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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:How's everybody doing? I'm gonna take my time. I don't have to rush off to preach three more services. So it's like a day off. So I'm gonna preach three hours instead of three services.
Darren Rouanzoin:Yeah. I mean, I am gonna go longer today. So just get comfortable. Grab your bibles. Let me see those bibles.
Darren Rouanzoin:Can we please see the giant bible up front right here? I'm just You might not have a chair because it's for the bible up here. I love that we are a church that preaches the scripture. I was talking with a pastor yesterday who was one of the pastors that taught me how to preach, Mike Geary. And we were just talking about how in lots of churches today, the word of God is not preached.
Darren Rouanzoin:And you can tell a pastor, when they preach what they trust. When they're preaching. Do they trust their personality, their charisma? Do you do they the the the creative side of them, the cultural nuance that they bring? And and I just feel He was asking me questions about what God's doing here, and I just said, know, one thing is we just keep preaching the word of God.
Darren Rouanzoin:And I I believe that that's what is drawing people. The spirit of God in the word. And we've always been a word spirit church. And I feel like now is the time to really anchor in as disciples of Jesus, to be about the word of God and his presence. Last week, we're we're in the book of acts.
Darren Rouanzoin:We're gonna go to acts five. If you wanna go there now, acts five verse 17. We got a big chunk of scripture to get through today, and I am so passionate about it today. So I'll pray in a second. But last week, Luke gave us kind of a a picture of heaven.
Darren Rouanzoin:This is what earth looks like when heaven breaks in. And so we saw signs and wonders. We saw holy fear resting on the whole community of faith. We saw Peter's shadow healing the sick. It's crazy.
Darren Rouanzoin:Yeah. The church was in revival and it felt like the kind of church I wanna be a part of. You know, a church that is marked by the presence of God, by the power of the Holy Spirit, a church that's marked by the name of Jesus. Not as a theory, but as a reality to be experienced today. But what happens next in the story, is actually to be expected.
Darren Rouanzoin:Whenever God moves in power, something else moves in resistance. The same spirit that heals the sick threatens the systems of power. The same name that liberates the oppressed destabilizes those in control. And, the same church that draws the desperate provokes jealousy. You cannot have revival without resistance.
Darren Rouanzoin:So, Luke refuses to romanticize the early church. He does not give us a sanitized success story. Presence, power is followed by prison. Miracles followed by mockery. Favor with the people, followed by the fury of the powerful.
Darren Rouanzoin:The same chapter that begins with signs and wonders will end with scars and rejoicing. So that's what we're gonna enter into. The real focus today is about rejoicing in suffering, but we're gonna get there a long way. So can I pray for us right now, Zachuel? Would you open your hands?
Darren Rouanzoin:Fix this. Lord, we just wanna invite your Holy Spirit to speak to us right now. Through the word of God, would you illuminate what you have for us? May it be like a seed that scatters on good soil today. I pray Lord that you would make the hungry more hungry.
Darren Rouanzoin:Give us an insatiable thirst for your word God. To desire and pattern our lives after you in a new way. Holy Spirit, awaken hearts. Wake up the sleepy church. Bring a hunger, God.
Darren Rouanzoin:I pray that you draw the wandering home. Those that have walked away, may they feel welcome back into the house of God as sons and daughters of the most high. I just see God putting robes on sons and daughters and rings reminding you that you're home. He says, my son was lost but has been found. My daughter who is dead is alive again.
Darren Rouanzoin:Welcome home saints. Jesus, would you release your word in Jesus name. Amen. Alright. Let's start.
Darren Rouanzoin:Acts five verse 17. I haven't preached this yet today. So you get the first one. Usually a little rough, just so you know. So welcome to the 09:00 service.
Darren Rouanzoin:Verse 17, it says this, Acts five, then the high priests and all the associates who were members of the party of the Sadducees were filled with jealousy. They arrested the apostles and put them in public jail. So right before this, the apostles are I saw all the heads pop up. Right before this, there's signs and wonders that all the people were getting healed, and now we see the threat, which we've read about the Sadducees before. We've read about the Sanhedrin.
Darren Rouanzoin:The Sadducees are a group of religious, leaders in the Jewish tradition. There's the Pharisees, the Essenes, and the Sadducees. Those are the the Those are all the Jewish community leaders, in the first century and at the time of Jesus. The Sadducees were very wealthy, but their main issue with the disciples is that they believed in the resurrection. Sadducees did not believe in the resurrection of the dead.
Darren Rouanzoin:So this is not primarily, primarily a theological issue. What we'll see is oftentimes when religious groups resist people, they'll say it has to do with theology. It's often not theology. It's often jealousy. They'll say it's based on the zeal.
Darren Rouanzoin:That word for jealousy is also connected to the Greek word zeal. But what we see in acts is just this this religious righteous righteousness that's actually a false It's a it's a It's jealousy, and it's righteousness that's masquerading as jealousy. And what we see over and over again is that the Sadducees will oppose the disciples, and so they throw them in public jail, which is a sign of public shame and humiliation. And this is the first reality of faithful discipleship I just need to provide for you. Obedience to Jesus will eventually provoke resistance.
Darren Rouanzoin:If obedience to Jesus never disrupts anything, it may be because it's not challenging anything. And, we've just created this other version of Christianity that fits nice, neat, and tidy, and comfortable with the rest of the world and culture. So we see that there's this new resistance coming up. The authority and power is resisting the disciples, and then it continues in verse 19. It says, but during the night so the apostles are in jail.
Darren Rouanzoin:I love this story. During the night, the angel of the Lord opened the doors of the jail and brought them out. We're gonna see this throughout the book of acts. We're gonna see this role of angelic presence pushing the mission of God forward. And I just want you to pay attention to these stories because we often want angelic visitations, but we don't want the angelic visitations for its purpose.
Darren Rouanzoin:You probably don't even want angelic visitations. But what we'll see is this is we're gonna see it over and over again. The purpose of the role of the supernatural, the signs and wonders, the healing, it's always pointing to Jesus and his mission. Let's keep reading. It says, go this is what the angel says.
Darren Rouanzoin:Go and relax and have a Sabbath. You've done enough. Does yours say that? No. That's not that's not in.
Darren Rouanzoin:That's no. Nope. Just find a rhythm of rest. Take it easy. Relax.
Darren Rouanzoin:Can I get a handheld mic? This is is this popping for you? It's distracting me. I'm do handheld. Thank you.
Darren Rouanzoin:Here we go. Five weeks in. Oh, quick announcement. Next week, we're in the main sanctuary at Vanguard. So I don't know what that means for all of you that are here.
Darren Rouanzoin:Have to get there early because it's gonna be tight. But we'll have a parenting room, where you can you can have a couch if you're a parent with little ones. Let's go. We'll have massive classrooms for the kids, like huge classrooms for families. And we'll have, we'll have it dialed in so we'll have to set up and tear down.
Darren Rouanzoin:Will be set up for us. We're moving there starting next Sunday unless unless something happens. But right now, that's the plan. Is that good news? I mean, love this.
Darren Rouanzoin:This is great. I love it. But we'll have like a church facility for us. That's been Vanguard's moving us there. How cool is that?
Darren Rouanzoin:Okay. Let's go back to the word. Verse 20. Go stand in the temple courts, he said, and tell the people all about this new life. At daybreak, they entered the temple courts.
Darren Rouanzoin:And as they had been told, they began to teach the people. When the high priest and his associates arrived, they called together the Sanhedrin. So this is the PhDs. This is the the leaders of religion, of the Jewish community, the the the, Supreme Court, all of them, the full assembly of the elders of Israel, and sent to the jail for the apostles. But on on arriving at the jail, the officers did not find them there.
Darren Rouanzoin:So they went back and reported, this is like a comedy, we have found the jail securely locked and the guards standing at the doors. But when he opened them, we found no one inside. On hearing this, the captain of the temple guard and the chief priests were at a loss wondering what this might lead to. And then someone came in and said, look, the men you put in jail are standing in the temple courts teaching the people. At that, the captain went with his officers and brought the apostles.
Darren Rouanzoin:They did not use force. They did it quietly because they feared the crowd that they might be stoned. Then, the apostles were brought in and made to appear before the Sanhedrin again to be questioned by the high priest. We gave you strict orders not to teach in the name, he said. You you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching, and you deter and you and are determined to make us guilty of this man's blood.
Darren Rouanzoin:I love this story. Then we get this narrative. It's like a It's a playful comedy. An angel of the Lord opens the prison door, not to escape, not for the apostles to escape from danger, but to send them right back into danger. Go stand in the temple and tell the people all about this new life.
Darren Rouanzoin:Not the safe place. Not the safe words. Not the inspiring words. Not the words you agree with with your lifestyle. All the words of life.
Darren Rouanzoin:Jesus does not offer you self improvement. He's offering you resurrection life, the kingdom life. The apostles obeyed. And by dawn, they're back in the place they were arrested. The Sanhedrin doesn't know what's going on.
Darren Rouanzoin:They send for the prisoners. The doors are locked. The guards are posted. The prisoners are gone. And someone says, look, they're they're teaching about Jesus.
Darren Rouanzoin:Luke is subtly subtly saying, you cannot jail resurrection. And the next part is probably the most offensive passage in the New Testament to modern consumer Christianity. Hear me on this. The angel does not break them out of prison to protect their comfort. I'm a let that sit for a second.
Darren Rouanzoin:God's answer to their prayer does not lead to their comfort. He breaks them out to deepen their obedience. Costa Mesa, Newport Beach, Irvine, Orange County. We have turned Christianity into a blessing game. I do the right things.
Darren Rouanzoin:God will make my life easier. If I tithe, God will upgrade my outcomes. If I pray, God will protect my schedule. If I obey, he'll keep me from pain. And then when pressure comes, we assume something's wrong.
Darren Rouanzoin:We start negotiating. We start spiritualizing our avoidance. And we call it wisdom, but it's actually fear. We call it boundaries when it's actually self preservation. Everyone's afraid of burnout.
Darren Rouanzoin:We don't even know how to pour ourselves out for Jesus anymore. Acts five will not let us keep that version of discipleship or Christianity anymore. The apostles are arrested. They're publicly humiliated. They're locked up.
Darren Rouanzoin:And then the angel comes and he says, if it was comfort Christianity, the angel would say, congrats. You passed the test. Go rest. Protect your peace. Take a Sabbath.
Darren Rouanzoin:But the angel says the opposite. Go and stand in the temple and speak to all the people about the words of life. That word life is Zoe, resurrection. It's not a nicer version of your current lifestyle. It's a whole new transformed life in the in the allegiance to Jesus as Lord.
Darren Rouanzoin:The angel basically says, you are free to preach, not to relax. When was the last time you submitted your plans to God? When was the last time your prayer was to be marked by the Jesus life that didn't lead you into a quiet time of isolation, but that led you to a cross? Do you see what's going on in consumer Christianity all across The United States? We made our life the center of the gospel.
Darren Rouanzoin:The cross is the center, and the resurrection life requires your crucifixion. Not your true humanity being crucified, but the desires being marked and shaped and let go and released. We live in SoCal where it's like God wants to give me my dreams. That's what needs to be on the cross today. Your future, your dreams, your comforts, your desires need to be released and relinquished.
Darren Rouanzoin:The best life now is marked by a cruciformed reality. Can I preach that right now? Is that alright? The death, this is the death of a blessing based consumer Christianity because God does not merely deliver us from danger. Sometimes he delivers us into an assignment.
Darren Rouanzoin:And Luke is making a theological point. God's rescue is not always an escape hatch. God's rescue can lead us to hanging on a cross, And it's the center of his will. What does that do to your plans? And that's why the leader says, we ordered you not to teach in his name.
Darren Rouanzoin:He doesn't even say Jesus anymore. Because to say Jesus is to validate the movement. Right? The things. This is what we do with people.
Darren Rouanzoin:That person, my ex. We label them without naming them because it dehumanity it creates a dehumanity, dehumanizes people. They won't name Jesus because they they recognize that by naming Jesus, they're confronted with their false gospel. And this is what's going on today. We use the Jesus name as a tag for our political preference, to stay divided.
Darren Rouanzoin:It's not right or left. It is a kingdom way, and it will offend every person. And that's the problem. We have become offendable by everything except the cross. We want deliverance without obedience.
Darren Rouanzoin:We want freedom without risk. We want blessing without confrontation. We want resurrection benefits without a cruciform discipleship. But Jesus frees them, and he sends them straight back to preaching, which if you read the book of Acts over and over again, it is the proclamation of the word that is central in the book of Acts. And what is the proclamation?
Darren Rouanzoin:Jesus is Lord. It is not a it is not a proclamation of ideas that you can agree or disagree with. It is not a proclamation of concepts that if you integrate into your life, then you'll get self improvement and self help with Jesus attached to it. It is an announcement of reality. He died.
Darren Rouanzoin:He raised, rose again, and he lives now. That is a historical fact. Now adjust everything else in your life around an announcement. That is the proclamation, which we'll see in just a second. It says this as we keep going.
Darren Rouanzoin:Acts chapter five. Oh, Lord, help me with this. Verse 29. Peter and the other apostles replied, this is so good. They're saying, stop talking.
Darren Rouanzoin:Stop teaching. And he said, must obey God rather than human beings. The God of our ancestors raised Jesus from the dead, whom you killed by hanging him on a cross. The Greek word there is tree, which I'll get to in a second. God exalted him to his own right hand, and this is a new word, as prince and savior, that he might bring Israel to repentance and forgiveness forgive their sins.
Darren Rouanzoin:We are witnesses of these things, and so is the Holy Spirit whom God has given to those who obey him. Oh, church. This is the gospel. We're gonna see the gospel presented in all different contexts over the next year because it's gonna take us forever to get through this book. It's like twenty weeks in chapter five.
Darren Rouanzoin:And I'm not in a hurry. Like I should've I should've broke up this text because there's so much in here. I'm like, ugh, I should've slowed it down. But I didn't. There's this this this great reality that we just I just wanna present.
Darren Rouanzoin:Remember, this book acts is not just history for you. The book of acts is a theology of formation. This is what happened. This is why it happened. So it shapes who you are becoming as a Jesus follower where you are.
Darren Rouanzoin:Are you with me church? So the apostles are confronted by the establishment. Don't say the name. We can't obey you. There's a higher authority.
Darren Rouanzoin:Now that's offensive to Jerusalem, to Israel, because the Sanhedrin is the highest authority. And they're like, no. We appeal to your boss, Yahweh, the God of your ancestors, sent Jesus. And you hung him on a tree, which is from Deuteronomy. We we also can say the word cross.
Darren Rouanzoin:Anyone hung on a tree is cursed. So he's saying, you cursed him, but my God raised him from the dead. You killed him, but he's raised from the dead. And now he's prince. That's a new word.
Darren Rouanzoin:He's archetype. He's leader. He's Lord. And he's savior, deliverer, rescuer. Can I get an amen?
Darren Rouanzoin:Jesus is not just your best friend. He's also Lord. He's not just a rabbi to pat in your life after. He's also savior. You can't just follow the ways of Jesus and expect his life.
Darren Rouanzoin:You have to submit to him because you need to be saved. In our world where we look for everything for salvation, we just don't call it salvation. We call it peace. Just want to find my peace. Just want to do mindfulness and not be attached to anything that disrupts my personal peace.
Darren Rouanzoin:I'm sorry. That's not Christianity. We get saved, delivered, rescued from a broken, fallen self, a sinful nature. We deserve judgment and wrath, but Jesus. And the invitation then, and I love this because even even as they're confronted by enemies, they see them as potential brothers.
Darren Rouanzoin:Because in the kingdom of God, we don't get the luxury of enemies, church. Do you know this? Two things that the sermon on the mount gets rid of. Number one is enemies. We don't get them.
Darren Rouanzoin:They could see themselves as enemies. We see them we see them as lovers, but we see them as children loved by God. Our potential brothers and sisters. Yes? The second thing is offense.
Darren Rouanzoin:We don't get to be offended in the kingdom of God. That's straight out of Matthew's Sermon on the Mount. And we'll talk about that another time. But if there's anything I can encourage you, it's to not be offended anymore. Expect the world and the religious to be offended and say the things that make you upset.
Darren Rouanzoin:Just work on it and bring it to Jesus. Yeah? Pray for them. Release them. Can okay.
Darren Rouanzoin:That's not in the notes. Let's just keep going. I see it online. I'm looking at them comments. I think the comment section is what's called Gehenna in the New Testament.
Darren Rouanzoin:Gehenna is the word used for the final judgment as a symbol of weeping and gnashing in teeth. I just think the comment section of fighting is Gehenna. If Jesus was here, he'd be like comments are Gehenna. You're gonna go there and be dissected by the weeping and gnashing of teeth. Don't post that because that's not I'm just playing around.
Darren Rouanzoin:Don't build the theology. Peter preaches the gospel and it's so scandalous. I love it. Because the gospel confronts sin without softening it. The gospel offers mercy without withholding it.
Darren Rouanzoin:The gospel names guilt and still opens the door to grace. You crucified him. But God flipped the switch. Now, this is all introduction for the rest. You ready?
Darren Rouanzoin:Now we're gonna keep getting to the meat. You ready? So this next section is what I wanna get to. There's really two verses, but we'll get there. It says this, verse 33.
Darren Rouanzoin:So they they hear what they say. When they heard this, they were furious and wanted to put them to death. Because this is where it's going. And we live in a place where we don't have to worry about death because of our faith. But there are Christians around the world that are being murdered for their belief in Jesus Christ.
Darren Rouanzoin:And we need to be a body of Christ globally that recognizes suffering of our brothers and sisters. I've never been in a situation where when I said Jesus publicly, I was threatened by authorities and religious folks that wanted me dead. That is a reality from a lot of the church around the world. When they heard this, they were furious and wanted to put them to death, but a Pharisee named Gamael, a teacher of the law. Gamael was also the teacher for for Paul.
Darren Rouanzoin:So that's a that's this is interesting. He was he was Paul's rabbi. A teacher of the law who was honored by all the people stood up in the Sanhedrin and ordered that the men be put outside for a little while. So they put him outside. Let's have an inside talk.
Darren Rouanzoin:Here's what happens inside. Now pay attention. It's so fascinating. Then he addressed the Sanhedrin. Men of Israel, consider carefully what you intend to do to these men.
Darren Rouanzoin:Some time ago, Theodos Theodos appeared claiming to be somebody and about 400 men rallied to him. He was killed, all his followers were dispersed, and it all came to nothing. K. So one evidence, historical fact, there's this dude who rallied. He was killed.
Darren Rouanzoin:400 people rallied for him when he was arrested. When he died, the movement stopped. That's one evidence. After him, Judas the Galilean, great nickname, appeared in the days of the census and led a band of people in revolt. He too was killed and all his followers were scattered.
Darren Rouanzoin:So there's another example historically. We know that there are these would would be Messiah figures that get killed and their movements stop. Case in point, they're used in reason. Therefore, in this present case, I advise you leave these men alone. Let them go.
Darren Rouanzoin:For if their purpose or activity is of human origin, it will fail. This is a prophet in the Sanhedrin court. But if it's from God, you will not be able to stop these men. You will only find yourselves, and this is a phrase, fighting against God. You will be a God fighter.
Darren Rouanzoin:And his speech persuaded them. So there's this moment where, there's this reasonable moment where we're now, Luke is bringing you into Gamael being a prophetic witness to Jerusalem. Don't do it because if it's of human origin, it's just gonna fail. That's like a that's just like a fun hint about the next chapters moving forward. And now we get into the main part of the text that I wanted to teach.
Darren Rouanzoin:All my notes are here. Ready? They called the apostles in and had them flogged. Then they ordered them to not speak the name of Jesus and let them go. The apostles left the Sanhedrin rejoicing because they had been counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the name.
Darren Rouanzoin:Day after day in the temple courts and from house to house, they never stopped teaching and proclaiming the good news that Jesus is the Messiah. Come on, church. We kinda just read over this. Like that sentence, I I actually was the first when I was studying it this week, I just wept over this. They called the apostles in and had them flogged.
Darren Rouanzoin:Now, flogging by the Romans was a serious deal. It was a whip with metal and bone shards in it with leather straps. And it would break the skin and inflict deep and often fatal wounds from the whipping. This is from a book called the crucifixion of Jesus, the passion of Christ from a medical point of view. This is the description of flogging.
Darren Rouanzoin:The heavy whip is brought down with full force again and again across shoulders, back, and legs. At first, the heavy thongs cut through the skin only. Then as the blows continue, they cut deeper into the subcutaneous tissue producing first an oozing of blood from the capillaries and veins of the skin and finally spurting arterial bleeding from vessels in the underlying muscles. Finally, the skin of the back is hanging in long ribbons, and the entire area is unrecognizable, mass of torn bleeding tissue. So when you read the word flogged, you're talking about an entire backside that's scarred for life.
Darren Rouanzoin:This is public humiliation after they're ordered to be silent. And they respond with rejoicing. Joy that they were counted worthy to be dishonored for the name of Jesus. That word dishonor is such a big deal in an honor shame culture. I don't have time to go into it.
Darren Rouanzoin:But what Luke does is he flips the script. He says, public shame and humiliation is actually divine affirmation. To share in the suffering of Jesus is not failure, it's fellowship. And Luke wants to form a people who interpret pain and suffering differently. The result of this is the disciples in the church can't stop and they won't stop.
Darren Rouanzoin:They go house to house. They go temple. They teach and they evangelize because joy does not make them passive. Joy makes you durable. This is how suffering forms disciples rather than destroys disciples.
Darren Rouanzoin:And this is what the deepest part of witness in the book of Acts and the history of the church is about. Learning how to suffer well. So folks, the notes I have to for you today is how to suffer well. You ready? But let me just give a quick pre, summary of what suffering is not.
Darren Rouanzoin:Not every frustration you have is suffering. In the New Testament, suffering is not your preferences being denied. Jesus never promised the fulfillment of self centered desires. He promised the crucifixion of its desires. Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up the cross.
Darren Rouanzoin:In our context, we often label, we often label suffering something that scripture calls sanctification. When your pride is confronted, that's not persecution. When your expectations are not met, that's not oppression. When obedience costs you convenience, that's not injustice. Biblical suffering, especially in acts and the epistles, is the suffering that comes from allegiance to Jesus Christ.
Darren Rouanzoin:It is the cost of obedience. It is the loss that follows faithfulness. It is being opposed because you bear his name. Peter says, if you suffer for doing good and you endure it, this is commendable before God. And there's a difference between suffering because you are Christ like and suffering because you're immature, impatient and entitled.
Darren Rouanzoin:Lord help me. Much of what we call suffering is actually spirit pruning our attachments to control, comfort, and applause. Jesus does not crucify your true humanity. He crucifies your self rule. And that feels like loss.
Darren Rouanzoin:And that loss is not persecution. It's formation into Jesus likeness. So how do we grow in how do we suffer well? How do we grow in suffering well? Here's what I want you to take notes on because we need a resilient church today.
Darren Rouanzoin:And right now, we're so emotionally fragile. We are. We're mentally and emotionally fragile for the realities that we face. And we walk around and we're offended by everything because we've been discipled by therapy, not disciples of Jesus. I'm all for therapists.
Darren Rouanzoin:I love therapists. God bless all the therapists in the room. But we've we've replaced in the church therapists, pastors for therapists. And they don't they don't function the same way. Pastors lead you to your death.
Darren Rouanzoin:Therapists should help heal the trauma. But pastors exist to help you die well. Yeah? We're doing a new person lunch after this. We wanna welcome all of you.
Darren Rouanzoin:My job today, I'm gonna say this then. So here's my notes. My job is to help you die well. And if you ask me how I'm gonna make your dream come true, I'm gonna say I'm gonna put it on the cross, and we'll see what Jesus does with the rest with the rest of your life. Because that's the contract we have at Garden Church.
Darren Rouanzoin:We're not here like all the other I don't know what other churches do. I've been doing this for eighteen years. And we're forming disciples that lay their lives on the altar every day. And we will go places we never wanted to go, like Orange County. Is this true?
Darren Rouanzoin:And so we want to recognize that to suffer well is so important. Wait. Hold on. One more quick disclaimer. I I feel like we live with oh, man.
Darren Rouanzoin:How do I say this? Oh, Lord. This is where I get canceled. We live in a context where we have allowed our identities to form us that have nothing to do with Jesus. So there's this mindset of being identified by our wounds and past and traumas that's led to a victim mindset.
Darren Rouanzoin:Jesus has to become the loudest voice, the greatest anchor of identity. Acts eight will reveal this later on. Acts five reveal this. Nothing can separate us from the love of God. That's Romans chapter eight.
Darren Rouanzoin:Nothing you do can separate you from the love of God. You are more than conquerors. You are his beloved. You are set apart. You are co heirs.
Darren Rouanzoin:And and just because you suffer doesn't mean you're suffering well. Suffering doesn't make you holy by default. So let's talk about how to suffer well. Number one, you gotta reframe suffering through Jesus, not through outcomes. I got notes for you.
Darren Rouanzoin:Praise the Lord for projection. See, the disciples rejected and they rejoice because suffering was reinterpreted from Jesus' eyes. Suffering becomes unbearable when we interpret it as failure. This is the consumer Christian. It should be up and to the right.
Darren Rouanzoin:But suffering becomes formative when it's interpreted as fellowship with Jesus. They interpret suffering through the lens of Jesus, not through the outcomes. So Jesus was shamed. Jesus was beaten. Jesus was flogged.
Darren Rouanzoin:Peter will say when he's being crucified, I'm unworthy to be crucified the same direction as Jesus. So flip it upside down. He can't possibly imagine in his mind taking on the same thing that Jesus did. So they get flogged, and they're like, yes. Our Messiah who's raised from the dead was also beaten like this.
Darren Rouanzoin:Thank you, God, that I'm worthy of enduring what Jesus, my Messiah, endured. To share is not failure, it's fellowship. To grow in suffering well is to train your imagination and to ask different questions. Not what is happening to me, but Lord, what do you who do you want me to become? Jesus does not promise obedience to avoid, pain.
Darren Rouanzoin:He promises that obedience gives pain meaning meaning. So when suffering hits, we name it honestly before God. And then when we name it, it connect we connect it to the life of Jesus, not our desired outcome. So if you're in it right now, re anchor your suffering to what Jesus is walking you through. I was talking to my brother this morning about things going on in his life.
Darren Rouanzoin:He's got physical pain that's changing the direct trajectory of his life, but he's filled with joy. He said that he didn't know I was preaching. Been a wrestler your whole life, and he's gonna have to give up wrestling for for a while forever. God's redirecting Fernando's life. And as he described it, there's grief in there, but he's a man marked by joy.
Darren Rouanzoin:You should listen to him in our pre service prayer. I have friends that have gone through the worst kinds of suffering. The worst kinds of suffering. The loss of children who've taken their own life. Fathers that passed away too soon.
Darren Rouanzoin:And those people who anchored their suffering in that season with Jesus grew big. They weren't crushed. They weren't taken out. The breakup didn't throw them off. It strengthened their inner person.
Darren Rouanzoin:Suffering is the cross fit of Christ likeness. Or now in my life, suffering is the high rocks race. It's the ultra marathon. I heard someone in here ran 62 miles yesterday. Is that true?
Darren Rouanzoin:Is that someone? 62 miles at once? You got a lot of time. And you can suffer long. Second point, can we keep going?
Darren Rouanzoin:How do we suffer while we detach detach your identity from approval and success. If your identity is rooted in Christ, suffering becomes a place of deep communion. The apostles rejoice because their identity was already secured. Their identity was settled. They did not need the council's approval.
Darren Rouanzoin:They did not need public, vindication. They did not need immediate results. Suffering always exposes the things we feel secure by. If your identity is rooted in comfort, suffering feels like abandonment. Where are you?
Darren Rouanzoin:All my stuff's gone. If your identity is rooted in success, suffering feels like you've been disqualified. Paul will say, I want to know Christ and share in his sufferings. Sharing is in in assumes belonging. So I I wonder what happens when you feel threatened by suffering.
Darren Rouanzoin:Is is there approval problems? Is there control issues? Is there image issues? Is there security problems? We gotta re anchor our identity in what Jesus is.
Darren Rouanzoin:Number three, I'll get through this. We gotta interpret suffering inside community, not in isolation. Let me just say, if you give your life to Jesus, he will not make it easier. Jesus will not make your life easier if you're following the real Jesus. He will confront every inch in your soul that is not aligned to him.
Darren Rouanzoin:If you let him whisper into those places, if you let him do the work. One of the things that we see is we suffer, and this happens all the time. I see it all the time. We have house churches, which are like really great small groups in our church. And throughout my life, I've been doing small groups, house churches, life groups, community groups, missional communities.
Darren Rouanzoin:We named them everything, garden groups for nineteen years. And when couples, I see this with married couples, when they isolate through crisis, through suffering, through a problem, they almost always separate and get divorced. I see it all the time. I see when you suffer in isolation, God, the enemy will produce shame. But when you suffer with community, suffering turns into a testimony.
Darren Rouanzoin:I can't tell you how many testimonies were couples that shouldn't stay married because of what took place, yet stayed married, confessed, did the work, and now are thriving in marriage because they did it, not in isolation, but in community. They have a testimony for what God did in their life. The early church did not process pain privately and then reappear polished. I see this in the church. I need you to hear this.
Darren Rouanzoin:You press into each other. They stayed together. They told their story of failure. They prayed. They kept meeting in homes and in the temple.
Darren Rouanzoin:They named their suffering. It grew them into spiritually mature beings and they didn't distort their identities. Number four, let suffering loosen your grip on control. Suffering is often, the place where God quietly dismantles our false mastery. How many of you know that?
Darren Rouanzoin:Is this okay? This is what I wanted to give you. I don't know if it's resonating. Normally, I I already felt it out at the 9AM and I'll ask the 9AM. And then on the drive down, I changed my sermon.
Darren Rouanzoin:Is there an amen or anything in here? I don't know. Have I I walk in five minutes before worship's done and then I leave. And I I As a pastor, it doesn't work well for me. I want That's why I'm here today all day because I wanna be, I wanna feel, I wanna I wanna I wanna touch, I wanna make sure that the the the preaching of the word is incarnated in a community.
Darren Rouanzoin:And my sense is I prayed all week. This is the thing. I was talking, to a guy who's leading. It's so amazing. You know what's happening at SCU right now?
Darren Rouanzoin:So South Southeastern University, Lakeland, Florida, Wednesday Chapel hasn't stopped. It's it's what what happened in Asbury is beginning to happen right now in Lakeland right now. And I've been talking to the campus pastor and and he he's talking about the sweet thing God is doing. And we're talking about how how to prepare for this stuff. And and and I was like, I was talking He was sharing all this stuff.
Darren Rouanzoin:What do we do and all these things? And he's being encouraged by leaders that are coming. He's being discouraged by leaders that are there. Of course. I send him the intro to the talk.
Darren Rouanzoin:I said, here's what happens. Be encouraged. But I was I was thinking, do you know that Sunday doesn't start for for us as a team? It doesn't start on Sunday. It starts on Tuesday for us.
Darren Rouanzoin:We start praying Tuesday for you. We gather as our staff and our our leaders, and we we go over the liturgy of what happened last week. We we go over all the things in our staff meeting. We tell these Jesus stories. And then and then we gather to to talk about what God's gonna do.
Darren Rouanzoin:And we we we write out a list of prayers. And those prayers go to prayer team and prayer room and pastors and our elders. And we pray for for this moment for five days. And all week long, I'm preparing. But in my heart, I'm carrying some of you that need to hear that you have been misdirecting your suffering.
Darren Rouanzoin:And you've lost so much with Jesus because you didn't anchor your identity in him in it. And it took you out. And it's been displaced because people you loved hurt you. Yes. But now I'm bringing you back in.
Darren Rouanzoin:Because some of you deconstructed your faith because of suffering, because of pain, because of concepts that took you away from community. God's bringing you in community. I know community hurt you, but there's no healing in Jesus without community. And there is this do Jesus my own way mindset in Orange County that needs to be broke. There needs to be a religious spirit that comes off you where you can be here and go, my life is falling apart.
Darren Rouanzoin:And we say, I know how that feels. Let me walk with you. I'm not gonna shame you because of your confession. I'm going to pray with you and watch you get healed because I'm in it. I'm so tired of churches shopping.
Darren Rouanzoin:The church can't shop itself. It dies to itself. So decide what community you're in and stay even when it doesn't look like you wanted it to. Be committed because that's how you grow up. And right now there's this like pick your own adventure with Jesus.
Darren Rouanzoin:It's got to die. And if your discipleship to Jesus is making you less engaged in the world, that's not discipleship to Jesus. If it's making you more preference based, more self preserved, more focused on your own people, and not the marginalized that Jesus loves, you have the wrong Messiah. And at some point you either get it or you don't. But the the cost of discipleship is everything.
Darren Rouanzoin:And just because you've been here for a while doesn't mean God might again say, put everything on the table now. But Lord, I have a lot of extra stuff now. Before I had the family and kids and and the golf membership, I have a lot more stuff. And he's saying, come. I'm the biggest adventure.
Darren Rouanzoin:Your kids will be taken care of because you followed me, not because you stayed where the where the nourishment's gone. People always say, I wanna be pastored. I wanna be pastored. And what they mean is, I want my emotional well-being to be the center of my life with Jesus. And I say, if pastors according to Psalm 23 leads you, yes, behind quiet, quiet waters and rests for your souls.
Darren Rouanzoin:But then it leads you to a table surrounded by your enemies. We love the first part of Psalm 23, but we reject the next. But the next is where his goodness is experienced. And when we dwell in his house forever, not when we're by the lilies of the field. It's when we're in the center of God's will, walking through the crucible called life, saying amen, hallelujah as we suffer along, sharing in the sufferings and the glory of Jesus.
Darren Rouanzoin:This is all freebie. No. No. No. Let's just wait.
Darren Rouanzoin:The Lord's gonna minister today. I knew for a fact I woke up with joy because I was talking about suffering. No. Because I knew the presence of God was gonna draw near. And he did.
Darren Rouanzoin:He drew near in our pre service gathering, in our pre prayer, in our prayer back there. He drew near in worship. He's drawing near as you hear the words of life. Saying, come to me. Don't come to an idea that you found on a podcast.
Darren Rouanzoin:Come to the risen Lord Jesus Christ, the real Jesus, and lay down at the altar and confess that he is Lord and raised from the dead. This is a gospel plea to come back to Jesus. To those that have walked away, come back to Jesus' community and find the healing you long for. It's not gonna happen because you've pieced it together like a life coach. It's gonna happen when you laid it and surrendered to the thing that you rejected but he still loves.
Darren Rouanzoin:Church, we have to rise. This is look at this. The rooms that God wants to fill is gonna overwhelm The US and the and The United States and the world that's the same thing. And the world, in case you're wondering. There is a surge of gospel Jesus spirit momentum that is sovereign.
Darren Rouanzoin:And you can either be the critic on the outside or you could be fully surrendered. Not to a model of church, but to the Lord of Lords and King of Kings. I think I have a couple more thoughts and then we'll close. Let let suffering lose your grip on control. Figure out what that means.
Darren Rouanzoin:Number five. Anchor suffering in the resurrection, not in the present moment. The apostles could rejoice because they believe the story ends in resurrection and joy. You got to remind your soul that pain is not the end of the story. You don't grow in suffering well by being strong.
Darren Rouanzoin:You grow by being honest, anchored and obedient to Jesus. Acts five does not promise safety, it promises us life. It does not promise approval, it promises God's presence. It does not promise ease, it promises joy that suffering cannot steal. It is not a church that wins by power, it is a church that wins by faithfulness.
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