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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:11:00. Oh, it's so good already. I love seeing the leaders. John, Yannick, you guys you guys have been baptizing people down there. Is that true?
Darren Rouanzoin:Yeah. Like 15 baptisms or something? 15 baptisms. Yeah. I am in the 9AM, one of the leaders that's hosting a group works for Olive Crest which works for foster kids and children who are vulnerable to the foster system and just hearing what what God is doing.
Darren Rouanzoin:There's so much life. It's amazing. I'm grateful to be here. I'm I'm excited to preach at the 11:00 two weeks ago. I had a rough go but I'm gonna redeem it today.
Darren Rouanzoin:If you were here, it's redemption time. Let me see those Bibles. Let me see how many of you are bringing those physical Bibles. Good work. Good work.
Darren Rouanzoin:I'm so glad. Acts chapter two. Here we go. Some of you don't know that we read the Bible in this church. Welcome.
Darren Rouanzoin:We read the bible and we teach the bible. We're gonna teach today on Pentecost. So and here's what I decided in the midst of studying all week. I'm gonna preach it like at least twice probably three times because as I was diving deep into this text, I realized, this is not just the birth of the church which is a significant moment. You some scholars would say this is the second greatest moment in the scriptures.
Darren Rouanzoin:First being the cross and resurrection of Jesus. This being the birth of the church. But as I was researching and as I was working through the the things that I wanted to teach on, I realized in my personal experience where I had worshipped growing up the Father, Son, Holy Bible, I was warned about charismatic churches. That word charismatic just means spirit filled. People who are followers of Jesus that believe the Holy Spirit is alive and active today.
Darren Rouanzoin:I didn't believe that growing up and I wasn't a part of the community that believed that, that prayed with expectation that the things of the New Testament were for today. And so, I was kind of always taught, well if you're spirit filled charismatic, you're not intellectual. And if you're a bible church, you're intellectual and you're not gonna be a crazy charismatic. And I just wanna make it perfectly clear today and the next three weeks that we are perfect, we are spirit filled and biblical. That we are word and spirit, there's no divide and I'm gonna make the case because I'm gonna show you today through deep biblical study.
Darren Rouanzoin:So hold on if this is your first time in church or your first time at our church get ready you're getting the entire Old Testament as you'll see because my one point today is Acts two is the culmination of the entire Bible. Acts two tongues of fire and wind blowing in the room. Yes let's go power of God. Also the culmination of every major storyline in all of the Old Testament coming to its fulfillment. Are you with me church?
Darren Rouanzoin:So I wanna speak to that and I'm gonna teach on that because what I've realized is that actually you can't be a biblical church without the spirit. You ever noticed? I just wanna make that clear one observation. If you don't have the spirit you're not a biblical church. You with me?
Darren Rouanzoin:Wait. I got like dead looks on this section over here. You say you come with me 11. You A biblical church is a spirit filled church. Yes?
Darren Rouanzoin:There is no church without the Holy Spirit. Right? And what I've realized the longer I've walked with the Holy Spirit is the Holy Spirit always pushes you back to scriptures. He will always lead you back to the Holy Scriptures and that's what I want for every believer at Garden Church to recognize that how we teach the word is how you should read the word. But also how we practice our faith is definitely gonna be filled with the presence of God and empowered by the spirit for the sake of mission which always gets us back to the word.
Darren Rouanzoin:So there you go. That's my little intro. Today we're gonna look at Acts chapter two verses one to 13 and we'll do it again but I'm very interested in the meta narrative or or the big picture that Luke is writing because Luke is very intentional with what he writes. So let's just begin by reading this. Okay?
Darren Rouanzoin:Can I have you do something? I'm gonna have you stand if you are able for the reading of the scriptures. Is that alright? I don't care if you disagree. I'm doing it.
Darren Rouanzoin:I gave you the illusion of control. You don't have it right now. No, I'm just kidding. I wanna read this word. This is If this is as significant as scholars say, then let's just read this narrative.
Darren Rouanzoin:This is the birth of the church. And I want you to quiet yourself. Go to Acts two verse one and I'll read it to us. When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting.
Darren Rouanzoin:They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the spirit enabled them. Now they were staying in Jerusalem, God fearing Jews from every nation under heaven. When they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment because each one heard their own language being spoken. Utterly amazed, they asked, aren't all these who are speaking Galilean?
Darren Rouanzoin:Then how is it that each of us hears them in our native language? Parthians, Medes, Elamites, residents of Mesopotamia, Judea, Cappadocia, Pontus, Asia, Phrygia, Pamphylia, Egypt, and parts of Libya near Serene. Visitors from Rome, both Jews and converts to Judaism. Cretans and Arabs, we hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues. Amazed and perplexed, they asked one another what does this mean?
Darren Rouanzoin:Some however made fun of them and said they have had too much wine. The word of the Lord. Alright. Go ahead and grab a seat. Lord, bless this talk.
Darren Rouanzoin:Fill it with fire. Open our minds to understand the narrative of your holy scriptures as we wanna be good disciples and readers of your word in Jesus name. Amen. Alright. Let me start with the ending for this talk.
Darren Rouanzoin:We're gonna look at this the next few weeks. We're gonna go big today but I wanna focus on the response because this is what I'm seeing in this cultural moment. I wanna speak to this cultural moment but I also wanna do it from the perspective of two thousand years ago. When the Holy Spirit was doing something new, there were two responses and in my experience in the church, these are always the responses I get when God begins to do a new work. I see this.
Darren Rouanzoin:Number one, what does it mean? There's an amazement, a hunger and a response for God. Something inside of you is moving. There's a hunger. On the other side, people sneer.
Darren Rouanzoin:They reject. They dismiss. There's a hostility, they're just drunk. Notice in the church when God begins to do something, people are curious what does it mean and people are hostile. Oh, they just pass it off.
Darren Rouanzoin:Can I just say, this cultural moment, God is doing something right now in our nation? There's studies coming out over the last two weekends after the assassination of Charlie Kirk and whether or not you agree with his politics or not, I have to say, there is an increase in The United States of 15% attendance in the church. And since a year ago, bible sales have increased by a million purchases. I like to think I had help with that. You have to see God is doing something.
Darren Rouanzoin:Now, I just wanna say for this cultural moment for those who call the garden home. Brothers and sisters, whether or not you agree with somebody's politics, we we have to recognize God's moving. And what I see on social media, what I see in conversations with q and a's with some of you is that, there's a hostility. There's like a real necessity to to not divide necessarily but to differentiate yourself. And I just have to say, if if God is using something to bring people to the church that we bring people to Jesus, let's not be like the church right now online leaving the church because your pastor didn't say what you wanted him to say politically.
Darren Rouanzoin:This is not a place to wield the world's way. That's Babylon. Right. This is a place that yields to the lamb of God whose way is slain. Whose way is the cross and anything that doesn't look like the cross is not Jesus's way.
Darren Rouanzoin:We will not win through the weapons of this world. We will win through the weapons of Christ which is self sacrificial love. Now with that said, every Sunday, there's this sneaky thing we do. You don't realize how intentional it is. It's so subversive.
Darren Rouanzoin:Every week we gather and in the middle of our gathering, we hold the body and blood of Jesus. And this is it. That is our confession. Our confession is not what politics you have. Our confession is not what your view of structure and worldview is.
Darren Rouanzoin:Our confession is Jesus's body and blood covenant once and for all. So it's not, well what do you agree with? What do I agree with? What do you agree with? What do I agree with?
Darren Rouanzoin:We don't confess the words, we confess his presence. We hold to a meal. Right. You can't deny the meal that somebody just partook in. Right.
Darren Rouanzoin:So brothers and sisters, Jesus is what we preach, Christ and Christ crucified. That's what unites the church. So may I say to every and if you see like host I'm not hostile. I'm fired up. Because I'm tired of apologizing for Jesus on behalf of Christians who don't worship the right Jesus.
Darren Rouanzoin:This is not my notes. 11:00 you are getting. We have to Now I believe our view of Jesus shapes the political perspective we have without question. It will cause us to vote but in the church we love people who are different than us. We love people that look, vote, think different than us.
Darren Rouanzoin:Jesus is our center. Is that okay? Yes. Last thing I say I wanna say is when God's doing something new even if it's not in the way you want him to, get on board. Stay hungry not hostile.
Darren Rouanzoin:Amen? That's the ending point. My whole point for today is Acts two is the culmination of the entire Old Testament. You ready? So buckle up youth, I know you can handle it.
Darren Rouanzoin:Everyone else, we're doing a deep dive into the five major storylines that are being shown, in two words I guess you could say. There's two kind of frameworks for today. It is number one, the retelling and the reversal. Those are the two words that will frame this entire teaching. Acts chapter two verse one begins like this.
Darren Rouanzoin:When the day of Pentecost came. Now that Greek word came is the word fulfilled and it is so loaded because it means it is not just a day on a calendar, it's a divine appointment. Luke is saying Pentecost is not an accident, it's the culmination of everything God's been doing since the beginning of time. Pentecost in the Greek means fiftieth and so the reason Pentecost is important because it represents two festivals that people in the first century would have celebrated fifty days after the Passover. So fifty days after the Passover, there was this Jewish festival, people from around the world came to Jerusalem to celebrate the festival of weeks which was the celebration of first fruits.
Darren Rouanzoin:You bring your offering from your first harvest, the first fruits offering to the Lord. A sign that he's the one who provides. It's God, our God is the one who provides so we always give the first fruits. Oh man, this is so good. Could just do a whole teaching on this.
Darren Rouanzoin:We don't give at the year end for tax purposes. We give the first fruits before we know it's coming because it's an act of faith. It's an act of confession. We don't provide for ourselves, he's provided all of it. It's not a 10%, it's a he's given me a 100 and he's inviting me to steward all of it on his behalf.
Darren Rouanzoin:Does that make sense? Are we alright? Just correcting all the bad giving theology out there. There you go. That's a freebie.
Darren Rouanzoin:The second is the renewal of covenant. So this was a really big deal. So for the Jewish community, they came back to Jerusalem to kind of do a renewal of the ceremonial vows. We'll talk about what this means in a second when I get to that section but this was a really big deal and Luke says, the day that Pentecost was fulfilled. It The the thing that the festival was pointing to finally happened.
Darren Rouanzoin:That's this day. At 9AM in the morning, sorry guys you missed it. On Sunday, the day of Pentecost. You with me? So, Luke's saying, the story of Israel is reaching a climax and so we read the the narrative of Acts chapter two and within Acts chapter two, I just I wanna kinda break this down to give you the five parallel stories that are being told through this narrative.
Darren Rouanzoin:What I love about Luke as an author is he does something really cool. He he describes the history but he also gives you theology. So, So, he's saying this is what happened but here's why it happened. This is what happened. Here's why it happened and as disciples of Jesus, here's how you live in response to why and what happened.
Darren Rouanzoin:Okay. This is what Luke does all the time. So, we get in the gospel of Luke. In the beginning of the gospel of Luke which is part one of the story. The book of Acts is part two.
Darren Rouanzoin:He starts the story off with a guy named Zechariah in the temple offering incense as worship to God when he's confronted by the angel Gabriel. And Gabriel says, your prayers are answered. What prayers? Well, Zechariah was old, married to Elizabeth and they didn't have any kids. And Gabriel says, your prayer is answered.
Darren Rouanzoin:But a few hundred years, four hundred and something years ago, Malachi prophesied that one day there'd be a messenger sent by God who would prepare the way for the Messiah. And guess what? Zechariah's prayers for a boy is also answered with all of the prayers of Israel for the messenger to come. I love that about God. That he loves you so intimately that sometimes he'll answer your intimate prayers of conceiving a child and he'll answer the prayers of nations through that child.
Darren Rouanzoin:Isn't that beautiful? That's the storytelling of Luke and that's what we get to in the book of Acts. So let's start with the five parallel stories. I had a whole section to help make sense of this through the story of Inception. I don't know if you ever saw that movie Inception.
Darren Rouanzoin:If you don't watch Christopher Nolan, you're not welcome in this church. I'm just saying. I'm just kidding. Just kidding. Blood of Jesus and Christopher.
Darren Rouanzoin:No. I'm just kidding. I'm just kidding. I'm kidding. Don't don't cut it out.
Darren Rouanzoin:Okay. So we're gonna do five parallel stories for the sake of time. Let me just jump in. So the first story line, when you read Acts two, suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house and they saw what seemed like tongues of fire separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit.
Darren Rouanzoin:So you have this this dynamic imagery which we'll describe next week as well. But this storyline is is bringing you back to something else. So the first thing you need to understand, the story of the Old Testament begins in Eden. I want you to write this down. If you wanna know the story of the Old Testament meta narrative, the big picture, there's five places that will help you shape the story of the Old Testament.
Darren Rouanzoin:The first is Eden. Eden, in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. In Genesis chapter two verse seven, it says that, God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life. Breathed into his nostrils the breath. That is the Hebrew word ruach which is where we get the word spirit, breath and wind.
Darren Rouanzoin:The counterpart in the New Testament is pneuma, same definition. So what we have at the beginning of creation is God's spirit breaths the breath breath of life and animates Adam and all of humanity. We are living beings because of the spirit of God. Genesis later tells the story in chapter three that we have the ability to live in perfect loving relationship with God but we chose to live our own way. We rejected God's way.
Darren Rouanzoin:We, followed sin. Sin introduced death, rebellion, shame and fear into the story of humanity and from Genesis three to Revelation chapter 21, the story is God's loving redemptive mission to restore everything back to Genesis one and two. That's the creation narrative that in Genesis three, death, shame, fear, separation comes into our story. Before that Adam and Eve walked in the garden within the cool of the day with God. The reversal of the curse happens in Genesis in Acts chapter two.
Darren Rouanzoin:We see that there is a body that the pneuma fills again. You see the parallel? It's the retelling of the creation story that the spirit now animates the life of the church, Christ's body. Jesus is He says, I'm going to the father. It's better that I go.
Darren Rouanzoin:I'll send the helper. How do we know Jesus ascended? We received the Holy Spirit. The day of Pentecost is a retelling of Eden. Now, fear leaves and we'll see this story as we get to Peter because remember Luke ends Peter's story as a guy who when he sees his messiah being questioned outside of a pharisee's house he warms himself up but it says he sat down to warm himself up.
Darren Rouanzoin:Psalm chapter one, don't sit with those kinds of people. Do you know what I'm talking about? He sits with those kinds of people. Then, he denies Jesus three times. Then, the spirit comes and it says, Peter stood up with the 11 and proclaims the gospel.
Darren Rouanzoin:You see, this is what happens. What fear brought in because of sin and shame, the spirit expels into the church. Now, fearful disciples are gonna be going out to the world and saying, you killed the author of life. John and Peter will face the PhDs of the Jewish religion, the Sanhedrin court and they will say they took note. They are uneducated and ordinary men but they had been with Jesus.
Darren Rouanzoin:May that be your testimony. Uneducated. Some of you are educated. Ordinary men and women but you've been with Jesus. How do we know?
Darren Rouanzoin:Transform life. So part one Eden fall creation fall Adam. Ready? Number two can we go to the next one? You guys good?
Darren Rouanzoin:Number two is Babel. So the story continues in the Old Testament. The first location is Eden. The second location that's pretty popular is the this place called Babel. Sin comes into the story.
Darren Rouanzoin:It begins to infect just a a couple of people by within a few years, a brother is killing another brother, came Nabal. Right? So look how quickly sin distorts God's Shalom. And then by chapter 11, just a few chapters later, the society and the world has organized itself strategically with language and technology to build a tower of human ingenuity and pride to displace God. And then, God comes down sees what's going on.
Darren Rouanzoin:He's like, if this is gonna happen, this is not gonna work. So he brings language according to Babel, Genesis 11 that comes down and confuses people and creates division. So, chapter 11 we see God use language to confuse and divide humanity because they had used their sin has had had been organized to fracture the nation. Sorry, to to displace God through pride. But the story doesn't end in Babel as a result of Babel, we have Genesis chapter 12 and this is where God's mission picks picks up.
Darren Rouanzoin:Chapter 12 is a story of Abraham. You've heard that name? Father Abraham had many sons. Look at that, bible studies. Let's go kids ministry.
Darren Rouanzoin:God bless the kids ministry. Let's go. So that song represents this incredible thing where God makes a covenant. He says to Abraham, I'm going to bless the world through you. All the nations will be blessed through you.
Darren Rouanzoin:So God, this is what God does all the time. He chooses people to represent him on earth, to be a blessing to the nations, to reveal to those people or the nations what God's like. So he calls Abraham, live in covenant with me, obey my voice and you will be a treasured person, you'll bless the nations too. And then with that we'll pick up with Israel which we'll get to in a second. But what we see, oh gosh, I'm moving around.
Darren Rouanzoin:Sorry about that. Don't wanna mess that up. But what we see in Babel is this enstrangement and division takes place. God God promises that through one family, nations will be will be blessed. And at Pentecost, Luke intentionally echoes this story.
Darren Rouanzoin:People from every nation are gathered in Jerusalem. And instead of confusion, each hears the gospel in their own dialect and that that is the word dialect. It's known languages. We'll talk about tongues later. What was fractured at Babel is healed in Christ through the Holy Spirit.
Darren Rouanzoin:Pentecost reveals the fulfillment of the Abrahamic blessing to the nations and the reversal of Babel scattering. It is the beginning of the multi ethnic, multi lingual people of God being united not by human power or human achievement but by the presence of the Holy Spirit. One commentator says, look isn't it interesting? Luke arranges the list of nations as a symbolic world map. Pentecost signals where the mission is headed from Jerusalem to Judea, Samaria to the ends of the earth.
Darren Rouanzoin:This is what the map looks like of all the places listed in Acts chapter two. Jerusalem at the center, all of those people were present at the first church service. Isn't this amazing? That it's gonna start here and it's gonna go out there. At Babel, humanity was scattered in pride.
Darren Rouanzoin:At Pentecost, the nations are gathered in humility. Unity comes not by erasing difference but by God's spirit enabling understanding. And let me just say something to the world conversation around diversity. The focus isn't diversity, the focus is Jesus. If we focus on diversity, we will often miss Jesus.
Darren Rouanzoin:If we focus on Jesus, we will get diversity. The right kind and you it's that's the the way the gospel works. Anything else is a form of religion, just so you know. Gotta have eyes to see. I know I just offended some of you but that's okay.
Darren Rouanzoin:I've walked through all of this lots. The point number three, we're looking at locations, we're looking at the themes of the old testament starts in Eden, moves to Babel, the next place is Sinai. At Mount Sinai, God does something significant. Remember, Abraham's family grows, they move to Egypt, they become enslaved for four hundred years. That's most of Genesis, there you go.
Darren Rouanzoin:And then we get to Exodus. And in Exodus, the people of God cry out and they God sends Moses as a deliverer, he confronts Pharaoh who is also called the son of God, he brings 10 plagues, he finally lets my people go, remember let my people go. Okay. Pharaoh, Pharaoh, oh baby let my people deal. Anyone?
Darren Rouanzoin:Raise your hand if you know what I'm singing. Okay. Look at us. 11 is blessed. Okay.
Darren Rouanzoin:So Moses takes the people after they're freed, puts them at Mount Sinai and God what happens in the theophany of Exodus chapter 19? There's fire, there's earthquake, there's a wind, There's a sound of a trumpet. God descends. It's his manifest presence descending on a mountain. Does that sound familiar?
Darren Rouanzoin:Yes. It sounds familiar. What does Pentecost represent? Sinai, the day that the the time God brought the 10 commandments, the law, the covenant to Israel. He says in Exodus 19, if you obey me fully then there's a condition to this covenant.
Darren Rouanzoin:Abraham doesn't have a condition. That's another time. There is a condition to this covenant. If you obey me fully then out of all the nations you will be a treasure possession. A holy nation and a kingdom of priests.
Darren Rouanzoin:In other words, if you obey these commands which he gives the law, 613 commandments in the Old Testament, 10 commandments in Exodus chapter nineteen and twenty. When we get those commands, if you live those out then you will be a light to the nations, a light for the Gentiles. Right? But as God comes down the way the rabbis describe the event in the old testament it's like a wedding ceremony. The covenant he's making is I'm marrying these people.
Darren Rouanzoin:I'm the only God and when when Moses is getting the download from on high and comes back down, what does he find? Remember the story of the the golden calf? Yeah. I Yes. They're worshiping.
Darren Rouanzoin:They're trying. They're Here's what they're doing. This is so interesting. They're trying to worship Yahweh. The only way they knew how to worship a God because of Egypt.
Darren Rouanzoin:So alright let's take our most treasured possessions and build an image and we'll we'll worship him and and obviously that was the wrong way. God said to wait they disobeyed. God sent Moses down. Moses said, we gotta kill some people that have worshipped God and worshipped the wrong God and they take swords and they go around and they kill 3,000 Israelites. This is in Exodus.
Darren Rouanzoin:You remember this story? It's pretty intense. Three thousand people die the day God descends on the mountain and and the covenant, the new cove the old covenant and the 10 commandments come down the mountain. Three thousand people are are are killed. When we get to the end of the message that Peter preaches on the first day of Pentecost, the first Easter First Sunday message, excuse me.
Darren Rouanzoin:He proclaims the gospel. People say, what should we do? He says, repent and believe, be filled with Holy Spirit and be baptized. And it says in Luke's gospel, Luke's account, 3,000 people were saved. You can't make this up.
Darren Rouanzoin:It's in the text. It's the retelling and the reversal. Isn't this amazing? You're like, wait I thought it was just about tongues of fire. No.
Darren Rouanzoin:That's cool and weird. I've never been in a gathering where tongues of fire appeared. Lord, that would frighten me. I know John would grab the a c the the fire extinguisher for us. No question.
Darren Rouanzoin:This is about the fulfillment of God's longing for creation. Right? Pentecost, he promises life. The wind and fire descend again just this time not on a mountain or through a mediator. The spirit rests on every individual which there's one more part to fulfillment.
Darren Rouanzoin:Remember in the old testament, the holy spirit rested only on Moses. Well, he'll rest on specific people for a specific time for a specific purpose. And in Numbers 11, the overwhelming needs of the people needed more leadership and so in a defining moment, God says, take the 70 elders that you have and I'll take some of your anointing and put it on them. And in Numbers 11 that happens and then Joshua discovers that there's some people that weren't in the 70 that start prophesying somewhere else in camp and and he goes to Moses, tell them to stop. And Moses says in Numbers 11, no.
Darren Rouanzoin:I wish everyone would prophesy. Pentecost is the fulfillment of that promise. Isn't that cool? Any bible nerds out there? Let's just let's just show who we're You don't need to be shy.
Darren Rouanzoin:That's right. We got 15 of us. This is just all for 15 of us right here. The rest of you wait till next week. Number four, can I keep going?
Darren Rouanzoin:We good? Number four, four more. So remember inception, excuse me. There's reality and then there's four layers of dreams, right? Same here.
Darren Rouanzoin:I'm just giving you each layer, it's getting deeper and deeper and deeper. If you haven't seen Inception, you're missing out on all things good. And I just rebuke you in Jesus' name. I mean, I'm I take movies seriously. Okay.
Darren Rouanzoin:I was an actor. And at some point, you have to have good film, know, like what's coming out now, I'm just so disappointed. We need better storytelling. Now there are some great stories but let's be real. Reality shows and like I don't even know like that show like got pretty at summer.
Darren Rouanzoin:Whatever is blowing up Netflix like give me a me a break. There's no story. There's no plot. Sixteen hours of are you gonna sell the house? Give me a break.
Darren Rouanzoin:Just sell it. Get over the trauma. You're so lame. Anyways, go to church. It will set you free.
Darren Rouanzoin:I haven't seen it. Gilmore Girls, it's all dialogue. Gilmore Girls is the worst. It's all dialogue and it's not complete dialogue. It's they start talking and then someone else talks.
Darren Rouanzoin:It's never and they're walking out because of Gilmore Girls. I got you. I I see it. I'm just kidding. I'm just kidding.
Darren Rouanzoin:I'm just kidding. Alright. Number four, Jerusalem. Jerusalem. So Eden, Babel, Sinai, Jerusalem.
Darren Rouanzoin:Jerusalem represents something significant. It's it represents the fulfillment of the God's dwelling among his people. Right? So what you see in Exodus forty first Kings, Ezekiel is they go from the wilderness with a tabernacle to Solomon's temple where the temple is the center where God's promise to dwell with his people is finally realized. He traveled in the tabernacle with Moses but he pointed to a future when God, his presence would dwell in a place once and for all.
Darren Rouanzoin:So Mount Zion, Jerusalem was not just a building, it was where heaven and earth was married. It was where God, it was a visible sign of God's invisible presence touching the holy city of Jerusalem. But if you read the old testament, there's so much in there where sin comes into the story. Just read Chronicles and you'll see first and second Chronicles that kings did evil in the eyes of the Lord. Anyone read that recently?
Darren Rouanzoin:It's like man, will there ever be a king that does good? And they do but they forget to take out the high places and you're like, come on guys. Do you not see for the last seven generations you failed to do what God commands? Well that's all over the Old Testament. Also why I love the Old Testament because the history that's written about the people of God self criticizes itself.
Darren Rouanzoin:It criticizes itself. Like there's no other ancient literature that I know of that as as ancient as the old testament that is self critical. So if you read the stories of history being written it's always written by the victors, right? And they they elaborate and they exaggerate and in our our historical documents and our biblical text we criticize the leaders of the nation. They're not doing good in the eyes of God.
Darren Rouanzoin:They're doing evil in the eyes of the Lord. That's that is just a testimony of the legitimacy of the old testament. That's a freebie. So Jerusalem, it becomes the center of idolatry and rebellion. And then Ezekiel has this vision and he says in chapter ten and eleven, he sees that the glory of the Lord departs the temple.
Darren Rouanzoin:The glory of the Lord leaves Jerusalem and eventually what happens is people return and they rebuild the temple in Jerusalem but there's no glory of God. When you read in Exodus 40, when you read in first Kings chapter eight, when you read in Ezekiel, what you see is a cloud covered the tent of meeting and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. The cloud covered the temple so that the priests were not able to perform all of the Levitical tasks required of them in Deuteronomy, Exodus and Leviticus. Here's what liturgy is gonna look like. They set up a temple.
Darren Rouanzoin:Let's begin the worship ceremony and then God shows up. God shows up and they have to lay down low. I'm waiting for that kind of glory here. I've been in worship gatherings where you can't get lower than your face smooshed on the ground. I've been in a quiet time where the presence of God shows up.
Darren Rouanzoin:Most of my quiet time feels like a routine, a habit of discipline, a practice that shapes me even when I don't feel like it. Right? This is why we do the disciplines of the spirit. But then there are moments where his presence comes near. And I hadn't grown up in a church that taught about the presence of God.
Darren Rouanzoin:He's, oh, Darren, he's always near. Yet, yes, he is always with you. Yes. And there are moments where his glory manifests. There are moments when he's so near, you can't help.
Darren Rouanzoin:There are moments where he just moves with freedom. And I am learning even now how to respond to his presence in the room. And I'm saying this on purpose now for when the glory comes. Because there's gonna be a moment in our church, I believe this with all my heart, where rooms will not contain what God wants to do through Garden Church. Because we will yield to his presence.
Darren Rouanzoin:He's looking for men and women that he can trust. Right? What else are we here for? Why are you here? We're here for him.
Darren Rouanzoin:And we have to learn that it's not just a good worship set, it's not just teaching, we have to learn when his presence comes we will surrender all. And we practice throughout the week for that moment. Does this make sense? Some of you? Glory of the Lord comes at the temple and then we read because of their sin and rebellion Israel, for hundreds of years failed to do it.
Darren Rouanzoin:God warns them it's gonna happen. The prophets warn them and then exile comes which is the next storyline. But before I go to the next storyline, what you have to understand is that in Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost, God's promise to dwell in his Holy Spirit is fulfilled once and for all. It's fulfilled in a surprising way. It's not happening in a building, it's happening with people.
Darren Rouanzoin:Jerusalem becomes a launch point for God's global temple in people in whom the spirit dwells that carry his glory to the nations. Luke is saying in Acts chapter two, the glory has returned. What was what was prophesied as gonna happen in the future with Ezekiel is now fulfilled at the day of Pentecost. The presence of God no longer fills just one building in Jerusalem, it fills a people that are gathered in his name. Not just a a temple made of stone but living stones and that's so important.
Darren Rouanzoin:And can I just throw out like maybe a little curveball for you? Can you handle it? Okay. Some of you So I got six of you. I don't wanna do it if it's gonna mess up your your thinking.
Darren Rouanzoin:Okay. Because I didn't know this this week and I discovered something new and that that when, you know, with this text that's that's rare for me. I've been studying for twenty two years. I love Acts two. I've taught it lots of times.
Darren Rouanzoin:I've heard it taught lots of times by great people. The word house is intentionally ambiguous by Luke. Luke uses a unique word in this section that says, suddenly a sound like blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. Now, the, one commentator says, the house likely refers to the temple courts. The imagery of filling echoes the glory filling God's house in Exodus and Kings but now the house is people, God relocates his presence from a sacred space to a sacred people.
Darren Rouanzoin:So there's debates. I'm gonna leave this as, okay this is the debate. Some think it's the upper room where Jesus had the last supper where they were praying in acts chapter one but a lot of scholars believe it's referring intentionally to outside the temple walls on on the mount outside where they were gathered and the reason that makes the most sense is because there's a massive crowd of over 3,000. Where in Jerusalem could you gather that? In the temple.
Darren Rouanzoin:So now it's the fulfillment right at the location. Isn't this insane? What what am I trying to say? What's the storyline number four? Well you are a mini mobile temple of God.
Darren Rouanzoin:Wherever you go God's presence goes with you. That's what his design was in Genesis chapter two. That he would walk with you in the Eden. He would walk with you as you bring Eden wherever you go which was Adam's commission. Can I add some more missional theology?
Darren Rouanzoin:The point wasn't that Eden was everywhere on creation. No. It's actually the opposite of that. The, creation was in contest. There was a battle going on and our commission as humans was to partner with God in loving relationship to take the resources of Eden and make creation the rest of it.
Darren Rouanzoin:Pentecost is the fulfillment of that. Now, wherever you go to your classroom on Monday, to your office job on Monday, homeschooling your kids on Tuesday, forget Monday, to your to your roommates, to the coffee shop you work at, to the restaurant you run. Now, God's presence permeates and animates your life and now you're bringing the mobile sacred space where heaven touches earth wherever you go. Come on. The fifth one is Babylon.
Darren Rouanzoin:Alright. We'll just end in just a second. Promise. I just have to show you all the themes of the Old Testament. If you were to talk through the Old Testament, you would say, Eden, Babel, Sinai, Jerusalem, Babylon.
Darren Rouanzoin:What was Babylon? Babylon was a major theme. Exile is a major theme in the Old Testament. When you read about the story of God, you see when the people of God don't obey God, he brings a result of punishment. He brings, what I would say mercy to them to turn back to him which is always God's judgment by the way.
Darren Rouanzoin:God's judgment is always mercy to turn back to him. Just remember that. July, the Northern Kingdom Of Israel is conquered by Assyria. May, the Southern Kingdom Of Judah was crushed by Babylon. Jerusalem is destroyed.
Darren Rouanzoin:The walls are destroyed. The temple is burned down and desecrated and the people are marched into captivity and it's there in captivity that the prophets begin to prophesy about God doing a new thing. That when they would return, there'd be this, the presence of God would come. It would be like a new exodus not just for those of Israel but anyone oppressed anywhere would be freed and liberated by what God's gonna do in the future. So Isaiah spoke of a new Exodus where God would comfort his people and reveal his glory.
Darren Rouanzoin:Ezekiel said God would give his people a new heart and a new spirit raising dry bones to life and breathing his presence into them. Haggai prophesied that the glory of the second temple would surpass the first. Zechariah declared that one day God would dwell again in the midst of his people even after they returned from Babylon. Israel felt the ache of a spiritual exile. So they come back, they rebuild the temple but his presence isn't there.
Darren Rouanzoin:The longing for what the people of God had is all fulfilled in Acts chapter two. Luke says, the day of Pentecost came, when the day of Pentecost was fulfilled. The story of the old testament comes to its climax. We see Joel say, I will pour out my spirit on all people. Ezekiel 37 says, I prophesied and breath returned to the dry bones.
Darren Rouanzoin:Amos chapter nine eleven says, I will restore David's fallen shelter and there will be new wine dripping from the mountains. Isaiah chapter two says, in the last day the mountain of the Lord's temple will be established among all the nations will stream to it. We see that all of the prophets come to fulfillment in the story of Pentecost. You with me church? Eden, Babel, Sinai, Jerusalem, Babylon, all told in the story of Acts chapter two.
Darren Rouanzoin:Pentecost is Eden restored, Babel reversed, Sinai renewed, temple rebuilt, exile is over. It is the of the new Adam, the new Abraham, the new Moses, the new Israel and all of the prophets in one storyline. Come on. It's not just history, it's an invitation. This is what I love about Acts two.
Darren Rouanzoin:Our story leads to encounter. Our history leads to encounter. We don't worship a set of rules, we worship a living God. Yes. And those promises of the old testament are true today.
Darren Rouanzoin:And here's one thing I think a lot about. Number one, some of you your hearts are so callous and rightfully so. The world is brutal. Maybe you didn't even make it out of outside of childhood and you already received enough trauma for a lifetime. So of course harden your heart.
Darren Rouanzoin:Keep people at a distance. Don't open yourself up. But what has that done for your relationships lately? Can I say the promise of the old testament? God promises you a new heart.
Darren Rouanzoin:A heart of flesh. He knows the wounds you have. He wants to heal the wounds and give you a flesh, a beating heart to connect, to not live in fear and shame but to live in hope, to live in peace, to live in joy, to make his joy complete, make your joy complete by abiding in him. See, this is the promise. This is where I love theology but unless theology leads you to worship and encounter, it's just gonna be a dead religion.
Darren Rouanzoin:Yes. And Pentecost is our moment where we recognize God wants to dwell with you again. So when we do an altar call in a moment, altar call, that's not what we call it. When we invite you forward to the altar, come and be filled with the Holy Spirit.
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