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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 the 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:11AM. Good morning. Good morning. I've had a few weeks off to prepare for this series which I'm very excited for. In the book of Revelation, we were given kind of a glimpse, an unveiling of what reality looks like through the perspective of heaven.
Darren Rouanzoin:A lamb, a throne, cosmic worship, the the plans of God being unveiled through the church in history with at the center of all of it is the cross and Jesus' victory and we live as conquerors because of him. And the question is how do we live in response to that? And the answer is the book of Acts. Where we now apply what we've learned into the reality of things. And to be honest, I'm gonna preach this service different than the last one.
Darren Rouanzoin:Because in between, I spent the last twenty five minutes just bawling my eyes out. Praying for my little boy, my eight year old son who's battling some anxiety and sleep issues and and it was a group of elders and staff and friends came to pray and I just realized the weight of what I was carrying the last couple weeks. And I realized like that actually someone said it like, you know, there's there's a there's a there's always a counter attack when the kingdom expands and I remember in just this moment realized like what my mentor always said, Don Williams, it's always kingdom breakthrough battle. Yeah. Breakthrough battle.
Darren Rouanzoin:And is that not the story of our life? Is it not the story that right now we can sit with Jeff's testimony? Yep. Overwhelmed with grace? Yes.
Darren Rouanzoin:That God would highlight a man in brokenness, the love of Jesus Yes. Through an unrid a ridiculous amount of gifts to remember that's my boy. While he feels like his life's falling apart. Is that our story? That we're beggars who found some bread.
Darren Rouanzoin:And somehow we wanna monetize it? Right. Like we weren't the ones that were given the grace in the first place? Is this not the crisis we're facing as the church that so many of us come into the story as the prodigals and then we become the older brothers? And where I'm at right now is I have books of testimonies in my life, in the life of this church and struggle.
Darren Rouanzoin:That I've seen answered prayer and prayers not answered. I've seen people walk out away from hospitals and people be buried. And somehow in the midst of this world of the kingdom moving forward with power, it's also confronted by the kingdom of darkness. And we stand as a signpost of what's to come. And somehow what we're doing here is not for brands or websites but actually it's an invitation to the world to see what heaven looks like now.
Darren Rouanzoin:By our frailty and union with Christ, by our brokenness and hidden in Christness, we can point to the world and say, it has nothing to do with us. It's all him. And that's what I'm holding on to right now. Having exhausted the tears today. I can't, I don't know if I can cry more.
Darren Rouanzoin:They showered my son. He sat on my lap as people laid hands. And now I have to preach. What is for me, the most important sermon for you to hear. So I'm gonna do that.
Darren Rouanzoin:Is that okay? So I'm gonna pray now for you to hear the word that the Lord has for you. I'm praying for all the parents. I told you I'd talk about you in the parent room. You probably can't hear me because your little ones are crying.
Darren Rouanzoin:Bless you everyone outside. Father, we ask now that you're you would send your son in power into this room. Holy Spirit, ignite our souls. There are people in this room that are new to faith. Ignite their life.
Darren Rouanzoin:There are people in this room that have had fire in their youth. Ignite a passion and wonder for you that they've lost. Let that be rekindled. May today and their future future be more passionate than ever before. Those that are searching, may they find you today.
Darren Rouanzoin:Those that are the older brothers, may they come and join the party for the love. Let us celebrate you're here and you're near and everything changes because of it. We love you Jesus. In your name we pray. Amen.
Darren Rouanzoin:Alright. Here we go. Good thing I have notes because I'd be all everywhere. Let's just dive in. This is the the the sermon today is the Jesus stuff.
Darren Rouanzoin:You good with that? Yeah. Yeah. So this is what I call a season one recap. K?
Darren Rouanzoin:You We're starting today season two but we need the recap to remind us of what got here. You guys watch a lot of shows. That's the best way I can describe. The book of acts is season two. Season one is the gospel of Luke written by Luke.
Darren Rouanzoin:And if you were to summarize this, the gospel of Luke is the life and ministry of Jesus through the power of the holy spirit. That's the gospel of Luke in the nutshell. The book of Acts season two which we're gonna just let you know. I don't know how many weeks it's gonna be because I'm now as a 41, I'm 41 now. So I'm I've I'm closer to 50 than 30.
Darren Rouanzoin:I know I don't look it from the stage. I feel it in my bones. There's a joke between church planners because church planning is like dog years. And so I'm like 80. Church planning years.
Darren Rouanzoin:Seventeen years into this. The book What I wanna do is just take my time to this book. I wanna just take my time because there's so much in these books. I wish I would have preached Revelation for two years, not seven months because I missed a lot. And I just wanna take my time and I know you can handle it.
Darren Rouanzoin:Yeah? Right? So, the book of Acts is about the continuation of Jesus' ministry through the church by the power of the Holy Spirit. I love this book because there's no hero in the book. Ordinary Christians who encountered Jesus, experienced the kingdom, are filled with the Holy Spirit, and they're set loose into the world.
Darren Rouanzoin:And we're here because of that story. The book of acts doesn't end. I mean it does. But it does. It it's it's almost like the way Luke writes it is that you are to finish the next chapter.
Darren Rouanzoin:That God wants your life to be acts 29. And so today, I'm gonna preach one verse. Can I read it to you? We'll we'll read four just to make you feel like we got more in there. But let's see.
Darren Rouanzoin:Chapter one. Let me see your bibles. Hopefully, you haven't forgotten. I've been gone for a few. Yeah.
Darren Rouanzoin:Let's let's go. Some of you are like looking around. Yes. In this church, we read from the bible. And we bring our word.
Darren Rouanzoin:Someone's just gonna hold their iPad and iPhone. Just get that out of here. No. You can have it. It's fine.
Darren Rouanzoin:You're just gonna be judged by the holy saint next to you. It's true. You know it's true. I'm not tempted to scroll through this and look at images. You know you know.
Darren Rouanzoin:I'm just Eventually, you're gonna be like, he was right. He was right. I can't do it anymore on my phone because I get that text. I go, my my brain is wired towards addiction. So I'm gonna look on Instagram and TikTok and YouTube and I'm gonna follow it to make sure I That order I had on Amazon, I got the confirmation.
Darren Rouanzoin:I know what your quiet time is like. This is for somebody right now. You're like, the devil's coming at me. You're like, no, you're distracted. You haven't learned to sin in his presence, so how you are gonna resist the devil when you're not in his presence?
Darren Rouanzoin:Jesus refutes Satan through the word. Right. Yes. And what's crazy is Satan brings the word towards him. Yeah.
Darren Rouanzoin:Do you remember that? I mean, he quotes Psalm 91. And he omits, Satan does. And he omits the next section of scripture where it says, will trample on serpents. You can't make that up.
Darren Rouanzoin:Acts one. Here we go. In my former book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus began to do and teach. That's the verse we'll talk Until the day he was taken up to heaven after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles he had chosen. After his suffering, he presented himself to them and gave them many convincing proofs that he was alive including eating food.
Darren Rouanzoin:Which that's a big deal for Luke. We'll talk about that later. He appeared to them over a period of forty days and spoke about Say it out loud. The kingdom of God. This is so important because this is what this book is about.
Darren Rouanzoin:So is the gospel of Luke, and we'll get to that in a second. Let me just give you some quick structure stuff so you can understand. This book is written by the author Luke. He was a Gentile, a doctor, a speak Greek speaking historian slash theologian. He writes this in a genre called historiography.
Darren Rouanzoin:Meaning, this is a carefully crafted narrative of history that has meaning and its meaning is to shape your identity as a community. It's got an agenda. It is theology, history, biography with a pastoral aim for you to be like Jesus. Hey, men. The structure is from acts one eight.
Darren Rouanzoin:This one verse structures the book. Part one, Jerusalem. Part two, Judea and Samaria. Part three of the whole book is to the ends of the earth. The book begins Sorry.
Darren Rouanzoin:Season one begins. Luke. Say Luke for me the way I love it. Luke. There we go.
Darren Rouanzoin:Star Wars fans. Luke begins in the temple and then it moves to chapter two with the most powerful person in the world, Caesar at the time. Issues a decree that a census should be taken, taxation and counting happens, so Mary and Joseph go to Bethlehem where Jesus is born. That's how the story begins. This obscure family from the middle of nowhere is forced by the most powerful person to have a baby in Bethlehem.
Darren Rouanzoin:Only a few decades later, Acts season two ends with Paul imprisoned in under Caesar's household. And in the very last words of season two is there, he taught about the Lord Jesus Christ and proclaimed the kingdom of God with all boldness and without hindrance. The last word of the book of Acts is unhindered. You like that story arc? Yes.
Darren Rouanzoin:That the very thing that started in obscurity now is being undermined by a prisoner from Jerusalem, bringing the Messiah, bringing the announcement of a different kingdom. Right? You with me church? Yeah. You see how beautiful that is?
Darren Rouanzoin:Oh, it's gonna be so great. In my former book, Theophilus. Theophilus. This is so important. This is for somebody here.
Darren Rouanzoin:This is a I'm gonna say this is a lower case prophetic word. It's not prophet. This is me saying, as I was writing for Garden Church this week, the word Theophilus stuck out and I had to do a deep dive because it's for somebody here. I need you to hear this. This isn't about budgets and finances.
Darren Rouanzoin:This is about calling and commissioning. You ready? Theophilus is a was a wealthy Gentile Jesus follower who funded Luke's expedition and task of writing the gospel of Luke in the book of Acts. He was a man who became Christian and funded the research and writing of Luke. Luke becomes a companion of Paul to make sense.
Darren Rouanzoin:How? I want you to do an investigative work to make sense of my faith so he financially funds Luke and Luke writes the gospel of Luke in the book of Acts. Isn't that amazing? Some wealthy businessman said, it's worth the investment to to write this up and we have it because of that. I did a deep dive.
Darren Rouanzoin:This is fascinating. Every single movement in church history has a a collection of what we'll call gospel proclaimers or preachers. Individuals, communities, small groups that were set ablaze by the holy spirit for a moment that brought revival and reformation throughout its history. And at the same time, that group is funded by gospel patrons. Yeah.
Darren Rouanzoin:Have you ever heard that phrase used? I love it because we always wanna talk about the preachers but what you don't realize without the proclaimers, I'm sorry, without the patrons you wouldn't have the success of the preachers. I mean, historically, you have the women mentioned in in the gospel of Luke supporting Jesus. There's this man named Humphrey Monmouth who was a wealthy businessman who thought it was a good idea for the bible to be written in English. He funded it and distributed it.
Darren Rouanzoin:Tyndall dies, gets executed because of it. Right? Because they thought that was heresy to have the bible in your own language at that time. Frederick the wise, story. I love history.
Darren Rouanzoin:You guys go with history, I'm gonna teach you all day long. This is so fascinating. There's some Frederick the wises in the room. This is the German prince who protected and supported Martin Luther. The reformation movement, were you protestants here?
Darren Rouanzoin:Five hundred years ago, Martin Luther was called a heretic by the Catholic church at the after the edict of Milan. I'm sorry. He is going back where he's gonna be captured by the church and he gets kidnapped on the road home by Frederick the Wise, his his financial backer. And nobody knows what happens to him. He's hidden in Frederick's castle where he translates the Bible into German, and for two or a year and a half to two years, he is he funds the movement of what will become Lutheran Reformation movement because one guy uses his resources and network and wealth to fund a move of God.
Darren Rouanzoin:It's not just him though. Lady Huntington, one of my favorite females. We got some Lady Huntington's in the room. Yeah. Founded the Methodist Movement.
Darren Rouanzoin:She funded the Methodist Movement. She supported John Wesley, Charles Wesley, George Whitfield Whitfield. The reason they were able to go back and forth on the ships to America was because of her. Any missionaries in the house? Circuit riders in the house?
Darren Rouanzoin:Let's go. There are people in this room that can fund your life of ministry. Yeah. Only only And and you have limited your vision as a missionary because you think God's not gonna provide. In the same way that there are people in this room that think the goal is their wealth and retirement.
Darren Rouanzoin:Only these people, there's Arthur Guinness, the great Guinness factory. You ever heard of Guinness beer? Funded Hudson Taylor. Missionaries know Hudson Taylor. Yeah.
Darren Rouanzoin:Henry Thornton. Thornton, a banker who supported the abolition movement in The UK, missionaries and evangelical reform. And then there's there's a Lang Construction, construction, support the Billy Graham crusades. I mean, every movement of renewal has been catalyzed not just by gospel preachers, but by gospel patrons. Men and women who gave their wealth, extended their resources and their networks, their skills, their talents, their platforms for gospel advancement.
Darren Rouanzoin:That's where somebody in here, missionaries, be set ablaze. Stay focused. There's a lot of gospel patrons in this room. Yeah. And the book of acts is gonna light you on fire.
Darren Rouanzoin:You don't get to sit on the side line and say, I write checks. No. You get to sit on the side line and say, he redefines everything in my life. Yes. It's not how much do I give.
Darren Rouanzoin:It's how much has he given me. Yes. Because it's all his. And I'm not talking about money. I'm talking about talent, resources, relationships, all of it.
Darren Rouanzoin:It gets by Jesus. So if you're like, oh, this is a safe church. Yeah. Right. There is no safe church of Jesus Christ.
Darren Rouanzoin:Because the call is to die to yourself. And if you're young and you think, church is where I figure out calling. No. Church is where your calling dies and is buried. And then it's resurrected with him.
Darren Rouanzoin:Yeah. Yeah. There is no other alternative like Jesus wants to make you the happiest person. No. Because sometimes your destiny will be crucifixion at the center of God's will.
Darren Rouanzoin:I don't know how happy you'd be, but then I read stories about John. Yep. He is outlawed. He is exiled and he longs to give his life to Jesus the way his brothers got to die for their faith. I could only pray that that would take on something in our church.
Darren Rouanzoin:That's right. See, we don't have this kind of talk anymore because we've worshiped celebrities rather than recent it around saints. And so we get frustrated because the church keeps failing because celebrities that we worship get consumed by the things they do, and we at the same time are feasting on their failures thinking we're not like them, only we are just like them. And our eyes need to be fixed on Jesus. And then for some of you that can't fix your eyes on Jesus, we need to look just a couple feet in front of us at our brothers and sisters striving towards him in imperfection.
Darren Rouanzoin:But something about them looks different. That's the book of Acts. You guys good? That was that was a Oh man. That was half the sermon.
Darren Rouanzoin:That was not even intro. Alright. I'm gonna do my best to get you out of here in twenty minutes. Here we go. It's gonna be forty but here we go.
Darren Rouanzoin:In in my former book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus began to do and teach. This in this is the introduction. Let me just say, the the gospel of Luke was the ministry of Jesus. Acts is the continuation of the ministry of Jesus through y'all. So what was the ministry of Jesus?
Darren Rouanzoin:This is the question that I wanna answer today because this is the question that I was asked. Let me get specific. When I went to Vanguard, any Vanguard students in the house? Yep. Let's go Vanguard.
Darren Rouanzoin:19 years old, transferred from UCSB. I was in a bible class. It was like intro, new testament or something and my professor said, hey, what was the primary message of Jesus? And I raised my hand. And I said, love.
Darren Rouanzoin:And he said, no. I grew up in the church. What do you mean? I know the message of Jesus. And then everyone in the class is trying to answer.
Darren Rouanzoin:No one got it right. All these 18, 19 year olds Christians grew up in the church. Most of us didn't know the primary message of Jesus. Do you know the message of Jesus? That's that struggle became the catalyst for my personal renewal in God.
Darren Rouanzoin:It was a theological awakening to what's possible because I didn't know what the message of Jesus was. So I wanna give it to you in Luke real quick. Can we do this fast? Go to season one, the gospel of Luke chapter four. You should have this passage memorized.
Darren Rouanzoin:Luke chapter four. My ribbon got misplaced in between services so I'm I'm going slow like some of y'all. Luke four, this is Jesus. He, first is baptized in the Jordan. The Holy Spirit anoints him and fills him.
Darren Rouanzoin:And then he's goes into the wilderness where he's tested for forty days, tempted by Satan. And then, says in verse 14, he returned in Galilee to Galilee in the power of the Holy Spirit. So, he was led by the spirit, filled by the spirit. Now, he's in the power of the Holy Spirit. It's very important.
Darren Rouanzoin:We're gonna see this over and over again used because the holy spirit is a character, a main character. Jesus and the holy spirit, main characters in the book of acts. It says, he went to Nazareth verse 16, as he did on the Sabbath day, he stood up to read and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found Isaiah 61. He says, the spirit of the Lord is on me.
Darren Rouanzoin:Everyone in the room would be like, oh my goodness, this is our passage. Yeah. This is our moment. And it says, the spirit of Lord is on me because he has anointed me to proclaim the good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners, to recovery of sight for the blind.
Darren Rouanzoin:And then he goes back to Isaiah 58, to the oppressed free, to set the oppressed free. Back to Isaiah 61, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor. This is this is the fulfillment of the promises of Yahweh for God's people. Yes. If you wanted to preach a fiery passionate sermon to Israel, this is the one.
Darren Rouanzoin:And then he rolls it up and he sits down and he says, today the scripture is fulfilled in your hearing. Meaning it's complete. What? But you have to understand, he's framing his ministry through this text. You wanna understand what Jesus is about?
Darren Rouanzoin:Isaiah 61 and Isaiah 58. This is what Jesus is about. The year of Jubilee. Right? And all of those things.
Darren Rouanzoin:And then let's just short hand it. Isaiah I'm sorry. Luke chapter eight verse one. What's the ministry of Jesus? Jesus traveled from one town and village to another proclaiming the good news of Kingdom of God.
Darren Rouanzoin:Kingdom of God. Luke chapter nine verse one. When Jesus had called the 12 together, he gave them power and authority. The ability to do what they couldn't do on their own and the the right to do it. To do what?
Darren Rouanzoin:To drive out demons and cure diseases. And he sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal those who are ill. So he does that for the 12 and then he commissions the 72 in Luke chapter 10 and it's the same thing. The summary of the ministry of Jesus in season one is simply this, proclaim the kingdom of God, heal the sick and cast out demons. That's the Jesus stuff.
Darren Rouanzoin:In a nutshell. Mark's gospel, proclaim the kingdom of God, cast out demons. Matthew's gospel, proclaim the kingdom of God, heal the sick, cast out demons. John frames it differently. The kingdom is about eternal life to the Greeks.
Darren Rouanzoin:It's about living the way you were intended to live in the first place. Right? And so we see the signs that accompany it in the gospel of John. But what's the point? The point is the ministry of Jesus is all about the kingdom of God.
Darren Rouanzoin:That was his message. So the question is, what is the kingdom of God? Right? If we're Christians and we're supposed to know the message and ministry of Jesus, shouldn't we be taught that message? Anyone here taught that message?
Darren Rouanzoin:You are now. So I wanna make sense of a deeply theological concept to make sense of it in the next fifteen minutes. You good? Have I lost some of you guys good? Ezra, you good?
Darren Rouanzoin:You're second round. So you're good, bud. Let's go. My son's here for two. Let's go.
Darren Rouanzoin:So the the kingdom of God is You can write down three things. This is gonna simplify this. You can spend the entire series on this. And I'm gonna show you how it comes out as we go along. But it's first a rule, a reign and a realm.
Darren Rouanzoin:A rule means it's God's authority. It's his right to govern his way. Second, it's God's active power. So, God's activity on earth in the ministry of Jesus when Jesus was on the earth and now, here and now, through the power of the Holy Spirit. So, it's God's activity.
Darren Rouanzoin:So, it's God's authority, his right to govern his way, and his activity. The things he does being done. And, it's his realm. Meaning, it's a place where God's rule and reign are lived out. So, Mark's gospel says, the kingdom of God is at hand.
Darren Rouanzoin:That language is the kingdom of God is like an apple on a tree. You can reach out and pluck it. That's right. You have access. You with me?
Darren Rouanzoin:Yeah. So, God's activity is available to you now through the person of Jesus. God's kingdom is his realm, his rule, his reign. God's kingdom is what your life looks like when he's in charge. Think of the resources of heaven for a moment.
Darren Rouanzoin:Close your eyes. Imagine the space where it's here as in heaven and heaven is described as shalom. Everything working the way it was intended to be in the first place. It's peace, it's joy, it's freedom, it's wholeness, it's justice, it's forgiveness, it's new hearts. It's the Holy Spirit.
Darren Rouanzoin:It's the reality of God, his dream being lived and experienced. Isn't that good news? Okay. Can You guys got deep right there. You all close your eyes.
Darren Rouanzoin:Well done. Some of you are like, I'm not gonna do what the preacher says. My eyes remain open. Don't trust authority. Not gonna like the kingdom.
Darren Rouanzoin:But what does it mean then for God to be in charge? Right? Because some of this is the problem with that. I say that and you're like, oh, I don't want that. Right?
Darren Rouanzoin:Because you have this wrong view of God in your head. Like you grew up with an earthly dad that was mean or unavailable and so you've projected this earthly father onto the heavenly father and you're like the last thing I want is that God to be in charge of my life. Well, best illustration I can give is something that happened to me a few years ago when Ezra was like four and Amos was a newborn. This is for all my parents in the parent room. K?
Darren Rouanzoin:You hear me? Give me an amen over there. When Ezra was four and Amos was four months old, my wife was pretty exhausted. Because when you go from one kid to two, it's like all hell breaks loose. No offense, Ezra.
Darren Rouanzoin:You were great. But, it does. It's hard. It's like you go from tag teaming, right, one to now man to man defense. And as the man, I struggle with that.
Darren Rouanzoin:It's like women have this like thing downloaded like the matrix. It's like being perfect mom. Okay. I'm The child's born, I figured it out. Is it not true?
Darren Rouanzoin:You're like, there's like something that happens to the women. They just figured it out when they gave birth and I didn't have that download. I had to read and I forgot a lot. Anyways, I was looking at my wife one day and I was like, man, she needs a break and I said this before I thought. Now, I do that a lot.
Darren Rouanzoin:So this is not nothing new and it was something she's like, I don't care if you meant it, I'm doing it. I said, hey babe, why don't you go out with your friends and I'll put both kids down by myself? Which hadn't been done at that point. Right? Four months, her and I together.
Darren Rouanzoin:So she's like, yep. Took off immediately like, handed me Amos and then a few minutes later, I get an 18 text message of all the things I need to do to get Amos ready for bed and it was detailed. My wife is very thorough and what So we're getting ready for the night. I'm reading in Ezra's room. This is a true story.
Darren Rouanzoin:I'm reading the Jesus storybook bible. The story of letting the little children come to Jesus which is very important for this illustration because the Holy Spirit convicts me every time. And I'm holding Amos, reading to Ezra on his bed and I see what I appear to or I believe to be the cues for him to go to sleep. Right? So I'm like, alright Amos, let's go.
Darren Rouanzoin:Ezra's staying here, play with Legos, I'll come back and tuck you in, keep the lights on. Walk to Amos' room, turn the sound machine on and you got the things are all everything's blacked out, sound machines, I got the the bottle was preheated, had it ready to go. He doesn't take bottles at this point. Alright? He only feasts off his mom.
Darren Rouanzoin:Right? So this is all fake, this is all new. Mom's out there, there's this imitation like plastic thing he has to endure and I go to rock him and it's karate moves, like he will not take the bottle. So I'm like, oh, he's not hungry, obviously. So he starts to like move around, I'm like, oh, he's not crying quite yet.
Darren Rouanzoin:So I go to swaddle him which is something that you have to learn, again a very difficult thing, swaddles. And I I text Alex, I said, hey baby, he's not taking the bottle, I'm gonna put him down, Pray for me. Send the text off. Green text. And I'm like, I hope you have your phone on.
Darren Rouanzoin:Green text. She shut her phone off. You know when kids go to therapy, this is where it started for Amos right here. So I'm like, alright, pray for me. You know, I swaddle him, he starts crying like panicking And now, I'm like, alright, sound machine, everything's okay.
Darren Rouanzoin:Did everything I could, I'm just gonna walk out. As I go, Ezra comes running in because he hears his brother crying and I stop him at the door, I'm like, no Ezra and I shut the door because light came into the room. It just would have affected everything and I slam his foot in the door. And as I he starts crying outside the door, Amos is crying and all I could think is let the little children come to me. And I'm like, oh, what I'm like, Alex, s, you know, help 911, answer your phone.
Darren Rouanzoin:I start texting her friends, like, please let Alex read her phone. This is an emergency. I don't know what to do. I shut the door. He's crying.
Darren Rouanzoin:Amos is crying. I go to Ezra. I pick him up. He's crying. And I put him on his bed.
Darren Rouanzoin:I'm like, I gotta put you to bed. I'm so sorry. I shut the door on your foot. And I see him and with with tears in Ezra's eyes, he says, life's hard without mommy. So true.
Darren Rouanzoin:You see, when Jesus announces the kingdom of God, he knows life's hard without God. Because you were designed to live in perfect love and relationship with God. And when he this isn't right, it doesn't matter what you have figured out, it's all gonna be distorted. So sin comes into the story in chapter three and the rest of the bible is God's loving redemptive mission of trying to get you back to this. Where you get this, you get your identity, you get your relationships, you get restoration, you get forgiveness, you get you get a future the way the past was designed to be in the first place.
Darren Rouanzoin:Beautiful? That's what we're announcing to the world. Problem is the way we talk about Jesus today, the way we talk about the message of Jesus which we know is the kingdom of God, is we talk about it like a song that nobody's heard. Right? So we're like, oh, actually let me do this now.
Darren Rouanzoin:I'm gonna need an illustration to make the point. Can I get some two volunteers real quick? Is that alright? Who Okay. Here's the qualifier.
Darren Rouanzoin:You have to have good handwriting. Okay. Yeah. I know. Okay.
Darren Rouanzoin:Good handwriting. Yeah. Okay. Your hands up. Write legibly.
Darren Rouanzoin:Okay. Alright. And whoever else is next. So there's a song that you're gonna play. Grab this.
Darren Rouanzoin:You're gonna push the song. You're gonna write in your own words. Make sure it's right. Yeah. Play that one.
Darren Rouanzoin:Put it in your headphones. Okay. Great. Don't say anything about it. Describe this song to us in your best words.
Darren Rouanzoin:As many words as possible I can read. Did you wanna do it too? Alright. Here we go. Same thing.
Darren Rouanzoin:Describe the song to us. Do your best. Come back. Raise it raise it up. Just walk it up to me in six minutes and thirty seconds or however long the song is when it's done.
Darren Rouanzoin:But it's kind of like trying to explain a song to somebody that's never heard the song. Right? Like, with Jesus, I I've noticed that we have these encounters with God and then like we go to our friends, we go to our spouse and we're like, at the men's retreat, it's like, oh, and then this happened and then this happened, and then then there's these gifts thing going on and your spouse is like washing dishes and they're like, uh-huh. Yeah. And you're like in tears.
Darren Rouanzoin:You're like, you just got You don't know. Exactly. Like Jesus says in Luke chapter eight, he says after teaching on the kingdom of God, he says, it's for those that have ears to hear, let them hear. He'll say ears to hear and eyes to see. What is he saying?
Darren Rouanzoin:Some of you are gonna get it. Some of you, you're just not gonna get it. John three three, that's not what it says in John three three. That's me saying, summarizing. Sorry, apostle John.
Darren Rouanzoin:They're like, Darren is writing his own scripture now. The translation. It says, this is this is it. Three three says, Jesus replied, very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again. There's this sense of this thing we're stewarding, the ministry of Jesus, the message of Jesus in the church.
Darren Rouanzoin:It requires you to experience it for yourself. Right? But what I think we've done in the church which is why the world has been Well, it's funny. I I started preaching this series. I stopped it.
Darren Rouanzoin:I did a mini series on Acts two years ago and I found my notes and it's crazy. I had statistics from 2022 and 2021 about the state of the church in the West. And the stats were, and I I kid you not, gen z is going to be the least church generation in American history. And in three years, that's reversed. Isn't that crazy?
Darren Rouanzoin:Like my notes for what we call the reconstructing church was all about like trying to engage the deconstructed mindset. Right. Right? And here's the problem. The problem is those that deconstructed, deconstructed an idea about Jesus that somebody didn't experience.
Darren Rouanzoin:So we were talking to people like, oh this song, the tempo is amazing. They're like the build up is awesome. There's there's moment in the song where there's like, it feels like electric rain and there's another moment where you feel like you're in a storm but you're safe. And people are like, uh-huh. Because it was never supposed to be me being an expert on the Greek and Hebrew of the song.
Darren Rouanzoin:Me being an expert of tempo, an expert of genre. It was supposed to be listen for yourself. It was supposed to be, look at me. This life in its brokenness, in its wounds, in its failures, in its hypocrisy points to the resurrected Messiah Jesus Christ. And people on the outside would go, I want to believe in the God you know because of how you live your life.
Darren Rouanzoin:That's the story of the early church. Unremarkable growth because the people of God live such radical lives. Could that not be what's happening now? Where Gen Z has been given inauthenticity, rules and conditions. A kind of church where you can consume like you do a movie, you can follow Jesus like you do like someone on Instagram rather than recognize that Jesus requires everything from you.
Darren Rouanzoin:Rather than this is not an event that you attend, it's a way of being. And at the center of it is a living God, not an idea. That's what this is about. The kingdom of God is like trying to explain a song to someone who's never heard it. Only your job is live in such a way that everyone hears it.
Darren Rouanzoin:Are you with me church? Yeah. So what happens when people in the scriptures begin to experience the kingdom of God? This is what Luke records and the book of Acts will show and we'll get there. But this is just introduction to the Jesus stuff.
Darren Rouanzoin:Because when Jesus shows up, all of a sudden the outsiders belong. All of a sudden people that are like the men in The United States, three out of five men don't have a friend to call in a moment of crisis. Of a sudden those people are part of a family. Yeah. Outsiders, the outcasts, those that would never be included into the meal are at the center sitting next to Jesus because he redefines relational bounds.
Darren Rouanzoin:This is what the kingdom of God does. But it's not just belonging, it's also peace. You think about the woman who goes to the dinner party of the Pharisees and she brings her four zero one k and her alabaster jar of perfume and sees Jesus and begins to weep, and these religious folks cannot believe that she's touching Jesus, that she's letting down her hair, that she's pouring this expensive perfume on his feet and he says, do you see this woman? And they're like, yes, we can smell her. But he, Jesus is the only one that sees her for who she is.
Darren Rouanzoin:She was seen as a sinner but he sees worship because she loves much. She's been forgiven much and she says, he says to her, daughter, your sins are forgiven. Go in shalom. She was eaten alive by her past. Anxiety is not the proper word, but what she's given by Jesus is peace that surpasses any experience.
Darren Rouanzoin:It doesn't make sense, but she has it. That's what happens when you encounter the Jesus that I know. But it's not just that. It's like the the the testimonies in the scriptures are so unreal. It doesn't make sense.
Darren Rouanzoin:It's like the guy who gave himself over. This is my story for him. He gave himself over to things of nature like like sin, and gluttony, and addiction, and alcohol, and drugs, and he followed a path that led him to enslavement where spirits come and dwell in him. His name is Legion. And Jesus shows up to this unclean region of outside of Israel and he shows up and the legion comes.
Darren Rouanzoin:Thank you so much. And shares. Don't He says, don't torture us Jesus son of God. Thank you so much. Can we give it up for the volunteers?
Darren Rouanzoin:And legion cries out day and night. The town avoids him because they can't shackle him anymore. He breaks the iron shackles. He cuts himself. He cries and howls at night.
Darren Rouanzoin:You could just imagine the way the townspeople would speak to the little kids. If you don't behave in school, you'll end up like crazy Mike on the hill crazy Carl. Jesus shows up, kicks out the demons and he's sitting in his right mind. The town is so terrified. Who is this?
Darren Rouanzoin:That the the guy, the strong man that no one can bind is subdued in the presence of a king as he extends his kingdom of liberation. His kingdom of freedom. For those that have been shackled and bound by addiction, for those that don't have power to overcome, Jesus shows up and gives you the resources because he has power and authority to do what you could never do on your own strength, not just back then but right now. That's right. That's right.
Darren Rouanzoin:And he's set free. But it's not just freedom. It's not just belonging. It's not just peace. It's healing.
Darren Rouanzoin:It's overwhelming healing. All kinds of healing. It's emotional healing. We'll see in a couple of chapters later, Peter will walk up to the temple. He's like, I don't got any money but in Jesus name, stand up and walk.
Darren Rouanzoin:And that guy starts leaping in to the temple, the place he couldn't go because he was lame. Old testament required him to stay outside but now he's going in to the presence of Yahweh because they gave away what they received from Jesus. That's the church. Here's the problem. Some of you don't know this Jesus.
Darren Rouanzoin:Everything I'm doing right now in my best ability is like trying to convince you of a song you haven't heard. It's kinda like this. And name the song. Peaceful. Soft.
Darren Rouanzoin:Holy. A lot. It's like we're all in it together. Hear my call. Don't cry for I am here.
Darren Rouanzoin:You are free with me, victorious. Lift up your hands. A victory is mine. I'm not done with you yet. Feel my presence.
Darren Rouanzoin:Count your blessings. There is hope. Let go and I will watch you. Do know what song we're singing? It's the key of g.
Darren Rouanzoin:Wow. Childhood sounds. Counter counter tenor voice. Oh, Icelandic language. Oh, you're so good.
Darren Rouanzoin:It's magical trees from 2010 fantasy movie. It's analog, mountain music, low key secret place music, like a voice is guiding me through somewhere. A moment into a light presence in incredible singing, sudden guitar and disruptive bass, like running through a field, electric guitar and chimes work together to to form a new motif. Now, calm lullaby. Come on.
Darren Rouanzoin:As good as that is. I can talk about the storm that you feel safe, the electric rain, it doesn't make sense. Yeah. It's not meant to be described because the kingdom of God is a reality to be experienced. Should we listen to the song?
Darren Rouanzoin:Yes. Yes. This is what it sounds like. Let's put it on. Key of g nailed it.
Darren Rouanzoin:You know, childhood sounds soft, holy, purified, peaceful. See when you have an encounter with Jesus, when you experience his kingdom, all of a sudden the words from scripture, the words that you read, the stories people share, you say, I know what that feels like. Not that your experience is more important than the word, but that the experience is part of how we encounter what God's inviting you into. Because the kingdom of God is an invitation. It's not about that back then.
Darren Rouanzoin:It's right now. Right now, he's drawing you to himself. And you can be hard hearted. You can be hurt by the past. You can say, I've done this.
Darren Rouanzoin:I've taught this. I've lived this. But right now is a moment to recenter. Recenter. Yeah.
Darren Rouanzoin:To repent is a Christian word or a biblical word. But to realign your life around this song. See and this is what I think the kingdom of God is like. I think the kingdom of God is like a song that starts faint. You hear it as like a low in your house.
Darren Rouanzoin:But all of a sudden it gets louder and so you start to rearrange the furniture. Yeah. You like move the couch over here. You take this picture off the wall that doesn't belong anymore. You start opening up doors and windows and all of a sudden now, the song has rearranged your house because you want everyone out there to experience what you've experienced in here.
Darren Rouanzoin:This is the Jesus I know. The Jesus I know is the Jesus that takes insecure, anxious, depressed, and suicidal teenagers and saves them. Draws them out of obscurity. Calls them. Takes a kid with a speech impediment and makes him a preacher.
Darren Rouanzoin:Right? He's the God that stays with you awake for three nights when your son's gonna die in the hospital. He's the God who says, the word on your wife's life that happened when she was young is not the word present or the future. He's the God that answers prayers and stays with you in the unanswered prayers. He's the God that comforts you when your dad's not here anymore.
Darren Rouanzoin:He's the God that celebrates you when you're getting married and you're celebrating new union. He's the God that raises up Lazarus. He's the God that grieves with you at the the the at the funeral. He's that God and I know him. I know this Jesus.
Darren Rouanzoin:But at some point, every sermon I'm gonna give is not gonna be enough. Right. You have to make it yours. You have to decide I'm in. I'm gonna listen.
Darren Rouanzoin:I'm gonna clear house so I can hear what you're describing. That's what the church is to be. We gotta stop celebrating the wrong versions of church. We gotta get Jesus right and his ministry. And it doesn't start because we branded it.
Darren Rouanzoin:It doesn't start because we got a good website or we got platformed and we went viral on TikTok. It starts because your life was oriented around him and his message. That's right. And then you lived in response to that. That's it.
Darren Rouanzoin:It's been five weeks since I preached. Sorry for all this passion. I want you to hear Jesus. You see when I came into faith, I had the wrong view of God. God was angry.
Darren Rouanzoin:And I knew he was good but I didn't experience him until I was filled with the holy spirit. And it was then that the the prodigal son story became real to me. That story changed my life. It was a story of, hey, give me my inheritance early. I hate you father and take off running.
Darren Rouanzoin:Used all my money and resources for the wrong things. And then, was found in obscurity. I came back with a speech. This is the prodigal son. What?
Darren Rouanzoin:If I could just be a slave in your house, I'll pay you back. But before he can give the excuse back to the father, Jesus says, the father saw him from a distance and took off running. And in the Greek, it says he wraps his arms around his boy. And in Luke chapter 15 verse 20, it says, he couldn't stop kissing him. He couldn't stop kissing him.
Darren Rouanzoin:He says, give me a robe, puts a ring on his finger, kill the calf, let's have a party. My son who is lost is found. My son who is dead is alive again. That's the announcement of the kingdom of God. It's too good.
Darren Rouanzoin:Electric rain? Some of you have had electric rain. Some of you know it's in Kiji. My point is simply this. The Jesus stuff is the kingdom of God.
Darren Rouanzoin:Right. The Jesus stuff is a reality to be experienced. Yes. It's like a song. You gotta listen.
Darren Rouanzoin:You gotta hear it. And you gotta let that song into your life and change everything. That's the message that we'll come back to over and over again in the series. Where the invitation is for more of Jesus. There's still more.
Darren Rouanzoin:There's still more. And it takes a humble person to recognize it takes more. That there's still more. There's still a journey to be had. There's still more healings to see.
Darren Rouanzoin:More salvations to come. More space at some point. God will give us more space for more people. But for you to recognize, you are commissioned and called in the power of the holy spirit to do the Jesus stuff. Amen?
Darren Rouanzoin:Amen. Can we all stand? Timing of that was perfect. Well done. I give that to the sound team.
Darren Rouanzoin:And our volunteers. Give it up to the volunteers that wrote such beautiful language. Alright church. We got a a few moments together. I'm just gonna ask you to do these things.
Darren Rouanzoin:Number one, every week we gather, surrender to Jesus. Just surrender to him. Because right now, you know what happened in the last service? It preached similar sermon. All of a sudden people are confessing so much stuff in the front.
Darren Rouanzoin:Like unreal. Like people are just like, nothing was about confession. It was like, alright, surrender Jesus. And people are just coming here saying what they did and confessing Jesus. The second thing is I wanna invite you to be set ablaze.
Darren Rouanzoin:Like I don't know how else to describe it. Like I don't want you to like find practices here. I want you to find the fiery passion of God. I want you to find fire. And let that fire consume you.
Darren Rouanzoin:So that you live wherever you go on fire. Amen? So Lord Jesus, would you release us into into the impossible? Release us into the unknown knowing you're with us. Lord, release us as saints into this world carrying the message of the kingdom of God.
Darren Rouanzoin:May we know it, grow in it, experience it, hear it, and tell the world all about it. In Jesus name. Amen.
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