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"Here as in Heaven."
For more information visit : garden.church
You're listening to the Garden Church podcast. We're in a series called Church on Fire, a journey through the book of Acts. This is a story of ordinary people filled with the spirit, carrying the presence of Jesus into every corner of the world. The same spirit that raised Jesus from the dead is alive and in us today. Join us as we step into the call to be people set on fire for his mission.
Darren Rouanzoin:Alright, church. What's going on? 9AM. This table's dirty. Need to wipe it.
Darren Rouanzoin:It's gonna distract. No. Do it next service. It's all good. I'll cover it up with the Bible.
Darren Rouanzoin:Just like Jesus covers our sin with his blood. Pastor jokes all day. 09:00, let me just say this, okay? And you're in the overflow. I I I, here's what I'm gonna do.
Darren Rouanzoin:Every week I preach the three services nine, eleven and one and something happens at the one and I am like Lord may it be at the nine as it is at the one. And look I know you are all here you are asleep. I want us to like wake up with pregnant anticipation for what God wants to do. Like we have been formed to think like church should just be this thing we show up to and we have witnessed God provide, thank you Pastor Amin, finances for so many people. But I think there is just gotta be something you bring.
Darren Rouanzoin:A hunger. And here, I got a prophetic rebuke from a pastor I am walking with, 70 year old pastor who said, Darren, stop preaching to the people that aren't here and don't wanna be here. Preach to the community that's hungry, that's here. You have people lining up before 08:30 to get in the room. Preach to them.
Darren Rouanzoin:So listen, I wanna let you know for seventeen years of preaching I always have in the back of my mind the people that are like deconstructing their faith. People who don't wanna be in the room and something is moving inside of me that I'm done doing that. Because this is not a season for comfort. This is a season for the hungry. The Christianity has had enough of consumerism.
Darren Rouanzoin:And if you're at Garden Church we're not gonna be doing consumer church. We are gonna go all out into discipleship to Jesus. Are you with me church? So, today, we are gonna talk about the healing ministry of Jesus. We are gonna continue in the book of Acts.
Darren Rouanzoin:Acts chapter three. Let me see your Bibles. We just pull them up. Hold them up. Praise the Lord.
Darren Rouanzoin:Let's put the other campus next door on the screen. I wanna see if Would you guys at the overflow raise your Bibles? Yeah, let's go. Alright, well here's the deal. The one message I have today as we walk through Acts and I teach through the healing ministry of Jesus is just a clear teaching we see that God uses the available.
Darren Rouanzoin:Let me say it again, write this down. God uses the available. And let me just say, if you are not being used by God, it's because you are unavailable. God will use empty vessels and you are probably filled. So it's time to empty yourself which is why we talked about generosity.
Darren Rouanzoin:To get to the true spiritual things. If you are faithful with the little your money maybe you will be faithful with the real true riches which is the spiritual things of the kingdom of God. That's the teachings of Jesus. He wants to train you for real impact, real power, dunamis. But we have, we think that we are going to be trusted with prayers answered when we don't know how to steward our finances.
Darren Rouanzoin:Are you alright? They are all connected. Now, a few years ago, ten years ago, we brought a team of people to India from Garden Church to train about 500 pastors in the ministry and the power of the Holy Spirit. And, we have a friendship out there with Harvest India. My friend leads this incredible ministry.
Darren Rouanzoin:And they see signs and wonders and powers of God all the time. But, it is primarily amongst the pastors. It is very much like the priest has the power and then they minister to the people. And our whole culture at the Garden is that everyone gets to play. God will use the available.
Darren Rouanzoin:And so on this trip we brought a bunch of our leaders but we also brought my friend Joe who had just given his life to Jesus. He came to faith through Pursuit Ministries. The men's ministry that meets on the beach he got baptized one day after working out in Seal Beach. Joe was, is like, like the stereotype of New Jersey. He was like a state champion wrestler but everything you think New Jersey, think of Joe.
Darren Rouanzoin:Is that an exaggeration? Everyone is like, Yes, Amen. Okay. So Joe is new to the faith and we came and we were training people in the ministry and there is one session where I talked about the healing ministry of Jesus and then we were praying for folks. And the things that we saw, we saw cataracts disappear.
Darren Rouanzoin:We saw limbs grow. We saw tumors, massive tumors go away. And we were saying all sorts of things and we were training people in what I'm gonna train today. And Joe was not necessarily praying and there was a guy who was a pastor who was deaf. And he asked to pray and so I prayed for him and I had a translator and I am praying for this guy.
Darren Rouanzoin:I prayed multiple times. Do you hear anything? Multiple times, No. Cool. Hey Joe, will you come up and pray?
Darren Rouanzoin:So Joe comes up and he's like, what do I do? I said, I want you to touch his shoulder and in the name of Jesus ask God to open his ear and heal. So Joe goes, okay. He goes, in Jesus name, like be healed. And the guy goes like this, he like looks at the translator and then takes off running.
Darren Rouanzoin:And I'm like what happened? The translator as cool as a cucumber just goes oh he got healed, he can hear. And I'm like what? And Joe's like looking at his hand like oh my gosh, like God's so crazy. Like bring him back, let's share his testimony.
Darren Rouanzoin:That night, Joe is FaceTiming his wife. Never forget this. And he says to his wife, this Jesus blank is real. Put that as a slide. What I love about that story is what it reveals about the character, nature and heart of our God.
Darren Rouanzoin:And what we bring in today for most of us is the wrong view of Jesus himself. And unless you have the correct view of God the things of Jesus you won't have the access he has already given you because your prayers will not be enough because you don't believe it. I want to I want to speak to that condition that this Jesus stuff is real. Over the last three months I went through our staff stories, we tell Jesus stories. Since August, September, October and part of November so three and a half months We have had 47 salvations shared in our staff meetings from this church.
Darren Rouanzoin:That is not including baptisms. We have had 32 confirmed physical healings just shared by our staff. We've had 29 deliverance or inner healing stories that have been shared. These these are people that have talked to our staff that know the stories. There's more going on.
Darren Rouanzoin:There's been over 43 unique generosity miracles that have taken place in our community. Not to mention all the cash that's been given the last couple of weeks on the stage. And I don't know the number right now it's anywhere between three and seven miraculous pregnancies. Like I want to say and I am going to say this with a lower case prophetic P This is miracle season. We need to raise our expectations for what God wants to do.
Darren Rouanzoin:This has nothing to do with your ministry. All of it is His ministry. And if I say another thing outside of God is available like or Jesus will use the available, God will use the available it's that all of Jesus' ministry is available for all of the church. All of his ministry is available for all of the church. We have to wake up to who he is and how he wants to use us.
Darren Rouanzoin:Because what we know according to the book of Acts is we are called, commissioned and empowered by the spirit to continue the ministry of Jesus. Are you with me church? By way of a long introduction that wasn't in my notes, let's go to Acts chapter three verse one and let's continue in the story. Would you stand for the reading of scripture if you are able? I want to read these, 10 verses to you.
Darren Rouanzoin:So we pick up from the snapshot in Chapter two of what the Church was doing. God was adding to the number of those being saved. They were devoted to them, they devoted themselves. Now we read on. Verse one of chapter three.
Darren Rouanzoin:I'm gonna pray, Lord Jesus, we love you. We love you, Jesus. We love you, Jesus. We just wanna pause. We wanna welcome your presence.
Darren Rouanzoin:All the preconceived notions, all the presuppositions, all the ways we've been conditioned to think that church is a category of liturgies. We want your presence today. Lord, release your whole ministry in this church. Release your ministry to heal bodies, to heal minds, to heal emotions, heal the traumas of the past. Lord, to heal the relational wounds and the spiritual wounds today.
Darren Rouanzoin:God, I pray in the name of Jesus for your power to flow. Amen. Let me read this to you. Acts one, three verse one. One day Peter and John were going up to the temple at the time of prayer at three in the afternoon.
Darren Rouanzoin:Now a man who was lame from birth was being carried to the temple gate called Beautiful where he was put every day to beg for the from those going into the temple courts. When he saw Peter and John about to enter, he asked them for money. Peter looked straight at him as did John. Then Peter said, Look at us. So the man gave them his attention expecting to get something from them.
Darren Rouanzoin:Then Peter said, Silver or gold I do not have but what I do have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth walk. Taking him by the right hand he helped him up and instantly the man's feet and ankles became strong. He jumped to his feet and began to walk. Then he went with them into the temple courts walking and jumping and praising God.
Darren Rouanzoin:When all the people saw him walking and praising God, they recognized him as the same man who used to sit begging at the temple gate called Beautiful and they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to Him. The Word of the Lord. Go ahead and grab a seat. So just to summarize Jesus' ministry remember Acts is the continuation of the ministry of Jesus. According to Matthew, Mark, Luke and John the primary ministry of Jesus are three things proclaiming the Kingdom of God and demonstrating the kingdom of God through healing the sick and casting out demons.
Darren Rouanzoin:So the summary of the ministry of Jesus was to preach the kingdom, heal the sick and cast out demons. When you read this story doesn't it look like a Jesus story to you? Yes, let me, yeah can we participate? Yes, 9AM it does. Yes pastor, I'm awake this morning in the house of the Lord.
Darren Rouanzoin:It it looks so so it looks like this is straight from the Gospel of Luke. Exactly. And I love this story because it's Peter and John. It's Peter. You got to love this story.
Darren Rouanzoin:It's Peter. Have you read the Gospel of Mark? This is Peter. Peter is the guy that says, You are the Messiah, the Son of God and Jesus is like, Woah! That's not from me that's from God.
Darren Rouanzoin:Blessed are you. And then he says Alright I'm gonna go to the cross and Peter is like No you ain't! And Jesus goes from blessed to Get behind me Satan! That quick! See how fast it is for Peter?
Darren Rouanzoin:Peter is the same guy that will say I will I will follow you to the end and he's like you're gonna deny me three times and he does. He denies him three times but now having experienced resurrected Jesus having been filled with the Holy Spirit he will no longer deny Jesus Christ. He will be crucified upside down in Rome because he won't he does not think himself worthy of dying the same death as his Messiah. That's Peter. But Peter is the imperfect disciple.
Darren Rouanzoin:He gets it wrong. He puts his foot in his mouth. He doubts. He steps out and sinks on in the water. But brothers and sisters that's the point.
Darren Rouanzoin:Peter is doing the ministry of Jesus not because it's his ministry because it's Jesus's ministry. All he's doing is what Jesus would do in that situation. So he shows up and there's this guy who is not allowed to go that far into the temple because of the restrictions provided in the Old Testament. If you are a cripple you can't go all the way in as a man. You have to sit outside.
Darren Rouanzoin:There is limitations to your access to God. He's laid outside to receive almsgiving which is how he supports himself because somebody has to bring him there and drop it and he can't work. And Peter and John see him. He asked for money. Silver and gold I do not have but what does he have?
Darren Rouanzoin:What does he have? Faith in the name of Jesus. He gives away what he's carrying Which in the Gospel of Luke chapter nine, go there real quick I want you to see this because Jesus, remember Jesus gives us his power and authority to do the things he did. What are the things he did? Preach the Kingdom, heal the sick, cast out demons, all the other stuff as well.
Darren Rouanzoin:Yeah, that's just the summary. Are you okay? So when Jesus had called the 12 together, this is Luke chapter nine verse one. Normally I would go through all sorts of Scriptures to show you the ministry of Jesus. I am not going to prove it to you I have already done enough work in this church to prove to you.
Darren Rouanzoin:If you don't believe it go back to all my other sermons and do the work yourself to see the ministry of Jesus for today. Here is one passage Jesus gave called the 12 together. He gave them power the ability to do what He did and authority the right to do what He did. You good? To drive out the demons and to cure diseases and He sent them out to proclaim the Kingdom of God and to heal the sick.
Darren Rouanzoin:If you look in the Gospel of Luke, Luke was a doctor. 20% of all of the stories in the Gospel of Luke are healing stories. One out of five verses you could say are about healing. Why did Jesus spend so much time healing the sick? Have you thought about that?
Darren Rouanzoin:Have you thought about the fact that when you open up Matthew, Mark, Luke and John the overwhelming emphasis is not to practice the way of Jesus. It's healing the sick. Can you just let that settle into your discipleship right now? I I get some blank stares, hold on. Why does Jesus spend so much time healing?
Darren Rouanzoin:Why is that the overwhelming emphasis in Matthew and Luke's Gospels in particular? N. T. Wright says this and I love it. Here is a theology in a nutshell.
Darren Rouanzoin:Ready? Two quotes that will help you think theologically for a second. Justice and peace are about putting things right in the world. But from whatever angle you look at Jesus he was concerned not just with outward structures of justice and peace but with realities that would involve the entire person, entire community. Not point, no point putting the world right if the people are still broken.
Darren Rouanzoin:So broken people will be healed Amen Hallelujah Listen, paralytics, epileptics, demoniacs, people with horrible skin diseases, servant a on the point of death, an old woman with a high fever, blind men deaf and mute men, a little girl who is technically already dead and an old woman with a persistent hemorrhage and so on and so on. Matthew lets the list build up until we almost take it for granted. Yes here is a person who is sick Jesus will cure her. He says when Jesus healed people He intended it to be clear that this wasn't just a foretaste of a future reality. This was reality itself.
Darren Rouanzoin:This was what it looked like when God was in charge. God's Kingdom was coming as He taught His followers to pray on earth as it is in heaven. Every one of us that prays that Lord's prayer we are participating in this, battle cry against the kingdom of darkness. Against the effects of this broken and fallen world cursed by sin and death and the enemy Satan. And when we prayed your kingdom come your will be done we are participating in moving God's kingdom of light.
Darren Rouanzoin:His kingdom of wholeness and justice and peace into the places that don't yet have that reality. This is not a hopeful prayer that God will one day do it. We are participating in that now. When we pray. When we lay hands.
Darren Rouanzoin:When we walk into our office and have faith God's kingdom is present with me. Well how do I know? Because I read the gospels. Because I have a theology of the New Testament. Because I know I'm a Christian and to be a Christian is to just be like Christ wherever you go.
Darren Rouanzoin:It's not to show up and consume spiritual goods for the love. It's not to sit and be fed in a church on Sunday or to change your music playlist to Christian worship songs. It's to continue the ministry of Jesus on earth So that when He returns it looks a little bit more like heaven. Thank you mom I hear you. Healing is the primary marker of the Kingdom of God breaking in on earth as it is in heaven.
Darren Rouanzoin:So if healing was such a large part of Jesus' ministry, why don't we see or expect this within the ministry of the Church today? I want to present four observations. The problem is discipleship. I believe the real problem for why we don't see the healing ministry of Jesus as often as we desire is discipleship. Will you stay with me for a second?
Darren Rouanzoin:I'm gonna win you over. I will persuasively wrestle you argumentatively and theologically into submission. And you can disagree. But disagree biblically. Yeah?
Darren Rouanzoin:The problem is discipleship. Number one, we as a church collectively have been discipled by secular culture. Right? So secular culture has us believing in systems of thought that deny the existence or significance of anything that is spiritual or supernatural. The Western Church has been more influenced by philosophies of enlightenment and scientific rationalistic thinking than it has been influenced by Scriptures itself.
Darren Rouanzoin:I've traveled around the world teaching on the ministry and the power of the Holy Spirit and the people that are most opposed to the supernatural are the Church. Like if you look like if you were if I was to teach this twenty years ago which I did seventeen years ago the obstacle was the rationalistic modernistic thinking within culture. Culture. Today we are obsessed as a culture with the supernatural. Stranger Things is all about the supernatural and the upside down.
Darren Rouanzoin:We are a culture obsessed with this unseen reality. People go to do Ayahuasca trips, they do spiritual yoga retreats. They want to do mindfulness and meditate. They are open to the divine. They just don't want to call it Jesus.
Darren Rouanzoin:And the problem is the church is the only institution that can heal and set people free in the power of the Holy Spirit. But we're afraid of that power. No, we've been discipled out of the power. So here's what Charles Kraft said, he says in one of his quotes, it's a long one, It is interesting and discouraging to note that even though we are Christians, our basic assumptions are usually more like those of non Christian Westerners around us than we would like to admit. Even though there is a wide discrepancy between the teaching of Scripture and the common Western assumptions, we often find ourselves more Western than scriptural.
Darren Rouanzoin:Western society passed through the Renaissance, the Reformation, the Enlightenment in a wide variety of ripples and spin offs from these movements. The result: God and the Church were dethroned and the human mind came to be seen as savior So we've been discipled by secular culture we've also been discipled into cultural Christianity which I would just like to call Lukewarm Spirituality. Direct from Revelation chapter two or three where we see there is a a Lukewarm Church that's not hot or cold and Jesus says I will spit you out of my mouth. And I would like to suggest and I am going to be very bold in saying this so much of the Church today is a lukewarm Church. So many of us in our Church are lukewarm.
Darren Rouanzoin:And it is a Christianity that has been discipled into convenience It's been discipled into, make me happy. It's been discipled into consumer forms of spiritual life. Discipleship is simply a loose affiliation with the ideas of Jesus. We might politicize it. We might make it a campaign on our social media but Jesus is reduced to an accessory or weekly activity and this is what we've created the least common denominator of coming into the Kingdom I'm sorry, least common denominator of being a disciple of Jesus.
Darren Rouanzoin:Jesus says, you come in the kingdom spiritually bankrupt. Anyone gets in. But when once you get in your righteousness has to be greater than the Pharisees. This is the Sermon on the Mount. So we've been discipled into it.
Darren Rouanzoin:It's not your fault. It's the kind of Christianity you love because it flows with the culture of America. It flows with Southern California's vibe. The third reason we don't see the ministry of Jesus is we've been discipled into powerless church. The powerless church.
Darren Rouanzoin:We've been discipled to say, well, I accept Jesus so that I go to heaven when I die. So I don't really know what to expect right now but one day everything will be better when he comes back or when I go to heaven. And it's what John Wimber says, he says, We see according to our expectations. Many times our expectations come from conditioning. We are taught to expect certain things in the Christian life and miss what God is doing if he acts outside of our expectations.
Darren Rouanzoin:So we expect our prayers not to be heard. What would happen if you expected the ministry of Jesus in your life? And everywhere you go is an opportunity to risk, to test. Not test but try it out to fail over and over again until you see the miracles of God. I've seen this so many times.
Darren Rouanzoin:Like, another example. A couple months ago, I'm getting my Masters at Western Seminary in a pastoral cohort. Doctor. Gary Bashiris from Western is like the professor. We were doing lectures, this is, we're two and a half years into it, I'm almost done.
Darren Rouanzoin:And I've been with the same 20 pastors from all over The US. We meet together every other month for two days. And it's like nine hours of lectures two days in a row. And we got to the section, we did Old Testament, New Testament, got to the section on the Ministry of the Holy Spirit. I couldn't wait.
Darren Rouanzoin:Let's go! And we've got pastors primarily from like conservative Calvary Chapels from around the world. And they believe in the Spirit but they would admit practical cessationists. Meaning they don't believe in the ministry today but they are open to it they don't see it. So when we started talking about the ministry of the Holy Spirit it goes the way it always goes Theoretical, Theological and cautious.
Darren Rouanzoin:So the conversation is, well here is what the Bible says and you can be an expert of one Corinthians chapter thirteen, twelve, thirteen and fourteen but it is like talking about it like a professor or like an expert of a subject without any personal experience. Right? And that's not true. These guys are amazing men of God. I love them all.
Darren Rouanzoin:But this experience was so unique because they were talking about it and then I'm like, Hey can I just share stories from this week? And I share stories and then my other friend from LA who leads a church and then my friend who is in Boise shares some stories And then the conversation is like, Well, how? And I'm like, Well, hey, how about we stop talking? Can I demonstrate it? So I had one of the pastors stand up.
Darren Rouanzoin:Put him on the, you know, was 20 of us. I I say, Hey, stand here, close your eyes, open up your hands like this. And I'm like, I'm just gonna invite the Holy Spirit, the rest of you just watch and I'll tell you what's going on. We do this, this is how John does prayer training. This is what we do all the time.
Darren Rouanzoin:Alright, so, back in the day, it used to be so unusual, now we just expect God to move. I just, I was at circuit riders. Any circuit riders here? Was circuit riders on Monday night or Monday, training in their class and I was supposed to preach two sermons and I got interrupted by the presence of God and I didn't preach the second one. Instead, we just did an hour of ministry and it was very much a clinic like this.
Darren Rouanzoin:So the pastor stands up at the seminary and I invite the Holy Spirit and I have a prophetic word. And I know it's a prophetic word. I have a word of knowledge and a prophetic word. And the word of knowledge has to do with his wife's condition. I said, Hey, the Lord, I just sensed the Lord saying this about your wife.
Darren Rouanzoin:Absolutely. He starts crying. The Spirit of God begins to minister because the thing that's the heaviest on him, a condition his wife is carrying that nobody knows about, the Lord just revealed in a classroom for pastors studying the ministry of the spirit theologically. And then we minister, I pray for healing, minister to him then I then it it just everyone is like I want it. I like well why don't we all stand?
Darren Rouanzoin:So all of them stand. And it was powerful it was powerful. The next day everyone is like they like it was a powerful one guy who is in his 60s he says I have been waiting my whole life for this. For what? The ministry of Jesus.
Darren Rouanzoin:We've been discipled into powerless church. How I mean, doesn't the New Testament look fun some parts? What part? Like the beginning of Acts, you know, persecution, love. Ananias and Sapphira coming in a couple months.
Darren Rouanzoin:I I had other words that began, these grown pastors began to weep and they begin to get ministry. Then, the next month I come back and they all have stories. The next week the pastor I prayed for says, My wife's cervical, what she say? I wanna get it right. Ovarian cyst was completely gone.
Darren Rouanzoin:Disappeared. Through the power of the Holy Spirit. I mean, this is what we should anticipate. Yeah? Other pastors started So I just talked to another guy who's in in Monterey Carmel area.
Darren Rouanzoin:He started a prayer ministry as a result of what God did in that room. He trained his church in the ministry of prayer over the last few months. Other pastors were completely touched. One pastor who was estranged from his wife. They were struggling.
Darren Rouanzoin:They got back together through a prophet. Started as a prophetic word about forgiveness and it moved to This is what happens when an ordinary Christian who expects the ministry of Jesus shows up. This is for everyone. The fourth thing and then we are going talk about the healing ministry. Are you guys alright?
Darren Rouanzoin:This clearly, whatever happens at one is happening at the nine right now. This is the Lord. Usually I am all over my notes in the nine right now, it's something else. The Lord answered prayers. Don't you tell me he can't do it.
Darren Rouanzoin:The fourth is probably the most obvious. You are discipled in the busyness. We are too busy for the ministry of Jesus. You are. Take notes of this take a picture of that and repent.
Darren Rouanzoin:Because if you read the Gospels if you read the story Peter and John were on their way to the temple to pray. They were interrupted. Almost all of the healing stories in the in the in the in the New Testament are interruptions. It's that that Jesus was headed somewhere and he gets interrupted. And out of his character and nature is not, Don't bother me I have a sermon to preach.
Darren Rouanzoin:It's my natural instinct on Sundays. I'm in the zone leave me alone. I have friends that are like, Oh you're not preaching today. How can you tell? You seem light.
Darren Rouanzoin:If you had to preach you would carry it too. So, if you ask Pastor Bill before he preaches, How do you feel? He is like, I will be better in a couple of hours. There is a burden. The point is, Jesus has compassion.
Darren Rouanzoin:He gets interrupted. He's interruptible. Is that the Jesus you follow? Do you have you patterned your life after Jesus so that when you are in a hurry you're not just thinking of your next appointment you're thinking of the opportunities to allow the Kingdom of God to break into a need that you might accidentally bump into. So Peter and John see the guy.
Darren Rouanzoin:Don't have gold. I don't have silver but what I do have I give away freely. Jesus says, freely you've received, freely give. Do you see how generosity is tied to the signs and wonders? Do you see that what's required of our church now is an extravagantly generous heart so that we can step into our destiny a house for healing and deliverance?
Darren Rouanzoin:Your stewardship reflects God's outpour of the miraculous Because if he can trust you with the little things that he's given you of resource. He might trust you with, I don't have silver or gold but what I do have in the name of Jesus. And Jesus from the authority seat in heaven says, Yes and Amen John and Peter. And out of faith they are not like Okay I will see you next week, talk to you later. That is how I like to pray.
Darren Rouanzoin:Right? My buddy Eddie who the UPS driver that got healed, in Jesus name healed, closed the door, walked away. Didn't find out he got healed until a month later. Why? Because I had no faith.
Darren Rouanzoin:I wasn't expecting God to move. But when God gives you faith, you take risks. I pray for it. How does it feel now? Oh, let me pray again.
Darren Rouanzoin:We'll get to that in a second. My point is, we need to be conditioned by the ministry of Jesus more than secularism, powerless church, busy or consumer Christianity. Are you guys good? So here's a quick summary. What should our expectations be of the healing ministry of Jesus today?
Darren Rouanzoin:The ministry of healing is ordinary, normative and normative and to be expected as disciples of Jesus here and now, but it doesn't always take place. This one sentence can heal your broken theology. Let me say it again. What should our expectations be of the ministry of healing in Jesus? The ministry of healing is ordinary and normative and to be expected as disciples of Jesus here and now, but it doesn't always take place.
Darren Rouanzoin:Let's make healing ordinary in the Church. I could go to James where he says, You should confess your sins. You should, pray for each other. Elders should lay hands and heal. The expectations of a gathering is that God's presence shows up and touches the sick.
Darren Rouanzoin:That should be our expectation. Oh, we're gonna have the liturgy for communion. We should also expect when you have someone who's sick you bring them because you know this is a church that will pray for the sick. You may not get healed but we will pray for healing because we have a theology of the now not yet. Right?
Darren Rouanzoin:You've heard me talk about this. The now God's kingdom breaks in now but it doesn't always happen. Right? We pray for healing all the way onto the deathbed and then we'll pray for a moment of God raise the dead and then we will now grieve and bring casseroles to the grieving families that watch the loved ones die. That is our proper theology.
Darren Rouanzoin:You okay with this? We will walk with you in every stage of cancer until it gets healed and if you die you will be healed on this other side. Yes? Amen? But we will as a church have faith now to break in.
Darren Rouanzoin:And even if it's been years of depression, we have faith now break in. When you don't have it, this community will hold you up. We'll drag you. We'll tear up the roof for you in your lack of faith because we still know he is good. He's in a good mood.
Darren Rouanzoin:Our God is happy. That's in a couple weeks. We're gonna start Advent this next Sunday and I'm gonna preach on joy and my only point is God is happy. And some of you need to heal that broken. Wow, that that really hits.
Darren Rouanzoin:I know it's so weird. Why does that hit so much? When you read, you gotta re read the Gospels in light of that view. Look at Jesus and if he is the revelation of God, then you see this jubilant being, this joyful being who's benevolent and inclusive. And every time he's interrupted, it says he's moved with compassion.
Darren Rouanzoin:You guys good? R. T. Kendall says, We have a right, if not a mandate, to pray for the sick. I believe there is a real sense in which we are called to pray for the sick.
Darren Rouanzoin:God can cure cancer as easily as He can heal a cold. Brothers and Sisters, the main thing I wanted to give you today is to provide an injection of faith. To expect God to move. All of Jesus' ministry is available for all the church. The healing ministry of Jesus is available for you today.
Darren Rouanzoin:He desires wholeness. He can heal colds and torn ligaments. He heals broken bones and cancer. Nothing is too small for him. Nothing is too big for him.
Darren Rouanzoin:He heals the places doctors cannot reach. He heals the wounds we've learned to live with. He heals the pain we've normalized. He heals the parts of us we thought were permanent. He heals our broken hearts.
Darren Rouanzoin:He steps into painful memories we that we've buried and he brings peace and freedom from the panic. He restores the parts of us that have been shattered by betrayal and disappointment and loss. He speaks life into places we thought were dead. He heals our minds. He heals our brain chemistry.
Darren Rouanzoin:He resets our nervous systems. He calms the storms in our thoughts. He quiets our racing minds at two in the morning. He breaks the cycles of fear and the loops of shame. He brings order where there's chaos.
Darren Rouanzoin:He heals our sleep. I heard a testimony today, a month of no sleep and eight hours last night from someone praying. Yes and Amen. He heals your inability to rest. Heals the patterns of exhaustion.
Darren Rouanzoin:He heals our insecurity and our self doubt. He sets us free from the lies we've inherited from our families. He speaks identity into places where we've allowed accusation to form us. He heals the inner critic. He shuts it off.
Darren Rouanzoin:He heals our depression. He heals our inappropriate anger. He lifts the heavy fog. He breaks angry reactions. He rewires our emotional responses so that we live with joy and peace.
Darren Rouanzoin:He can heal a broken marriage. He softened hearts that have grown hard. He revives loves that's been buried with resentment. He restores trust where betrayal has sat like a weight. He heals our better bitter hearts and weary souls.
Darren Rouanzoin:He pulls out the roots of bitterness. He breathes strength into us. He renews the soul. He renews us that have been running on empty for too long because he is healer and he never gets tired of healing. He's never stingy with healing because he's a generous God.
Darren Rouanzoin:He's not reluctant. He loves to heal. He's drawn to your brokenness. He moves towards your pain and that Jesus is here in this room. So Jesus wants to heal And Jesus wants to use you to heal because he's given you his ministry.
Darren Rouanzoin:So brothers and sisters, you've received power from the Holy Spirit to continue his ministry, to be his witnesses. So let's pray for healing. Amen? I I'm am a give you quick instruction and then we are gonna pray. You alright?
Darren Rouanzoin:Oh, it is like the one right now. Let us just pray it doesn't go as long. No, am just kidding. So I want to just give you some thoughts on how to pray for healing. So how do we pray for healing?
Darren Rouanzoin:First of all, if you want to step into the healing ministry of Jesus today, you have to believe a few things. This is where it works on your faith. Number one, you got to believe that God desires to heal and bring wholeness to His people. So your view of God shapes the way you pray. If you think he's causing this sickness you're wrong.
Darren Rouanzoin:Sickness is the result of the fall. Now he will use everything even what the enemy throws at you for good because He is that sovereign. Isn't that amazing? He is that good but He desires wholeness. Number two you live in the tension of the now not yet of the Kingdom of God.
Darren Rouanzoin:So, I want us to have good theology. I, look, I know people abuse the ministry of healing. But you can't stop pushing that ministry away because someone else has caused fear in your life. So it's time to step in, heal that and step into the ministry of healing. Number three.
Darren Rouanzoin:You gotta expect God to move when you pray. Now you can pray out of a discipline with no expectations but those who are more effective expect God to to move prayer. Number four, carry deep compassion for people in pain. I I if you wanna pray for the sick have compassion for the sick. Brothers and sisters as I've been reading Matthew, Mark, Luke and John I was thinking about the kind of church that would have been gathered if Jesus started a church.
Darren Rouanzoin:And it's not the church you want to be in. You don't want the demon possessed people. The people that have been demon possessed, they're the ones gathering around Jesus. Those that are sick and have skin disorders and diseases. The lepers, the outcasts, those are the ones that flock to Jesus.
Darren Rouanzoin:The crowds were full of these people you don't want to be like. Imagine if we were a church that looked like that. That went after those people and welcomed them. They felt welcomed here. That's the reality.
Darren Rouanzoin:The only way you get there is through compassion. Number five is that you take risks. Faith keeps growing and always requires new steps of courage. Faith, I wanna say, develop a faith like the centurion. Where Jesus says I haven't seen greater faith than this from the Roman soldier!
Darren Rouanzoin:The guy who shouldn't get it is like Why do I, why I'm not worthy of having you come and lay hands just say the Word I know authority. Say it and Jesus like What the? I've not seen I've never seen this before but you're right. Let it be done as you've believed according to what you believe. And then in that moment his servant was healed according to his faith.
Darren Rouanzoin:And if you wanna pray for the ministry of healing you gotta use Jesus as our model so there's no formula but look at, he prayed very short prayers. Here are his healing prayers. Ready? Take up your mat and walk. Go.
Darren Rouanzoin:For raising the dead, come forth. For the lepers be clean. Isn't that amazing? You don't need to conjure up great biblical words and speak in King James Thou ist doeth this it Jesus it. So here is our model for prayer, right?
Darren Rouanzoin:I am going to give you a model. So this is what we train people. I am going to train all of those who are hungry. Don't go take this if you are not hungry. It's not going to be because you are going to be like the seven sons of Sceva, right?
Darren Rouanzoin:You already know who they are. It's your favorite emo band. Acts 19 Acts 19 they try to use the name of Jesus that Paul says to cast out demons and the demons like I know Jesus, I know Paul. Who the heck are you? And beat him up!
Darren Rouanzoin:So don't try to invoke the name of Jesus without living an intimate relationship. That's what that's about. Where people wanna mimic the ministry of Paul, they don't know where the source of his power comes from. It doesn't come from Paul. It's not his ministry.
Darren Rouanzoin:So here's here's your here's your four, steps, five steps. Ready? Number one: Locate the sick person and place a hand on a person's shoulder. Please write this down. This is what seminary gives you right here.
Darren Rouanzoin:You are so welcome. Just wait till I get my doctorate. You're gonna love it. Number two. Begin with Thanksgiving.
Darren Rouanzoin:Father, I thank you for Ramin. I thank you for the your healing power and love. I thank you for Slav. I thank you for John. You pray for the person.
Darren Rouanzoin:I thank you for this person. This is from Jesus' model when he heals Lazarus from death. Lord, I thank you that you've heard me. He starts with thanksgiving. And then you speak to the condition and pray short prayers.
Darren Rouanzoin:So you speak to the condition. In the name of Jesus, be healed. If that's all you say, that's all you need to say. If you want to get fancy, in the name of Jesus leg be healed. Tell the body what you want it to do and then give it instructions.
Darren Rouanzoin:Pain in the neck muscles loosens, pain in neck go away, sickness leave this body. Now, I'm not claiming healing. This is not name it and claim it. This is not you got to have faith if you got you got to confess your sin. No, this is a simple model that comes from the John Wimber's ministry of practicing, everyone gets to play healing.
Darren Rouanzoin:So when you pray, Lord, if it's your will, is it Jesus' will to heal the sick? And if you don't believe that, then you're gonna have some frustrations when He renews everything and there is no more tears and no more sickness, no more brokenness. Because sin is not the will of God. Sickness is not the will of God. That comes out of our rebellion.
Darren Rouanzoin:Amen? Good theology! So if you don't get healed in this age you will get healed in the age to come. Yeah? So, we'll talk about spiritual opposition.
Darren Rouanzoin:I like to cover my bases. What I mean by that is, I'll pray lots of times for the sick and if it does, if they have a physical pain in their neck. Like this happened, I was training my buddy Jason Lomolino who runs Jesus Burgers and I live in the church. You guys know, I came back to faith through that. Love that ministry.
Darren Rouanzoin:He came years ago because we were seeing all this healing and he's like, Can you train us? I'm like, Well, why don't we go take a walk and look for someone to pray for? So we got lunch and then we went downtown Long Beach and I saw this guy with a massive limp and he was pushing a cart. And I was like, Perfect. There's a limp.
Darren Rouanzoin:Let's see what's going on. I said, And I'm hoping like, you know, I sprained my ankle. You know, that would be great. He goes, Oh no, I've been limping since I was a kid. I had bone cancer in my heel.
Darren Rouanzoin:I'm like, Okay. I got faith for the torn ligament, not the bone cancer in the heel. Okay. But we did this I was like let's pray so we we did this we said alright you know pain in the heel go away restore the bone restore the full mobility in Jesus name Amen How do you feel? He's like Oh I feel the same like let me pray again it went down to from a 10 being the worst to a five I am like, Oh, that's amazing!
Darren Rouanzoin:Five is great! Scale of one to 10 you walked in with 10 and you are walking out with five that's good. I say, some healing is great, wholeness is better. Yeah? So we prayed again, went down a little bit and then I was like, Alright, I just want to bind anything here.
Darren Rouanzoin:What do I mean? I know that some sickness and pain is caused by Satan. Would you agree? Some fevers are rebuked by Jesus. I'm not going around like everything is the devil but let's just put it in our tool belt.
Darren Rouanzoin:So, in the Name of Jesus, anything that's causing the sickness that's not from you, we send straight to you, Jesus. Amen. The guy freaks out. He starts running up and down completely healed. I have a picture.
Darren Rouanzoin:I couldn't believe it. Jason's like, Oh my gosh! I was like, I know God's good! Right? And the guy completely healed of immobility in his heel.
Darren Rouanzoin:Was walking and running in that moment. I have so many of those stories. But so that's that's point number three. Point number four is you ask the person you're praying for how they are feeling afterwards. If they can feel it, if you if it's something internal you're like, Okay, can you feel the tumor go away?
Darren Rouanzoin:No, they can't feel the tumor going away necessarily. And if if they feel better, give glory to Jesus. Right? So, time we have a healing story in our Jesus stories in our staff, we just pause and we say, Glory to God. Thank you, Jesus, for all the stories, all of those lists that I gave you.
Darren Rouanzoin:47 salvations, 32 confirmed confirmed healing. We're saying, Yes. Amen. Hallelujah. If they're not healed, pray again.
Darren Rouanzoin:And then just say, Well, see you next time. I'll pray again. If they're not healed. Is is that hard? How many of you have experienced healing from ministry in our church?
Darren Rouanzoin:Would you raise your hand? Just want to see how normative this is. Raise them up high so people can see. Look around so you can see. So you've received prayer and someone and you got healing.
Darren Rouanzoin:Isn't that amazing? And then there's one more step. Here's here's the fifth step. If they don't get healed, repeat repeat steps one, four. Is that okay?
Darren Rouanzoin:So rich. You guys don't know how many scholarly books I've read. No, I'm just kidding. This is just a practical way for you to pray for the sick, yeah? I just wanna end with, if Apostle Peter can do it, so can you.
Darren Rouanzoin:If the Apostle Peter can do it, so can you. God uses the available. Peter shows us that the way of Jesus involves roadblocks, doubts, mistakes, failures. And, at the same time, we can be used to continue the life ministry and mission of Jesus here and now wherever we are. Amen?
Darren Rouanzoin:Can we all stand?
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