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"Here as in Heaven."
For more information visit : garden.church
Welcome to Garden Church Podcast. We're in a series in the book of Revelation. We're gonna spend the next 26 weeks doing a deep dive into both how to read and how to interpret this amazing book. Enjoy.
Darren Rouanzoin:Would you guys welcome pastor Luis as he comes up? Hello. Alright. We, hired, Luis as our pastor of operations and he is here to give us an update on all things church and finances, all the fun details that you've been looking forward to hear this today. So let's go.
Luis:Yes. So I get to talk about year end giving, but, we recognize something, and it's that some of you have been here for a very long time. But over the course of today, over all four services, the majority of people will not have been here for more than a year. So, which is great. We wanna talk a little bit about the heart behind giving here at Garden, before we go into the practicals, and just make no assumptions.
Luis:So you might have noticed that on a Sunday, we there are some variable things, like child dedications, but there are some invariable things. Some things that we do every single week. We we worship, we put Jesus on high, we seek his presence, we open up the scriptures, and we sit under biblical teaching, and we respond. We take the the communion elements, the bread and the cup. And we also carve out a time to acknowledge our gifts to the lord, our tithes and offerings as an act of worship.
Luis:You might think that we carve out a time there to ask for your money, but we actually carve out a time there to, as an act of worship. So I wanna can I take you on a little bible journey as to where that little it's really short? If you went to
Darren Rouanzoin:I'm cheering you on. Let's go.
Luis:Come on. Okay. If you went to Genesis chapter 14, you would see, Abraham, God's chosen vehicle for his blessing to all the nations. And the backdrop is, like in the in the background, the nations are going to war with one another over possessions, and out of greed, and scarcity, and to make a name for themselves. Nothing like today.
Luis:No. And in the foreground, you have Abraham, and he meets a priest king named Melchizedek, who, brings out the first time that, the the bread and wine are are appear in scriptures. He brings out the bread and the wine, and he's the priest king of a little city that would be known as Jerusalem. And, he starts speaking blessing just like God did in Genesis chapter 1. It's a little snapshot of Eden against the backdrop of greed and violence and all of the things.
Luis:And spontaneously in that moment, god's chosen, who has actually had a hard time believing that god would indeed bless him like he promised, all of a sudden offers up a tenth of everything he has to this priest king. And he that actually sets the prototype in the scriptures for the tithe, which just means a 10th. So it sets up the prototype of the 10th, which actually does eventually become a rule. It becomes a law for ancient Israel. It's the old testament model.
Luis:But before it was a rule, it was an act of overflow and Eden like blessing and worship. If you fast forward to the New Testament, the next time we meet a priestly king near Jerusalem who's breaking out the bread and the wine, no one gives anything. The only one who gives anything is Jesus, and he gives everything. And he establishes the new testament model, if not a rule, but actually your whole life offered up on the altar as a living sacrifice.
Darren Rouanzoin:Okay.
Luis:So we worship with our with our everything. Yeah. Including our finances as an act of worship. That's why we do it on Sunday mornings. That's why we carve out time for it every week.
Darren Rouanzoin:Love it. So there's more than just we want your money.
Luis:Oh, yeah.
Darren Rouanzoin:Yeah. Okay. Great. I knew it. Yeah.
Darren Rouanzoin:But when somebody does give, like, where does that money go to the when it comes to the garden church, when people give to garden church, where does it go?
Luis:Whatever you think the most holy thing we do is every week, it goes to that. So if it's like local, like local global missions. Yes. Yeah. You know, preaching the word, the communion elements.
Luis:But whatever you think is the least holy thing, like toilet paper. You know, we've grown a 100% like in 5 months.
Darren Rouanzoin:Yeah.
Luis:We have to buy a 100% more toilet paper. So even if you don't think that's holy, I just wanna tell you that it's all holy. A 100 whatever you think the most holy and the least holy, all of it is, for the vision. Here is in heaven. Holy.
Darren Rouanzoin:Yeah. Keeping it clean. Right? Yeah.
Luis:Let's go. We had to clean this place.
Darren Rouanzoin:Yeah. That's right.
Luis:Somebody asked to.
Darren Rouanzoin:It is interesting, like, we have grown by a 100% or so since, like, the summer in attendance. So, you know, you look at coffee, you know, we if you're at the 12 o'clock, you run out of coffee up until we up the order. Communion elements that cost money, all the things that are going on to make it. So there's, you know, all the money is going somewhere. It's being put to use.
Darren Rouanzoin:Now what are you trying to ask right now of us? Because you're up here. Obviously, it's symbolic. We're taking more time. What are you trying to ask for real?
Luis:So at the end of the year, I wanna invite you all this so generously. So there's 3 invitations. If you don't give, it would be to prayerfully consider if God has called you to garden church. So first, go to the Lord. And is this your church?
Luis:And if it is, then I would con I would encourage you to jump out in faith and start giving to your local church. It's counter cultural. The the nations are are going to war on and in scarcity and all the things. But it won't make you rich, but it'll make you more like Jesus over time. I think it's the right thing for your discipleship.
Luis:If you don't give, you should you should do it.
Darren Rouanzoin:Yeah. Good. Keep going. You got
Luis:2 more. Oh, 2 more. I do. Thank you. Yeah.
Darren Rouanzoin:I was
Luis:I was keeping track. There you go. Number 2, if you give occasionally, we just wanna invite you to give regularly. So set scheduled recurring giving is sort of the backbone of the of the budget around here. It's what we can plan for to try to steward things well.
Luis:It's what my wife and I do. We design our finances around giving to the local church, which means, like, if this week, I got a parking ticket in Seal Beach. It's like $60. Yeah. It is outright.
Luis:Anyway, it's criminal. It's like I wouldn't know. And I that doesn't mean that the church gets $60 less. That means that I have to figure out how and I don't say that to brag. It's just to kinda model and and show you that the leaders are in.
Luis:This is what we do also. If you give regularly already, thank you. You guys are so generous.
Darren Rouanzoin:Yeah.
Luis:Truly. We just ask you to to pray if, at the end of the year you can go above and beyond. We've, we're asking for $350,000, to kinda make up the running deficit for the year, to, hire properly staff our kids ministry. We've grown a ton to buy all the things that we need to buy more of, a 100% more of now. And we've increased our giving to local and global missions and church planting efforts.
Luis:So, yeah. We'd ask you to prayerfully consider that, or if it's been a long time since you said you're giving them out, just to prayerfully consider what it's supposed to be in this next season.
Darren Rouanzoin:Awesome. Well done. Right? Can we give it up for pastor Luis? Thank you so much.
Darren Rouanzoin:So what you hear is if you aren't giving, consider if this is your church and look at we we would love for this to be your church, but if not, I get it. We need the seat so you can go find another church. That's awesome. No. I'm not being rude.
Darren Rouanzoin:I'm serious. Like, this is tight. This is hard. Right? 10 AM is really restrictive and we have 4 services now on Sundays.
Darren Rouanzoin:So please consider if this is home, make it home. You you do chores, you sacrifice for your your your home or at least you should learn that at some point in your life and if not, we'll teach you that as good parents. Second, if you are giving spontaneously, consider giving out of obedience, right. God calls you to obedient giving, not just give because all the spirit moved, but give because you are taught to live the way of Jesus. Despite circumstances or even in circumstances that aren't where you don't have enough, learn to step into abundance.
Darren Rouanzoin:And then the third is just give sacrificial. That's where all goes. Right? Extravagant generosity is what we see God of the scriptures reveal himself to us as and we wanna live out of that nature. Makes sense?
Darren Rouanzoin:So, alright. With that, would you pull out your Bibles? We're gonna move on. Revelation. Let me see the Bibles.
Darren Rouanzoin:I'm I'm judging every service. Wow. You guys felt bad after 8 AM beat you, Look at that. Put them up high. There we go.
Darren Rouanzoin:Alright. You won. You won. You beat the 8 AM. Well done.
Darren Rouanzoin:Alright. We're good. We're good. I don't need to preach. There's enough talking already.
Darren Rouanzoin:Maybe I don't wanna preach this one. Chapters 8, 9, and 10 of Revelation. If you get to the to the, charts and measurements past section of your bible, just go left. Or if you get to the maps, go left and you'll be in Revelation chapter 8. Yes, I know my bible.
Darren Rouanzoin:I I read the maps. I'm gonna pray. I want I want the lord today. Jesus, we are so grateful for this family that's growing. I thank you for the parents who are living as a testimony, dedicating their kids to you.
Darren Rouanzoin:Such a big deal. Pray Lord that, as the church grows through that means, and as we grow, as people are inviting friends, Lord, we would just continue to honor you. And I pray Lord today as we open your scriptures to this challenging book with, a lot of controversy, A lot of, for some of us, a lot of like deep perspective and commitments to the way things should end. I pray for humility and I pray for your word today to speak powerfully in Jesus name. Amen.
Darren Rouanzoin:Have you ever wondered if God was or is speaking to you? Like have you ever been in a situation where you just needed God to speak? Right? Did you do like the Bible roulette thing? You're like, alright.
Darren Rouanzoin:Alright. Sovereign Lord is my refuge. Oh, I needed that today, you know. But then you get the weird ones like withdraw your hand. Have you ever like pray Lord, I wanna hear your voice or have you ever wondered like how does God speak to those who aren't listening?
Darren Rouanzoin:Revelation reveals today something, about those two things. How God speaks to you, how God speaks to those who aren't listening. And it also reveals, I think he's gonna reveal something to you specifically today, everyone here. So I know, like, you know, we're gonna sit quietly for 45 minutes without our devices next to friends, some of us next to family or friends, but would you let God speak to you today? Because what we're about to dive into is is challenging and eye opening and and some of you first time guests, I'm so glad you're here and we're going through this book called Revelation.
Darren Rouanzoin:So I'm gonna give you a quick review and then we'll go to Revelation chapter 8. This is just for all of those who haven't been following along. I just wanna give you some perspective before we jump in. First of all, the whole book of Revelation calls us to radical discipleship. To all out courageous loyalty to Jesus in a world feverishly worshiping the beast, we are devoted to the victorious lamb who was slain.
Darren Rouanzoin:That's the primary message of the book of Revelation. It's not a blueprint for how things are gonna go at the end, except for the fact that Jesus wins and he's gonna restore all things. How good is that? Our story has a happy ending, but there's a lot of, context that we need. For example, historical context matters.
Darren Rouanzoin:When we read the book of Revelation, we wanna understand the context that it was written in. It was written by John around 96 AD when he was exiles on exiled on Patmos under the Roman empire which was the dominant military superpower of its day. But not only does historical context matter, structure of the book matters. Say structure matters. When you read Revelation, you want to think that it's gonna happen in chronological order, but the book is not in chronological order.
Darren Rouanzoin:So you'll get real confused if you think chapter 8 happens after chapter 7. It doesn't. It's like a flashback and a flash forward. It's like a Christopher Nolan film. So when you read Revelation, if you've ever seen a Christopher Nolan film, think, book of Revelation.
Darren Rouanzoin:It will help you understand like what's going on because there's a story being shared. There's a vision from this angle and then there's a vision of the same or there's another vision released, but it's a different camera angle of the same event. That's what we're gonna see today, but not just structure, genre matters and genre matters specifically for this book that often the west is obsessed with, right. Like we love to get our theology from TikTok back in the day. We love to get our theology of revelation from Left Behind, which was a best seller and it terrified me as a child.
Darren Rouanzoin:As a kid, I I was a college student driving back and forth from UCSB when I was operating outside of the ways of the kingdom. I was deeply concerned for my salvation and whether or not I'd be left behind. I've already talked on that a few weeks ago and we'll talk about it more, but Revelation is an apocalyptic prophetic epistle meaning apocalyptic, it's unveiling. It's trying to show you to it's trying to get you as a follower of Jesus to get behind the things that are be it's trying to show you the things behind the things, but it's prophetic. It's declaring the truth in the word of Jesus and it's epistle.
Darren Rouanzoin:It's written to 7 local churches that were around in the Asia minor area written 96 AD. So that matters when we make translation. Now there's a couple of other things I wanna bring to you. I was gonna give you a quote, but for the sake of time, let's skip skip the quote and go back to that slide that shows the seals and the trumpets. So here's what we're gonna do.
Darren Rouanzoin:We're gonna read about the trumpets. So there's 7 seals, 7 trumpets, 7 bowls later on. Lots of sevens, lots of things going on and it's very interesting to dive into this because there's quite, an imagination you need to understand what's going on. And we'll talk about literal, futuristic and interpretation styles in just a moment. But I wanna show you this, the seals and the trumpets, these stories, this vision, they go together.
Darren Rouanzoin:So you can see in the structure that in Revelation 6 and then Revelation 8 and 9, there's 7 seals and 7 trumpets and after the 6th seal and 6th trumpet, there's a interlude. So the 6th seals, we get, reveal the perspective of the world as it rebels against God's ways and it's told from the perspective of the believers, the faithful followers of Jesus. In seal 5, they cry out lord, when are you gonna avenge our blood? When are you gonna bring justice? And so that they see all this chaos under the altar if you remember this a couple weeks ago and they're crying out to God.
Darren Rouanzoin:And then God answers their cry through a different vision which is chapters 89 told through the trumpets. This is god speaking to the world, his judgment and mercy, and it's judgment and mercy being poured out on creation. And we're gonna read that in just a moment. But in each, the seal and the trumpets in each of the visions you see it gets increasingly worse as we go. As you'll see as we read this text together.
Darren Rouanzoin:So Revelation chapter 8, buckle up. Here we go verse 6. You ready? Open your hearts, let the Lord speak to you from this text. Then the 7 angels, verse 6, who had the 7 trumpets prepared to sound them.
Darren Rouanzoin:The first angel sounded his trumpet and there came fire, hail and fire mixed with blood and it was hurled down on the earth. A third of the earth was burned up. A third of the trees were burned up and all the green grass was burned up. If you're new to church, we're so glad you're here. Welcome.
Darren Rouanzoin:Buckle up. The 2nd angel sounded his trumpet and something like a huge mountain, all ablaze was thrown into the sea. A third of the sea turned into blood, a third of the living creatures in the sea died and a third of the ships were destroyed. The 3rd angel sounded his trumpet and a great star blazing like a torch fell from the sky on a third of the rivers and on the spring of water. The name of the star is wormwood.
Darren Rouanzoin:A third of the waters turned bitter and many people died from the waters that have become bitter. The 4th angel sounded his trumpet, a third of the sun was struck, a third of the moon, a third of the stars and a third of them turned dark. A third of the day was without light and also a third of the night. As I watched, I heard an eagle also translated to vulture that was flying in mid air call out in a loud voice, woah, woah, woah to the inhabitants of the earth because of the trumpet blast about to be sounded by the other 3 angels. So in other words, if you thought that was bad, just wait.
Darren Rouanzoin:Chapter 9, the 5th angel sounded his trumpet and I saw a star that had fallen from the sky to the earth that Satan, the serpent or the devil. The star was given a key. When did he receive the key? Genesis chapter 3. To the shaft of the abyss.
Darren Rouanzoin:When he opened the abyss, smoke rose from it, smoke from a giant furnace. The sun and the sky were darkened by the smoke from the abyss and out of the smoke, locusts came down on the earth and were given power like that of scorpions of the earth. They were told not to harm the grass of the earth or the plant or the tree, but only those who did not have the seal of God on their foreheads. They were not allowed to kill them but only to torture them for about 5 months. Thank God.
Darren Rouanzoin:And the agony they suffered was like that of the sting of a scorpion when it strikes. During those days, people will seek death but will not find it. They will long to die but death will elude them. It goes on. The locusts look like horses prepared for battle.
Darren Rouanzoin:It goes on to describe it and it describes another woe. Let's pause there and we'll keep reading in a second. The word of the lord. Yeah. I'm not so sure.
Darren Rouanzoin:Eugene Peterson says, I do not read revelation to get additional information about the life and faith in Christ. I have read it all before in the law and prophets in the gospel and epistle. Everything in Revelation can be found in a previous 65 books of the Bible. I read Revelation not to get more information, but to revive my imagination. Saint John uses words the way poets do, recombining them in a fresh way so that old truth is freshly perceived.
Darren Rouanzoin:He takes truth that has been eroded to platitude by endless usage and sets it in motion before us in an animated impassioned dance of ideas. Seals and trumpets. Trumpets trumpets are instruments of warning. Angels are warning, signaling this is divine judgment. Who are they speaking to?
Darren Rouanzoin:The unbeliever. If you have the seal from the holy spirit on you, you see this as divine judgment. You see everything that's about to unfold already been taught in the book of Exodus. You have eyes to see that this destructive power of chaos being unfolded is not just like the seals, the the rebellious acts of sin on creation, but it's actually God's participation in creation, his divine interaction with creation itself. John sees the seals and he hears the trumpets.
Darren Rouanzoin:The trumpets follow the seals in the book of revelation, but they're not following them chronologically. They go together at the same time. It's just 2 different camera angles. They're connected. Breaking open the seal shows you what happens throughout history up until the return of Christ, and it's in the reference point is that of the church experiencing its suffering.
Darren Rouanzoin:The trumpets at the same starting point again from that same point are declaring what will happen throughout how history including the return of Christ, but proclaiming it as a warning to unbelievers in the world. When you read the first four trumpets, you think this is the retelling of the book of Exodus. This is God hearing the cries of the oppressed in the beginning of Exodus, and God sending Moses as a messenger to set his people free and he goes to pharaoh over and over again. Let my people go, and pharaoh says, no. Over and over again.
Darren Rouanzoin:And then after each request, God sends a plague, and if you read the first four trumpets, they are they are referencing the plagues of Exodus. It's a retelling of God's judgment on Egypt. When God says to Moses, follow me, do what I request, and he rejects God, his heart is hardened. Can I just say, every time God begins to speak to you and reject his whisper, your heart will harden to the voice of God? So many people in the church are like, hey, I just don't hear God's voice.
Darren Rouanzoin:I'm like, when was the last time you read scripture? What was the last thing you heard him say, and did you obey? If not, go back to that time and obey, and then watch His voice speak again. You see, but to the unbeliever, He's speaking all the time. He's speaking all the time, and what we see as judgment, God says, as as the martyrs under the altar in seal 5 say, God, when will you avenge us?
Darren Rouanzoin:Bring justice upon our blood that's been spilled. God shows them chapters 8 and 9, and what what comes as judgment is actually mercy. What's being poured out in this form of judgment is God's mercy. Each trumpet is God wooing creation to repent. Each each time something is devastated on creation, God's saying, this is not the way it's supposed to be.
Darren Rouanzoin:Can't you see? And the church needs to go, can't you see? We were designed to live in shalom, but we're missing it. You were designed to live with God, but you're missing it. Don't miss the trumpet call.
Darren Rouanzoin:See, this is not just for the outsider, it's for the sleepy Christian. It's for the cultural Christian. It's for the person that thinks they can say yes to Jesus and live whatever way he wants until the end. This is showing you the story is now. Hearts will always be hardened when they go against the way of God.
Darren Rouanzoin:How do I know this is mercy? Well, the the way apocalyptic literature, speaks is through numbers. It keeps saying 1 third was devastated, 1 third died, 1 third. That has to do with restraint and partial destruction and judgment. This is God saying, I'm give I'm restraining.
Darren Rouanzoin:I'm holding back from complete devastation. This is echoed in Genesis when Abraham argues with God about the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. He leans on God's righteousness and judgment, injustice. He says, Lord, he says Yahweh, or not Yahweh, he says, God, and if if 20 people, will you will you save the city if there's 20? And he just, he goes down.
Darren Rouanzoin:He's like, yes, I will save it. I will resist. This is this is partial judgment on creation. God is slow and patient. He's longing for people to come to know him.
Darren Rouanzoin:God is a loving father waiting for that that subtle shift in the hearts of people to run after them like a prodigal son. That's the story of God in these dynamic visions. We'll keep going. Are you good? Yeah.
Darren Rouanzoin:So summary, we alright? Alright. Trumpet 5 is the is really the fun one. Satan is the star had fallen. That's a reference to Satan, the serpent, the devil.
Darren Rouanzoin:He'll he'll have a name in chapter 12 which we start on the December 1st. We start Advent series with the 7 headed dragon which is the devil, trying to devour the baby which is Jesus and Mary. So we'll do our Christmas, nativity Advent series in just a few weeks. I tried to order a red dragon 8 feet tall to have blow up outside of our house for Christmas decorations next to the blow up nativity scene that I wanna buy, but my wife hasn't agreed to that quite yet. I'm not sure if people understand what's going on, but I wanna educate them.
Darren Rouanzoin:It's funny that you asked actually. So, let me explain. Trumpets 1 through 5, are happening again and again throughout history. Over and over again, they're happening and the important thing about the locusts is not that these creatures exist, but really the question we should be asking is, what do they mean? So the locust is drawing from Exodus chapter 10, Joel chapter 1, Joel chapter 2, and we'll talk about symbolism in a second, but the trumpet 5 symbolizes, Satan and demonic attack.
Darren Rouanzoin:That trumpet 5 is revealing to us that there are not just the effects of sin and evil but there are cosmic entities, beings that work against God's creation that attack people and they hurt both the church and people outside the church. Do you know what I'm talking about? Not everything that you experience is just a cold. Not everything you're experiencing is just conflict but there's demonic activity happening, in your life. I will bet right now that over the last couple months, you've seen the increase of spiritual warfare.
Darren Rouanzoin:Just raise your hand if you're like, there's been some interesting stuff for all of us sensitive folks, like more dreams, more demonic dreams, more weird things happening in our family, more financial, like consistent financial things, consistent health things. You're like, this is just weird. There's a spiritual attack going on. As God begins to work through breakthrough, there's always a battle right before the breakthrough. So just keep going and what this is trying to get you understand is that there, there is this cosmic battle going on and these beings are terrifying.
Darren Rouanzoin:I had this recent experience. I don't know if I should share it, it might distract. I'll just share it. I'm gonna share it. I've had the craziest demonic dreams the last 2 months.
Darren Rouanzoin:I've had a lot I asked my mom, I always had crazy dreams growing up. I had I would walk, I would talk, I'd sleep walk, sleep talk. I I would see things. It's crazy And then it went away for a while and then it came back and then it came back hard, like I would see things when I was awake in our house. And one, I saw recently this thing that was like this innocent, playful, demonic spirit trying to lure me in And I prayed, and it was it was scary, but it wasn't that scary.
Darren Rouanzoin:I prayed against it. And then couple weeks later, it was the same spirit, but it was grotesque and terrifying. But I knew it was the same spirit. And it was like I could see behind this false image. And does that tear does that weird anyone out or but so I just I had to I remember I was so scared.
Darren Rouanzoin:Alex Alex woke me up out of a a nightmare. And she's like, what's wrong? And I couldn't tell her. I was so scared. And I don't get that I mean, I don't get that afraid anymore.
Darren Rouanzoin:I was really scared. And then I I saw this being and it terrified me. And then finally I got the courage to get up and start praying because in my dream, I was casting out a demon in my dream saying I bind you in the name of Jesus. I bind you from not speaking anymore. So I just went around my house in the middle of night saying that out of my dream.
Darren Rouanzoin:I thought the Lord was saying there's warfare going on. We brought this to our elders and we brought the word and there's just an increase, so we just We've been praying for you. I don't know why I'm saying this right now other than some of you, it's not a flesh and blood issue. It is a demonic issue. Some of you are using in your marriage, you're thinking, if I could just get the communication tools right.
Darren Rouanzoin:It's it's not a flesh and blood issue. It's not a therapy issue for some of you. It's a it's a spiritual attack issue. You need to have that in your in your lexicon of information and skills as a follower of Jesus. You need to have eyes to see sin, rebellion, judgment, mercy, God speaking, and spiritual warfare is happening right now.
Darren Rouanzoin:You with me on this? Now let's keep going because I'm, I'm gonna get into this, but Satan is at work and revelation reveals this again and again and again that there is a demonic force out there. Satan is a murderer, a father of lies. He seeks to kill, destroy, and steal from god's creation. He wants to he wants to harm you.
Darren Rouanzoin:Wake up. That also is happening. So church, stop playing games. Youth, you're in here not be because we have a value of teaching the word now, and I'm grateful that we have 6, 7, 8 all the way up to high school in here, but you need to learn that you aren't just being protected from spiritual warfare or you're saving it for the future. Right now you gotta engage in it.
Darren Rouanzoin:You need to go. You don't need to go seek it out. You just need to stand firm in what's true. You need to be aware of how the enemy's gonna draw you and lure you in to be distracted, to to base your identity on the wrong thing than gonna stay on the youth because I love you guys. You have more opposition than everyone else.
Darren Rouanzoin:The enemy wants to get your identity right now. He wants to get you in habits that are unfair to you. He wants to keep you hurt. He wants you to think small. He doesn't want you to know who you are because if you know who you are now, you'll be an unstoppable force in the future.
Darren Rouanzoin:Most of the pain that you experience happens in this season of life that you're in and it traumatizes you and it sets you into a worldview. God wants to give you a biblical worldview, a supernatural worldview. He wants to give you identity. He wants you to know that you're more than conquerors. He wants you to know that you are a terrorist to the enemy.
Darren Rouanzoin:You terrify him. If you know who you are, you come in here to worship God, to confess your sins, to listen to the voice of God. You will be unstoppable into the future and right now. Are you with me? And that you can all benefit from that, but I'm speaking to the youth today.
Darren Rouanzoin:Alright. Let me keep going because, this just gets even more interesting. So we gotta recognize that this all is also God warning creation to wake up. Then we get to see, trumpet number 6, And trumpet 6, you know, it's crazy. Here here it is.
Darren Rouanzoin:It says the 6th angel sounded his trumpet and I heard, this is verse 13, I heard a voice coming from the 4 horns of the golden altar that is before God. It said to the 6th angel who had the trumpet, release the 4 angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates. And the 4 angels who had been kept ready for this very hour and the day and month and the year were released to kill a third of mankind. The number of the mounted troops was twice 10,000 times 10,000. It's 200,000,000.
Darren Rouanzoin:I heard their number. The horses and riders I saw in my vision looked like this. Their breastplates, were fiery red, dark blue and yellow sulfur. Their heads were horses resembling the heads of lions and out of their mouth came fire and smoke and sulfur. A third of mankind was killed by 3 plagues.
Darren Rouanzoin:It goes on and then it says verse 20, this is this is the key to understanding it. The rest of mankind, it's referring to those who are unbelievers, who are not killed by these plagues still did not repent of the work of their hands. They did not stop worshiping demons and idols of gold, silver, bronze, stone, wood, idols that cannot see or hear or walk, nor did they repent of their murders, their magic arts, their sexual immorality, or their thefts. So there's this, like, cosmic army release that brings death. They're death dealing horsemen.
Darren Rouanzoin:And the question is, like, do we take it literally? Like, the last few passages, like, there's a key with this demon or Satan who unlocks this pit, this bottomless pit and then there's gonna be a physical pit open on earth and this stuff's gonna come out, you know this fiery smoke's gonna come out and then the locusts with scorpion like power are gonna be released on creation and it's gonna hurt you for 5 months. Like if you were to take it literally, this is the image. Can we put that image up of the literal image? This is what's coming at you.
Darren Rouanzoin:This is on Google. It's probably chat gpt, but, this is what we're looking at here folks. And so when you're like, well, I read the Bible literally. This is what you have coming. Right, so I've been talking to some of you about how do you interpret this and you know, were the plagues literal?
Darren Rouanzoin:Yes, the Exodus is a historical story of the plagues, but it's told again as a way of seeing the world through apocalyptic literature, right? So this is apocalyptic. Apocalyptic is a way of using imagination to talk about the meaning behind things. So some of you are like well it's not literal, it's futuristic. John had a vision of the future and he saw the locusts with fire breathing power and it looks like an Apache helicopter.
Darren Rouanzoin:This is what a lot of you have been taught. Like this is what's coming in this epic war. Like that's what he saw coming or this, cause they didn't know this when they wrote Left Behind, but drones would be a better image of like drones with bombs dropping because that is current modern warfare where you have these robot or these, you know, remote controlled drones dropping bombs on people. It's it's crazy. You think this is what he saw.
Darren Rouanzoin:He saw this epic battle in the future. I'm like, no, that's not what's going on. That's creative. It could sell a lot of books and and okay, let me let me pull back. I wanna do a quick pastoral moment, you alright?
Darren Rouanzoin:I know and I get it. Because so many of us, some of you are like, why does this matter? You're like, what do you, why is it, why are you cautioning us? Well, for so many of us, we grew up thinking about the end times in revelation a certain way. Right.
Darren Rouanzoin:And perhaps you came into the faith under a leader and he or she taught you about this way and the idea of having new information that challenges that thinking feels like you're betraying that person that you loved. Right. Is that kind of what's going on for a lot of us? Like you're like this is so hard because I love this pastor who discipled me, but like what you're saying is so opposite of what he was teaching and can I just say I get it? I was taught that.
Darren Rouanzoin:It marked me as a leader. I put all sorts of fear, but then I learned the tools of exegesis and expository preaching. I realized like they aren't using the tools to have that perspective. They just kind of throw them out and let's read a revelation completely differently. And so for us, we're approaching Genesis to revelation consistently.
Darren Rouanzoin:Right? So that's why apocalyptic literature matters. That's why I'm taking my time to make sure you understand what I'm what I'm doing requires some humility on all parts, but I'm trying to show you what I think is going on. So the question is this some cosmic war of the future? Maybe.
Darren Rouanzoin:Yeah. People are like, is the great tribulation gonna get worse? Probably. How do I know? Well, there's more slavery today than in the past.
Darren Rouanzoin:There's more suicide today than in any other time in history. There's more addiction today than any other time in history. There's more depression. There's more, there's all sorts of things. We're creating ways to kill people from around the world without having to be present.
Darren Rouanzoin:I feel like in some ways, yes, it's getting worse. And as long as Satan is creative in his way of harming creation and destroying humanity, people will be used as tools to partner with him. Can it get better? Absolutely. Can the church do its role?
Darren Rouanzoin:Yes. That's my hope, but let me just speak to this last vision. 1 of my one of the commentators that I read, I love this line. He says, the death dealing horsemen of trumpet 6 are not tanks and planes or not only tanks and planes. They're also cancers and road accidents and malnutrition and terrorist bombs and peaceful demises in nursing homes, yet the rest of mankind who are not killed by these plagues still do not repent of their idolatry.
Darren Rouanzoin:The centering of their lives on anything rather than God or of the evils which inevitably flow from it, they hear of pollution or of inflation of dwindling resources of blind politicians and will not admit that the first four trumpets of God are sounding. They see everything happening and they will they will turn a blind eye. It's kind of what I mentioned last week at one of the services I talked about slavery today, that all of us are part of creating conditions around the world of injustice because we have iPhones or lithium batteries in any of your device. Like, we high we, the companies in the US outsource companies from China that use slave like mentality and practices to, get, cobalt out of places in, the Congo, and all over Africa and there it's children and women using this. So every time you upgrade your product, there's an ingest reality to the thing that you're buying which is revelation.
Darren Rouanzoin:It talks about in the future, those of influence and wealth, the ships will be destroyed. It's referring to the security and the systems that we create. The most prosperous companies in the world that have 1,000,000,000,000 of dollars are still using human labor in in just ways, unjust ways. Do you see that? Oh, that hurt, It does.
Darren Rouanzoin:Right? You don't want me to say that? You know, I mean, I do you want me to say we should be concerned about those things? Like what do I do and then I'm just gonna get back on my phone and upgrade. You know, you hear about fast fashion destroying the planet and destroying and creating slaves and toxic chemicals.
Darren Rouanzoin:You're like, what do I do? I'm just gonna keep buying the cheap stuff. Oh, no. Oh, no. It's so hard, right?
Darren Rouanzoin:It's like we, we're like we, oh, yeah, we're healthy, but we put chemicals in our food that no industrial society allows outside of the United States and our mortality rate keeps going down, or up, I don't know, how do you say it, that we're dying younger now than ever before, and and we're, this is what's going on, the disconnect, the trumpets are there. Do you hear? Do you see? Do you have eyes to see and hear, see? Don't make this a spiritual thing.
Darren Rouanzoin:Everything is spiritual and it matters. In church, we are the institution that ended slavery. We are the institution that said kids should not be working. We are the institution that educated people. We are the institution that you went for for health care, for healing, for medicine, and botany, and learning how to create.
Darren Rouanzoin:We created societies that flourish. We, the church, did that. That's what we are about in the power of the holy spirit. How we doing? So as the world sees judgment, as we see mercy, we have a part to play, and this is why you have to see this.
Darren Rouanzoin:Are we okay? I know this is going on another level. It's getting hot. I'm gonna take this off. I'm just gonna I'm not gonna ask for the AC.
Darren Rouanzoin:I'm not gonna ask for the SA. I'm gonna give this to you, babe. You go. Here we go. Okay.
Darren Rouanzoin:This so let's keep going. I'm gonna go I'm gonna go hard on this. K? Because I feel 10 I love you. Revelation chapters 8 and 9 are showing you as Christians to the unbelievers, God is actively participating in revealing himself to a world that's not looking.
Darren Rouanzoin:Paul will make the same argument as a a lawyer, as a as a Pharisee in the book of Romans. So this is the apocalyptic version. Revelation is the apocalyptic version of Romans chapter 1. So check out Romans 1. I'll read this to you.
Darren Rouanzoin:The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people who suppress the truth by their wickedness. Since what may be known about God is plain to them because God has made it plain to them. Here's how. For since the creation of the world, God's invisible qualities, his eternal power and divine nature have been clearly seen being understood from what has been made so that people are without excuse. Just keep it right there.
Darren Rouanzoin:So what what Paul is trying to say to the to to the world and to the church is God has been put on display, but the world is denying it. God's been put on display. You look at a baby being born and you're like accident, cosmic accident of atoms crashing and creating a bang. No, it came from animals or you know, the evolution that, of time. Are you kidding me?
Darren Rouanzoin:You look at the human eye, you look at the nervous system, you're looking at how your body, your body stores trauma in its cells and can be healed physically through the emotional and mental process. We're talking about the dynamic human being, not just that. Have you ever been, somewhere where you can actually see stars? You like go other places and you're like, oh my, wow. You go to the Grand Canyon and the word awesome is perfectly suited because God is putting himself on display, but he goes on and look at what he says and I want you to hear the voice of God today.
Darren Rouanzoin:For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him. Now pause right here, let's keep it up. It's gonna go from ingratitude to immorality, It's gonna go from ingratitude to immorality. I'm sorry. In gratitude to idolatry to immorality to enslavement and it all starts with your heart not giving thanks to God.
Darren Rouanzoin:I come here Sundays. I have a 1000000 things to say thank you for every single Sunday. I don't show up entitled. Are you kidding me? He died on the cross.
Darren Rouanzoin:That's if if that's all you know, the rest of eternity has a playlist set for you. Although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened, so they they missed it, and so now they're confused. They don't know right from what left. Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools in exchange the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like a mortal human being and birds and animals and reptiles. Therefore, God gave them over.
Darren Rouanzoin:This is judgment. He's like, you won't say thanks, you won't recognize me as the immortal God, you wanna worship reptiles, you wanna worship iPhones, you wanna worship Instagram followers, you wanna worship what people think about you, I'm gonna hand you over to it. And that thing will eat you alive. Church, you wanna worship politics? Great, be divided by it.
Darren Rouanzoin:Church, you wanna worship celebrity pastors? Great. I'm gonna show you that these godlike people are nothing like me. Yeah. That's good.
Darren Rouanzoin:You put your faith in the person and not the person, and you'll be you'll be so sad as they disappoint you every single time. When you worship the wrong thing over and over again, meanwhile God is drawing you, whispering, showing you, longing for you to see. He's nudging you. This is what happens all the time. You're doing something you know you shouldn't do and the Holy Spirit's whispering.
Darren Rouanzoin:He's saying, no, no, no, don't know. This is not the right way. He's nudging you and what you do is you push it down and every time you push it down, what is, what happens? Hardened heart. Every subtle nudge you deny, you become more like pharaoh.
Darren Rouanzoin:Every subtle whisper God gives an organization that we deny, we become like empire. Wake up church. The trumpets are sounding. The whispers of the spirit are ever so present to the sensitive ear, but so many of you have deafened yourself to the voice of God. Do you know why he's not speaking?
Darren Rouanzoin:Has he already wooed you? Has he already spoken the word? Did he say delete the app? Did he say end the relationship? Did he say confess that sin that happened 4 years ago?
Darren Rouanzoin:I'm still waiting for that thing that you said you would do. I have all of this for you, but I'm waiting for you to take one step and let the blessings flow. Do you see? He's drawing creation to himself. It keeps going.
Darren Rouanzoin:It says therefore God gave them over. No, go back. Sorry. God gave them over to their sinful desires of their heart of to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. They exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served or they became enslaved to created things rather than the creator who is forever praised.
Darren Rouanzoin:Amen. So Romans is this great architecture of Revelation 89 and just like Revelation 10 where there's this interlude, Paul will say, well, if that's what's going on, and then he gets to chapter 10 and he says, talking about the world, chapter 10 sorry, not Revelation 10. Romans chapter 10. It says this, it says, how can they how then can they call on the one they have not believed in? If God has been speaking this, how can they call on Jesus?
Darren Rouanzoin:And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard and how can they hear without someone preaching to them and how can, anyone preach unless they are sent as it is written, how beautiful are the feet of those who bring the good news. Do you see what's going on? Paul is saying, look, this is what's happening, but the church's role is to tell them what's happening. Revelation 89 cosmic structures. We think it's drones.
Darren Rouanzoin:We think it's, helicopters or maybe we take it literally, or maybe we finally realize, no, there's a war going on. God is bringing about his judgment. It's mercy, but he's holding back for such a time as this. What's the role of the church? Revelation chapter 10.
Darren Rouanzoin:John has this vision of a of an angel that looks like Jesus and he's got this little scroll which would be like a little book and and then he hears in verse 8, then the voice that had heard that I had heard from, sorry, let me start over. Then the voice that I had heard from heaven spoke to me once more, so now he hears something. He hears from the voice. Have you heard from the voice? Go, take the scroll that lies open in the hand of the angel who is standing on the sea and on the land.
Darren Rouanzoin:So he sees this angel standing on the sea and on the land. Pretty terrifying moment. Alright. So he goes, so I went to the angel and asked him to give me the little scroll, and he said to me, take it and eat it. It will turn your stomach sour, but in your mouth it will be as sweet as honey.
Darren Rouanzoin:I took the little scroll from the angel, from the hand angel's hand and ate it. It tasted as sweet as honey in my mouth, but then I had eaten it and my stomach turned sour. Then I was told, you must prophesy again about many people's nations, languages, and kings. In the same way, Paul is like, how are they gonna know John through apocalyptic vision says, this is how they'll know when the church is recommissioned with the gospel. Take the bittersweet calling, the sweetness that comes when you accept the gospel that you are loved for who you are and not as you should be, that you are saved by grace, that Jesus died and paid for it all, and the bitterness as every time you walk an inch in the kingdom and get breakthrough, you realize there's so much more that needs to be transformed in your life.
Darren Rouanzoin:There's so much more that he wants to do and work, but not just that, because you're announcing to the world God is near, and the bitterness is they say, I don't want God. It's the bittersweet calling of It's the bittersweet ingesting of the word. He's not just saying that this is from Ezekiel where part of the role of the church is to embody the word of God. We're not called, we're called to consume the word. Think about what you're consuming right now.
Darren Rouanzoin:We live the word prophetically as an example to the world that doesn't know that the trumpets are blasting. We need to go into the world and preach the gospel. You see, Jesus went around and he didn't say, hey, I wanna help you with your identity. I'm gonna fix your anxiety. This is what we do in the church.
Darren Rouanzoin:I'm gonna come after, I'm gonna help your identity. I'm gonna fix your anxiety. I'm gonna help you ruthlessly eliminate. Hey, I love that book, but I'm not, that's not my point. My point is we're gonna deal with your issues.
Darren Rouanzoin:No, he says the kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news. God's way of life is available. You either go after it with all your heart, realign everything that exists in your being towards him, or don't have me at all. That's the good news, that you are designed for eternity, and the world needs to hear that right now.
Darren Rouanzoin:They don't need practices to just make them better people. We need spiritual disciplines, of course. We don't just need self help. We don't need cultural acceptance or belong to our community. We need to know that he paid it all and there's one way to him, you lived for him.
Darren Rouanzoin:You die to yourself and you live for him. There's this passage in Matthew I was reading that wrecks me. It's at the end of Matthew where he says, or it's Matthew chapter 10. He says, whoever acknowledges me before others, I will acknowledge before my father in heaven. This is Jesus speaking, but whoever disowns me before others, I will disown before my father in heaven.
Darren Rouanzoin:Have you acknowledged Jesus as Lord and raised from the dead? I don't mean like say a quiet prayer by yourself, but you stood up in a group of crowd, you raised your hand and you said, I follow Jesus and for the rest of my life, I will follow Jesus. I acknowledge him before a community of people today. I will follow Jesus. I want him to say to the father, this one's with me.
Darren Rouanzoin:How do you know? How do you know? So chapter 7 tells us we're gonna make it through the great tribulation through the presence of the holy spirit in our life. Chapter 10 says the church has a role. We don't sit this one out.
Darren Rouanzoin:We go into the dragon's lair with people held captive and enslaved by the dragon's will. And we tell them that the lord is near and there's good news. Even if it leads to our death, crushed by the dragon, we say amen, hallelujah, I'm victorious through the lamb who was slain. Yes. Amen.
Darren Rouanzoin:Can we all stand together? Would you open your hands and close your eyes? I wanna give some of you the opportunity to acknowledge Jesus. Our eyes are closed. If you wanna commit your life to Jesus publicly or recommit your life to Jesus publicly right now, would you just raise your hand and I'll lead you in a prayer?
Darren Rouanzoin:You don't have to come forward. I'm just having you acknowledge the Lord. Raise it up high for a little bit. Our eyes are closed. There's a lot of hands in the first services.
Darren Rouanzoin:A few hands right now. Would you just raise them up high? The Lord wants to, there's a lot of hands. I take that back. There's a lot of hands in this service.
Darren Rouanzoin:Praise Jesus. Would you just repeat this in your own heart and hair heart and hair? Heart and head and direct this prayer. If you don't know what prayer is, you're just talking to God in your head towards the God who loves you. The God who made you, the God who's longed to be with you, the God who loves your voice, the God who wants to be with you day in and day out.
Darren Rouanzoin:Say, Lord Jesus, I give you my life. I surrender everything to you. I speak now and confess that you are Lord. You raised from the dead and I wanna follow you for the rest of my life. Fill me with your Holy Spirit right now.
Darren Rouanzoin:Help me to follow you for the rest of my life. Protect me from the evil one. And I pray this in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy spirit. Amen.
Intro/Outro:Thank you so much for listening. For more information, please visit us at garden.
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