is powerful testimony of God's work of not just saving someone. And if you wanna know his trauma, he watched family members get murdered. He was part His family was part of witchcraft in the cult. We're talking the worst kind of childhood trauma.
Darren Rouanzoin:He is a walking miracle because Jesus lives. Point number three for the sake of time is the spirit forms a new community. You see the thing that you we all take for granted is what's happened because of the work of the holy Spirit is he gave us Jesus community and the way Luke records it is it's unlike any other community you've ever witnessed. And when he describes it in Acts two and Acts four, what you get is a snapshot picture of what God promised in the law being fulfilled by the spirit. That people would have no needs.
Darren Rouanzoin:That's Jubilee. That slave, free, Greek, Hebrew, every barrier all of a sudden is a new covenant community. That doesn't happen because we focused on diversity. It doesn't happen because we made sure everybody that's on the spectrum is checked on the box. It happens because of Jesus in the power of the Holy Spirit.
Darren Rouanzoin:And when the Lord of Lords is Lord of Lords and King of Kings, then we can submit to that authority and we can become one family in the power of the Holy Spirit. Luke creates a word, koinonia, to describe this thing. It's not potlucks, it's spirit empowered family on mission. That's this new thing that exists here only in the church. It doesn't exist because you got some Christians together, listen to a deconstruction podcast and started your own church.
Darren Rouanzoin:It doesn't exist because you're a bunch of moms hanging out with $70 lattes and walking your kids. It exists when you are following a king, making disciples, worshiping the king, sharing your resources, receiving communion, and giving it all away for the sake of the ends of the earth. That's church. I didn't know it was gonna get that heated. Number four.
Darren Rouanzoin:Oh, I got stories. Let me go back. Can I tell a story? I gotta tell stories. Like this is what I love like Jesus I got filled the spirit and I started church.
Darren Rouanzoin:That's my story. The next day, plant a church. I'm like, okay. Now here's what I would say and Todd, the pastor of Rock Harbor, he would agree, they I probably should had a little more time. Like I was eight months into my marriage, know, that's bad.
Darren Rouanzoin:Give them give me like five years. Right? I was 23, '22, '23, '24 when this whole thing launched. I was still My brain wasn't fully deformed. It was deformed.
Darren Rouanzoin:Yes. Yes. Deformed. Fully formed like it takes many years. Right?
Darren Rouanzoin:The emotional maturity of a man happens at 43 is what I read. I'm like this I'm not even there yet. Anyways, we'll get there. And you guys have to suffer through all of it. But the church starts in in the beginning, God did something with the with the small We had one life group at the time and our first life group which is now house churches, we had a couple in our church who lost a loved one and they couldn't afford to go back to Texas.
Darren Rouanzoin:They couldn't afford to go so our our house church like, we'll pay for you, go. And that same couple was about to lose their house, was 2,009 and we were like, we'll pay your mortgage. So we we What we did is we sold stuff. We did a garage sale because we were 20. We didn't have money.
Darren Rouanzoin:We had debt from school. I kept waiting for the debt to be canceled. Didn't didn't get canceled. Like hard work paid it off. Budgeting with my wife paid off the debt.
Darren Rouanzoin:Just so you know, you can do that. In the power of the holy spirit, it's still miraculous. Hard work is still miraculous, that's for somebody. But at the same time, That's what what happened in our church. We just got marked by generosity.
Darren Rouanzoin:So so to this day, I can't tell you how many people have been sent on vacation that shouldn't go on vacation but somebody sponsored it. How many how many cars? Like dozens of cars have been given away. Because at the Garden Church, you don't sell the old car, you give it. You don't sell the old iPhone, you give it.
Darren Rouanzoin:You don't you Because we believe that's what God calls us to be. It is a sign that there is a God when you live with sharing what you have and giving it away. Are you with me? Some of you don't know that yet because you're not partaking in the generous thing behind all things that we do here. Because you're living with a scarce perspective of the kingdom of God.
Darren Rouanzoin:We live in an abundant world because he owns a cattle on a thousand hills. So I believe there's gonna be buildings given to our church to occupy buildings all over LA and Orange County. I believe like my friend at Riverhouse, he's had multiple pastors and spouses of pastors get their mortgages completely canceled and paid for anonymously. When did they increase? There's missionaries in this house.
Darren Rouanzoin:When they see that if they don't need to go on a tour of fundraising, one church takes care of it. Amen. Why not? It starts with It's like, well I don't have the money. You know what?
Darren Rouanzoin:There are people in this church that have been giving $5 every month faithfully and that is more than some of you give all year long. And maybe you give tens of thousands but that is an act of sacrifice committed. Some of you don't even know what I'm talking about. You want community, you don't know how to give. Try start giving and see what happens.
Darren Rouanzoin:Alright. Number four, I'm I got too many points. Check this out, the spirit in the book of acts, it's so clear that the church is flying by the seat of their pants. They're blind, they're just like, I don't know, they're holding up a lantern and hitting walls. They're like, okay, that's that's not a door, that's a wall.
Darren Rouanzoin:Let's go this way. Like and the spirit is the one guiding, orchestrating the mission of the church. Philip, I love Philip. I can't wait to preach on him. I've shared a little bit of a story like he's waiting tables.
Darren Rouanzoin:You get persecution comes, Stephen dies. He goes to Samaria and there's a revival in Samaria and here's what I love about Philip is that he will respond to the voice of God. Philip is at the region where John and James wanna call down fire and judgment. Right? In the book of of John like, they're like, they're rejecting you Jesus.
Darren Rouanzoin:Let's call down fire from heaven and burn them up. That's what they said in my gospel. And now, John and James go and lay hands on those people and the spirit comes. And it's Philip, the city evangelist. Right?
Darren Rouanzoin:And that's when you as a leader today, you have your, you know, you have your Instagram account, you have your podcast, you have your book deals, you have your circuit, your tours, you do the conference annually, you got your merch. No, no, no, Holy Spirit says to him when it when there's revival, go to the desert road. Leave the revival to the desert. He's like, sure that's all this is about is obeying you. And he he's he's waiting on the desert after having revival and the Ethiopian eunuch comes by, gets saved and takes the gospel to Ethiopia.
Darren Rouanzoin:I mean come on. That's the strategist, right? So Peter has a vision of some of blanket coming down with some food like things that he couldn't eat together. I would like to suggest that it was a cheeseburger because you couldn't eat dairy and and meat together according to the Hebrew law. I think he saw that together and he's like, that's the future.
Darren Rouanzoin:That's the future. Don't call what I've made clean unclean says the Lord. One of my pastor friends just was hating and totally dismissing, he's in Seattle, I'm not gonna name him, his name is Philmore. And he he's posted about how much he hates In N Out. And I was like, bro, we're gonna have to have a church council like online like publicly like bro, think your church is now on the brink of heresy and you're gonna need to come down, we're gonna have to a council and just do like a taste test just to straighten you out.
Darren Rouanzoin:Like I don't know what you're talking about putting Wendy's over to In N Out. Freaking Exactly. Like this is sin. Right? Like judge them by their fruit man.
Darren Rouanzoin:I'm telling you right now. Filmore, you heard me publicly say it. I'm I'm sending you this clip. Just get your heart right bro. No, it's good.
Darren Rouanzoin:But we have this and as a result then Cornelius comes, knocks or his servants knock on the door. Peter goes to a Gentile's house which you would never do as a Jewish person. And as a result, the Holy Spirit fills the Gentiles and we are here because most of us are Gentiles because of that vision. Alright. Isn't that amazing?
Darren Rouanzoin:He guides the mission. Number five, the spirit breaks boundaries. I love this because he says in acts one, the you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria into the ends of the earth. Judea and Samaria don't belong together. Right?
Darren Rouanzoin:It's the right and the left. It's the KKK and the Black Panther Party. It's Al Qaeda and the American military during the wars. Like, it's it's offensive to hear it together. We don't read it.
Darren Rouanzoin:We read it as geography. The first century is like, Samaria? Like, what? No. Like, but that's the point.
Darren Rouanzoin:This thing's gonna go where you don't want it to go and you're gonna take it. All the, you know, crazy extreme right Republicans have to go to the other side, whatever the most of it, LGBTQ plus group and you're gonna be the missionary to them. Exactly. Yes. Okay.
Darren Rouanzoin:Where do you stand? The point is it offends you that's why because the gospel breaks barriers. We're all his children. Are you with me? But for some reason in this political climate we want people to act, vote, talk, look like us.
Darren Rouanzoin:This is the only institution that has all spectrums of life that come under lordship. We don't unite because we agree. We we agree upon Jesus. Number six, spirit empowers holiness and boldness. The spirit, I can't wait to teach on this because, I actually think I just wanna say this.
Darren Rouanzoin:You'll see this. It's the spirit that convicts us of sin, right? Can I tell you something that I think the Lord's doing right now? I think he's convicting our church of sin and he's whispering it. And you hear it and then you just you you hear it and then you're just, okay, go on to the next thing.
Darren Rouanzoin:But the whispers of the spirit are allowed right now. And if you hear a prompting, if you To to steward the word requires an attentiveness to your life with it. So if he whispers to you, hey, get off Instagram for a moment. Hey, why don't you surrender your nighttime routine of checking out on Netflix to just read scripture for for now? Hey, why don't you wake up fifteen minutes earlier and just sit in my presence?
Darren Rouanzoin:Grab your coffee and sit quietly. He's whispering these things. Yes. Obviously get rid of the big stuff. Right?
Darren Rouanzoin:Those things are always gonna be good. But there's this moment where the Lord wants to consecrate your mind, consecrate your time, Consecrate your calendar. Consecrate your screen time. Not for you to be more holy because that's not what we can do. That's the work of holiness is him in us.
Darren Rouanzoin:He makes us holy but to be dedicated to which is the Hebrew word for holy unto the Lord. And I think here's why I say that. I don't wanna say revival's coming. We're not gonna use that language. God's doing something right now.
Darren Rouanzoin:There's waves of people coming to faith, waves of people coming back to church. If revival comes, can I tell you what happens throughout history? When revival comes, always starts in the church with a few. Churches were connected to movements, small groups of people in churches. And what happens is some churches recognize it and respond.
Darren Rouanzoin:They create space for the spirit to come. Eventually, the revival will move outside. It always goes outside of church. It reforms culture. It transforms culture.
Darren Rouanzoin:Like in Wales during the Welsh revival, there's so much cultural renewal. Like they didn't they didn't arrest people. They didn't need lawyers because people aren't going to sue each other. There there was no trouble at the law for a year. They they funded schools.
Darren Rouanzoin:They closed down taverns and started doing filling libraries. Like this is all the result of the spirit of God working in a local community. Like the they they had coal mining and there's this true story of the little pit ponies used for the coal mines couldn't understand the commands of the miners because they stopped cussing. Here's why I say this. When revival moves outside of the church and if we're not ready, it will be judgment on our church.
Darren Rouanzoin:Because when it moves outside, God's saying, well, you missed me and I'm gonna do it anyway. Or we honor his presence and the ministry of God flows. And there are enough not enough buildings or parking lots for what God wants to do. Amen? Or homes or apartments for the work of the Lord.
Darren Rouanzoin:Let's go to next one. Number seven, the spirit inspires worship and prayer. If you see the first thing the Holy Spirit does is cause worship. They're gathering and the spirit comes and now they're speaking in tongues and what do people hear? I love that line, aren't these all Galilean?
Darren Rouanzoin:It's like saying, aren't these all uneducated hicks? Yeah. That's what they're saying. Yeah. And we hear them in our native language from around the world.
Darren Rouanzoin:Yeah. Praises being sung to God. When the spirit comes, when you're filled, it's just eruption in worship because the spirit always points to Jesus. Right? That's why when when rooms are We're responding to things going on in our prayer rooms or here on Sunday.
Darren Rouanzoin:I'm always testing what God's doing based on is it pointed to Jesus or somebody else? Like when the spirit begins to move and people cry and weep, sometimes it's natural, sometimes it's it's the presence of God, sometimes it's someone just not knowing what to do, sometimes it's unholy spirits and they draw attention from Jesus to themselves. So I always tell leaders in that moment just draw it back to Jesus. We're not gonna waste time on this guy crying over here. We're gonna point it right back to Jesus and our praises will will will cover the annoyance of an unholy spirit.
Darren Rouanzoin:I've It's like, I'm I I have been in so many environments where the demonic manifests and we just know what to do. We kick them out and we cast them out but they will not draw attention outside of bringing it back to Jesus. We will always point people to Jesus. Is that I feel like I'm training you for what's coming. Is this okay?
Darren Rouanzoin:Yes. Alright. Number eight is the spirit strengthens us in suffering. Primary way you become more like Jesus is suffering. Practice the way all you want.
Darren Rouanzoin:Suffering is the primary way. It will be and here's the thing, we're all You don't need to look for it. It's gonna come. Suffering is just gonna come and here's the thing, you can waste it. Most of us waste suffering.
Darren Rouanzoin:We don't recognize how much God wants to be in it with us. Right? I was talking to Faith, our worship pastor. Two years she tried to get pregnant. She has Emerson now and she's about to have another baby.
Darren Rouanzoin:Yeah. Isn't it amazing? But the suffering, there was there she suffered through it. She had to show up every week and sing a Hallelujah. Well inside there was such raw brutal longing every Mother's Day, every child dedication which in our church is like every week was a reminder of what she didn't have.
Darren Rouanzoin:She didn't bring it everywhere else. She brought it to Jesus And God sustained her and God answered her prayers. That's not always the case. We know what it's like to have a lot of unanswered prayers. I was thinking about this idea when I hire people, pastors in particular, look for elders.
Darren Rouanzoin:On the conversation we have some new elders that are coming on, we'll announce them in a couple of weeks. We have Slav, our youth pastor Ramin, when we were hiring them, I'm always wanting to know where did they suffer and how did they handle it. Slav has a past with suffering that he's grieved, it's matured him. That's why his youth ministry has the power of the Holy Spirit, a man who suffered with Christ. Ramin in the process of hiring pastor Ramin, his dad died.
Darren Rouanzoin:I was like, why don't we pause it? He's like, no, let's keep it. This is part of the journey. And I watched him suffer well. I watched Alex go through throat cancer and suffer with such grace and hope.
Darren Rouanzoin:It inspired me. You see, you you will suffer. And if you if you learn how to suffer with Jesus, he will comfort you. You might not have the outcome you desire but he will be in it with you. I've told you here about what my son was dealing with.
Darren Rouanzoin:Amos, some of you know? Maybe not. Like dealing with things really on He's dealing with some stuff, anxiety that's out of the out of out of nowhere. A few months ago, he'd wake up with night terrors, he couldn't wake him up which he had when he was three and four which if you've ever dealt with night terrors, they're not night nightmares. They're they're they're like they look awake but there'll be ten minutes of screaming in terror.
Darren Rouanzoin:And as a as a dad, and then and then it led to this unrealistic or unreasonable anxiety where he couldn't do anything without Alex or I. Like doors have to be opened, babysitters, my mom couldn't It was it was the it was a few months of dealing with this thing and I got friends to pray and I was dealing with it and my my whole life was kind of We were disabled from normal life because of what we were walking through. And, and it was so hard and my prayer life became all about praying for Amos. And everything like I I mean I was with people, I was doing meetings with him here because he wouldn't go homeschool academy. And when Alex was traveling I had to bring him to work, it was very hard.
Darren Rouanzoin:And watching someone suffer is way harder than suffering yourself. Does anyone know like it's so much harder and that's my journey has been watching and and watching my my loved ones, my wife with health issues and my boys. But I wanna give you a picture because I think this is something to release to the men. I took Ezra camping and the next day I woke up and I was I was reading in Psalm 91. It says, those who dwell in the shelter of the Lord.
Darren Rouanzoin:It says, those who dwell in the shelter of the Lord. I wanna make sure I get
Darren Rouanzoin:it right because I don't get it.
Darren Rouanzoin:Those who dwell in the shelter of the most high will rest in the shadow of the almighty. I will say to the Lord, he is my refuge and my fortress, my God in whom I trust. And I, that word dwell is to make camp, to set up camp. And I was thinking about what so many of us do when we suffer. We go outward to everyone else.
Darren Rouanzoin:We complain but the Lord wants to train you to set up camp, camp in his presence. And so in the mornings I do quiet time. My quiet time was filled with prayer for Amos and when I read this, the Lord showed me camping and I was like, this is what I'm doing Every morning I set up a tent. Every morning I set up a tent and then I set up the campsite, I pull out the marshmallow sticks and I create this canopy for my boys to enter into. And I just wanna say, husbands, fathers, men, this is our responsibility that we set up a tent for our family to come under the dwelling of Jesus.
Darren Rouanzoin:And what I realized is what Jesus wants to train us in and what the spirit will empower is you camping in his presence in seasons of suffering. That you just you learn to have a companion in the suffering. Now, I for some of you, think this is not gonna make any sense because you don't know what I'm talking about. But I think this language for some of you is the lights are going off. Ding, ding, ding.
Darren Rouanzoin:God wants to invite you to suffer well, set up camp in his presence. Can I Is that good? Just so I know Amos is doing extraordinary well. We've had breakthrough, sleeping through the night, anxiety is diminishing, he's overcoming. It's been this long process.
Darren Rouanzoin:There's That's a longer story. I've shared it. Two more points then we'll close. Number nine is the spirit raises up and equips leaders. And, this is all over the book of acts.
Darren Rouanzoin:I see it everywhere that no one is fit to lead the church who's not full of the holy spirit. And I just wanna say right now, I think this is why we lack volunteers. This is why we lack, the giving matching the growth because both of those are empowered by a heart surrender to the Holy Spirit. So you're like, oh, I've I've been leading in a church for thirty years. I'm a CEO of a company.
Darren Rouanzoin:Put me on the board. No. In the church it's where's the mess? Let me get my towel out and clean it up. Leadership is servanthood.
Darren Rouanzoin:We always look for opportunities to serve. This is not a place to be fed. This is a place to serve and be equipped to be set. So God does it. So I just wonder maybe your your life's not surrendered to the holy spirit.
Darren Rouanzoin:That's why you're not serving. Anyways, is that a casual like this? No, I'm just Here's the thing, maybe maybe that offends you and you wanna leave, that's okay. Okay? But I do think it's a time where he's drawing the church in.
Darren Rouanzoin:We're all in in this moment. Right? I'm feeling eleven, you're a little more quiet today. What's going on? Last one and then I'll I'll close, okay?
Darren Rouanzoin:The spirit authenticates the gospel with signs and wonders. If you don't expect it, of course you're not gonna see it. Oh, we What do we think authenticates the the the gospel? Viewership. Followers on Instagram.
Darren Rouanzoin:This is the consumer church, likes and follows is what we think is the same as a spirit authenticating the ministry of Jesus in a location. Miracles can happen and so here's here's the litmus test. There are movements that have miracles happening, signs and wonders but I wonder and I question it because those point to a movement not to Jesus. When the church points to itself as a brand, it's missing its existing. Why exists?
Darren Rouanzoin:It exists to point to Jesus. We don't exist as garden for garden, we exist for Jesus. I tell our staff, I tell our leaders all the time, we don't protect a brand here. We aren't a brand. We are his church.
Darren Rouanzoin:It's not about making garden famous, it's about making Jesus famous and we have to get that in our heads as Christians because we buy into the other stuff all the time. It's like when Paul says, you follow Apollos and or and you follow Paul and I follow Cephas. He's like, get rid of it. It's Jesus. Jesus.
Darren Rouanzoin:Jesus. Jesus. And it's the spirit that authenticates it and this is all over the gospel. They come into new territory. They proclaim the gospel and they demonstrate the gospel with signs and wonders with healing.
Darren Rouanzoin:Jesus does the same thing. And I wonder why aren't we operating with that power because we don't expect it. I want you to expect it. This week, I asked, someone who, you know, on our staff, Kelly, who takes all of the Jesus stories that we share. So in our staff meeting, we share Jesus stories every week.
Darren Rouanzoin:They can't be older than a week. So we wanna hear the stories of what Jesus is doing. And I took all of the ones she wrote down that were shared publicly in our staff meeting. Hundreds since June. June, July, August, and September.
Darren Rouanzoin:There are so many I couldn't read them all. I threw them in chat GBT and had it organized and listed out. Dozens of healings, dozens of prophecies, dozens of acts of generosity, dozens of salvation, dozens of handful of marriages being restored after infidelity. Like the story of four months is overwhelming. And what we do when we hear the stories is we pause and we say praise Jesus.
Darren Rouanzoin:Amen. Praise Jesus. Last week after this service, Jenna came to me. Is Jenna in the house? Jenna?
Darren Rouanzoin:Not here. Jenna, stand up real quick. Jenna, oh, let's go. Come up here actually. Jenna, come here.
Darren Rouanzoin:Let's just do it this way. Will you run up here? Okay. So this is Jenna. She's jumping up here.
Darren Rouanzoin:Come here. So okay. What was life like for the last three years? What was going on?
Jenna:I had a knee injury and I've been on crutches for three years.
Darren Rouanzoin:So when you say crutches, anywhere you walked you had pain and you had crutches where you went?
Jenna:Yeah.
Darren Rouanzoin:And then what what did God do?
Jenna:He healed it.
Darren Rouanzoin:Well, tell us the story. What happened? You're in your prayer room. God said go downstairs and what happened?
Jenna:I I went down the stairs and I didn't realize until I got to the bottom of the stairs that I had just done it like normal. I'm like, haven't done that in years. How do I
Jenna:do that? And then I started running.
Darren Rouanzoin:So so her dad and her mom and her sister were here last week in tears telling the story. And what I love about it is he Your dad, what's his name? David. David was saying, you know, I left work that day, she was hobbling with crutches and I came home to what you just saw her running up and down. Jesus heals knees today.
Darren Rouanzoin:Amen? Amen. Thank you, Jenna. Thank you. I shared that testimony at the one and we're doing ministry time which I did here at the eleven and I was like, oh, we should just pray for healing because Jenna got healed And someone got healed, who had a foot injury limped in here and went and played soccer that day.
Darren Rouanzoin:Here's here's what I'm saying. The God moves through willing vessels. Like, here's I think here's what I believe. Like, in the old testament, God was speaking and people weren't listening and finally he spoke through a donkey. Like, God wants to move.
Darren Rouanzoin:He wants to give us all of his ministry because all of Jesus' ministry is available for all of the church. But he's looking for willing vessels to partner with to see his will, kingdom become reality on earth. And I believe that this is for us today. I can read, I can tell you so many stories of God healing people from cancer, four stage four cancer disappearing, back injuries, healing, not Someone needed Our realtor when we walked to see the space, we were with our elders, Johnny Stephenson was here. Johnny, are you in the room?
Darren Rouanzoin:No, not here. He's that one. Right in this Before it was our house, John was grabbing his neck. One of our elders goes, oh, is your neck hurt? He's like, yeah.
Darren Rouanzoin:He's like, let me pray. Praise. The pain goes away. Johnny was scheduled for surgery. He's had neck pain for ten years, been on medication every day, completely healed, didn't have to have surgery.
Darren Rouanzoin:That's the first miracle in this house. The vision of coming here was that this would be a container that would be filled with oil and the amount of volume of oil that would flow out would would not make sense. And I believe it's not about this space, it's about your heart. And God wants to authenticate his gospel in you through signs and wonders. Wait till I talk about the gifts of the spirit.
Darren Rouanzoin:Next week, prophecy in tongues. But here's the deal, we'll get to healing. We'll teach you how to pray for healing. We have a prayer training. All of the gifts are available for all of you.
Darren Rouanzoin:That is the biblical teaching and I'll explain it to you. But all of Jesus' ministry is available for all of you today. And the way into the story is humble, surrendered, and open. Humble, you can't do this on your own. You need a savior and you need his presence and power.
Darren Rouanzoin:Humble, come holy spirit. Surrendered, you gotta stop trying to manage it on your own. You gotta stop trying to manage on your own. Surrender your life to Jesus again today and open. Open for however the Holy Spirit comes.
Darren Rouanzoin:I'm so tired of the buffet Christian. I want a little bit of prophecy. I want a little bit of friendship and community. I don't want tongues. That's weird.
Darren Rouanzoin:I don't wanna pray for healing. That would make me feel uncomfortable. I don't wanna share the gospel because I'm an introvert. Forget that. I want all of God.
Darren Rouanzoin:Amen? Let's let's all stand.
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