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"Here as in Heaven."
For more information visit : garden.church
You're listening to the Garden Church podcast. We're in a series called Church on Fire, a journey through the book of Acts. This is a story of ordinary people filled with the spirit, carrying the presence of Jesus into every corner of the world. The same spirit that raised Jesus from the dead is alive and in us today. Join us as we step into the call to be people set on fire for his mission.
Darren Rouanzoin:What's up church? How we doing? Yeah. There's there's a lot more energy than the nine. I was like, nine, where are you right now?
Darren Rouanzoin:Because I'm gonna leave. Alright? So my eleven fifteen and one fifteen brothers and sisters are. They know where it's at. Hey, I wanna say something about the ION Path.
Darren Rouanzoin:That's something that I personally have been trying to get into our church. Since I had my first son Ezra, who, he's gonna be 13 in November, I've been anticipating the day of walking him through a process, an intentional process of initiation as a man. And I on Path is for fathers who have sons or daughters between the ages of 12 to 16 that we are launching this this framework that's that's a that's an okay word. Really a journey for dads and moms but primarily dads to walk together raising up kids of consequence. I don't know about you but as a as a pastor, I've walked with a lot of men and almost, I would say the majority of the men I've walked with have not been initiated into masculinity.
Darren Rouanzoin:And the role of a father is to initiate their children. At the ages eleven fifteen, psychologically this is throughout history, this is throughout like civilization. The role of the father in a home is to initiate the masculinity of a son and the femininity of the woman, of their daughter. And so we wanna create a space where it's normal for dads to disciple and raise up kids. Is that alright?
Darren Rouanzoin:So you don't have to have anything figured out like I'm I'm researcher, I've been reading all the literature for years. None of that matters. The ION Path helps create conversations. We're gonna do it together as a family and I think it's just gonna grow as we do it. So please come to the interest meeting this Wednesday, okay?
Darren Rouanzoin:Good? I lost you? I did announcement and you're gone. That's fine. I I have a word.
Darren Rouanzoin:I'm a preach today and I got rocked in the 09:00 because I started to read, this passage. So grab your Bibles. Let me see. Acts chapter six that's where we're going. Yeah.
Darren Rouanzoin:11 15. My people. Someone is like, Wait we bring Bibles here? Yes. Now you know.
Darren Rouanzoin:I was, I started to read Acts six we are gonna be in Acts six verse one and I got I got flooded with a memory so I am gonna, can I give you a quick testimony? My testimony today. You ready? I just left Costa Mesa where we moved into the main sanctuary at Vanguard. It's called Seymour, William Seymour, founder of the Pentecostal Movement.
Darren Rouanzoin:That's what it's named after. And I went there at ten and walked in and it's completely packed like everything is full, more people than we anticipated. There's no room. And I got overwhelmed but I got overwhelmed not because of the people but because that was the space when I went to Vanguard I used to scan my card because you were, you had to go to chapel and I would sneak to the restroom and escape in the back. So I confessed that sin, hypocrisy in my heart.
Darren Rouanzoin:And I was sitting in a chapel service and I heard as clear as day the Lord say to me, you're gonna lead leaders and pastor pastors. Nineteen years old, I sat in the back of that room that I preached and I saw myself at Rock Harbor which was the church that was a volunteer I was attending and later I would get hired and sent out of. I saw a picture of my, in my imagination of me preaching along alongside the teaching pastor at the time, Mike Ehry. That's what began my journey of going into ministry. At that room that was filled with gardeners.
Darren Rouanzoin:Crazy. It was crazy. I I had this image that one day I would preach and I didn't wanna preach. I I changed my majors, I studied theology, felt called into ministry but did not feel like I was an adequate communicator. I didn't wanna do that.
Darren Rouanzoin:I wanted to serve in missions or or, I I'd wanna just like lead a church like Rock Harbor which had a lead pastor and they had a separate teaching pastor. But it didn't matter because I was 19 so I studied theology and I just kept saying yes to Jesus because what happened was I left UCSB where I was away from the church. I came back to faith and Rock Harbor gave me the real Jesus. I fell in love with Jesus. I read my Bible all the time.
Darren Rouanzoin:I was crazy passionate about God. I served in Downtown LA. Every Saturday, I made peanut peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and I drive up to Skid Row and MacArthur Park with a backpacks full of sandwiches and hand them out with waters to homeless people because And I love I thought if you love Jesus this is what you do. I didn't know that there was like a professional route. I didn't know there was a there was a possibility of you being saved and then consuming stuff.
Darren Rouanzoin:I didn't know that was a thing. I just thought well it says that you do it. And then I served in the middle school ministry for four years until the kids that I disciple went to high school and then I graduated Vanguard and applied for 14 youth pastor positions and didn't get any of them. Even the one I was doing for free as a volunteer at Rock Harbor they didn't even interview me. So I get married, I get engaged and I was a, I was a waiter at, at, BJ's in Balboa where I worked for three years in Balboa serving pizzas and pazookies.
Darren Rouanzoin:Which let's be honest they are amazing. You are like, Amen? Now I have the amens. Charismatic generosity pazookie. Praise the Lord for chocolate covered pizza pie with ice cream whatever it is.
Darren Rouanzoin:It's so good. Anyways, I got a ring from a family friend he's like why don't you pay it off by working for me and it went so well he offered me a 6 figure position as a 21 year old. 6 figure, I'm like I'll never make this in ministry. What maybe I'm supposed to do ministry on the side. I know you said this thing God and I I I debated and then I got in this process and I got hired at Rock Harbor as a glorified intern.
Darren Rouanzoin:It was a paid internship where I'd be there for two years and then be sent out. And it was three months in the job so nineteen years ago in March I was I was an assistant to the assistant of the regional, no I was an assistant to the missions pastor and we put on this conference on evangelism. Had Lee Strobel there and my task was to unlock and lock the building. Set up chairs and provide you know the the needs for the event and and not really any of the needs just like the manual labor as a staff person. And we had two days where I got there at four and closed it at midnight.
Darren Rouanzoin:It was a long day. That second day I was all alone so I thought and I was crying as I was stacking chairs because I said, Lord thank you that I get to serve your house. And he said, Don't ever be too good to stack chairs. I've I've said this to all of our staff. Don't ever.
Darren Rouanzoin:I I love I I'm I'm I'm kind of a controlled freak with the with the chairs. I think we can always get more in. That's why it's so tight. I'm like we need at least this much. I don't want to preach 20 times.
Darren Rouanzoin:Give us square footage Lord. We prayed. As I was crying out to God in that moment thankful that I'm working at a church that changed my life. Isabella. Latino.
Darren Rouanzoin:Mama. Barely speaks English at the church. She was the janitor. Comes up on me out of nowhere and grabs me and prophesies. God's gonna do amazing things with your yes.
Darren Rouanzoin:Just said all these things. Next day I go to London and it's in London that I'm filled with the Holy Spirit. Next day I'm in India and I hear God say, Plant a church in Long Beach. So we start the garden and right when we were launching, Rock Harbor finally said, hey, why don't you come preach at our church? I'd never preached at Rock Harbor.
Darren Rouanzoin:It's five thousand people. They had five services. Saturday night and four on Sunday Two on Sunday morning, two on Sunday night. And they said, Hey, you know it's your first time preaching, you're 25, you're not much of a preacher which I said, Amen. I know.
Darren Rouanzoin:You're gonna preach next to our teaching pastor Mike Ehry. So the first sermon I ever preached publicly for the church at Rock Harbor I, Saturday night preached with Mike Ehry. And they they had a debrief session and I heard about the debrief session like preachers would get grilled and I had never done it so I'm like, I get it. They're like, We got some bad news and I'm like, I know you don't want me to preach tomorrow. They're like, No.
Darren Rouanzoin:Mike's not gonna preach tomorrow. You're gonna preach all four so you need to go home and get ready. And the sermon I preached was Acts six verse one. So for me it's a full circle moment because of all the scriptures that I could have preached this one became a defining one for me. And what I wanna say right now is two things.
Darren Rouanzoin:One, I most relate to Philip and we'll get there in a couple of minutes for lots of reasons. But second the call and the journey we are on has nothing to do with your dreams and desires. It has nothing to do with your strengths. It has everything to do with your surrendered life to Jesus. Because if you surrender your life it's no longer yours.
Darren Rouanzoin:And every single day will be a quest to say yes to him. And he will take what little yes and he will move it along for his great adventure. I used to say in the sermon that God will do extraordinary things through ordinary people and I don't say that anymore. Because ordinary lives ordinary people is not what God wants you to focus on. Because you'll just go back to the way you live.
Darren Rouanzoin:He will do extraordinary things through surrendered lives. And that's what I'm after today. So Lord Jesus would you allow us to be slayed by your Holy Spirit. May we fall at your face today Jesus because there is no ministry other than yours And we are servants to the bridegroom. We wanna lay down our lives.
Darren Rouanzoin:Thank you for the bread of life. Thank you for the water of life. Thank you for the ways you have filled us up God. We wanna pour ourselves out. And I ask today in the preaching of the word of God today, we would set ablaze at at Garden.
Darren Rouanzoin:A fiery mission for the world with a bunch of people who just keep saying yes to you in Jesus name. Amen. Acts six verse one. You ready? In those days when the number of disciples was increasing the Hellenistic Jews among them complained against the Hebraic Jews because their widows were being overlooked in the daily distribution of food.
Darren Rouanzoin:Okay first of all we keep seeing this. I just want to highlight in those days the number of disciples was increasing. It's been increasing since the beginning of the church. If you're keeping score Acts two three thousand people got baptized and saved on the day of Pentecost. Acts four the Lord adds to their number daily.
Darren Rouanzoin:Also Acts four five Acts two and four. Also in Acts four five thousand men believe after the the man is who's paralyzed is healed and Peter preaches to the temple courts additional 5,000. Then on top of that after Ananias and Sapphira the fear of the Lord comes on and more and more people are added to the numbers. So this is revival. And revival doesn't just attract crowds it exposes cracks.
Darren Rouanzoin:And that's what we see here. And what Luke wants you to understand is this story is anchored in the story of God's people for all time. So, this is an unfamiliar territory for the people of God because we have language in here that draws us to previous stories of the people of God on a journey where there's an increase in number and there's stuff going on. So we know that the church is growing but now we see that there's a crisis within the church. The the Hellenized Jews are complaining.
Darren Rouanzoin:That word complain in the in the Greek is connected to the Septuagint translation of the Old Testament. So there's a Greek translation of the Old Testament that dates back thousands of years. That translation is used in Exodus and Numbers for grumbling. So complaint is the same as grumbling. Grumbling, have you heard that phrase before?
Darren Rouanzoin:Anyone reading the bible in the year right now? Anyone reading the bible in thirty days? Anyone else doing that for Lent? Forty days for Lent? I'm not saying I am.
Darren Rouanzoin:I'm just curious if you are. There's a lot of grumbling with the people of God. This is I'm just gonna say there's always a lot of grumbling for the people of God. I'm gonna sit here for a moment. What happens is in community when you like people are like Oh we just want to be like the early church there is no problem.
Darren Rouanzoin:Which early church didn't have a problem? Like because I don't want to be Corinth Right? I don't wanna be Ephesus. I don't wanna be Galatia for sure. That one's crazy.
Darren Rouanzoin:Maybe Thessalonica. That would be cool. They seem to have it figured out as far as I can tell according to Paul. Don't wanna be the one that gets spit out of the mouth in Revelation. I'll tell you that right now.
Darren Rouanzoin:But grumbling is a sign of God's people when their expectations aren't being met. And I'll just say you know in the days that the number of disciples were increasing at the garden we got a lot of emails. AKA grumbling. It's always like hey this happened and I always say those go straight to pastor John. So when you're a church planner, it's always you but then eventually get a team that can handle and it But this is what we're called to.
Darren Rouanzoin:Not everyone knows what it means to lay down their lives because the world has taught you to fight for your life and the church teaches you to give it up. But the grumbling is just what happens and it's a marker of the Israel Israelites and then it's also a marker of watching what God does next. So they'll grumble in Israel in the story of Exodus. Like they'll be fed from white flakes that rain from the sky. It's called manna which is it's called manna but that translation means what is it?
Darren Rouanzoin:It's like who's on first like what is it exactly? It's exactly right. That's that's what we're gonna call it. So they get manna and then they come then they grumble. We want meat and then he gives them quail and they're like they grumble again.
Darren Rouanzoin:We need water. So there's all this grumbling going on but God shows up. And also the burden of leadership is heavy so they grumble against Moses. Moses is burning out and his his father-in-law says, what you're doing is not okay. In Exodus 18, he's like, you need to get some leaders and they they empower 70 elders.
Darren Rouanzoin:So we see this story is being retold in for the purposes of the church. Now the church is is interesting. I just wanna highlight this first verse that there's Hebraic Jews and Hellenistic Jews. Hebraic is speaking Aramaic. It's Jewish by culture, by religion.
Darren Rouanzoin:They're they're from Jerusalem. They're part of that that culture. They followed the temple laws. The Hellenized Jews is a different culture, different language, different lifestyle, different longing. And they're in the same community.
Darren Rouanzoin:Two separate distinct cultures coexist and there's conflict. Do you think there should be conflict? Of course. And in this conflict the minority is being overlooked. There's injustice in the church.
Darren Rouanzoin:As revival's going on, there's injustice because the leaders through revival, the revival exposed their limitations. Can I just say revival being like lots of people coming, lots of people getting saved, signs and wonders, that's revival, right? So that's happening and now leadership is overwhelmed and there's conflict. And but I just also wanna highlight one more thing that I love about this passage. Apparently, our origin story as the church, we thought it was appropriate to have a daily distribution of food for the vulnerable.
Darren Rouanzoin:Isn't that amazing? That as the church is going and signs and wonders and properties are being dropped and then those people that are lying about it are dying and the ushers roll them up and bury them. There's the burying ministry. There's the healing of the sick ministry. There's like all this stuff is going on.
Darren Rouanzoin:They're like, we have people that don't have enough. So we're gonna pass out food to the most vulnerable. You wanna know the test of a revival? What the church does with the most vulnerable. So that's where it takes off.
Darren Rouanzoin:The crisis is just what happens when lots of people come. More money, more problems, more people, more complaints. All of that is the reality of our time. Yeah? Nothing wrong.
Darren Rouanzoin:This is what's going on. Acts two would be like the fire in the church. Acts six is the plumbing. And nobody celebrates the plumbing until the house floods. So we have this set up.
Darren Rouanzoin:What are we gonna do with all the growth? The growth creates strain. In Acts two, we have the answer. The 12, sorry, Acts six verse two has the answer. So the 12 gathered all the disciples together and said something that would offend many of us.
Darren Rouanzoin:It's not right for us to neglect the ministry of the word of God in order to wait on tables. So there's a problem. There's a really good thing. Food being passed out to hungry people. Is that a good thing?
Darren Rouanzoin:The apostles go, it wouldn't be right for us to do this and neglect this. Okay? So, brothers and sisters, choose seven men from among you who are known to be full of the spirit and wisdom and we will turn this responsibility over to them and we will give our attention to prayer and the ministry of the word. So, I wanna frame some things because Luke is doing something very fascinating. Luke is quietly dismantling the sacred secular split that happens in the church.
Darren Rouanzoin:The church does not have spiritual work and then practical work. The church has ministry. Yeah? The spirit loves to set fire on whatever thought you have of something being small Because everything that he wants for his church needs to be empowered by the spirit of God. So, what Luke does here is a word play in the Greek and it gets rid of it through the language.
Darren Rouanzoin:So, what what the apostle says, it would not be right for us to neglect the ministry of the word of God in order to wait on tables. The word ministry is where we get the, it's a Greek word for minister or ministry or service. Like we can't neglect the service of the word. That's the ministry they're called to. In order to wait on and the word wait on shares the same root word in Greek for diokonia and it it has to do with the same thing.
Darren Rouanzoin:It also is a service and a ministry. So what I wanna say is that serving tables is ministry and preaching the word is ministry. Both are ministries. It's not spiritual versus practical. It's calling and capacity in the life of the church.
Darren Rouanzoin:And I need you to hear this because the apostles if they abandon prayer the movement loses its source. It move, it loses its direction and this is so key in moments of revival. Because what happens is lots of people come and the enemy does this. First enemy will try to stop the church through threats. Better not preach in the name.
Darren Rouanzoin:Then the enemy will stop the church through hypocrisy from within. Hey, I know what we'll do. We'll split the witness. Say one thing and do another. It will stop the church.
Darren Rouanzoin:Then the enemy does something else. He'll use powers that control society to threaten and persecute its leadership and the church. That's another way to stop the church. Control from the outside. The other way is get the church to a really Get get the church very busy with good things.
Darren Rouanzoin:Not the things that Jesus asked you to do. So the enemy will destroy the church through burnout. Yeah? Now can I say something about burnout? Because most of us are not burnt out.
Darren Rouanzoin:We're not. Most of us are idolaters. The reason you're burnt out has nothing to do with your work rest rhythms. Sabbath by the way you're like I need a Sabbath. Yes you're also Genesis one and two created to work six days a week and the the two day weekend we have is invented by The United States.
Darren Rouanzoin:So biblically you are created to work for six days and the seventh day is the Lord's day. So you gotta give me at least one of those days church. You hear what I'm saying? I'm gonna slap the Sabbath out of you because what you've done. If you've gotten to this place where it's like the main thing is avoiding burnout not learning to pour yourself out.
Darren Rouanzoin:And your priorities are so warped because you're worshipping. No. You're being indoctrinated. No. You're being discipled by narcissistic culture that has you at the center.
Darren Rouanzoin:And then the church has turned the discipleship as a reflection of that same narcissism and we say come to church where we'll make your life the center of everything we do. So come to faith close your eyes raise your hand we'll make it so anonymous you won't feel a thing. Jesus says pick up the cross count the cost. You're gonna have a target on your back from Satan. Oh you didn't know there's a cosmic invisible being that wants to destroy your life and kill you.
Darren Rouanzoin:Welcome to the club. Now you got a target. We have just made it. So what is ministry in the church? Well we make it preference based.
Darren Rouanzoin:The disciples don't say, hey we have administrative needs, we need those who are really administrative. Those who are great at excel spreadsheets. Those who have taken the enneagram. Those who have the Myers Briggs profile. Those who have gone online and figured out what their ministry is.
Darren Rouanzoin:You come here going, Darren will you make my ministry become a reality based on my history? No. Crucify that. Bury your life in the church. Wash feet.
Darren Rouanzoin:Just, yes, week I was in Costa Mesa. All these new We had a 100 and something people at our new person lunch. Somebody came up to me and they said, I just really feel called to speak. How can I get up there preaching? I said, you will never preach at this church.
Darren Rouanzoin:Because the person that asked for the microphone will never get it. If you would have asked for a mop I would have given it to you. That's how the church works. They don't say let's get your let's get your career and your your biography and your resume and line it up. They say no.
Darren Rouanzoin:Choose seven men who are known. This isn't like I can I can easily modify a piece of paper? We've we've seen how they live amongst us. And what do they have to be known for? Not the ability to make a large casserole for nagging widows.
Darren Rouanzoin:Full saturated of the Holy Spirit. Meaning there are observable characteristics for spirit filled followers. Some of you don't know the difference between being a follower of Jesus that's filled with the spirit and coming to church on Sunday. You don't know the difference between anointed worship set and a bunch of songs that were executed well. Because you've not been trained.
Darren Rouanzoin:No. You've not been saturated in his presence. You've not been filled by the Holy Spirit. That's what he They're looking for observable characteristics. And the second is wisdom.
Darren Rouanzoin:What's wisdom in the Hebrew consciousness? Wisdom is mastering the art of living. So your household is in order. Your life reflects an ordered experience where you have a good reputation. You're good with your kids.
Darren Rouanzoin:You're good with your home. You're good at the workplace. Your reputation is known by mastering the art of living and the markers of a spirit filled life. For what? Passing out food to hungry people.
Darren Rouanzoin:You see the injustice is not solved by a system that's efficient. It's solved by a spirit filled leader. Full of the character of Jesus Christ. What would happen to the church if we stop following leaders because they have a lot of followers on platforms? And we only follow those that we know their character.
Darren Rouanzoin:Can I just let that simmer for a second? Like the idea of leading the church without being in the church is Gnosticism. The first heresy that John confronts. Right? You you it has to be embodied in a local community.
Darren Rouanzoin:That there's no set like the idea of of of being a pastor without a flock is not a pastor. You have to be in life on life relationships so you should know like in local church context you should be in relationship to people in such a way that the people that are leading look it's not our church is growing so this isn't gonna happen with everyone but as it's going along you're in relationship with people and what's flowing from the inside, the bottom where the elders are, right? Where Jesus is, is character that's permeating that looks like Christ. How? Not because we preach great doctrine although we should but because the way we handle conflict reflects Jesus.
Darren Rouanzoin:Because the way we manage resources reflect Jesus. Because the way we love each other reflects Jesus. That's what we look for. Instead of triumphalism which is our guy's famous. So we follow the celebrity pastor.
Darren Rouanzoin:A celebrity pastor. They don't have a ministry. It's his ministry. There's, there's The best you can be is a foot washer. The greatest you can be is a donkey that speaks the word of the Lord like Balaam's donkey.
Darren Rouanzoin:We have security now and and they keep having code names for me. I was like my code name is Donkey. I want, I, that, the best thing I can ever be. This is from a famous pastor and evangelist. The greatest thing you can ever be is the donkey that Jesus rides on into town.
Darren Rouanzoin:And it breaks my heart because we don't know the difference between character and a platform. And there's a generation that that is being swept away by the influence and by fame and then we get surprised when another leader falls. When another leader covers up. What should you We should have no secrets as followers of Jesus because we bring it to light. Because that's where things are healed or set free.
Darren Rouanzoin:I'm going off on my notes but I just feel it. I'm so tired of having to apologize for what the church shouldn't have done in the first place. We shouldn't be judgmental towards outsiders. We shouldn't use power for ourselves. We give it away.
Darren Rouanzoin:And then when God moves the question is what do we do with the vulnerable? What do we do with the poor? What do we do with the people that God commands over and over to look after? Especially when we're walking in abundance Orange County. You're like, I'm doing it.
Darren Rouanzoin:I'm giving a percentage. He doesn't want a percentage. He wants the whole thing. It wasn't a 10% baptized. It was all of you that was immersed.
Darren Rouanzoin:So now let's think about that when it comes to what we give. Because Romans doesn't say in view of God's mercy offer 10% of your life back. Offer your life on the altar. That's what makes a movement. We gotta wake up.
Darren Rouanzoin:I don't I don't know where any of this has come from. I just hurt. I was supposed to preach at Bethel this week as their prophetic voice and I said no with everything that was going on. People are like, it's the biggest invitation you had. I'm like, I've never thought about invitations as the biggest.
Darren Rouanzoin:It's what Jesus says yes to and no. I'm not here for money. I'm not here for a platform. I'm not here for fame. I'm here because I just said yes when I was 19 and then I said yes again and then I said yes again and then and then when I had to preach to Garden when there were 12 people I had panic attacks.
Darren Rouanzoin:I didn't say oh this was my calling. I'm fulfilling it. This is my strength. I said this is what's needed. So in my fear and weakness use that.
Darren Rouanzoin:We just wanna bring the church our strength. No. Bring the church your weakness. Bring the church what you failed five years ago and now you're restored and bring it as a testimony so that the wounds that were so big in your life become doorways for salvation. Become the entry points for people to be healed.
Darren Rouanzoin:Those of you that are moms that are walking through a lonely season of postpartum and some of you have gone through it already. Walk with the moms that don't know left from right. Not because you got ordained as a ministry because you just say yes. This is what we need. I'm just releasing ministry left and right.
Darren Rouanzoin:There's gonna be preachers that go around the world and pastors and missionaries from the garden, from this church. Why? Not because we figured it out with a program but because the spirit of God was here. And we throw every We didn't want There's 700 people in Costa Mesa right now. I cannot believe we have to start a second service there.
Darren Rouanzoin:Wow. It's crazy. That is insane. It does That is nothing on Garden. That is everything on Jesus Christ.
Darren Rouanzoin:Nothing on preaching. Nothing on worship style. Nothing on our ability to strategize. Did we six months ago strategize a multi site church? No.
Darren Rouanzoin:While we were launching it we were googling how do you do multi site church? Did anything prepare us for stewarding this? Of course. What prepared us? Setting up chairs.
Darren Rouanzoin:Praying on Tuesday for Sunday. Every week. You think we get here and you're like, Oh this is it. You you show up. We start praying for you on Tuesday.
Darren Rouanzoin:We start preparing on Wednesday. Our prayer rooms are soaking this place. They're soaking for the people. When we get here, we Our team is here at 08:00 to pray for all the gatherings. They're contending for the warfare that you're driving into from the week.
Darren Rouanzoin:You're saturated with prayer because you have a group of people that say, this is what's gonna move our church for for the engine is prayer. Before you walk in the room we've been praying and interceding. We've been worshiping. You get thirty minutes eleven fifteen. You get thirty minutes of worship from Levites.
Darren Rouanzoin:Consecrated leaders that confess their sins in that room. That's not a green room. There's no green only m and m's in our room. It's confess and get right. That's how we lead.
Darren Rouanzoin:And then the elders get a prayer, pre service prayer note on on Saturday. We're contending for you. And then we have prayer. And then John or whoever's here preaches the gospel and you receive communion. So when pastors say, how do you do the ministry thing at the end?
Darren Rouanzoin:I go, well it starts on Tuesday. And I can't come into your church, you're not taking communion every week. You think the spirit of God, do you Have you learned to host the presence of God? Man, this is going off but you get it. I got to get to the rest.
Darren Rouanzoin:Okay. I got No, we're good. I'm good. This proposal pleased the whole group. So they chose, listen, Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit.
Darren Rouanzoin:Philip, Prechorus, Nikonor, Timon, Parmenius and Nicholas from Antioch, a convert to Judaism. They presented these men to the apostles who prayed and they laid their hands on them. Okay. So of these seven names, they're all Greek names meaning they're all Hellenized. So the, what do you do when you're being overwhelmed by growth?
Darren Rouanzoin:Do you hold on to control and power or do you multiply and release it? And so Acts three, I'm sorry, Acts six verse three and four, they choose seven men. There's two things going on here. One that reflects the 70 elders that stewarded Israel when Moses was the leader. God says, hey, separate the 70 and the spirit of God fell on 70 elders to to to basically lead Israel during that time.
Darren Rouanzoin:So the burden wasn't hard on one person. Yes? Seven four, this is fascinating. In the gentile world, in the Hellenistic communities, towns were led by councils and a council needed seven men. So there's like this strategic structure of seven empowering the next leader.
Darren Rouanzoin:And they don't look for gifted men, they look for godly men. And the early church was not built on a personality. It was not built on personal calling. It wasn't built on passionate alignment. It was built on people whose character was known to look like Jesus.
Darren Rouanzoin:And this proposal, empowered Stephen whose name, and I just I just wanna put this, this is where my my favorite part of the story comes in. This is why I I resonate. Let me just so so they go, we're gonna we're gonna pass off the ministry of waiting tables to to the to the poor, to the marginalized and vulnerable. To them so we can focus on the Word and prayer. And I love it because of this.
Darren Rouanzoin:So the people that are leading the church here are their names. Right? You got Peter who's Rocky. You got Barnabas son of encouragement. You got Stephen whose name is Crown.
Darren Rouanzoin:Percurus, I love this one, the leader of the dance. Nicanor which is victorious army. I mean come on victorious army, serve some tables. Timon, he who demands respect. That which is permanent and Nicholas, people's victory.
Darren Rouanzoin:I mean that, you're like that's it. And then there's Philip, lover of horses. You got Rocky, victorious army, lover of ponies, crown. And then you're like, wait what? What's this guy?
Darren Rouanzoin:Philip. It's so good. It's so good. But here's why I love it. Because you got the potluck associate Philip.
Darren Rouanzoin:The potluck associate. No formal training as we know. No seminary degree. He didn't take, you know, he didn't download the Instagram ad to become the best preacher in the world. You know, didn't have three hour podcasts that he could just really dive in.
Darren Rouanzoin:He didn't have the you know bible study app, bible study podcast. He didn't have any of those things. He was full of his spirit and wisdom. He surrendered his life to Jesus and then he said, Jesus, what do you need? How can I serve?
Darren Rouanzoin:And so he becomes this lay hands on him. They commission him as the leader. And what we'll see next week is Stephen who becomes the first martyr. So the apostles say, no to waiting tables and say, Yes to the ministry of the prayer prayer and to the Word of God. The the, deacons, the seven say, Yes to waiting on tables.
Darren Rouanzoin:And then Stephen, the next chapter, we'll see Stephen says, Yes and he will confront the smartest people in Jerusalem and they can't argue against him. This uneducated fool. Full of the spirit and wisdom confounds the wisdom of the age by the spirit of God. Just like Jesus prophesied. When you stand before councils, don't worry about what you'll have to say.
Darren Rouanzoin:I'll speak through you. He gets stoned to death. The first Christian martyr is a potluck associate. Not an apostle. It's the hospitality volunteer.
Darren Rouanzoin:And then we get to chapter eight and because he gets martyred, there's persecution that breaks out. We'll get there in a couple weeks. And it says, Philip finds himself in Samaria. Remember Acts chapter one, you will be my, this, my, you'll be my witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria and the ends of the earth. And Philip, the potluck associate, no training.
Darren Rouanzoin:He didn't take the Myers Briggs and say, I got the helper gift, let me just do behind the scenes. I got Excel spreadsheet. He shows up to Samarit, Jesus what do you need? I need a city evangelist. I need someone to proclaim the kingdom of God, cast out demons, heal the sicks.
Darren Rouanzoin:I can do that. And it says the city was full of joy. Because the hospitality volunteer said yes. Right? And then there's revival in Samaria.
Darren Rouanzoin:The apostles come, they lay hands, the Holy Spirit comes. It's like it's like if you were a pastor, you're doing conferences. Right? You you're doing annual conference. You're gonna take retreats.
Darren Rouanzoin:You're gonna take people and sell the book, purpose driven, whatever it is to make it work. Because you figured it out and now you're giving it away. That's what you do. The spirit of God says to Philip, in the middle of revival, go to the desert road and wait. And the Ethiopian eunuch comes.
Darren Rouanzoin:Gets saved because Philip's there and interprets scripture he gets baptized and as soon as he gets baptized he teleports out. And the Ethiopian eunuch goes to what the Romans called in the Roman Empire two thousand years ago back to his hometown in Ethiopia, the ends of the earth. Can't make the story up. So what's the call? Well.
Darren Rouanzoin:Surrender your life. Look I know some of you have never surrendered your life to Jesus. Like you've never said, I believe that Jesus is Lord and raised from the dead. And I wanna I wanna follow him for the rest of my life. Some of you need to make that confession.
Darren Rouanzoin:That's how you get saved. That's your entry point. You don't have to have it figured out. You need a master's degree. You gotta open your heart and faith and confess and believe Jesus is Lord and raised from the dead.
Darren Rouanzoin:That's how you get saved. And brothers and sisters that is a way that we surrender but then every day for the rest of your life everything gets put on the altar. Everything becomes a surrender. So so right now there's things in your life he's asking you to lay down. So I'm asking you church, surrender to Jesus today.
Darren Rouanzoin:Surrender to Jesus and believe in him but surrender your dreams. Surrender your hopes. Surrender your pain to Jesus and then say, where do you need me? Because can I say something practically? Garden Church, in the days where the disciples were increasing in our ministry, it's right now.
Darren Rouanzoin:Like you know what, I look around like we we everywhere we look right now things are growing. There's more people getting saved. There's people getting healed. There's more pain in relationships. There's more suffering.
Darren Rouanzoin:There's more need for kids volunteers. I need kids volunteers who will actually follow through with the process and go get live scanned and get background checked and show up and say yes when they get put on the schedule. I don't need you to feel an emotional moment and start the process and never feel that. That's not a surrendered life. That's consumerism.
Darren Rouanzoin:No that's that's the virtue signaling our culture loves. Just post it. I did my part. We need youth volunteers. We need worship leaders.
Darren Rouanzoin:We need people to set up and tear down. We need hospitality volunteers. We need ministries that started without us knowing it. We need people that just surrender and give their life because that's what it means to be Christian. I see I see it right now.
Darren Rouanzoin:The Barnabas', the Phillips, the Stevens. Those that had careers that gave them up. Those that had four zero one k's that put it aside. Those that had dreams that they paused. That's the moment we're in.
Darren Rouanzoin:Because God is drawing near. So surrender to Jesus and ask where can I serve? Like Camille stand.
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