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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.
Intro/Outro: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:As the families go, let's just this is a great picture of what the church is called to be. We are multigenerational movement of God. Right? We we love the youth in gen z and what God's doing in alpha generation but we wanna be a church that has the greatest generation. We want millennials, gen x.
Darren Rouanzoin:We wanna be worshiping the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. And I believe that's what's required. What's lacked in the past is it's been a one generational move of God and we see his revivals die, live and die with one generation. Could we be a multi generational movement? We need the those of you that are 65 and we need those that are three years old and younger to walk this out in our faith.
Darren Rouanzoin:Amen? Amen. Can I just say hi to the overflow? I just wanna see if there's anyone overflow at the eleven. Hi guys.
Darren Rouanzoin:So glad you're there. Thank you. The, Yeah. Let's see your Bibles. Put your Bibles up if you brought your Bibles.
Darren Rouanzoin:All of you, let's see your Bibles. How are doing over there? Okay. Eleven, you're crushing it right now. You're doing really good.
Darren Rouanzoin:We're gonna go to Acts chapter two. We are in a series called Church on Fire. We are walking through the book of Acts. How great is that? Book of acts is a really exciting book.
Darren Rouanzoin:We have been taking our time. I tried to map it out this week. I think we might finish it in August 2026. So I'm not in a hurry. I'm really excited to to get into what this this book is about.
Darren Rouanzoin:Today we're gonna look at prophecy. So we're gonna read a section of scripture one second but what I what I need you to know, what I love about the Christian faith is we worship a God a God who speaks. Right? Genesis begins in verse three. God said, let there be light.
Darren Rouanzoin:And that became reality. God's word creates reality. God's speech creates worlds and we are invited into a life of God bathed words. And Pentecost which we've been talking about for, I don't know, long time now, is not a one time event. It is a template of what it means to be the church today.
Darren Rouanzoin:The miracle of Pentecost is not tongues of fire. It's that heaven's voice now speaks to human hearts and that everyone filled with the spirit has the capacity to whisper and shout and raise a voice. The proclamation that Jesus is Lord and raised from the dead which is the ultimate prophecy. That God reigns in his son Jesus Christ. God is not silent and the spirit of God makes the church a prophetic community.
Darren Rouanzoin:And that means the church becomes the institution that declares to the cosmos, to creation, to the nations, to all people, Jesus is Lord and raised from the dead. I said Jesus is Lord and raised from the dead. Jesus reigns. This is our prophetic witness. One commentator says, for Luke, the spirit's activity always centers on Jesus.
Darren Rouanzoin:The spirit's voice is the voice that glorifies Christ. And as we talk about prophecy, one thing I really wanna correct is how we sideline Christ to have a word. That prophetic ministry in the charismatic world is seeing a renewal and I would say a reformation if you will. A correction is happening. Where the prophetic ministry is not a sideshow and it's not supposed to be elevated.
Darren Rouanzoin:It's supposed to elevate Christ. And so I wanna correct some of that with the teaching today but as Darrell Johnson said, the very breath of prophecy is the witness of Jesus Christ. And so I wanna show you the first sermon preached at the 09:00 service, two thousand something years ago on the day of Pentecost. So would you all stand with me? We're gonna read the word together.
Darren Rouanzoin:Acts chapter two, we're gonna stand for the reading of the word. We're gonna look at verse 14 and you can read along. Next week pastor Romaine's gonna finish this section of scripture. You don't wanna miss what he has. It's gonna be awesome.
Darren Rouanzoin:We've been talking through it. Verse 14 says this, then Peter stood up with the 11, raised his voice and addressed the crowd. Fellow Jews and all of you who live in Jerusalem. Jerusalem, let me explain this to you. Listen carefully to what I say.
Darren Rouanzoin:These people are not drunk as you suppose. It's only nine in the morning. I don't know why that gets a laugh. No. This is what was spoken by the prophet Joel.
Darren Rouanzoin:In the last days, God says, I will pour out my spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy. Your young men will see visions. Your old men will dream dreams even on my servants, both men and women. I will pour out my spirit in those days and they will prophesy.
Darren Rouanzoin:I will show wonders in heavens above and signs on on the earth below, blood and fire and billows of smoke. The sun will be turned to darkness, the moon to blood before the coming of the great glorious day of the Lord and everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. The word of the Lord. Okay. Go ahead and grab a seat.
Darren Rouanzoin:I wanna I wanna explore the theme of prophecy this morning as as it is accompanied with the phrase tongues often in acts that the spirit comes on people and they speak in tongues and prophecy. And there needs to be correction and maybe education on this stuff. I love this text because it, it's not just historical. It's not just what happened, but there's some significant things going on that are available invitations for us today. Right?
Darren Rouanzoin:So acts two, the spirit fills the church on that most likely the Temple Mount. Scholars see that where it says the holy spirit filled the house. The word house is intentionally ambiguous in the gospel, sorry, in the book of acts by the author Luke. And he does it because scholars debate where could 3,000 plus people bear witness to this event if it were not on the temple where God's presence dwelled in the Old Testament. So the spirit falls and they speak in tongues and they hear different known languages from around the world of praises being sung and shared to God.
Darren Rouanzoin:And the question is, what is this? What's happening? There's a hunger of curiosity. And then there's another group of people that are hostile. They're drunk, which is always a response to the move of God in a moment or in a generation.
Darren Rouanzoin:There's a hostility or a hunger to participate and what I love is this little phrase where, Peter stands with the 11 and raises his voice. Stands with his stand. Why is that significant to stand? Well, a few chapters earlier in the book of Luke, the gospel of Luke, Peter sits down to warm himself up by a fire as he denies knowing the Messiah Jesus three times. And in the story arc of his transformation, fifty something days later, he stands now to address a crowd.
Darren Rouanzoin:This uneducated fishermen which we'll talk about in acts three or four where they take note at the Sanhedrin Court. This these James, sorry, John and Peter are uneducated and ordinary but they had been with Jesus. As they confound the intellectual lawyers and PhDs of the Jewish faith without an education. Peter stands now filled with the Holy Spirit and preaches the first Sunday morning at 09:00. A proclamation, not a TED talk.
Darren Rouanzoin:The church is not organized around three steps to help your marriage. It's organized around the proclamation of the gospel of Jesus Christ. The church doesn't organize first itself around a mission. It organizes itself around the declaration that he is Lord and raised from the dead, and that will always be preached in context. This is not wine we're drunk on.
Darren Rouanzoin:This is what was promised hundreds of years ago that when God finally moves, this is what it's gonna look like. It's a prophetic word for the moment. This is the last days. People ask when I preach to the revelation. When is the end times?
Darren Rouanzoin:09:00 in the morning, day of Pentecost when Peter declares, this is the fulfillment of the last days. We've been in it since this moment marked by the age of the spirit. And it takes an ordinary person who had been with Jesus filled with the spirit now continuing the ministry of Jesus. And prophecy, I love what what Luke does. He in Acts chapter two, what what Acts two, it becomes is the foundation for Luke's theology of the Holy Spirit.
Darren Rouanzoin:God's redemptive plan moves forward through a prophetic people filled with his presence. So at Pentecost, prophecy becomes the defining characteristic of a new community of faith, a new covenant community. It's this prophetic witness to stand and bear witness, not to the fact that we have some secret information, But to stand to the obvious fact that clearly Jesus has been raised from the dead. Clearly Jesus is sitting at the right hand of the father. How?
Darren Rouanzoin:Because the spirit rests on all of us. You see, the gospel is not advice. It's not therapy. It is a proclamation. It is an announcement of a reality.
Darren Rouanzoin:This is fact. You And there's only two responses. You receive the grace that has been proclaimed or you reject it. You don't try to fit it in and have a life coach of Jesus. You have a savior in Jesus.
Darren Rouanzoin:Because the response next week we'll look at is people will be cut to the heart. Some of you get this when you come to church. You immediately feel cut to the heart. Something inside of you moves and it's the spirit drawing you to response but you've trained yourself to push that away. You feel it and then you just And you know it's true.
Darren Rouanzoin:We silence the whispers of the spirit rather than step into the destiny of who we're called to be which is a prophetic witness. John Stott says, the spirit did not come to create a religious elite but to turn the whole church into a prophetic community. So Acts is about this this new move of God. These ordinary people moving and prompted by the Holy Spirit but over and over again throughout the book of Acts prophecy has a significant role in the direction of the church. And what I love about all of us becoming a prophetic people is that it simply means no matter your age, no matter your education, no matter what your background is or where you've come from or what you did yesterday Being born again means you are born again to hear God's voice and to speak his voice to others.
Darren Rouanzoin:That that gift is for everyone. And I have to say prophecy changed my life. I was filled with the Holy Spirit but that indwelling of the Holy Spirit was accompanied with all sorts of gifts. Not just that I received, for others that will come later but what I received in that moment. I was at this church in The UK in 2007 and I opened my hands like this and I closed my eyes and people came to pray and this pastor laid hand hands on me and he prayed.
Darren Rouanzoin:But when he prayed, there was a powerful encounter with God but he spoke words and I didn't know categories for what he did. I would say he read my journal. He read my mail. I literally left after experiencing the presence of God. I wept for a little while because of the content of what he prayed.
Darren Rouanzoin:I went back to my seat. I grabbed my H and M man bag at the time. And then I I I grabbed my journal, my moleskin. And I wanted to make sure he didn't read my journal. Because I didn't know God does this.
Darren Rouanzoin:Yeah. God uses ordinary people to speak his heart for people. And what he said, it was so it was so basic and what's crazy is this is happening every single day now. Like I I I'm I was talking to pastor John because I'm like, I'm gonna I tried to like write stories down. It it would be a long series of just the stories that I know.
Darren Rouanzoin:And I'm like, John, it would be He has hundreds and I have hundreds. And like if just this morning, the amount at the 9AM of of of prophetic ministry happening will baffle you. One woman I'm gonna share. She I I share a story at the end of the talk which I will. And I'm like I hate it when people come up to me and go, I'm not gonna tell you what I need but you pray for me.
Darren Rouanzoin:Like I can do parlor tricks, know, like, that's not how it works. And I'm like and she's like, I I know you joked about it, but I really want you to. So I do. And then I read her mail. And the Lord of God, I can't tell you the details because it opened her heart.
Darren Rouanzoin:She couldn't believe it. What does she what does she feel? God's with her. So when I was there, this guy goes, hey, I know this. And it was like the deepest insecurities that I carried my whole life about my identity.
Darren Rouanzoin:All the things in a nutshell he couldn't he just scalpel there. And then he says, and then he speaks my identity but this is who you are. So this is what, this is who you are in God's eyes. And he began to prophesy my identity. And then he began to call out, he's like, and this is what you're called to be.
Darren Rouanzoin:And you know it's funny, the last verse that was shared was Joshua chapter one verse nine. And, you know, when I first encountered the Lord, this man said, hey, you're gonna be like Joshua. You're gonna be You have to be strong and courageous. You're gonna lead people to their inheritance. This is your call.
Darren Rouanzoin:And and then I would go and someone else, a a prophetic leader would pray over me and, you know, it would be the same thing. Insecurity, identity, calling, and he he would use Joshua chapter one. I'm like, oh my gosh. God is real. Two times, two strangers in six months apart prophesied.
Darren Rouanzoin:And then I'm feeling called to lead a church. I get it. And then I go to another prophetic community because remember I told you, I'll go anywhere. Redhead women that are pregnant come forward. I'm like, let's go.
Darren Rouanzoin:I'm here. And it was the same thing. Joshua one. And finally, one guy who was super prophetic was like, stop waiting on the Lord. You know you're called.
Darren Rouanzoin:Joshua one, four times. But there I was the first time and and I'm like, what is this thing? I didn't know you could pray like this. I didn't know that you could enter into the presence of God in an ordinary person who has trained himself to love and connect with God. Here's on behalf of.
Darren Rouanzoin:Listens on behalf of. And then I read in scripture in Roman eight, what does the holy spirit come to do in Romans eight? Give you an identity. Right. And what I have all this false identity and so what does the spirit begin to do as he invades my life?
Darren Rouanzoin:He begins to take away the false identity. You are the beloved. It's by the spirit you cry Abba. Who hears that in the gospels? When Jesus is baptized, the first thing he gets is a beloved identity.
Darren Rouanzoin:That he doesn't have to prove his worth. Now he lives from a solid sense of self. That's the nature of prophecy. Are you with me church? 09:00 didn't get all this.
Darren Rouanzoin:You're getting something. I'm I'm passionate. I need you because the enemy will always first come after your identity. Jesus hears you are the beloved. You're my boy.
Darren Rouanzoin:That's my boy, the father says. His identity is loved without performance or condition. Your identity is loved without performance or condition. He loves you as you are not as you should be because you'll never be as you should be and you stay in that grace. That is the word of the Lord.
Darren Rouanzoin:And the enemy comes like he did to Jesus and he says, if you really are, prove it. If you are the son of God, turn this stone into bread. If you are the son of God, jump off. The angels will catch you. He he tries to get Jesus to shortcut his ministry to the cross by simply proving who he is but he already knows because God announced it at his baptism.
Darren Rouanzoin:Yes. My boy. My girl. Maybe most of the temptation today that you're dealing with is simply you're giving up your identity for the wrong things. This is what prophecy does.
Darren Rouanzoin:By the way none of this was written. This is one of those rare moments I need you to see behind the scenes real quick where God begins to move alongside and through me and I say that because I'm not this smart. I'm not this clever, I'm not, my wife's not here. Ramin, Ramin knows. I I I have to bear witness.
Darren Rouanzoin:When God wants to move, we can allow him to move. It's harder. Right? Why? Because you're gonna risk failing.
Darren Rouanzoin:I'm gonna risk looking like a fool. But when the reward is freedom, deliverance, the ministry of Jesus is present right now at the eleven that wasn't at the nine. God moved but not like right now. So pay attention because he's prophetically ministering to your heart. And let me tell you something, a secret about prophecy.
Darren Rouanzoin:It's like a seed that's given to you. You take the seed and most of us, you know what we do? We get it on Sunday, we stick it in our pocket and we just keep living. And then a year from now, something happens and you're like, oh yeah, I got that seed. And you're like, there it is.
Darren Rouanzoin:And it's just the seed. The gift, the maturing of a believer is to go, I wanna be a 100 fold minister. Because there's four different types of soil at all times. All of you represent all four soils at all times when the kingdom of God, the word is preached. You could be like just ground and then you throw the seed and it bounces off.
Darren Rouanzoin:Or the one that planted and then the birds come and eat it. Or you can be the one that's planted and because you live in Southern California and the deceitfulness of wealth and the worries of life come in and choke the seed that wants to bear fruit but you haven't cultivated the soil so a good farmer puts it in the soil of their life and waters it and lets the sun come in and keeps a fence around it so the predators don't come and dig it up because that happens. Cats do that. From the enemy. Genesis three.
Darren Rouanzoin:Post fall creative cats. I'm I'm sorry if I offend you. Dogs, Genesis one. Cats, Genesis three. Read.
Darren Rouanzoin:It's in there. I'm just kidding. So mean. I'm just kidding. Rameen has a cat.
Darren Rouanzoin:It's like a dog though. I love it. I love it. It's it's the most dog like cat I've ever seen in my life. He's trained it.
Darren Rouanzoin:It's an attack cat. I'm for it. But all cats are yeah. Here's the thing. Here's why.
Darren Rouanzoin:Trauma. Okay? I just I've had trauma. Leaders lead through weakness as well. So there you go.
Darren Rouanzoin:Okay. I love cats. I'm just kidding. Cheap joke. But you gotta water the seed.
Darren Rouanzoin:You with me? Prophecy in the book of Acts. Can we keep going? I'm gonna go through some this. You're gonna get a different sermon because the Lord's with you today.
Darren Rouanzoin:God bless you 11:00. Maybe there's somebody here that's visiting and the Lord is whispering this to you. You needed this. You've not been coming for a while and this is exactly what's been going on. You're like, I can't believe he's speaking to me about these things.
Darren Rouanzoin:That's the Holy Spirit. I can't tell you how many Sundays they're like, man, was like you were speaking directly to me. I'm like, I was preaching to myself but that's awesome that you got something from it. But in the book of Acts, we're studying Acts, prophecy is used as a major tool by the Holy Spirit to direct and lead his church. I just wanna show you an overview.
Darren Rouanzoin:Here's a quick survey and here's a time you can pull out your phone. I got all these slides, I'm not gonna get to them, because time is too precious and God's doing this. But here's like an overview of all the ways prophecy moves. I'm gonna give you a bunch of them. The spirit empowers emboldened speech.
Darren Rouanzoin:It it it moves through the witness of of Stephen where he will prophesy against the corrupt religious institution that Judaism became against Christianity. He'll prophesy into Philip. I love this. He will direct the ministry of of the whole church and to individuals. Philip goes by chance to Samaria.
Darren Rouanzoin:The city receives revival. This is what I love about Philip. Hero. Waiting tables one day, revival evangelist proclaiming the Lord Jesus Christ a herald of the gospel the next day. Why?
Darren Rouanzoin:Because he had a platform? Because he had a calling as a kid in school and he worked his way up the ladder of ministry from kids to youth to associate to become No. He was available to God for God's purposes and the city's in revival and the spirit says to Philip, leave this town to the desert. Leave revival and go wait in the desert to see one person. Leave a community of people new to the faith being baptized in the spirit.
Darren Rouanzoin:Leave all of them because I whispered it and he does. And then he he he has this encounter with the Ethiopian eunuch. He gets saved, gets baptized. The Ethiopian eunuch goes back to his hometown, probably starts the oldest Coptic church that that exist in Africa. And then he gets trans teleported to some other location.
Darren Rouanzoin:That's what in Acts chapter eight. Can't wait to preach it. Go to the next slide. Then you have this this spirit moving in the church. He directs Peter to go into a Gentiles house.
Darren Rouanzoin:I love Agabas because you hear about Agabas twice. There's a prophet named Agabas. Next time you're looking for kids names can I just suggest Agabus Hezekiah? Obadiah? I don't know.
Darren Rouanzoin:I'm just throwing out some great words. I use words. Agabus is in a church and there he has this prophetic word that a famine is coming in the future. So it it's not always predictive. It's most of the time it's not predictive.
Darren Rouanzoin:I'll define it in a second. But he has this sense and it's discerned in the church. So leaders are like, yes, this is a faithful man. He has a word about something coming. So the local church prepares for a famine coming to Jerusalem.
Darren Rouanzoin:And we read about this in our scripture. So you go to second Corinthians chapter eight and nine. Paul's talking about taking an offering for the Lord's people. He's telling the the Corinth church that was very wealthy. It would be like a church in Southern California.
Darren Rouanzoin:He's like, hey, I just left Bar Stowe they gave, they weren't even asked to give it an offering but they heard about this offering going back that came from Agabus by the way and we're going around the world to give to people we don't know that started this journey. And the this Barstow Macedonian Church, they gave extraordinary amount. In their poverty, severe poverty, they had a rich generosity. This is second Corinthians. It's incredible.
Darren Rouanzoin:So he's like, hey, SoCal Church, get ready for the offering. That's literally why he's writing. I don't wanna look like a fool because I know you have way more resource. So be prepared for the offering. So they take the the the money and they give it to Jerusalem church because of this prophetic word.
Darren Rouanzoin:Isn't that crazy? That's our legacy. We're directed by the Holy Spirit. God uses the spirit of God through prophetic lens to guide the church. Oh, so you get to the Macedonian call.
Darren Rouanzoin:Paul's commissioned out of Antioch to be an apostle to carry the gospel to other places and he's going to all these places and it says, the Holy Spirit stopped him. Some of you are being stopped not by Satan but by the Holy Spirit. You just don't know the difference yet because you're not spending enough time with him. I don't wanna shame you. That's not a shame.
Darren Rouanzoin:That's just an obvious one. Get in the word. Have a quiet time. Put the phone away and learn to sit in silence. It takes thirteen to fifteen minutes for your brain to to basically not be distracted from the time.
Darren Rouanzoin:I just discovered this neuroscientists have discovered it takes about thirteen minutes of quieting yourself to be present in your mind. So, you know, all the seven minutes of silence I've been doing hasn't done anything. And and he he has this dream, so here's a prophetic dream. Some guy from Macedonia is going, hi. And Paul's like, we're going to Macedonia.
Darren Rouanzoin:And then the move, the movement of church planting takes off as he follows the whispers of the Holy Spirit led by prophetic dream. You with me? Yes. Next one, I'm just giving you a couple more. This is all over acts.
Darren Rouanzoin:Paul, sorry, prophecy is used to strengthen the leaders. It's used to, be a marker of inclusion for Ephesus. We talked about that with tongues last week. One of my favorites is Agabus. Again, there he is twice.
Darren Rouanzoin:The end of, Paul's ministry, he shows up where Paul is on his way to Jerusalem and he prophetically takes his belt and binds his hands together. And he says, Holy Spirit says, the one who experiences this will be led by the Jewish leaders like this. Prophesying that the future he has will be filled with suffering and it's not, hey, don't go to Jerusalem. It's be strengthened in suffering because Paul, you are in the middle of God's will. I come to Jesus, it's not hashtag my blessed life.
Darren Rouanzoin:I come to Jesus, it's hashtag all his life. So my suffering and death in the book of Acts becomes a way of bearing witness to the ends of the earth. You with me church? Prophecy in Acts aligns human plans with God's purposes. That's what Eugene Peterson says.
Darren Rouanzoin:So here's a summary of prophecy and its purpose in the book of Acts. Prophecy in the book of Acts proclaims the risen Jesus, emboldens witness, confronts corruption, directs mission, breaks boundaries, mobilizes compassion, strengthens leaders, confirms inclusion and prepares the church for suffering. That's just acts. So what is prophecy? Here are some definitions I'll give you.
Darren Rouanzoin:What prophecy is not primarily about prediction but proclamation. It is a revelation, sorry, declaration of the divine will under the immediate inspiration of the Holy Spirit. It is God speaking his mind through human lips, through you and I. That's from John Stott. D.
Darren Rouanzoin:A. Carson, another scholar says, prophecy is a spontaneous spirit inspired utterance that communicates revelation something revealed by God from God for the purpose of edification, encouragement or the consolation of the church. So strengthening, encouraging, or comforting the church. It is not the same as authoritative scripture but must always be weighed and tested. So let me just say, scripture is the highest authority.
Darren Rouanzoin:Scripture always becomes the test, the rule. Scripture is the highest authority in our life as disciples, in our life as a church. What scripture says we know we don't contradict. God will not contradict his scriptures. God, so I need to say this.
Darren Rouanzoin:Like, oh, I'm hearing God's voice. I hear this is a true this is a true story in this church. Well, if God's outside of time and I'm gonna be married to my spouse, can I not sleep with my spouse before I get married because we're already married in the future? The Lord shared this vision with me in a dream. I'm like, there's other spirits sister.
Darren Rouanzoin:That is not the holy spirit. How do we know it's not from the spirit? God won't contradict his word. Right. How do you know?
Darren Rouanzoin:Because you're immersed in the word. Right. Yeah. How do you discern the spirits? Well you've been immersed in the word like bank tellers back in the day, they never touched fake currency.
Darren Rouanzoin:They touched only real currency. So they couldn't They'd have to examine it. They could feel the fake currency when it came through the cash register. The church needs to be so immersed in the word something that God has spontaneously brought to mind. It may include prediction.
Darren Rouanzoin:I like this because that's We saw that in the book of Acts. There will be future. I have had words. This is so rare. I have had words.
Darren Rouanzoin:I don't wanna share them today. Some of my Like, had a word in 2020. Let's say it was 03/11/2020 about what was coming. And it was so detailed. It will blow your mind.
Darren Rouanzoin:I have it recorded. I have it videoed before any of this stuff happened. It I mean, You guys, in 02/05/2020, I sent an email to Seth, our AV guy, and I said, we have to get everything on livestream. 02/05/2020, I had no idea what was coming. The Lord told me in my quiet time, prepare our church to be on livestream.
Darren Rouanzoin:I thought we were supposed to be influencers. I didn't know what I was supposed to do. I didn't know. The year before, we were completely off social media. And in February it was like prepare the way for being influencing the world from your home.
Darren Rouanzoin:I thought it meant being an influencer. Little did I know that God gave revelation for preparation. And when you honor it through the right interpretation, it prepares the church. Right? I've had so many of those moments like years ago.
Darren Rouanzoin:Man, I I It's so crazy how God God works. I I I don't even wanna go there because you're gonna be I have so many stories. There was this moment like the Lord has used our home to represent things in the past like the incarnate. Like if you read the Old Testament prophets, embodying things matter. I was taking down the pool gate that we made a pool in Signal Hill.
Darren Rouanzoin:We live in Seal now, but I remember taking down the pool gate because my kids were old enough to swim. And as I took down the gate, the Lord said, I'm removing the barrier from Orange County from Long Beach to Orange County. This was July 2022. This place we were in working on a contract in August 2022. And the Lord prompted my heart.
Darren Rouanzoin:I was like, okay, don't know what that means, know, but and then when it came, it was like, oh, you were You've done this four other times. Significant moves in my life. That wasn't the reason we moved here. We then brought it to our elders, it to our leadership team and we spent months discerning, debating. We collected dreams, we collected prophetic words.
Darren Rouanzoin:One person said and I love this one, the amount of oil that will flow out of this small container won't make sense. The volume will not make sense. Like, little would we know, like did we know back in 2022 where we had 300 people in a service, this place would be filled with 1,500 people on a Sunday. We moved here going, this is great. We can do two services for the next five years.
Darren Rouanzoin:We're doing three services within six months. We can't but the Lord prepares. That's why you gotta honor the words. Are you with me? Prophecy, here's my definition, is God speaking through his people by his spirit in harmony or alignment with his word, the scriptures, to reveal his will and renew his world.
Darren Rouanzoin:He reveals his will to renew his world where you become partners with God in speaking his words of truth. Now, I have a whole section I'm not gonna do right now. I'm just gonna let you see it. I I wanted to go to first Corinthians chapters twelve, thirteen and fourteen and show you Paul's theology. Here's a quick framework for it.
Darren Rouanzoin:There's three primary things you need to know about Paul's theology of prophecy in the local church. Number one, is it it's it's organized and motivated by by love. So he before he teach on prophecy, he speaks about having love. He speaks about the motivation being love. Paul will say that love is without love, even the most accurate word means nothing.
Darren Rouanzoin:Prophecy will always reveal God's kindness. It will restore dignity. It will strengthen faith and it never shames or manipulates. He says, follow the way of love and eagerly desired gifts of the spirit, especially prophecy. But the motive is love and if you recognize that God will use you to reveal his love, then prophecy becomes easy.
Darren Rouanzoin:Words of knowledge become helpful in ministering. For example, a couple of years ago, was preaching at Rock Harbor, the church that sent us out. They asked me to do a couple of weeks on the Holy Spirit. I was preaching on the Holy Spirit and, they were It was kind of new to the congregation because they had a new pastor, pastor Glenn who's been here. I love Glenn.
Darren Rouanzoin:And I was preaching on the ministry of the Holy Spirit and this after the ministry time there was a woman crying uncontrollably and the ministry team was praying for her but I was like, I'm gonna go pray for her. And as soon as I walked up and sat next to her, I put my hand on her shoulder, I had an image in my head, I had some thoughts that came in. Now, I have been trained now to trust these thoughts. This is what it's like for me, okay? It's like a butterfly that just kinda gently comes, taps my shoulder and then goes away.
Darren Rouanzoin:That would be how I sense the Lord. It could be a feeling, it could be a sense, could be an idea, could be an image. And I'm I I had this sense. So here's what I I had. Alright.
Darren Rouanzoin:So this I'm gonna give you the mechanics of this prophetic word. Open up the hood. I I felt like something She did something at 16 years old that was horrific and she's been stuck in unforgiveness towards herself since that moment. She can't forgive herself she's tormented. Now I had a very specific thing I know what I think she did But that's the that's the way God revealed a message, an idea.
Darren Rouanzoin:But if I was to give this through the lens of love, Lord, what would a loving father wanna say to her? My I'm now asking, I'm trying to translate the and interpret the revelation. How does this build her up, encourage her and strengthen her? How do I say this in a way that draws her? I'm like, Lord, what do you wanna tell her?
Darren Rouanzoin:I forgive her. Forgive yourself like I have already forgiven you and live not from the past or the future, live present with my love knowing that you're forgiven. And in this forgiveness, I felt like I was supposed to pray for freedom because she's she needs deliverance from this. So that's the mechanics. So I say to her, it's gonna sound weird.
Darren Rouanzoin:As I was praying I had this image, I could get it wrong. So just pass it off if I'm wrong. But I had this thought that you did something when you were 16. Uncontrollable weeping. How did you know?
Darren Rouanzoin:I'm like, I I don't know. Jesus knows. And I then prayed the prophetic word which was about her identity and forgiveness and I walked her into forgiving herself. As she then, I didn't say this in the last service. She then began to laugh uncontrollably.
Darren Rouanzoin:As God ministered to her deep pain. It's the power of understanding what prophecy does. Does it make sense? Who gets to do this? All of us.
Darren Rouanzoin:All of the ministry of Jesus is available for all of the church. Now we can grow and we can have strengths in various gifts that God gives us but also we need to become a prophetic community that learns to the voice of God for the sake of creation. Right? You guys with me? The second thing is order.
Darren Rouanzoin:We don't have time to get in this but Paul is dealing with a crazy zealous community in Corinth that had no order. And rather than quenching the fire, he built a fireplace. So there's there's a way of doing prophecy that's held accountable. It's never thus saith the lord if. Anyone that starts talking in King James, I'm like, I don't like this.
Darren Rouanzoin:I don't know what this is. Just kidding. But everything must be done so that the church may be built up. So so prophecy creates peace not chaos. The Holy Spirit's not random.
Darren Rouanzoin:He's relational. God's word is always bringing clarity not confusion. The third is that prophecy is for the edification. So it exists to strengthen and encourage and comfort the church. So when you prophecy, it's not a gift for yourself, it's a gift for someone else.
Darren Rouanzoin:It's like you were given a tool belt or a broom or a mop and you're you're just serving the church through that gift. Does that make sense? So when you're not activated in things of the spirit, you rob us of the possibility of a word from the Lord. So show up and be available to be used. Get trained in our prayer ministry.
Darren Rouanzoin:Our prayer, we have amazing prayer ministry where all of this is taught. Prophecy, the aim is not to impress but to build. When you speak prophetically, your words should strengthen someone's faith, encourage their heart or comfort their pain. If I could say something gently, I wanna say this as a pastor of a local church. When Paul confronts the issues in Corinth, it was a localized issue that Corinth was dealing with.
Darren Rouanzoin:I don't have time to get into it but they were overemphasizing the role of tongues as the primary spiritual ecstasy of heightened spiritual life. If I If Paul was around today in the charismatic church that believe in the prophets and prophecy, I think he would confront the prophets. I think this is what the Lord's been doing. He's been clearing house. Right?
Darren Rouanzoin:He Those leaders that have been doing things that are shameful and it shouldn't be done. Those those ministries are being wiped away. The music industry in the worship world is being There's a house being cleaned right now. It's the Lord. It's two things.
Darren Rouanzoin:It's judgment. Judgment being God's handing us over to the things we desire. We wanted worship that sounded like and looked like the world. So when worship leaders look and sound like the world, we we're surprised. What should we look what should we be looking for?
Darren Rouanzoin:Holiness and purity. With prophecy, I think we've made a spectacle of the prophets. We've made it a sideshow gig where the emphasis is the miraculous things that come to my mind versus the exaltation of the glorified Jesus Christ. All prophecy points to Jesus. All leaders should point to Jesus.
Darren Rouanzoin:Any platform you've been given should point to Jesus. Anyone has any influence should be using their influence towards to give it back to Jesus. But for some reason, we love to point to ourselves. When we do our storytelling at our staff, we do a b c d every week and it's all about Jesus. Brief, current and do not preach.
Darren Rouanzoin:So our stories are designed and the rules that we have are designed to keep it about Jesus. Because it's so easy to say, it was me that had the word. I was the one that laid the hands and the person walked. You just got your reward. And the church then elevates you and hires you and conferences you for it.
Darren Rouanzoin:And I think right now prophecy needs to be whispered off the platform and down to the pit and it needs to be released into this into the places that you are. I mean, I just heard Wilson High School, there's a Jesus Club at Wilson High School. I went there in May, six kids were there. Two weeks ago, 80 something people. Last week, 15 to 20 people gave their life to Jesus last week.
Darren Rouanzoin:Hailey and Dylan are leading it. Dylan was the first kid dedicated in our church. Nine months old. I saw her at the first service. I'm like, you are the first.
Darren Rouanzoin:All these people lined up here. This is crazy. God is using faithful, obedient, anonymous people to bring about the life promised from Joel chapter two. And if you won't do it, the 16 year olds will. If you won't show them how to worship, if you don't teach my kids how to worship when they come in here, the 16 year olds will.
Darren Rouanzoin:Be a generation, a multi generation that raises up the next generation so they don't know any better. Let them be naive to the fact that there are places that don't believe God speaks today. Amen. Let let them be naive to the fact that God will use anyone who's open and available. They just don't know, of course God's gonna use me because this is what it means to be Christian.
Darren Rouanzoin:That's what we're after as a church. So hard writing all this content and then not giving you any of it. I have like Oh, man. Alright. Give me a couple moments.
Darren Rouanzoin:I wanna give you a quick guide to prophecy. How do you prophecy? Can I give you some instructions? How this is what I've learned. Number one, you gotta receive the revelation.
Darren Rouanzoin:So I've already explained this. Ask the Lord to speak to you. This is for when you're praying for people or wanna grow in prophecy. Ask for a word that drops like a It could be a word that drops into your mind, a mental picture, a sense, an emotion, a physical sensation. You could have a verse that all all of a sudden feels alive when you're praying for someone.
Darren Rouanzoin:You could have a dream or impersonation, impression. They could remind you of somebody and God can speak and your job is to discern and when you you receive revelation, you're you're just trying to process this and then you go to step number two which is the interpretation of the revelation. Lord, what are you trying to say? What does this mean? Does it align with scripture?
Darren Rouanzoin:How do I build up this person? How do I give this word to in a way that's encouraging? Does this sense bring life or peace or is it adding fear that it might not be from the Lord? Is it rooted in love? Is it for me or is it for someone else?
Darren Rouanzoin:How can I say this in a way that builds up that person? Does this word glorify God? Like I was at this conference in 2018 and there was a couple standing in front of me. Now, was gonna speak and I've never seen this couple. I didn't see their face.
Darren Rouanzoin:I'm worshiping and I saw this this tiny little girl. She's a woman, with this man and they're just worshiping and from behind, I see this person dressed up in what I can only describe as colonial clothing. And I'm looking at him like, okay, this is weird. I'm just praying, worshiping and I just can't get this image out of my head. And then I see her on a horse as Paul Revere going up and down the East Coast saying revival is coming.
Darren Rouanzoin:Worshipping. Alright. I gotta preach. Got my notes. And I can't get this image out of my head.
Darren Rouanzoin:And then they we stop. We say, hi. I say, hey. Hi, I'm Darren. Hi.
Darren Rouanzoin:Blah blah blah. And I'm like, this is so weird. I need to share this with you. There's no no one praying. I This is why it's weird.
Darren Rouanzoin:I'm gonna be the one of the conference speakers. I don't wanna get this wrong. Right? And so I I go up and I say, hey, I I saw you dressed as this colonial they're not from The United States, so they don't know what that means. Like Paul Revere, the British over we live in The UK.
Darren Rouanzoin:Well, you're going up the East Coast saying revival's coming. Well, they they look at each other. They're like overwhelmed. It's Julian and Kathy Adams who are dear friends of ours, and they had been feeling a call to Planet Church in Boston for years. And so eventually they go to Planet Church, I install them as leaders and I have a picture outside like a block from their houses of statue of Paul Revere.
Darren Rouanzoin:But in a collection of discernment, that was a prophetic word they carried to remind them they were called. And now they're overseeing like five churches which is crazy. But the Like you don't always know what the message is and you gently share it and I shared, hey, this is gonna be weird. Could get wrong. You know, just dismiss it if not.
Darren Rouanzoin:I always do that. Right? I This girl, the one I need to tell you this story real quick and then we'll we'll we'll go to the next thing. Because the girl that came up to me and said, you know, pray for me, basically read my mail, I'm not gonna tell you anything. Which is so ridiculous, no one should do I was I was preaching at this conference, it's 10,000 adults, I was the main bible speaker.
Darren Rouanzoin:I I felt so special and the Lord totally humbled me. The best thing about that conference was my wife coming with my two kids because I walked around, there's 15,000 total people, 10,000 adults. And it was like I was a celebrity all of a sudden and it was the coolest ego trip that God humbled me because I get done preaching to 10,000 adults and my wife would hand me my one year old and say, he needs a diaper change and they need sandwiches. I'm gonna go on a walk. And I'm like, alright.
Darren Rouanzoin:And I I look back going that's exactly what I needed. It was the right thing. Just get the towel going, wipe some feet because that's what that you live in this alternative world that's not real. Yeah. Right.
Darren Rouanzoin:It destroys your soul. Yeah. You get isolated. So, I'm praying for all these people and this girl comes up to me and she's like, the Lord told me you have to pray for me. I'm like, okay, cool.
Darren Rouanzoin:What do you want prayer for? He said, I don't have to tell you. And I'm like, you are mentally ill. And I'm exhausted because I'm changing diapers. And I've got a one and four year old and I'm overseas and it's raining and they camp in the rain for fun.
Darren Rouanzoin:For seven days, it just rains and everyone has these things called Wellies. I don't even have a rain jacket and these boots that you can walk in water. I got vans, know, it's like it doesn't make sense. I'm like, sure, I'll pray for you. I sit there, I've got nothing.
Darren Rouanzoin:Nothing comes to mind except that I'm hungry and I'm tired. And then I have this memory of this book that that Brendan Manning wrote and he tells a story about this person and and I'm like, all I can think about is is that. So I'm like, hey, I don't have anything but can I tell you She's like, sure? I read this book, Brendan Manning tells a story about a a guy who sells all of his businesses and he goes to Calcutta and he serves in Mother Teresa's ministry. And finally, he gets five minutes alone with Mother Teresa where she's gonna pray for him.
Darren Rouanzoin:And she comes to him and says, what do you want me to pray for? And he says, I've sold all of my businesses. I'm trying to figure out what God wants for me to do and I would want clarity. I want clarity to know God's voice and to do the things he wants me to do. Will you pray for me?
Darren Rouanzoin:And she says, no. I will not pray for clarity. It is the last thing you give up before you trust him fully. And this woman starts weeping. Darren, I just sold all of my businesses and I wanted clarity for what I should do next.
Darren Rouanzoin:You can't make it up. Can't make it up. There's a third point here somewhere. I'm not getting through any of my points. What's the third thing?
Darren Rouanzoin:First, second thing. When you deliver the word, just know this. In this church, we're gonna speak gently, humbly, and conditionally. We don't prophesy dates and mates. God did not tell you you're gonna marry that girl.
Darren Rouanzoin:I'm telling you right now. Keep that to yourself. Go back real quick. You never say, don't speak it, thus say it the Lord. You like I sense from the Lord, I sense I could get it wrong.
Darren Rouanzoin:Just be humble. Prophecy should feel like love not pressure. God's word brings peace not performance. And then if you wanna grow in this stuff, can I say a couple of things? Number one, start listening to the Lord.
Darren Rouanzoin:God God looks for people who are listening to his heart. The goal isn't to have words for people, it's that you just fall in love with Jesus. And he shares his heart with you. He You become the kind of person that Jesus trusts with his heart. That's it.
Darren Rouanzoin:Be like those that's that Don't be like those. Be like the one that stayed awake in Gethsemane. Second, this is in my last part. If you don't mind getting it. Yeah.
Darren Rouanzoin:Immerse yourself in the scriptures. If you're not If you wanna grow in prophecy, should read scripture. Scripture prophesies of Jesus. It God will speak through scripture more than anything else and and if you are someone who wants to grow in hearing God's voice, read scripture, immerse yourself in scripture, memorize scripture. You hear me?
Darren Rouanzoin:Yes. Three, stay humble. Four, practicing community and five, remember faith is spelled r I s k. When you get started, it's all risky. Yeah.
Darren Rouanzoin:You're gonna feel so vulnerable but then he's gonna But then faith requires you to step out. Right? So when I was at that conference where I talked to Julian and Katya, the Lord told me to bring a cardigan that I had received as a gift to Ireland. Now, I've never worn the cardigan because what happened was I had done this minimalist practice and I gave this sweater off my back to this guy who was addicted and a homeless guy and I was very angry that he asked for it. But I made a commitment, if somebody asked, I'll give it.
Darren Rouanzoin:I read that day in Matthew like gave to those who asked, I'm like, alright, here you go. I was talking to a mentor and the mentor heard what he thought was a robbery but it was me giving my sweater away and he he sent me something from his closet which was a designer 1,500 to $2,000 cardigan. I didn't know they cost that much money. Yeah. It's a high fashion thing.
Darren Rouanzoin:I never wore it because I'm like, this is too expensive. I can't wear these things. But I was preparing two years later to go to Ireland and the Lord said bring the cardigan. I'm like, why? He's like, I'll tell you when you get there.
Darren Rouanzoin:So I bring it. And this is my ongoing conversation with the Lord. He's like, I'm I have it in the bag and he doesn't say anything about it and tell him about to preach. He's like, take the cardigan up. I'm like, no.
Darren Rouanzoin:I don't wanna do this. I don't wanna do it. Don't make me worry. He's like no you're gonna give it away. I'm like okay.
Darren Rouanzoin:He said I want you to give it. I'm like so he doesn't say he's like you're gonna give it away. I'll tell you who it's for when you get up there. This is R A S K. I don't I I have been learning from this church.
Darren Rouanzoin:I wanna grow from this church and now I'm speaking at this church. I don't wanna be the fool. I don't wanna be the fool. And so I'm wrestling with and I start my sermon and I'm stumbling over my words so I put my bible down and I grab the cardigan and go, I gotta do something first. And I said, Lord, would you just minister real quick?
Darren Rouanzoin:And I sat quietly and I've I heard in my heart, somebody's here from another country and they're called to the fashion industry. Give them the cardigan as a sign of their calling. I'm like, hey, is there someone from another country? Well, and then I'll get back to preaching. Like I just girl starts crying from Brazil.
Darren Rouanzoin:She had given her coat, her favorite coat away before she left. Wanted to came to this conference because it's a prophetic church because she wanted confirmation to go into the fashion industry. R I S K. What? Yeah.
Darren Rouanzoin:We're cheering Jesus but here's the thing. You will have to be courageous. You don't need to feel courageous. You don't need to feel courageous to do what Jesus would do. You don't need to feel courageous to speak the words of life that your neighbor needs to hear.
Darren Rouanzoin:To knock on the door, invite them to church where their life is transformed. To pray for the person who's grieving. To not just say, I'll pray for you in my quiet time but to stop at the office and say, can I pray for five minutes real quick or two minutes? Let me lay hands. God wants to release you for his ministry because this is how he speaks to the world, his heart.
Darren Rouanzoin:Through those that hear and prophecy his name. Can we all stand?
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