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"Here as in Heaven."
For more information visit : garden.church
Welcome to Garden Church Podcast. This is a very special Sunday for Garden. This week marks our 15 year anniversary. We wanna take a moment before the message to extend a thank you to everyone who has journeyed with us through the years while we as a community pursue Jesus together.
Darren Rouanzoin:Happy birthday, Garden Church. Thank you. Thank you, bro. 10 AM inside. How you doing?
Darren Rouanzoin:Alright. Let's leave time for the delay. Outside, how are you? If you haven't seen the outside during the 10 AM, you should. Just a reminder to everyone, we have an 8 and 12 PM service and a 6 PM service.
Darren Rouanzoin:So glad you're here. I heard today that the parking lot is 100% full. So, we're we've grown a lot. And today, you know, we're gonna I'm gonna talk about who we are. And next week, we'll we'll go Revelation chapter 5.
Darren Rouanzoin:But today, I wanna remind you of our story because we forget. But you are a part of a story. And my hope today is to just bring you in to what God has been doing from the beginning of time. And that we've joined in only 15 years ago as a community and remind you of the story. So before I reflect on those things, I wanna start with this.
Darren Rouanzoin:Our story has a happy ending. Well, I wanna I want you to hear this. This story we're telling has a happy ending. Our story, we know how it ends. It we we meet Jesus.
Darren Rouanzoin:Jesus wins. Revelation, spoiler alert, he wins in the end. You've had plenty of time to read it where it goes. It goes right to Jesus, and it's gonna be beautiful. And that what that means for us is some of you are here and you sit with disappointment.
Darren Rouanzoin:There is also deliverance and freedom and hope. You've been in a space in your life where you've needed breakthrough and all you've known is brokenness, but there is healing on the other side. This is the great tension of the local church. Imperfect people continuing the life of a perfect person Christ who was fully God into the world as God renews all things. That's our story.
Darren Rouanzoin:That's your story. When I talk about our story, when I talk about what God has done, I'm talking about those of us who have built it for last 15 years and those of us who will continue to build it in the name of Jesus. And there are no spectators in the local church. Unfortunately, we think there can be. There is none.
Darren Rouanzoin:I'll get to a point where I'm gonna get pretty serious. So just lord Jesus have mercy on you today. There is no spectators in the move of God. All are called to participate. There's some pictures.
Darren Rouanzoin:Have you been doing the picture? Oh, yeah. Check this. So here I love that shirt back then. This is our first venue.
Darren Rouanzoin:This is the first christian church 2008, 2009 where it yeah. That that was it. I mean, what does it say in the back? The promise is for you and your children for all who are off. Come on.
Darren Rouanzoin:I just okay. Anyways, go throw throw this is our first our first official Sunday at Cohiba. October to go back to that 2009, Bill and I co taught the beatitudes. We started with the Sermon on the Mount. So So amazing.
Darren Rouanzoin:Keep go just go through these. These are this is Cohiba. Then we had a one service at this venue we tried to buy, which is now a, an event center center. It was the Z Gallerie building. Go just go scroll through these.
Darren Rouanzoin:You can go through. That's the Z Gallerie. Anyways, I'll let these go through. Let me jump in. I wanna talk to you about who we are as a church because we forget but also because it's such a beautiful story of God's sovereign work.
Darren Rouanzoin:None of the things we've stumbled into were done on, out of our great wisdom or talent or strategy. I can tell you without question that the reason we are here has to do with God's sovereignty. For whatever reason, we have stepped into grace. And there are 100 of church plants. The the statistic is 92% of church plants fail.
Darren Rouanzoin:And so for whatever reason, we're no longer a church plant. We're an established church with 4 services which is nuts. I just have to say when we started, when we moved into this space, we had one service. And then within a year 20 months we're at 4 services. Now that could be because of the yachts, it could be because of parking, or it could be a sovereign move of God, where he just said, I'm gonna put my finger on this, and watch what he he does.
Darren Rouanzoin:There's this quote from Raven Hill. Will you put that quote up about revival? It says this. It says, revival is not the abnormal thing that happens. It's the acceleration of the normal work of the spirit.
Darren Rouanzoin:We've just been doing you'll see as I tell stories today, we've been doing this the same way for 15 years. And that's what I love about our story. We have had the same vision. If you go to Matthew chapter 6, I wanna frame, our vision. Why we are doing what we do.
Darren Rouanzoin:It all comes down to this very clear g, vision that Jesus when he invites his followers, to pray, he says in the Lord's prayer, our father in heaven, hallowed be your name. And then here's our vision. From the beginning, we've had this vision. Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Our vision has been here as in heaven.
Darren Rouanzoin:When Jesus taught this prayer, he was not teaching some liturgical lifeless prayer that you replicate in your own, you know, memorization, although you should. He he he was giving us a battle cry. He was giving us an imagination for how to now partner with him as followers. That there are places on earth that are not yet what god's will is. We know his desire for creation.
Darren Rouanzoin:Genesis 1 and 2, Revelation 21 and 22. And he has been working towards fulfilling his desire once and for all through Israel, through Jesus, through his life, death and resurrection and now through the church until he comes back again to establish once and for for all heaven marrying earth. And we will see new creation. And when we get that new creation, there will be no pain, there will be no tears. Things will be the way they should be.
Darren Rouanzoin:That is good news. That's how the story ends. And in the meantime, we partner with God in his story. This is not our story. I know culture wants you to believe it's all about you.
Darren Rouanzoin:That is a lie. It is about him. And we are we are caught up in this story. So when we envision church here as in heaven, when envision youth, kids, outreach, house churches, we envision heaven coming to earth. In our mind, the church is where people get to see off from the outside what heaven looks like.
Darren Rouanzoin:Or you could say the church is called to live a future reality in the present. We know what it looks like Genesis 1 and 2. We know where it's headed and Jesus has taught us to pray and live and so we live in this present moment with the future expectation and hope coming into this moment and we invite people into the future now. We live as the first fruits of what's coming. We're prototypes.
Darren Rouanzoin:How's that feel? Right? Say it to the person next to you. I'm a prototype. I'm beta version though, so I'm just kidding.
Darren Rouanzoin:When we started this church, this was the verse that we knew. That was pretty much it. I'm not playing around. We had this sense that this is where this is where we're going, and we're gonna make resilient disciples. Now there's this passage in John I wanna frame for the rest of the time.
Darren Rouanzoin:John chapter 7. Would you just go there real quick? We'll get to it again in a second. But, John, the gospel of John chapter 7, Jesus is teaching. And he in verse 37, he says this beautiful line in, part b.
Darren Rouanzoin:He says, let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. You need to hear this today. Just listen to this. Some of you need to hear this word. Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink.
Darren Rouanzoin:Whoever believes in me, as scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them. And they Then John puts a commentary. By this, he meant the spirit. Whom those who believed in him were later to receive up to that time the spirit had not been given since Jesus had not yet been glorified. Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink.
Darren Rouanzoin:Whoever believes in me as scripture has said rivers of living water will flow from within them. Today, I wanna talk about 7 characteristics that have marked our church. These are characteristics that keep you in the rivers flow. These are characteristics These are convictions. These are practices.
Darren Rouanzoin:These are things that if you put into your life as a disciple, you will see abundant life. You with me? Seven things. So these are these are things we've done for 7 for 15 years and these are things we hope to do for the next 15 and beyond. They will make us fruitful wherever we go.
Darren Rouanzoin:They will make your life fruitful. And then I'm gonna share stories along the way. Are we good? 10 AM. Okay.
Darren Rouanzoin:So number 1 is live a courageous missional purpose. First Peter chapter 2 says, live such good lives among the pagans that though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits. Even though they throw you in prison and they light you up as torches for their garden parties as Nero once did. Live such good lives that they see through how you live the reality of God. This is our mission.
Darren Rouanzoin:It's so simple. We just continue to do the things that Jesus did in the power of the holy spirit. We've always done this as a church. We exist for his missional purpose. Whether that be your life and your job and your neighborhood, if you're if you own a business, it exists for God's missional purpose in the world.
Darren Rouanzoin:If you're a student, you exist for his purpose to bring about his kingdom wherever you go. And this is how we began. I love this idea because we started as a missional project. We didn't start with gathering. We started on mission together to see in Long Beach as it is in heaven.
Darren Rouanzoin:So we served at, at the rescue mission. We served at an aids hospice in the middle of the city for men living with HIV and aids. We we serve at the Precious Land Preschool. We did beach cleanups. We did everything we could to serve the city.
Darren Rouanzoin:We, cleaned out old church basements as a way of blessing, the local churches in Long Beach. When we launched our 1st Sunday gathering, we decided to do a continuous 24 hour prayer over the space. And the space we were renting was an active nightclub. So that 24 hour before the Sunday night service that we launched starting at 6 PM, on Saturday night, we did a continuous prayer vigil through, and in the nightclub. So we had to stand outside cause there's 21 and older so we didn't have any kids come that time.
Darren Rouanzoin:We we got checked in by the bouncers, and we walked around an active nightclub praying, your kingdom come and will be done on earth as it is in heaven. That's our first 24 hour prayer. Isn't that amazing? It's symbolic for what we're called to as a church to be right where Jesus would be. Not hiding from culture.
Darren Rouanzoin:Living amongst, but not of it. It's comfortable with Pharisees and the religious folk, but also dining with tax collectors and prostitutes. And I remember that first night I was like, what were we thinking? What were we thinking to do a 24 hour prayer as the DJ went off as there were cigars in the cigar lounge. I remember praying with John and we were like, let's play some pool and pray as we play.
Darren Rouanzoin:Not I'm still not good at pool. But it's beautiful. It shapes. These stories tell something about the story we're writing right now. Let's not forget our first 24 hour prayer.
Darren Rouanzoin:Let's not forget what it means to, live in such a way when we build the church, when we live as a church. It's like we have dirt under our fingernails. We're not too good. We we build with God along the way. This is why we're here.
Darren Rouanzoin:The second thing we've always done is we've lived the word of God. You want to embody a specific value in a world that diminishes the authority of scripture and anything that has truth. James chapter 1 says, do not merely listen to the word and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. John 831 says, if you hold to my teachings, you are really my disciples.
Darren Rouanzoin:Then you will know the truth and what? The truth will set you free. Not good feelings will set you free. Not soul cycle will set you free. Not my cool yoga practice will set me free.
Darren Rouanzoin:The truth which is Jesus Christ will set you free. The world needs truth with a capital t right now. We've moved from a culture of authority to a culture of authenticity where we worship our feelings. Where people will say, follow your heart. It's the truest thing about you and that is a lie.
Darren Rouanzoin:Without Jesus, without the presence of God permeating your beating being, creating a river of life through you, don't listen to your heart. It is deceitful without the holy spirit. And sometimes even as a christian, I've walked with a lot of you. That's not the holy spirit inside of you whispering those things. So we will be a church.
Darren Rouanzoin:I want you to be a disciple of Jesus that submits to the word of God where the authority you live your life by is not what you feel. It's not what the social media says or media says. It's not what the narratives out there through streaming platforms sell you on. It comes back to the word of God. And from here, you make your decisions about dating.
Darren Rouanzoin:Make your decisions about sexuality, identity. Make your decisions about marriage. Make your decisions about policies and people. Make your decisions about life in a world that wants to make everything gray. There are black and white realities.
Darren Rouanzoin:Are you with me? Yeah. Okay. I'll just go to number 3. We're gonna live as wholehearted this wholehearted worshipers.
Darren Rouanzoin:We began our church, with not preaching. And to be honest, there are lots of reasons for this, and I would like to over spiritualize it. But to be honest, it came out of a deep insecurity for me because I never wanted to preach. I I when we started the Long Beach Project, we had a teaching pastor who worked at Rock Harbor with me who was paid to study the word and preach and I was just the guy that set up chairs. I was a I was a intern, glorified intern at Rock Harbor that became the first church planner.
Darren Rouanzoin:I had preached 3 sermons in my entire life before becoming the the lead pastor of this church. And all 3 of those sermons were for grades in Bill's class. I got a's and b's. I would I was I was terrible. And and this is the thing, I had so much anxiety.
Darren Rouanzoin:I had so much anxiety and fear. I would I would have panic attacks all Sunday morning leading up to Sunday night service. Preaching to 8 people, 15 people, 20 people. I remember having one panic attack where Alex was calming me down as I laid on my back doing breathing exercises. And she said this thing that really made me mad back then, but it was the holy spirit and wisdom which she's full of.
Darren Rouanzoin:She said, hey, isn't it amazing? I wish I had with such clarity the knowledge of what God's will is for for my life. She's like, the thing is your fear is like a bull's eye. You know exactly what you're called to do. So just run after your fear of preaching because that's what you're called to do.
Darren Rouanzoin:And I'm like, that doesn't help right now. I'm falling apart. I say that because what was birthed in insecurity, we started just doing these worship gatherings. And we didn't preach. I didn't preach because well, I didn't feel equipped or confident to do it.
Darren Rouanzoin:But in spaces of encounter, we learn to steward and host God's presence. It was because of those that that space where we just were gonna go with the flow and seek god in worship that we became wholehearted worshipers. To the case in point, Wednesday night, if you were here, you missed a holy night where we encountered the presence of god in such fresh ways. Anyone here that were yeah, let's go. Don't don't don't put it up in I see you.
Darren Rouanzoin:True wholehearted worshipers. Rest of you are lazy. No. I'm just kidding. Just lukewarm.
Darren Rouanzoin:It's cool. I'm just kidding. Come on. Stop. I'm just I said that 15 years ago.
Darren Rouanzoin:Right? Same thing. Same kinda preaching. Same kinda preaching. We became we learned to host the presence of god.
Darren Rouanzoin:We know at our church, we are called to worship. And we've had encounter nights and we've had We've we've learned to worship when things are going good and we've learned to worship when things are not going so well. We learned to worship when Larry, our first production volunteer from Rock Harbor who died of a brain aneurysm. Tragically, we learn to worship in his absence as we grieved his loss when there were just a handful of us on on the volunteer team. We learn through the seasons of grief to come into the presence of god.
Darren Rouanzoin:And when we can't say, god, you are good, someone next to us is singing louder than we could imagine because our faith wasn't there that morning. But we learn to worship in those moments. We learn to worship when our friends passed away, when our children passed away, when our parents passed away, when people that were once friends are betraying us, we learn to take every part of us and be wholehearted, not half hearted. Wholehearted worshipers where everything was pointed and redirected back to God. We learned as a church and we will learn.
Darren Rouanzoin:If you don't know yet, you will learn because we won't let you sit here and not participate. We will call you out of the crowd and say put the coffee down and give him your best. We're not seeking people, we're seeking his presence. And for some reason, people are coming. Number, I don't know what, 4.
Darren Rouanzoin:We're gonna live as a counter cultural community. We're gonna live as a covenant community. A counter cultural community because the world is lost right now. The world is longing for authentic and meaningful connection. 41% of adults in the United States are dealing with an epidemic of loneliness according to the surgeon general of the United States.
Darren Rouanzoin:Loneliness is an epidemic. Soon to be a a new pandemic which maybe they'll social distance for community purposes. I don't know in their genius of leadership. But in their strategy to cure the epidemic, they've invited faith communities to help them figure out because we have the source of life. Each other in inanimated by the presence of God.
Darren Rouanzoin:Acts 2 calls gives you a picture of the church. It says they devoted themselves. They didn't kind of commit. They didn't click maybe on the invite. They devoted themselves.
Darren Rouanzoin:Oh, did I just that was that was for someone. Who was it? Do you wanna just confess? You can confess. Just confess to your neighbor.
Darren Rouanzoin:I click maybe. Yes or no. I'm just saying. Anything else is from the devil according to the words of Jesus. I'm just talking the sermon on the mount.
Darren Rouanzoin:I know it heard you're like, why is he so mad? That's just Jesus saying, say yes or no. Anything else is from the deceit evil one. So maybe just next time you're like, maybe be like, nope. That's from the evil one.
Darren Rouanzoin:Wow. I didn't expect to say that today. I wanna sit here for a moment. Your word matters. Your yes is a powerful gift to people.
Darren Rouanzoin:And maybe even more, your no is a powerful tool for people to know that you are a person of your word. Don't be half hearted. Don't be maybe. Be yes or no because you know who you are, and you know whose you are, and you know how valuable time is so you don't waste it because you don't get that back. Don't disappoint people by saying maybe and then not showing up.
Darren Rouanzoin:Just say no. I'm sorry. I can't hang out with you. I need to take care of my soul tonight and watch Friends. I've never said that.
Darren Rouanzoin:I'm I'm quoting somebody. Gilmore girl. Whatever it like, whatever those shores. I don't know why I don't I have a thing against that. I do you're noticing that.
Darren Rouanzoin:I I do have a thing against Gilmore Girls. It's because it puts me in sleep. I'm like, I can't follow can't follow these relational just like they just need to learn healthy relationships. No sitcom would exist if they just learned how to say what they mean and mean what they say. There's no romantic comedy, there's nothing, there's just great relationships.
Darren Rouanzoin:We'd have no great storytelling. It just be like, oh, they said I love you, they apologize, they forgave, they went on and got married happily every after. What am I on? Culture of community. Anyways, blah blah blah.
Darren Rouanzoin:Oh, I was reading the word. They devoted themselves to the apostles teaching into fellowship to the breaking of bread into prayer. Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. All the believers were together and held everything in common. They sold property and possessions, and then they put it in their accounts to save for later and steward.
Darren Rouanzoin:They sold properties and possessions to give to anyone who had need. Every day, that part wasn't in there. I added that in case you weren't reading. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with sincere hearts, praising god and enjoying the favor of all people. Imagine that.
Darren Rouanzoin:And the lord added to the number daily of those who are being saved. We're called to be this kind of community. This kind of community that's devoted, that's marked by radical things which we'll talk a few about some of those things in a second. But from the moment we started, we wanted to be a counter cultural community. We didn't wanna we didn't wanna create a gathering.
Darren Rouanzoin:We wanted to be embodying this kind of life that is ignited by the imagination of the scriptures. That we can we be in this moment of time, this kind of community? Yes. Does the lord wanna reignite what it means to be a a biblical church to the kind of devotion that seems so far away? Absolutely.
Darren Rouanzoin:And we've always been this kind of community in moments. Do you know that? Like when we were a life group, the first life group we ever had at this church, I remember crisis would come. People would, lose their jobs, and then they couldn't afford their mortgage. And so as a community, we're like, hey, we gotta we gotta we gotta sell stuff.
Darren Rouanzoin:We gotta give stuff and do a giant garage sale so we can cover your mortgage so you don't lose your house. Somebody a family member died and they don't have money to fly to go be a part of the memorial service. We're like, hey, text exchange. Let's take care of it. Cool.
Darren Rouanzoin:We start house churches and we take communion. And in the midst of communion, we'd be like, wait time out. If we're gonna be brothers and sisters, we gotta make sure that everyone has their needs met. We can't take communion knowing that you don't have rent paid or you don't have enough food in the fridge. And so we would start by saying, hey before we receive communion, does everyone have what they need?
Darren Rouanzoin:And someone be like, I don't have enough this this week, I need a couple of $100. Alright, let's go. Get your cash out, start Venmo, take a Venmo. Alright, they're covered now. Let's take the bread.
Darren Rouanzoin:Let's take the juice and say thank you because all of life is grace. We we were committed to each other, but also the vision of heaven on earth. So we were committed. So I remember the first life group, our second meeting, this couple says, I wanna bring you into our story. Like, oh, wow.
Darren Rouanzoin:What are you gonna say? We've been trying for years to get pregnant and we can't. Look, we've we understand that we can't. Doctors say we can't. We've tried all the alternatives.
Darren Rouanzoin:So we're in the process of adoption. Will you pray for this process? And we're like, yes, of course, we'll pray. And then something just came up inside of me. I'm like, I can't help myself, but I'm like, but also we're gonna pray for healing.
Darren Rouanzoin:And that's hard for someone who's year after year, month after month looked at that test to say it's a no. Some of you know that liturgy of disappointment. And I remember 2 months after we prayed, cupcakes, they come in with cupcakes. What is what's up with the cupcakes? We just wanna let you know that we're pregnant.
Darren Rouanzoin:You wanna know we've seen so many stories in this church. If there's a testimony of Jesus, if there's a testimony of scripture where God's just says, I got this. Whether it's miraculous pregnancies, whether it's miraculous provision of finances, whether it's someone doesn't have a job and they take care of them, that happens in relationship. Didn't happen because there was a program. Didn't happen because there was an email list.
Darren Rouanzoin:It happened because we held each other together and says, this is what the lord wants. Let's go for it. We contended for them. Do you have people you contend with? Do you have people that will contend for you?
Darren Rouanzoin:Are you with me? Yeah. This next one is directly connected to, I would say, this next one is the secret sauce of garden church. You're like, I I would say if I were if I were to teach all these things, I would say this is the one behind all of them. This is the thing behind the thing.
Darren Rouanzoin:And I can make a case for this. I should just do an entire series on the thing behind the thing. The thing behind the thing for the things I'm talking about. This life flowing river that's gonna come out of you is that we live with extravagant generosity. You're like I didn't see that coming.
Darren Rouanzoin:How is that the thing? It's the the thing that creates space for dependence. It's the thing that creates space for the presence of God to occupy space that's been given to him. It's the thing that empowers more because you've given away the the little you have. You see, it's it's this principle in the kingdom that I need you to see.
Darren Rouanzoin:It says remember this, whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly. So here's the thing. What you sow, what you give will put a, a ceiling on what you'll reap. But and this is how the kingdom works. And I want you to think generosity, but I want you to think as a kingdom principle, if you sow gossip, you reap gossip.
Darren Rouanzoin:Yeah. If you sow disunity, guess what your soul will reap. If you sow hostility, anger, if you harbor unforgiveness, it reaps later on in life. If you haven't learned this principle of finances are connected to your your soul, That your stuff has this mysterious connection to your spiritual life? If you haven't learned that by now in our church, you'll you just need to repent and ask for wisdom from the holy spirit because we talk about it every single week we gather because it's the thing behind the thing.
Darren Rouanzoin:It is the thing that moves our church in the spirit. It's the thing that moves our church in the territories we wanna take. It comes through our generosity. God so loved the world he did what? He did not steward.
Darren Rouanzoin:He gave. He did not hold back for himself. He gave. So much of the philosophy of, of God, the the theology of God that God in himself is a perfect, benevolent, loving community. Father, son, holy spirit, a self sacrificing, loving, generous person being eternal creator who out of his heart of generosity created us.
Darren Rouanzoin:And we're born into this perfect loving relationship which is what marriage is designed to be by the way. We In our union to each other, we represent God's oneness. Does that make sense? And then And out of the overflow of our loving relationship, we birth. We have kids.
Darren Rouanzoin:This is how the Genesis 1 and 2 narrative. But my point is there is from the the the central, the the existence of God comes as benevolent generous being. And how do we learn to become more fully alive? Generosity. Most of us don't even scratch the surface of generosity because we think it has to do with a percentage.
Darren Rouanzoin:It's not a percentage. It's a way of existence in every aspect of our soul. Your every resource whether it's finances or talent or knowledge or relationship. What little you have, you give away on behalf of God. And that's how the kingdom moves forward.
Darren Rouanzoin:When Jesus sees the harvest, he prays, God send labors, and then the very next thing he does is give his authority and power to his disciples. He's like, god, do something. And he's like, I'll give away what you've given me. Do you see this? This is how it works.
Darren Rouanzoin:And we have seen time and time again, God move in our community through the generosity of so many of you. When there was that woman in our church years ago who was a single mom with 4 kids that came for the first time, nobody knew she was there, but I couldn't preach because I heard the Lord say $1500 for a single mom who's being evicted. And then I share it with the community and a mom begins to stand up and cry holding her eviction notice. I'm the single mom with 5th that needs $1500 for rent right now. I was like, oh my gosh.
Darren Rouanzoin:You're alive, Jesus. Like what? But the spirit the spirit brought a, in in erupted, interrupted the service with a word of knowledge for the purpose of the community, but to take care of the single mom. Jesus has a special place in his heart for those single moms. He he was raised by 1.
Darren Rouanzoin:Yeah. You ever think about that? Yeah. Oh, god. Serious.
Darren Rouanzoin:There's a list within the first few years of the church and the list have to do with widows. Right? And and we take care of each other. We're gonna get strategic about how we how we care for each other. What happened?
Darren Rouanzoin:We passed the bucket a second time. We're like, just put cash in. Exactly $1500 was given that Sunday. That's why we pass the bucket twice occasionally to take care. It came from a spontaneous moment that we can create a liturgy around, but also it's about the invitation from god to be obedient.
Darren Rouanzoin:I don't know what you need to be generous with, but would you be generous? Whether it's paying for flights or funerals or cars, giving cars away or paying off debt or buying a bigger building for us out of the generosity of your heart. Let's go church. We're getting strategic. We need more room.
Darren Rouanzoin:10 AM, you feel it more than everyone else but we need more room. And we are gonna continue to grow because that's what God does. His dream is not for tiny communities. His dream is for the whole earth to be filled with the knowledge of the Lord. How does that happen through ordinary people like yourself?
Darren Rouanzoin:The the 6th thing. How are we doing on time? We're good. Alright. Let's go.
Darren Rouanzoin:I wasn't asking you. It was me in my inner dialogue, but I said it out loud. Next time I won't. Number 6, live empowered by the spirit. How many of you have noticed this in our church?
Darren Rouanzoin:How many of you noticed that we will live empowered by the holy spirit? We will disrupt plans. We will, interrupt liturgies. We will stop worship songs because we wanna we wanna yield to the presence of God in everything we do. Acts 1 says, you will receive power when the holy spirit comes on you and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea, Samaria to the ends of the earth.
Darren Rouanzoin:John Stott once wrote what we need is not more learning, not more eloquence, not more persuasion, not more organization, but more power from the holy spirit. So we've committed our our church. We've committed our board of directors, our elder team, our staff team, our leadership teams. In every area of leadership, our production team, they seek the presence of god before Sunday. They are dependent on the presence of god to capture moments for live stream.
Darren Rouanzoin:Don't you aren't you grateful for that? Our worship team, our kids team, our youth team, our hospitality team, every our ushers. Yeah. Yeah. Ushers also seek That was a throwback.
Darren Rouanzoin:Also seek the presence of God in deep deep ways because what they're doing is not just volunteering, they're hosting the presence of God. But this has always marked our church. We will rest on the holy spirit. That was a bad pastor joke. But it's for my son.
Darren Rouanzoin:That was for Ezra. He asked me to do that. Okay? My boy said that he can go back to the live stream and hear it. He did.
Darren Rouanzoin:He did. You know, I'm am I am I right? Say yes, Alex. Don't thank you. It's like next time next time you say ushers, will you say, yeah.
Darren Rouanzoin:Yeah. It got real hot all of a sudden. I grew up in the church. I didn't know the presence of Jesus. I didn't know the presence of the Holy Spirit.
Darren Rouanzoin:And I was converted to a theology of the spirit in college at Vanguard. And I never was a part of a church. Let's go Vanguard. Had a I had a theological conversion to the things of the spirit, but I wasn't a part of a church that prayed or anticipated or trained people in the things of the spirit. So I get on staff at the church that I I was, attending Rock Harbor and I was I was, you know, basically a glorified intern.
Darren Rouanzoin:I was paid. It was awesome. And I went to London where they talked about the ministry of the spirit. I was radically filled the Holy Spirit. I met the the 3rd person of the trinity, changed my life.
Darren Rouanzoin:The next day, I went to India and I heard as clear as the word that brought me back to faith at UCSB, plant a church in Long Beach. And that word became like a virus. I didn't know it was a calling. I had to process it for a while, but we ended up starting this church as a result of a whisper on a train in India. It all started with the presence of the holy spirit.
Darren Rouanzoin:God's presence can change everything in your life. If you allow him space, if you humble yourself and say, come holy spirit. I wanted to build a church like the church that prayed for us that was powerful, that was ministering in the presence of God in normal ways. Not not the ways I saw on TV because I I was warned against that growing up. I wanted to to find a way to build a a naturally supernatural community.
Darren Rouanzoin:So you do I did what everyone does when they wanna learn something new, they go to YouTube. So I found YouTube. I did. I went to Vineyard 1985 conferences and learned about the John Wimber model which was the how the church in the UK got renewed through the Vineyard Movement in Southern California. And we started a church and I would try so hard.
Darren Rouanzoin:Alright. Open up your hands, close your eyes. Alright. If you have this, come forward. And nobody came forward.
Darren Rouanzoin:We prayed for things, you know, and the truth is we'd pray for the sick and we would get sick. And it's I prayed on the street. Nothing would happen. I had a word of knowledge. It was not a word of knowledge.
Darren Rouanzoin:It was just an embarrassment. And our journey was rough, but then we invited that pastor out that prayed for us to do a weekend on the holy spirit. And everything changed. Now it didn't change because of a conference. It changed because God uses people.
Darren Rouanzoin:And our story of the spirit ministering and moving in our church starts with 1 couple, not me and Alex. But that that weekend, we invited, a worship leader and this pastor from the UK to come. And before the event, we had a we had a Thursday night dinner at our little tiny house. We had an apartment. And at the end of this, our 2 friends, John and Lydia, John who's on staff, they lived across the street.
Darren Rouanzoin:They came over and they hung out with us and we were sitting there. And the pastor and the worship pastor could tell that this couple had not yet encountered the holy spirit like he was talking about, Which was kind of his mission in life to introduce Christians to the holy spirit. So he's like, hey, why don't we pray for you? And they're like, okay, open up your hands and close your eyes. So there they are, you know.
Darren Rouanzoin:And they start praying and the worst of pastor comes up to John. John was not on staff at this time. John was the emergency manager for Cal State Long Beach. He had a significant job. Yeah.
Darren Rouanzoin:He organized the entire school, around the policies and procedures for emergency disasters. And he was he had he had a pension. He had a career. He was gonna get his PhD, already had his masters. So there he is.
Darren Rouanzoin:The safest person in our church is getting prayer and the worship pastor comes forward, lays a hand on him and says this word. He says, I have an American image in my head from the movie Hook. You're on the pirate baseball team and you're up to bat as a kid and you're looking in the stands for your father, but he's nowhere to be found. And before I could finish the word, John falls to the floor hysterically crying. Not like tears, like wailing rivers coming out of his eyes.
Darren Rouanzoin:It was a guttural pain that was being unleashed. And in that moment, I like kneeled and I'm like, okay. And and Lydia is terrified. She was absolutely terrified. She's like backing up into the corner and our our neighbors are hearing this guy yell and cry and scream out and they're like coming up and they're like, is everything okay?
Darren Rouanzoin:I'm like, yeah, it's the holy spirit. Let's find it. Like just go down. Like, we're good. We're good.
Darren Rouanzoin:And then I lean next to John and I have this sense in my heart of something I've never prayed for anyone at that point in my life. I said, I feel like the Lord's gonna give you the gift of tongues. I had never seen in a community environment the tongues release. I had one story of my own and and he starts yelling in some gibberish. And I'm like, what is going on?
Darren Rouanzoin:And the pastor's like, totally normal. Totally normal. Lydia's like, what is going on? She's like terrified. I don't want anything to do with this.
Darren Rouanzoin:And it goes on for so long. He's like rolling around saying there's so much love, and he's like rolling around. It's it is like just an event. Our furniture's moving and all this stuff because he's moving. And I have to take John, the pastor and the worship leader home because he's still he's just in this thing.
Darren Rouanzoin:We don't know what this thing is. At that time, we didn't know. Come back and what we didn't know Is that John, when he was playing baseball on the pirates team, his dad dropped him off at home and said, I don't wanna be your father anymore. I can't be your father and left him. And he lived estranged from his dad.
Darren Rouanzoin:And the holy spirit knew exactly the wound he was carrying and that them as a couple, John in particular didn't wanna be a daddy. He was afraid of becoming a father because he didn't wanna become like his dad. And the word after the word of knowledge was, but the father in heaven was always with you. 6 months later, they got pregnant. Charlotte.
Darren Rouanzoin:Charlotte, where you at right here? I tell this story because the holy spirit moves through people not through programs, not through ideas, not through vision. He moves through the stories of people. Read the bible. It's people, it's individuals, and it spills over to communities because they're open vessels for the Lord.
Darren Rouanzoin:We are that. And that holy spirit moment led to a confession where John starts off our holy spirit weekend for the first time. The safest person in our church with this thing called the holy spirit conference confesses and and testifies of what god did the night before. And then it opened up our hearts and the spirit moved. And we are now just bearing witness to the move of the spirit.
Darren Rouanzoin:One last thing and I'll close with this. Number 7. John 7 verse 37 says, 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. John 146 says, Jesus answered, I am the way and the truth and the life.
Darren Rouanzoin:No one comes to the father except through me. We will always live the way of Jesus. We will not just teach the truth or promise the life, we will live his way. We as a community of believers in a world filled with suffering, knowing the brokenness of our society, our call not to build practices in bible studies but invite people into the river of God. And that comes through a living Jesus.
Darren Rouanzoin:That comes through a life yielded to his presence and following his path commissioned as followers of Jesus. We will go into all the world making disciples, immersing them in water and the And also in the reality of the trinitarian reality of father, son and holy spirit. This is our mandate. This is what we're called into. This is what we've always done and this is what we will always do.
Darren Rouanzoin:We will make disciples based on these convictions. We might not have an indoor basketball court as a church ladies and gentlemen, but we will disciple your kids. We might not have an indoor playground for your kids, but we will make disciples of all ages. We will train your families to love Jesus, to live the scripture and become fully alive in Jesus, and they will be released into the world as missionaries wherever they go. This is our mandate.
Darren Rouanzoin:This is who we are. And our pathway for it is the local church because the local church is the discipleship pathway. He did not pick a podcast to make it the way. He did not pick a program as the way or a policy or just some leadership. It is the local church together that is the discipleship environment to the ends of the earth according to scriptures.
Darren Rouanzoin:I'm so glad you're here celebrating 15 years. It's 15 years of god's faithfulness. Our story is the testimony of Jesus Christ that he is alive. He will use broken insecure anxious people to build his church. That's what he's always done.
Darren Rouanzoin:Just read the old testament and new testament. I find great companionship in people in scripture because there's such utterly utter failures. There's nothing great about them other than their willingness to say yes to the invitation. To lay down what they hope for to follow his dream, not their dream. That's our invitation today.
Darren Rouanzoin:We're gonna baptize a couple of people. I don't know if you came prepared to be baptized. Maybe today, the reminder is to follow Jesus requires you being immersed in water. You don't get to add him to your life. You don't get to put him as an accessory to your busy world.
Darren Rouanzoin:He dunks you in water and says, this is the image, death, burial for resurrection life. And the only way according to the scriptures that you know you're a follower of God is getting into the waters of baptism. For some reason, you wanna say a quick private prayer and do it ourselves, but and walk away. No. No.
Darren Rouanzoin:No. You get soaking wet. So you know for the rest of your life, you're his. And if you've not done that, it's time. He's not waiting around to make it more convenient.
Darren Rouanzoin:Oh, I just wanna get my family here. We're gonna record it. You can send them the link later. Oh, I have my Sunday's best. We got some free merch outside.
Darren Rouanzoin:Actually it's not free. Give as much money as possible. It's going to Iglesia Hardin. No. We got some baptism shirts.
Darren Rouanzoin:Right? Yes. Yeah. And towels. So you're good.
Darren Rouanzoin:And short we got shorts too. Look at us. Just call us h and m. I don't know what's going on all of a sudden. Not h and m.
Darren Rouanzoin:Something like real, you know. What would aloe Yeah. No. Made in the United States. What's some give me something that come on.
Darren Rouanzoin:Help me out. Yeah. Madewell. There we go. Glad you're here.
Darren Rouanzoin:We're seeing God move right now. I mean, this is so clear. Why do I know it's clear? Because we've been doing the same thing for 15 years. And I know a lot of worship Sundays with no people in the room.
Darren Rouanzoin:I know a lot of Sundays where there's plenty of room to invite friends. I know a lot of Sundays where it's just one service for many many many many years. I know a lot of Sundays when it was one baptism every 6 months. God is doing something right now. This has nothing to do with talent or strategy or yachts or parking lot because that was full.
Darren Rouanzoin:This has to do with God putting his finger on Southern California all over the world and saying it's time. It's time. And in our church, we've been here's what's crazy is we we came here with doing one service. And that we thought we'd be able to grow into this space. In 20 months, we we're doing 4 services.
Darren Rouanzoin:So in 2 years, less than 2 years, we've grown by over 300% in adult attendance. Healthy growth is 25%. That's astronomical growth actually. In a year, it's 76%. All to say, god is doing something, and you're here.
Darren Rouanzoin:So participate. We're not building a cruise ship to meet your needs. We're building a battleship because we picked a fight with principalities of Southern California. If you think, oh, they just wanna sell out and become a mega church. I don't care what size of church we are.
Darren Rouanzoin:Southern California needs thousands of churches. Thousands of mega churches that are about the presence of Jesus and the power of the Holy Spirit, and community, and the word of God, and his mission, and worship, and generosity, and living the way of Jesus. If that's it, great. Build a big church. I don't care.
Darren Rouanzoin:We'll fill it if he wants to fill it. We will serve his mission, his people, because it's his church, not ours. So don't despise what starts as a small thing because God has vision for the entire earth. Don't don't worry about what stage of life you're in. He has a dream for your life, and I promise you it starts with your death.
Darren Rouanzoin:I just want him to fulfill my mission in life. No. You're called to fit in his great story because you're not the main character of your own story. So lay down your life. We're going after revival which has always been our prerogative here as in heaven.
Darren Rouanzoin:Let's pray. Will you stand? Will you stand? If you've come to get baptized, go change right now. If you didn't come to get baptized and you feel a prompt from the holy spirit, go get changed right now.
Darren Rouanzoin:Go get changed. We wanna see people get dunked as a sign of new life. And if you have and it's time to get dunked, there's gonna be pastors to my right, your left. They're gonna they're gonna give you a shirt. They'll take care of you.
Darren Rouanzoin:Go over there. And, and you'll be you'll be ready to go. If you don't know if you should be baptized, if you're like questioning, can I tell you what what you how you'll know? You're ready to confess that Jesus is Lord and raised from the dead. You invite his Holy Spirit to fill you with his presence to live the way of Jesus for the rest of your life.
Darren Rouanzoin:You thank him that he saved you from sin and death through his work on the cross. That salvation is a gift that you receive with gratitude because it's his death on a cross that sets you free. You invite father, son, holy spirit to protect you for the rest of your life and you get dunked in some water. Sound good? Yeah.
Darren Rouanzoin:Would you open your hands? Holy Spirit, would you just release a ministry today? Release our church for another 15 years of faithfulness in Jesus' name. Amen. Thank you so much for listening.
Darren Rouanzoin:For more
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