Walk With Jesus | Attention Fuels Desire | Darren Rouanzoin

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Intro/Outro: 00:06

Welcome to Garden Church Podcast. We're in a series called Walk with Jesus. This series is about learning to cultivate a passionate love with God. Joy.

Darren Rouanzoin: 00:20

What has your attention? What has your attention? If you were to open your phone, I'm not asking you to do that now, and go to screen time, How many hours, minutes do you have held captive by a device? How much time are you listening to those podcasts? Are you streaming those shows?

Darren Rouanzoin: 00:43

Are you scrolling on those websites, just window shopping conveniently on that screen. Attention fuels desire. And desire directs behavior. This is the thing underneath the surface of society and culture at this moment. If I if if Jesus were around today, I think he might rewrite, a passage from the Sermon on the Mount for our moment, he might say where your attention is, there your heart is also.

Darren Rouanzoin: 01:20

Attention fuels desire. We live in what the economists call the attention economy, where the largest corporations in the world are spending mass amounts of resources and godlike technology to keep you focused on their devices. We have Microsoft researcher who calls what we live in as a continuous partial attention. We're never fully present ever. We're always partially bringing our attention to what we're doing because we're watching a show while scrolling through TikTok videos.

Darren Rouanzoin: 01:52

We're working while texting and listening to podcasts. We're always partially present the things around us. On average, Americans spent touch, I wrote this, Americans touch their phones 2,617 times a day and spend 4 hours and 25 minutes on their phone. And the interesting about this is that the studies that are coming out have to do with dopamine. And the thing about dopamine that we know based on research is dopamine is not just this neurotransmitter in your brain that makes you feel happy.

Darren Rouanzoin: 02:24

It actually generates desire. You see, one professor from, the New York Times wrote this article. She's a professor from Northwestern University in the New York Times article says dopamine tells you not when something is good or bad, but when it's better or worse than you've expected it to be. The chemical releases, I'm sorry. The chemical release drives you to seek more of what you perceive as rewarding so your attention feels desire.

Darren Rouanzoin: 02:52

This is why you binge watch Netflix when you want to go to sleep, which is why the Netflix CEO said years ago, you get a show or a movie you're really dying to watch and you end up staying up all night. So we actually compete with sleep and we're winning. They're not competing with Amazon Prime or Disney Plus, they compete with your sleep. All fueled by the science behind what keeps you focused. What has your attention.

Darren Rouanzoin: 03:24

Ronald Rolheiser prophetically wrote, we are distracting ourselves into spiritual oblivion. I don't need to go on about the context, but I wanna point out this is the context of our discipleship today. This is the context for our discipleship today. That we are fighting against a cultural formation machine that grabs our attention. If our culture is a contested space, and there's no neutral How do we actually build a life with God in this moment?

Darren Rouanzoin: 04:07

That's the question I wanna answer today. How do we walk with Jesus? I wanna teach you how, I wanna help you build, construct a life with God, but in order to do that, let's get into the text. You with me? Good intro, Luke 10?

Darren Rouanzoin: 04:21

Let's go. Luke chapter 10. There we go. Luke 10. Luke 10 verse 38.

Darren Rouanzoin: 04:29

We're gonna look at this. Now this passage this passage is one of those passages I'm gonna be real frank. I hate. I mean, that's a harsh I'm very I don't really like it that much. Alright, we'll read in a second.

Darren Rouanzoin: 04:49

But here's the thing, I want us to be all theologians, studier, a student of God, a studier of the word. And if you wanna be good at the word of God, you need to read the word of God. We need to be good readers of the text, right. And in our context of church, we don't preach scripture out of context. Good exegesis requires context, not just context for when it was written, who wrote it, who said it, how it was received in the time it was written, whether it's old or new testament, what genre of the book we're reading, but also the context of where this story is placed in the narrative that we're reading.

Darren Rouanzoin: 05:29

This is the book of Luke. It's a biography of Jesus, but we have to read verse 38 through 42 in the context of the chapter we're reading. What chapter are we going to read today? Chapter 10, great job. And what comes before verse 38?

Darren Rouanzoin: 05:46

Amazing, well done, class. But here's the thing, we're gonna read this. What you have to understand is chapter 10 is a is a chapter all about discipleship. So the context of the story is in the place of discipleship. How are we disciples?

Darren Rouanzoin: 06:03

So Luke 10 begins with Jesus commissioning his disciples 72 to continue his ministry to do the things that Jesus was doing, they do it. It's amazing. The next story is a story that you're probably all familiar with even if you didn't read the Bible. You've probably heard the phrase, good Samaritan. How many of you've heard that phrase, raise your hand.

Darren Rouanzoin: 06:21

You all heard it. Raise all of your hands. Come on. The good Samaritan is this clever story where after the disciples come back from doing the things of Jesus, a teacher of the law says, what must I do to inherit the eternal life? Which is saying, how do I live the blessed life from God?

Darren Rouanzoin: 06:37

This old Testament idea of entering in this present moment, not future salvation when I die, but how do I live the blessed life now? And that was a common question. Teachers and disciples would ask rabbis and Jesus says, well, how do you read the law? And he summarizes it. He says, love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul and strength and love your neighbor as yourself.

Darren Rouanzoin: 06:56

And Jesus says, you got it right. But then the the the clarifying question is who who is my neighbor? Where do I direct my resources of my love is the question. Are there limitations? Which was a common practice for us religious folks.

Darren Rouanzoin: 07:11

And then he goes on to tell the parable of the good Samaritan, a priest and a Levi walking by. They see a guy beaten up in both the priest and the Levi. A priest and Levi are, from the tribe of, the they are descendants of of Aaron. So they serve as men. The priests serve as leaders in the temple and the the Levites would have been modern day janitors, supporters, helpers in the temple at seasons in life.

Darren Rouanzoin: 07:35

So they are a holy class if you will, they're set apart. They don't do anything for the man they see beaten on the road, they go around because they have important things to do but then the Samaritan comes into the story who would have been a religious heretic, hated by the Jews, racial tensions, all sorts of bad things to say that a Samaritan is good as an oxymoron. He does the thing where he serves the man, his compassionate love takes care of the person and then he provides for his wounds. He he he heals the man and then he pays his debt and the question is well, you know, who loved his neighbor? And he says, go and be like the good Samaritan, which is an oxymoron.

Darren Rouanzoin: 08:13

The point of the story is this, that you could be doing the right things and miss God. You can be doing the religious things and miss out on God's, or living out the Torah. You could be living the Torah to the law, the law out in a way of perfection while missing the heart of God's law. Do you see? So the point is that in this relationship with God, the way we live out the law is expressed in our relationship with each other.

Darren Rouanzoin: 08:44

Are you with me? You can call this like you can't love God without loving each other. This is the act of life. Scholars would call it this act of life that our faith has to be active. That's the story before this story.

Darren Rouanzoin: 08:57

You with me? So let's read verse 38. This one that I'm gonna say I didn't like. I don't like that much and here's why. Well, you'll get there in a second, you'll understand.

Darren Rouanzoin: 09:05

Okay, verse 38. As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. She had a sister called Mary who sat at the Lord's feet listening to what he said, but Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, Lord, don't you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me.

Darren Rouanzoin: 09:36

Martha, Martha, the Lord answered, you are worried and upset about many things, but few things are needed or indeed only 1. Mary has chosen what is better and it will not be taken away from her. How do we walk with Jesus? Remember, this is about discipleship. This is about discipleship in the 1st century.

Darren Rouanzoin: 10:00

This is about discipleship in the 21st century. And the story is frustrating to me for lots of reasons, but again, the danger of taking this text is we reduce it to 1. This is what I see all over the place in the church today. We'll find 1 verse and reduce following Jesus to 1 verse. We'll take this one verse one thing and say to live out this one verse is to live out everything on the scripture and that's not what's going on.

Darren Rouanzoin: 10:29

This one verse will lead some of you to leave the world behind and become a monk, right? Because this story is about the contemplative life with God. If one story is about the active life, this is about the contemplative life and notice they're together. Are you with me? We'll get to that in a second.

Darren Rouanzoin: 10:47

Let's talk about what's going on so we can get into this, okay? First of all, Martha opened her home. How amazing is this? Martha is practicing hospitality. The Messiah, the king is passing through and she gets to host him.

Darren Rouanzoin: 11:04

Jesus taught in Matthew chapter 10, whoever welcomes a prophet will receive a prophet's reward. If you welcome me, you welcome the one who sent me. And she's doing exactly what's expected in the 1st century, opening her home and providing hospitality which was elaborate meal making and preparation and all sorts of things to host a guest. That's a good thing. Jesus is being received by Martha.

Darren Rouanzoin: 11:29

Isn't this amazing? Martha is honoring Jesus, and then she has a sister. We all have one of these in our life, who just sits there and is somehow able to be present in the midst of all that's required. Mary sitting at Jesus' feet. Now reading this today, we miss how electrifying this would have been in the 1st century.

Darren Rouanzoin: 11:58

It was electrifying. I mean one way it's electrifying is this is absolutely a phrase used by disciples that you would sit at your rabbi's feet indicating the position you are in as a disciple of a rabbi and no girl, no woman was allowed to be a disciple of any rabbi in the 1st century. But this would insist that there were followers of Jesus that were women in the 1st century who saw themselves as students of Jesus. Are you with me? They weren't selected as the 12 apostles but they were part of the larger community who followed Jesus and Luke will say paid their own way to follow Jesus.

Darren Rouanzoin: 12:37

This is a big deal. Are you alright with this? You better be. Like someone's not just kidding just kidding. I'm just kidding.

Darren Rouanzoin: 12:50

You're good. You're good. Just wrong time to walk out. You're fine. Go ahead.

Darren Rouanzoin: 13:02

Now you're all like, I'm not gonna move. Yeah, don't move. It's the word. There's this, ancient text called the Mishnah, the oral tradition written down and one of the freight, one of the commands it says, it says this from the Mishnah, let thy house be a meeting house for the sages sit and sit admits the dust of their feet and drink in their words with thirst. It's not in the Bible, this is outside rabbinic teaching written down in the mission.

Darren Rouanzoin: 13:32

So Mary is learning from Jesus and I want you to know the way it's written is that Jesus is, she's listening to every word coming out of Jesus' mouth. The idea is she's she knows that Jesus is the word, that Jesus is speaking the word of God. And she counter culturally is posturing herself, positioning herself to receive as a disciple and she sits there and the very next verse is Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. If there's one character I associate with the most, it's Martha. I am Martha longing to be Mary.

Darren Rouanzoin: 14:21

Some of you are Marys living in a Martha world. I stole that probably from some like Hallmark card. I don't know. It's probably the Hallmark channel during Christmas time. The word distracted in the Greek, I'll put it up here for you to see it.

Darren Rouanzoin: 14:41

It means to be pulled away, dragged away, to be distracted, quite busy or overburdened. And this is connected to Acts chapter 6 when the disciples, the apostles are distracted by the needs of the community. They're waiting tables rather than focusing on what the word and prayer. Remember Luke writes the book of Acts, so he's tying these stories together. So here as disciples are getting distracted, what we see is the story before the good Samaritan is that you can be missing what God is doing through religious activity.

Darren Rouanzoin: 15:12

How many of you need to hear that? That sometimes, the spiritual disciplines that got you here become the things that hold you from going further. This story is something else. While the religious activity, the worship gatherings might get in the way of your compassionate love for your brothers and sisters. This story is how ordinary life, the domestic responsibilities that you have, the caring for the little ones day in and day out can distract you from what God is doing.

Darren Rouanzoin: 15:47

Now stay with me. I wanna hold this tension because they're gonna speak directly to it. You're like, wait a second, what? I'll bring it back in just a second, but this is what's going on with Martha. The domestic affairs of providing a meal for her honored guest is written as a negative in the text.

Darren Rouanzoin: 16:03

Her hosting is actually a distraction to what God is doing. She's overwhelmed by the responsibilities and preparation. She's distracted by the things that she has to do as a good host. And in the text, the way it's written is though she can't see what's really going on to the point where she finally interrupts the word being spoken to tell Jesus what to do and say. You know you're off when you tell the king what to do, right?

Darren Rouanzoin: 16:35

The word is being spoken, you need to tell my little sister to get out of this seat and go over here and help me in the kitchen. Have you ever host guests and had that heart? Like the reason I'm so frustrated is I live this so frequently in my life. I'm regularly overwhelmed. I regularly struggle with anxiety.

Darren Rouanzoin: 16:57

I regularly am so busy with the responsibilities that I possess as a pastor, as a homeschool dad, as a father of 2, as a husband, as someone who wants to have friends and be healthy and all the responsibilities that come with living ordinary life that I miss so regularly the thing in front of me. I could be hosting friends on Memorial Day just per se at the beach, at a beach house and miss that my friends are hanging out with me because I'm so distracted by keeping everything clean. I do the dishes in my family, that's partly why. Just saying, if my wife was here, she would say amen, hallelujah. But sometimes the, it's the the, I could be hosting our elders in our church and having a gathering and I'm so preoccupied.

Darren Rouanzoin: 17:48

Uh-uh actually at our staff meeting, we had the River House team. Jordan was here. He was ministering this beautiful word to our staff and some of our elders and all I can think about is how this is going over on time and we're gonna miss the next meeting. So I'm gonna have to cancel these meetings and go to the next. Does anyone else know what I'm talking about or is this a problem that I have?

Darren Rouanzoin: 18:06

Or like you're hanging out with your kids, but you're not quite done with work? Like you're hanging out your kids wanna play catch and you're catching with one hand. What has your attention? Attention fuels desire. Desire directs your behavior.

Darren Rouanzoin: 18:28

What do you desire? Martha tells Jesus what to do and his response is, Martha, Martha, now I want you to hear this, how or I want you to think about this, how do you hear Martha, Martha? What's the tone Jesus has? And be honest, don't say it out loud, be honest with yourself. Because he says, Martha, Martha, the Lord answers, you are worried and upset about many things.

Darren Rouanzoin: 18:56

In other words, calm down. Just kidding, Jesus didn't say that. Like what did he say? Take my earrings. It never works.

Darren Rouanzoin: 19:09

Let me just tell you, telling your wife or a friend or a lady to calm down doesn't work. The opposite happens, I've learned. This is not like wisdom I've received from other people, this is experiential knowledge. In I have a PhD in the foot in the mouth. Man, I got multiple doctorates actually.

Darren Rouanzoin: 19:37

You're worried and upset about many things, but few things are needed only 1. Mary has chosen the better, it will not be taken away from her. Martha, Martha, I love this as I was reading in the commentaries this week, what you have to understand about the Greek is that this is actually a caring emotion expressed by Jesus. This is not judgment. This is a tender voice of compassion.

Darren Rouanzoin: 20:00

He knows she's missing something. And Martha, Martha is an invitation to receive, to reposition, to choose the better amidst the good. There's a lot of good things happening, choose the better. If you say yes to all the good, you'll never say yes to the great. If you will if you filled your time with lots of good, you won't be able to perceive which one's better because you'll live your life based on the demands of the good rather than live out of the obedience to the better.

Darren Rouanzoin: 20:32

I'm just, I literally am holding a mirror as I preach this, I'm just talking to myself. Martha Martha, she's preoccupied with the ordinary, affairs of life and those things have become a trap. Where worry is connected to the teaching found in the parable of the sower. This idea that she's worried is directly connected to Mark 4 when he says about the seed sown, still others like seed sown among thorns hear the word, but they're the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things come in and choke the word making it unfruitful. Where's the word being sown in the story?

Darren Rouanzoin: 21:15

No bad answers, except the wrong ones. Jesus is teaching in her living room. Jesus is speaking the words of life. Mary sees it. She sits down.

Darren Rouanzoin: 21:30

Yes, there's preparations, but I can't miss. He is moving to Jerusalem. The king is in the home. We can feast on his word according to the old testament because man cannot live on bread alone, but on the very word of God. And here it is, in the flesh and I see Jesus is in the midst of us.

Darren Rouanzoin: 21:49

And the words being spoken and the worries of this life. We're not talking about the deceitfulness of wealth. Yes, that's in some of our life. We're saying the ordinary affairs of welcoming and hosting friends, the dishes and the laundry is getting in the way of a moment God has revealed himself. And you're not able to see his movement because you're not aware your attention's elsewhere.

Darren Rouanzoin: 22:15

Your attention's been fueled by other desires for other things. Your practice in life is not to be fully present to God in the dishes, but to be getting the dishes done in the name of anger and resentment. And if they only knew, if the if she only knew how much more I'm doing than she's doing, I have a scoreboard I'm keeping record of wrongs. No one else, no? Like man, you are really broken.

Darren Rouanzoin: 22:49

No wonder they're talking about deliverance. They're like, Yeah pastor, set some demons free. Just kidding, Cast them out. Martha, I wanna say it this way, Martha is focused on her ministry, not his. Let's just let that settle.

Darren Rouanzoin: 23:15

Just disrupt everything. How many of you are focused on your ministry and not His? Oh, I see it all the time. Oh, in the church. I know you're well intentioned.

Darren Rouanzoin: 23:29

At my old church we had, I want to do, really? This is his. You just pick up a mop and broom and say, how can I serve? I'm sorry, this is about his ministry, not your little ministry. Now we all are called to be ministers, but he is the one we minister to.

Darren Rouanzoin: 23:49

And we take orders from him and sometimes even though you have multiple degrees in business leadership and should serve on the board, the best thing for you do is grab a mop and wipe up. The water that spilled from the baptisms last week. Kinda hurts. Yeah, you're, you you've scaled your business, but maybe the best thing you should do is serving kids ministry right now to remind yourself of what it looks like to enter into the kingdom. Yeah.

Darren Rouanzoin: 24:16

Because your attention has been elsewhere. How we doing church? We awake? The danger of missing what Jesus is doing in the moment, Like the good Samaritan stories that religious activity or your tradition can get in the way of what God's doing. Here, the preoccupation with ordinary affairs chokes the word of life in Martha's life where she doesn't bear fruit.

Darren Rouanzoin: 24:43

And so Jesus says, few things are needed or indeed only 1, which by the way, this is interesting because in the Greek, the way that phrase is used is almost like he's saying you could have used, you could do lots of dishes, but there could be just one simple dish. Like it's connected to the dishes, oddly enough, the plates. Like she's saying, you've made this elaborate meal, but you could have just done a small meal so that you could be here. Just a side note, it's really interesting. There's lots of debate on that, but anyways, few things are needed.

Darren Rouanzoin: 25:11

Indeed only one. There's always a better choice. Choose the better between the good things and the better things. Mary chose the better and that won't be taken because she sat at his feet, she devours the teaching and she's filled with a different meal. Attention to the word of God supplies the ability to center your life on what's most important.

Darren Rouanzoin: 25:34

Attention to Jesus empowers you to live everyday ordinary life with a presence and peace that you wouldn't ordinarily have. So the urgency of the moment of the text was found in the attention going to Jesus, not the preparation for the meal. How are we doing church? Well then should we stop ordinary life, right? And this is where the Martha in me just wants to justify.

Darren Rouanzoin: 25:58

Somebody had to make the food, Somebody had to bring the dishes. Somebody had to go to the store prepared knowing how many people they were gonna have, make sure there was enough food. Someone had to be good at cooking. God bless you cooks. You chefs out there that make good rib eye.

Darren Rouanzoin: 26:12

I bless that more Lord. Hospitality gives Yes, Jesus, I will eat all day long. But should we stop all the ordinary life? Well, I can't argue that. Should we just say, okay, forget caring for the poor and taking care of the needy and making other disciples and just focus and gaze at Jesus 247, and go into the monastery and leave the world behind so we can just get really close to Jesus.

Darren Rouanzoin: 26:42

That's not what it's teaching. You can't just take this passage and build an entire theology of discipleship on it. You need the other passage before. Are you with me? You okay?

Darren Rouanzoin: 26:53

Is this frustrating some of you? Good. That's what the word of God's for. For me, I'm like, well, this is a call to live on the beach and not do household chores. That's like says the pastor.

Darren Rouanzoin: 27:13

I see you in the back, come with me, let's go. No, he's saying ordinary life, ordinary tasks can hinder the word of God, but you're to be trained as disciples on knowing when Jesus is present in a moment. So brother Lawrence, I think he was 16th or 17th century monk wrote this book, practice the presence of God and it says, he says, the time of business does not with me differ from the time of prayer. And in the noise of in the noise and clatter of my kitchen while several persons are at the same time calling for different things, I possess God in as great tranquility as if I were upon my knees at the blessed sacrament. Oh man, thank you brother Lawrence.

Darren Rouanzoin: 28:10

He had a prayer of gods of pots and pans. It's not about the activity as much as it is about the posture. Right? It's not about what you're doing as much as it is how or the posture of your heart in doing it. You can be hosting people in the right posture of the heart and present to the presence of Jesus in this moment.

Darren Rouanzoin: 28:32

The question is, where is your will? What's the intention of your heart? It's attention trained over time with Jesus that empowers all of life to become worship and service to the Lord. This sounds very theoretical and I love Brother Lawrence. It sounds very theoretical.

Darren Rouanzoin: 28:47

But the question that I have is how do you build that kind of life? How do we in our culture with life, with kids and careers and jobs and the busyness of Southern California which is uniquely busy. I was in Boise, Idaho. It is much slower. There are less roads.

Darren Rouanzoin: 29:06

The speed of the highway is slow. There aren't as many restaurants or options to choose from after church. We have a 1,000 different great foods. We have so much pokey here, I don't even know. Like everywhere I look now, pokey is like Starbucks, but there's better pokey.

Darren Rouanzoin: 29:24

I'm just gonna say, some of you don't know what I'm talking about, and it's okay. One day you will receive, you know, raw fish. The mindset we're after is building a life, where all of life becomes attentive to the thing Jesus is doing, even in the mundane ordinary, right? I love what Ronald Rollheiser says, so I'm coming back to this idea of domestic affairs. He writes the book, every parent that's dedicated children here needs to read a book, Domestic Monastery.

Darren Rouanzoin: 29:58

And in it, he suggests that a home can be a place of spiritual growth and contemplation like a monastery. He says the mother who stays home with small children experiences a very real withdrawal from the world. Any moms wanna say amen. Her existence is certainly monastic. Case in point, this sweet little mama has to walk out of this moment to to care for her baby.

Darren Rouanzoin: 30:27

And I I love this moment because domestic monastery says that the the cry of a little one is like the the monastic bell ringing, which reminds the monk that their life is not their own. That they have to go into a seat now a time of prayer, a time of work, a time of study, a time of rest that the bell reminds the monk it's not their own. The domestic monastery says, the cry of the little one is a bell in your home which is a monastery. He says, parenting is a form of discipleship. How?

Darren Rouanzoin: 31:00

A daily call to die to oneself for the sake of others. The most accurate you know, advice I've ever been given for parenting. Learn how to die to yourself well and you'll be a great dad. We do not need to leave our homes to find God. We need to find God in our homes.

Darren Rouanzoin: 31:17

He says the ordinary task we perform at home are not interruptions of our spiritual life. The ordinary tasks are not interruptions of our spiritual life, rather they are the very real stuff of which our spiritual life is made. True spirituality is about being present to the moment wherever we are in recognizing the sacredness of the ordinary. This is the mindset we need to move towards. And everything in our culture is preventing this for you.

Darren Rouanzoin: 31:46

And I wanna say that you cannot have this mindset. You don't just magically receive this mindset all of a sudden. And in the chaos of your life for those of us that are living in chaos, the way to have this mindset is not to continue on in the chaos as you are. It will require you stepping back and starting something new, a new habit, a new discipline which we'll talk about in a second. It will require a shift, a posture, a transition, a change.

Darren Rouanzoin: 32:19

And that's what I wanna show you today because this is what it it talks about in Psalm chapter 1. I love Psalm. Most of the Psalms are prayers except 12. Psalm 1 and 2 are placed side by side as this book, which is an amazing book about living life with God. Psalm 1 is like the doorway into this life of prayer that will be explained from chapters 3 through 150.

Darren Rouanzoin: 32:43

Psalm 1 is about the life that God gives you. It's about an entry into the wonder. How do you possess a life that's blessed? It says well blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers. So blessed is the one who's active, not actively participating in the ways of the world I suppose, but whose delight is in the law of the Lord, who meditates.

Darren Rouanzoin: 33:10

Meditate is not sitting in a room saying namaste. Meditation is active. It's like a a lion growling in Hebrew or a dog gnawing on a bone. That's the word Hegah which is a dog gnawing like murmuring, like thinking over the word of God. It's active inside of it, it's getting inside of the the atoms and the cells of their body.

Darren Rouanzoin: 33:35

On his law day night, this person is like what a tree planted by streams of water which yields its fruit in season. And whose leaf does not wither whatever they do, they prosper. The invitation of this God life is to become like a tree planted that prospers. Wouldn't that be amazing today? Psalm chapter 1 is about a prayer of entering into God's way, living in it God's way.

Darren Rouanzoin: 33:59

Psalm 91 says, whoever dwells in the shelter of the most high will rest in the shadow of the almighty. And I will say of the Lord, he is my refuge and my fortress, my God in whom I trust. Psalm 1 says, whoever dwells, whoever makes their home, whoever abides, I mean, whoever constructs a cathedral with God. Have you constructed a life with God? Do you have a secret hidden life that is filled with treasures from the divine?

Darren Rouanzoin: 34:34

The only way to live actively present to Jesus in this world of chaos is to sneak away and build and construct a life with God. I wanna make this super clear that the way to taking an approach where your religious activity doesn't get in the way of your compassionate love with God is the same way that your domestic ordinary life doesn't get in the way of what Jesus is doing in the moment. And the secret is to spend lots of time with God alone. You didn't see that coming? Let me say it another way that maybe will make more sense to bring your attention and desire to God, To allow your attention to be on Jesus and to allow his him to change your desires so that your desire for him changes how you live in the world around you.

Darren Rouanzoin: 35:25

So that you can be fully on fire with Jesus communing with the divine while cleaning up the mess of your 3 year old. Does anyone want that? Does anyone wanna host a Memorial Day party and be fully present to their friends and not be anxious about cleaning up? That's very specific for someone. It's not a prophetic, it's just experiential.

Darren Rouanzoin: 35:50

How do you build a life with God? Well, let me just say this. Jesus, who is God, also had to practice what I'm talking about. In a couple of verses, Mark 1, very early in the morning while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place where he prayed. Luke 5 15, news about him spread all the more so that crowds of people came to hear him and to be healed of their sicknesses, but Jesus often withdrew from the ministry to lonely places and prayed.

Darren Rouanzoin: 36:23

What Matthew 6, he teaches us, but when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your father who is unseen. Then your father who sees what is done in secret will reward you. There is something of a reward when you live secretly with God. He blesses you. He he shapes the He shapes the posture of your life so that life is seen the way it was supposed to be seen.

Darren Rouanzoin: 36:53

So that when you're living in the moment of stress, you can carry peace so that you're carrying on the normal worship activity and you notice the one thing that Jesus is asking you to do. In the midst of really good things, you can be attentive to the thing He's asking you to do. You train yourself in this form of godliness through quiet time. Let's make quiet time great again. As far as I can tell, you cannot build a spiritual life without a quiet time with God.

Darren Rouanzoin: 37:28

And I wanna say attention is fuel for spiritual life. So here's what, I love what Henry Nouwen says. He says, without solitude is virtually impossible to live a spiritual life. We do not take the spiritual life seriously if we do not set aside some time to be with God and listen to him. So I I was praying the other day about how to teach this part and I wanna give you an illustration that I wrote.

Darren Rouanzoin: 37:52

It's I think someone Yeah, this is literally from my iPad. So here, I'm gonna give you 6 things to construct a house. And this is a house you're gonna build with the Lord in your life. So I use the phrase, I'm building a secret place with God. I call it a cathedral.

Darren Rouanzoin: 38:08

I'm building this beautiful cathedral of my hidden life with God. I don't teach from that space most of the times. In fact, recently I had a leaders meeting where I shared my devotion time with Jesus, where I was having a dialogue and I brought to our leaders this whole dialogue that I had that some of you were there for that. And it was so vulnerable because I never do that. But I had to ask permission from Jesus and I even as I was sharing with some of you leaders were there, I was like oh, this feels like I'm I'm showing you a part of my soul that shouldn't be exposed because I want to keep that fire burning and that I I have a fire that's being consumed in my life that that doesn't come out here most of the time.

Darren Rouanzoin: 38:48

My devotional life is not what I preach. I have the secret life of God. And where did I learn that from Pastor Bill? As he disciple me as a 19 year old. So here's what I have.

Darren Rouanzoin: 39:00

Number 1 is you need intentional rhythm. So the foundation for your life that you're gonna build in the quiet place. This is for you to construct a life with God. Are you guys ready? You have to have an intentionality around your rhythm.

Darren Rouanzoin: 39:11

So I don't know if if you study David, Elijah, if you study the life of Jesus, they woke up early before the day begins. If first fruits is the first part of your harvest, I'm gonna If first fruits is the first part of your harvest, I think as followers of Jesus, you should be giving the first part of your day to Jesus. Unless your parents have little ones, like that you're gonna have to figure out another time there's grace. So if you're a parent of little ones, just put an asterisk on all of this. And just know time scarce so take it wherever you can.

Darren Rouanzoin: 39:44

Pastor Bill has said that the hardest people, the hardest time for people to have a spiritual life is parents of preschool age kids. So permission to read domestic monastery and let the wake up call at 12 AM be a way of worship as you sacrifice sleep to steward this human soul that will live for eternity. That you I told my I had a conversation with my son the other day. I said, hey, Amos, because we're having a discussion. I said, who gave you to me?

Darren Rouanzoin: 40:17

He said, Jesus. I'm like, yes. What is my role as a father? To protect and steward me? So when I say no to this, am I protecting or stewarding you or am I just trying to kill the fun?

Darren Rouanzoin: 40:31

You're protecting and stewarding me. As parents, you have been given these little ones to steward on behalf of God. They are not yours first, they're his. And so just take the moments of interruption as an offering of grace to Jesus as he feels you because some of you are living off very little sleep in your hair. God bless you.

Darren Rouanzoin: 40:48

Okay, here we go. Intentional rhythm for that. So so construction, the foundation is an intentional rhythm of time. Number 2 is on the sidewalls is time. You need, you need to spend time with God.

Darren Rouanzoin: 40:58

How many of you know you cannot have a relationship with another human unless you spend time with them? Anyone wanna talk about that? Like when you date someone new, like I remember when I start dating Alex, I spent as much time with her on AIM for those of you that know what that is. Instant Messenger, 3 AM were instant messaging across the hallways in our dorms at Vanguard University because I was just, I just wanted more time. You build time.

Darren Rouanzoin: 41:26

If if you only have 5 minutes, you set aside 5, be intentional. Write it in your calendar. I'm waking up 5 minutes early to give Jesus 5 minutes. I'm gonna tell you what's gonna happen. It will change you.

Darren Rouanzoin: 41:38

And like the mouse, he will ask for a cookie. No, he'll ask for more. You give him 5, he'll reward you with intimacy. And then he'll draw you into 10. Some of you gave him an hour, just gonna ask for 2.

Darren Rouanzoin: 41:54

Watch and see, I promise you the reward is greater intimacy. You need space, you need a physical space where you're alone with God. Sometimes in the early days of parenting, that physical space was my arm, my child was here and I would still do my quiet time with him as much as I could or I go on a walk. Now I I don't have a prayer closet. I have a sofa at 4:30 or 5 AM everyday.

Darren Rouanzoin: 42:16

And it's the same spot and for me, I'm intentional. I make, I prep the coffee the night before. Even though I do pour over everyday, I prep it before and I'm ready to go. I put my bible, my journal out. I I am prepped because it is my it truly is.

Darren Rouanzoin: 42:31

If you ask my wife, it's my favorite part of the day. I long to be alone with Jesus. And so you need a space. So some of you, you're crowded, you have to create space that's devoted to him. Make the bed if you have to sit on your bed, make it again and spend time with God.

Darren Rouanzoin: 42:47

I know this sounds rudimentary, practical, but this is how you build a life with God. If you want to be present in the moment, it has to be sacred separate in everyday ordinary life. So you intentional Yeah, you're intentional with time and space. And the roof that covers what we're gonna fill the house with is silence and solitude. So to your best ability as you create intentional rhythm and give God time and space, you create a roof of silence and solitude.

Darren Rouanzoin: 43:15

Silence the inner world and the external world as best as your ability that you can. You have to be alone with God to to to commune with him in this way. Does this make sense? Alright. The doorway to the house, the doorway to the life with the divine is your attention.

Darren Rouanzoin: 43:39

So how you enter into the house that you build is by devoting your attention. This is the hardest part. Some of you, you can do all of this at any point in your life. You don't have the restrictions. You can be alone with God.

Darren Rouanzoin: 43:48

You can practice silence and solitude. The problem is you don't know how to restrictions, you can be alone with God, you can practice silence and solitude. The problem is you don't know how to bring your attention to the Lord. You don't know how to bring and gaze upon the Lord. You don't know how to bring your very best to the Lord.

Darren Rouanzoin: 44:01

And so for me, I quiet myself and I invite the Holy Spirit to help me focus. And most days I have a long list of things I have to get done and it's overwhelming. So I try to quiet my soul and I fill the space. I bring my attention to 3 things. You ready?

Darren Rouanzoin: 44:18

This is how you fill the house everyday. Worship, prayer, scripture. Worship, scripture and prayer. Fill the house with these three things every single day. Husbands, you wanna lead your family?

Darren Rouanzoin: 44:33

Bring worship, scripture and prayer into the family. It could be 3 minutes before school. Hey guys, we're gonna. I just wanna read a psalm over you before you head off and say a quick prayer for mommy. Let's do it together.

Darren Rouanzoin: 44:44

You want it. You want your man to start leading. It could be 3 minutes of worship, scripture and prayer. Women who are married to husbands who aren't leading, you wanna fill your house with the things of God, put worship music on instead of the other thing. Let the truth of the word put, let your kids wake up and listen to scripture if they can't read.

Darren Rouanzoin: 45:03

This is what I do with Amos. Grab your Bible, open it to 6. He can't read very well right now. He's he's just getting out of 1st grade. He can read, but like it's hard.

Darren Rouanzoin: 45:11

It's slow. I put I put the scripture on and let him listen to the word. Worship. What do I mean by worship? Well some of you, okay.

Darren Rouanzoin: 45:20

You want some noise? Put some music on and sing to it. Others, right? Start with gratitude directed towards the Lord. Make a list of things that you're grateful for.

Darren Rouanzoin: 45:30

Lord, I am so thankful. Thank you for this. Thank you for this. Thank you for this. And then keep a tally in a journal.

Darren Rouanzoin: 45:35

So yes, you have a journal. Is this, is this okay? I feel like all of a sudden I'm like breaking down my quiet time. I start with gratitude. I posture my heart with all of this is yours.

Darren Rouanzoin: 45:46

Thank you for another day. I know what it's like to have a body that hurts at times. Thank you that my body doesn't hurt right now. Thank you that no one in my family right now is sick. Thank you that we're we have only a little bit of debt right now because of the medical expenses or whatever it is.

Darren Rouanzoin: 45:59

Thank you, God, that you paid off that debt and I'm believing for this debt to be paid off. This is how you bring your worship to the Lord. Thank you for my kids sleeping in the other room. Thank you for the apartment that I get to live in. Thank you for the roommate that you provide.

Darren Rouanzoin: 46:11

Just fill your imagination with all the things that are from him. Are you with me? That becomes worship. You can do that in 5 minutes. All of this can be done in 5 minutes.

Darren Rouanzoin: 46:19

You're not gonna read a lot of scripture, I'll tell you that right now. But the more you give, the more it will grow, the more life you experience with God. The second will be a scripture. And I'm gonna talk about this next week, okay? We're gonna talk about each of these things over the next 3 weeks.

Darren Rouanzoin: 46:32

We'll talk about scripture, talk about prayer, we'll talk about worship. Scripture, we can read it one verse at a time. We can read chapters at a time. We can read inhale the book and read the Bible in 30 days if you want. You can go crazy, right.

Darren Rouanzoin: 46:46

But the point is to fill your imagination with the word of God. Some some fun facts about scripture real quick. Next week, I think I'm gonna talk about how how scripture how Satan knows scripture and he he he he he does what I told you not to do. He takes a part of scripture and leaves out the other part. You ever notice he's like he's like God will command the angels to take care of you in the temptation narrative but if he keeps reading it says that you'll crush the serpent's head.

Darren Rouanzoin: 47:13

Like he leaves out the very next verse on purpose. The serpent leaves out the passage that he's gonna get crushed on, right. He knows scripture. He just, he modifies it for himself which is a lot of you do that already. Just Satan's trick for you to be kept in sin.

Darren Rouanzoin: 47:31

And then pray and we'll talk about all these things. So this is how you build a life with God. I'm talking it begins with an intentional quiet time, a secret place, going to the lonely places, develop a hidden life, a contemplative life with God so that that's not the goal. Alright. I've been watching a lot of the NBA basketball games lately.

Darren Rouanzoin: 47:56

Anyone following on? Yep. We'll talk about some my team's got knocked out already so I'm I'm just jumping on, you know, jumping on Celtics or Mavericks, like, we'll see what happens, who God favors. But anyways, if you try to be present in the ordinary life right now without practice like quiet time. It's like showing up to the NBA finals never playing, never touching the ball.

Darren Rouanzoin: 48:23

Like the way you get to that place is over a long period of time in ordinary ways. So for me, even as a pastor who's been studying and seeking Jesus since I was 19, 20 years being discipled by Bill for 20 years, I still struggle with this one passage of scripture that I might only choose the one thing that's needed. I'm longing to be present in the moment with all of the responsibilities around me and still be close to Jesus. And the way there I believe is is greater time with Jesus and alone. Is that good?

Darren Rouanzoin: 48:57

Alright Camille, stand.

Intro/Outro: 49:01

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