Subscribe
Share
Share
Embed
"Here as in Heaven."
For more information visit : garden.church
Welcome to the Garden Church podcast.
Jon Rosene:Garden Church, this is a special Sunday because our lead pastors are back from sabbatical. Pastor Darren and pastor Alex are back. We are so excited before Darren comes up because you guys you guys aren't even ready. But I wanna just name something because the true fruit of leadership is not what happens when you're present, but when you're absent and the culture still carries the vision. And what we have seen these last three months has been remarkable, hasn't it?
Jon Rosene:And I I was talking with a group of people that were visiting our church. They had heard about what God was doing here and wanted to see it firsthand. Got to chat with them after service and they're like, this is incredible what God is doing here. Are you are you the lead pastor? I was like, no, I'm not the lead pastor.
Jon Rosene:Actually, they've been on sabbatical for the last three months. Like, wait a second. Your lead pastors have been gone for three months, and this is what it's like. And yes, the Lord builds that church. The Lord builds the house.
Jon Rosene:I I know that. But I know the blood, the sweat, and the tears that Darren and Alex have shed to see a community that pursues his presence with or without them here. And that is the gift of what we have in the leaders that we have with Darren and Alex. They are an incredible gift. It is such an honor to have them back.
Jon Rosene:They get to jump back into the stream, back into the river that is already flowing and just add and multiply to what God is doing. So would you welcome back our lead pastor, pastor Darren. Oh brother. Oh Jesus, we thank you. We thank you for the gifts of rest.
Jon Rosene:We thank you for the gift that you build your church. We thank you God for leaders that you mark in a moment. So God, I pray right now that you would pour your spirit out into Darren right now. Would you fill in a full measure and their family right now as they're entering into back to a rhythm God, would there just be so full of grace, so full of mercy, so full of fun and play and enjoyment but also God you are bringing fire. So Jesus, I pray that as Darren is leading this time that there would be a stoking and also a a a pursuit and stewarding of the fire.
Jon Rosene:So Jesus we bless you on In Jesus name we pray. Amen.
Darren Rouanzoin:Amen. Thank you, John. Ten o'clock, what's up? Hey babe, can I give you that? I don't want that.
Darren Rouanzoin:Thank you. My idol. I brought my idol on stage. One of them at least. 10AM, let me see you.
Darren Rouanzoin:What's up? Let's go. Got some multiplication happening, baby's in the room. I did miss you, we miss you. I wanna say thank you from my wife and I and from my 11 year old boy, Ezra and seven year old son, Amos.
Darren Rouanzoin:I didn't forget, I just paused. Thank you. We I was doing a lot of reflecting last three months. I'm a pastor here if you don't know me. And in this sabbatical, I was I found that our first gathering ever was in February at Rock Harbor.
Darren Rouanzoin:It was a info meeting for something called the Long Beach project that would become the garden and so that's like seventeen years ago. And that this thing has been a part of our life, my wife and I for seventeen years and, it was a rare opportunity, this sabbatical to receive, time as a gift. Time is a nonrenewable resource and in a world where you give your life away to something to people, you can lose track of the things that matter, not intentionally but you just get accustomed to things like if you become a new parent and you realize you can operate on no sleep and that becomes the new norm. Right? Until you get it back again which happens around six months, hopefully.
Darren Rouanzoin:But the sabbatical was a wake up call for me to realize how hard and fast and long my wife and I were running and running this church and depleted in some areas in our life of nutrients. I got to experience what pastor Bill encouraged to be non performative spirituality and for an Enneagram three or for someone who really likes to, achieve things, who who, wants to make people happy, who has a fear of failure, non performative spirituality was really good for me. Where I realized my my family got a lot more presence from me, where after a few weeks I realized how hard it was last season but also coming back now, I'm more energized and encouraged than ever before. And I wanna share, I I have deep convictions about this next season. I would say the sabbatical for me, the Lord put some steel convictions into my soul.
Darren Rouanzoin:And I don't wanna waste one Sunday together. I don't wanna waste time because this is a unique time. But I wanna say thank you because our team, Ramin and John and our elders, our board of directors, Zach and Alan and Nessa, our, our staff team, they empowered us to be away for that long period. That was a long time. Yeah?
Darren Rouanzoin:Some of you are like, yeah, was counting on the days. Others of you are like, no, we loved it. Bring those other people back. More Bill, less Darren. I'm just kidding.
Darren Rouanzoin:So grateful for all of the team that held it down for us so we could recharge. So I'm back, can I pray and then we'll dive in? Yeah. Lord Jesus, thank you for your grace that which empowers us to do what we can't do on our own strength. May we consume much of it and for those that are here that have not been here in a while or haven't been to church in a long time, may you overwhelm them Jesus with your grace today.
Darren Rouanzoin:That father's embrace that says, son, daughter, I missed you, welcome home and may you offer them new life and Lord would you fill us with your spirit this morning to receive your word and bear much fruit in the name of the resurrected Jesus Christ we say, Amen. Alright. Well, I did something at the 8AM, we'll see what happens. Trying to get the engine started. Who knows what's gonna happen right now.
Darren Rouanzoin:If you have a bible, go to Matthew 21. Okay. We're gonna do a poll. Today's Palm Sunday. Do you know that?
Darren Rouanzoin:Palm Sunday. Some of you are like, what's Palm Sunday? We're gonna talk about It's a traditional season of the church, it's the day that kinda marks the last week of Jesus when he entered into Jerusalem, the week before he's crucified and raised from the dead. So it's a significant thing for lots of reasons but we're gonna do it. We're gonna talk about Palm Sunday and then we're gonna have Easter.
Darren Rouanzoin:I'm sorry. We're gonna have five Easter services next Sunday. Pastor Bill said, hey, just ease back into things and I saw 79111356, 8. No. I'm just kidding.
Darren Rouanzoin:And then I'm trying to figure out I had a sense we do like a mini series after Easter but I think we might just jump into Revelation. I don't know. We're praying about as a team. I keep getting lots of DMs and people going, when are you gonna finish Revelation? Don't worry.
Darren Rouanzoin:We'll finish Revelation. Either way, it's gonna end, so it's gonna be great. Alright. Matthew 21. Now before we read, just so you know context because context matters.
Darren Rouanzoin:Right? 21 is the beginning of this last week. Now in all of the gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, you have this kind of expedited storytelling of the three years of Jesus's ministry and then in the last week of his life on earth, it slows down to a crawl pace. So the end of Jesus' life as we know is coming to an end, the cross is coming, we know he raises from the dead but the way the story goes is it comes it slows down and if you've been at anyone's bedside as they are about to leave this world and enter to the next, you know that those last moments matter deeply. There's a significance in that.
Darren Rouanzoin:If you've ever lost someone, you're remembering the last moments you had, the last words, the last activity, and for Jesus, this he knows his time's coming. So everything he's doing is significant important and you need to pay attention. And I wanna say this to you church as I preach this sermon in this moment at the 10AM. Don't miss what Jesus is doing now. Let's go.
Darren Rouanzoin:Matthew 21 verse one. As they approached Jerusalem and came to Bethpage on the Mount Of Olives, Jesus sent two disciples saying to them, go to the village ahead of you and at once you will find a donkey tied there with her colt by her. Untie them and bring them to me. If anyone says anything to you, say the Lord needs them and he will send them right away. This took place to fulfill what supposed, what was spoken through the prophet Zechariah, say to daughter Zion, see, your king comes to you gentle and riding on a donkey on and on a colt, the fowl of a donkey.
Darren Rouanzoin:The disciples went and did as Jesus had instructed them. They brought the donkey and the colt and placed their cloaks on them for Jesus to sit on. A very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road while others cut branches from the tree and spread them on the road. The crowds that went ahead of him and those that followed shouted, Hosanna to the son of David. Blessed is the one who who comes in the name of the Lord.
Darren Rouanzoin:Hosanna in the highest heaven. When Jesus entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred and asked who is this? And the crowds answered, this is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth in Galilee. The word of the Lord. We're gonna have three little, stories in Matthew 21 and they're all connected.
Darren Rouanzoin:It's a sandwich. This story, the middle, and the next one. It's all pointing to the same thing in the middle which we'll get to in a second. But I want you to pay attention to this story. This is Palm Sunday.
Darren Rouanzoin:This is where the story of Palm Sunday comes from. Jesus enters into Jerusalem as a king, but what you need to know is context. He was traveling from Galilee to Jerusalem for the Passover, which is like the Super Bowl festival for the Jewish community. Are you with me? So Jerusalem is about, at that point in time, is about the size of Old Town plus the hill in Seal Beach.
Darren Rouanzoin:About 500 acres. That's all. It's small. And 200 plus thousand people come every year for the Passover bringing their sacrificial lambs to celebrate Passover or other sacrifices. They've they travel thousands of miles, hundreds of miles to worship Yahweh at the temple.
Darren Rouanzoin:This festival is important. Jerusalem is tight. Thousands of people are there. Jesus walks a hundred plus miles to get to Jerusalem. And as he's about to enter Jerusalem now, he says, need a donkey.
Darren Rouanzoin:Why? Well, there's something going on here and this is what I want you to pay attention to. Remember, it's his last moments he's going to make a statement. This is a prophetic drama, a political, theological and theatrical act if you will. It's like what happened on Halloween a few hundred years ago when one little pastor in this German, town called Wittenberg grabbed some paper and nailed it to the front of a church.
Darren Rouanzoin:He did it on Halloween. The day before All Saints Day where the Catholic church which was the only church they had at the time or other than the Orthodox church, so there are two churches, the Catholic church would celebrate the saints and in that particular village, the prince Frederick the wise had a collection of relics which people could come from all over to see these saint relics or relics dating back to the time of Jesus and on your way to that road outside of Wittenberg, there was a Catholic stand, if you will, that sold indulgences where you could buy your salvation. And one German theologian monk had enough and took some paper titled the 95 theses on that Halloween in 1517 and nailed it to the door. That would be like a post on Instagram or Facebook. That's where you got the church information and the oh, that was the that where the events were announced, coffee shop open mic night right there.
Darren Rouanzoin:Yep. It was a statement that led to the reformation. Jesus comes into Jerusalem asking for a donkey. Now what the reaction is to the people that were there is what what first of all, sorry, what Matthew wants you to know is that this is to fulfill the Old Testament prophecy. Now we read this most of us from two thousand years later as Christians going, okay, that's really cool.
Darren Rouanzoin:Now, this is significant because Zechariah chapter nine that Matthew quotes here, he's saying, okay, rejoice greatly daughter Zion, shout daughter Jerusalem, see your king comes, righteous and victorious, lowly and riding on a donkey on a colt, the fowl of a donkey and it keeps going. It says, will take away the chariots and the war horses from Jerusalem and the battle bow will be broken. He will proclaim peace to the nations. You see, you could come in riding on a horse. That would be like the, Maccabee revolution that happened two hundred years before.
Darren Rouanzoin:You see, the Israelites were this is this, lived in this piece of land that's highly contested. How many know that to be true? We want peace in the Middle East and this is promised all throughout the Old Testament. But they were occupied by lots of different empires throughout history, the Greeks and the Seleucids. At the time of the Seleucids, there was this man named Judas Maccabee.
Darren Rouanzoin:Say Judas Maccabee. In the second century, the Maccabees sounds like a great name for, you know, a a gen z band. I'm just throwing it out. His nickname Judah the hammer, true story. Judah the hammer comes into Jerusalem trying to overthrow the enemies of Israel which were at the time the Seleucids and he does exactly what you would think.
Darren Rouanzoin:He performs a military campaign against the Seleucids and finally gets into Jerusalem bringing a horse and the people of of Jerusalem grab palm trees and lay them down as he rides in on a a symbol of conquest and military might and goes straight to the temple, of course, because why? That's the dwelling place of God. And at the time of the Seleucids, they had desecrated the temple. They put idols set up to various deities in the house of Yahweh, and he goes in there and he he gets rid of all the idols, he rededicate the temple. He cleanses the temple, and they think with the palm branches coming in, the new son of David is here.
Darren Rouanzoin:The end of God's gonna start this holy war and God's gonna bring heaven on earth. The age to come will be ushered and only he dies. And we don't sing hallelujah, Judah the hammer. Jesus at the same moment has comes in riding on a donkey and Zechariah wants you to know that this is to fulfill the Old Testament. Sorry.
Darren Rouanzoin:Matthew wants you to know that this is to fulfill the Old Testament. Quick side note for all of you historical historians out there. Jesus fulfills over 300 Old Testament prophecies in his life. Now if you don't know about the Old Testament, it's an incredible ancient document that holds to the textual criticism standards. If you were in the science of ancient literature, the old specifically and the New Testament is the most critically acclaimed old text we have in the world.
Darren Rouanzoin:So if you're like, I don't really know about Jesus. I wanna compare him to maybe Islam or Buddhism or some other religion out there. Christianity stands because it's it exists in history and time. It is the continuation of the Old Testament which was written by many authors over a thousand years with lots of political regimes throughout that that that time period and Jesus comes and in his life fulfills 300 plus Old Testament prophecies, 30 of which happened in his last week of life. Why does that matter?
Darren Rouanzoin:Well, one mathematician did the probability of that becoming a reality. He said, what is the likelihood? What is the probability of one person fulfilling eight messianic prophecies of the Old Testament in their life? And the probability he came up with is one in 10 to the seventeenth power is the likelihood of one person fulfilling eight Old Testament prophecies in their life. Jesus filled 300.
Darren Rouanzoin:Does that make sense? Well, just to make sense even more, that's that probability is like filling the entire state of Texas with silver dollars 2 feet high, marking one coin, throwing it in the state of Texas and blindfolding one man and saying, go find the right one. That's for eight prophecies to be fulfilled. Why am I saying that? Because this is a time you need to recognize not all belief systems are created equal.
Darren Rouanzoin:We don't worship an idea of Jesus, we worship the resurrected Christ. We don't worship some figment of our imaginations, we worship the person Christ who is incarnate, he is the son of God, he is fully human and fully God, and he existed in history, he died on a Roman cross, he raised from the dead, and he ascended into heaven, and he's coming back. And so he's not some yoga practice to compare to, he's not an accessory to add on to, he's not equal to a prophet, he's more than a prophet. Matthew will say, who is this? He's the prophet.
Darren Rouanzoin:No. It will be a Roman soldier when Jesus on the cross in Matthew 27 who says he is the son of God. Yes. That's who he is. And salvation doesn't come because you got your life in order.
Darren Rouanzoin:Salvation doesn't come because you followed a spiritual ladder to the top of the universe or you emptied yourself to nothing or you followed the way and you went door to door into all of these works. It comes through relationship to Christ. He wants to know you and whatever religious practice has gotten in the way, come to him with all of the baggage, with all of the sin, with all the dirty and unclean stuff you think he can't handle and watch him wash it away with grace. Yes. That's the Jesus we believe in.
Darren Rouanzoin:That Jesus comes on a donkey, a symbol of peace. But let me say this, this is his first visitation. There's another visitation coming. He's not riding a donkey in Revelation. That's very symbolic.
Darren Rouanzoin:The lord of lords, the king of kings comes to Jerusalem on an untamed young donkey letting them know I come to bring peace because the real enemy is not Rome or the Seleucids or some empire that you can see. The real enemy is sin and death and Satan. Yes. And he conquers all of those on the cross and through his resurrection. Are you with me church?
Darren Rouanzoin:Palm Sunday, we doing alright? First first Sunday back. Three months in the making right here. I wasn't making this sermon per se but I couldn't wait to be back with you. The crowds go.
Darren Rouanzoin:They grab cloaks and palms symbolizing a coronation of a king. All of their expectations placed on Jesus, their political expectations, their theological expectations. They say, which is a transliteration of save us now, son of David. And who are they referring to? Save us from Rome.
Darren Rouanzoin:Let's go, God. Fulfill your old testament promises to us. Only Jesus doesn't head to the Romans, he heads straight to the temple. Let's read the next story. You guys you guys with me?
Darren Rouanzoin:Youth, are you guys with me? Yeah. Got your Bibles up here. You got your phone. Okay.
Darren Rouanzoin:I see that. Not judging you. You don't know. Not judging. You got notes.
Darren Rouanzoin:Look at your notes. Let's go. Harley, you got good notes. You got good note taking system right there. What's the last one you just said?
Darren Rouanzoin:Let me just read it. Can I read it? Oh my god. Well done. Crushing it.
Darren Rouanzoin:Doing good, Chad and Lindsay. Let's go. Well done. Is that a moleskin journal? No?
Darren Rouanzoin:You don't even know what that is? What's the gen z moleskin? Is there a gen z moleskin yet? No. Their iPhone.
Darren Rouanzoin:Yeah. Yeah. Someone needs to make that. Just some type of like really colorful maximal expression of journaling. Get rid of the minimalist moleskin.
Darren Rouanzoin:I've been reading all about culture. Anyways, trying to get my Okay. Verse, let's keep going. Don't know where I was. 2012.
Darren Rouanzoin:Jesus entered the temple courts and drove out all who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables and the money changers and the benches of those selling doves. It is written, he said, my house will be called the house of prayer, but you are making it a den of robbers. Then the blind and the lame came to him at the temple and he healed them. But when the chief priests and the teachers of the law, those who were in charge of the temple activity, saw the wonderful things he did and the little kids shouting in the temple courts, Hosanna, the son of David, they were indignant.
Darren Rouanzoin:Do you hear what these kids are saying? They asked. Yeah. Duh. He replied.
Darren Rouanzoin:Have you never read from the lips of children and infants? You, Lord, have called forth your praise. And he left and went out to the city of Bethany. Luke chapter 19, if you have a bible, just flip there, just go to the right, just a couple pages. Luke chapter 19, Luke tells a similar story.
Darren Rouanzoin:John tells a similar story in a different order. He puts it in the beginning because Jesus went to the temple a few times. In John's, it's in John two. In Luke, it's it's near the end chapter 19. And Jesus in verse 40 answers the same question but Luke adds, I tell you he replied, if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out.
Darren Rouanzoin:Not just the kids, but the rocks will declare he's the son of God. He's the messiah. That's what's happening in this text and it's so amazing. So he goes to the temple and temple, if you don't know for the Jewish community is kind of the center of the universe. It's the center of the temple which is the center of the holy city, which is the center of the the nation and land, which is the center of the world, which is the center of the universe.
Darren Rouanzoin:It is the place where heaven and earth meet according to the old testament, according to the, worldview of the Jewish community. The temple is church one point o. After the death and resurrection, ascension of Jesus and the coming of the Holy Spirit, we know that the church then becomes those who confess that Jesus is Lord and raised from the day dead and gather in his name. We become the church. We are two point o temple.
Darren Rouanzoin:Temple two point o. And the church, by the way, just wanna throw this in there is never referred to as though you as an individual are the temple. I know first Corinthians gets a little shady, not shady, but a little gray here. I just wanna say it's always in reference to community. The gathering of the Lord's people and now Jesus comes to this place which is where heaven meets earth.
Darren Rouanzoin:There's lots expectations of what that should look like according to the Old Testament and what he gets to is the outer court, the court of Gentiles. So there were layers to your accessibility to gaining access to God's presence. If you were a Gentile, you had the outermost court. If you're an Israeli or a Jewish woman, it was the next, section and then it was the court of Israel, the men who who were Jewish and then it was the priests and then it was the holy, place and then it was the holy of holies. So there was layers that you had to gain access.
Darren Rouanzoin:The money changers were in the outermost place where the Gentiles the the the temple is supposed to be the light to the nations, to the Gentiles, and as soon as you walk in, there's money changers and people selling things. Now here's the thing, it's not necessarily bad, it was corrupt. We'll talk about that in a second. They had an expectation, the money changers first, what's going on here? And the first thing that's going on is there was a temple tax, half a shekel had to be given if you were 20 years or older as a man.
Darren Rouanzoin:You couldn't use the common currency which was the Roman specific coin, the Tyrian coin. And so if you had currency, you had to go and exchange your money to pay the temple tax and how many of you know exchange a currency exchanges in airports, do they mess with you? Yes. Okay. So then you had to do that to pay the temple tax and then buy any of the sacrifices that you want.
Darren Rouanzoin:Now, if you were traveling one of the 200,000 people coming to Jerusalem, you would bring your Passover lamb that you had for a year but you couldn't have any blemish, so you're carrying this protected little thing so you can sacrifice it for the Passover or you'd bring a big amount a lot of money to buy one of the temple animals that had been raised there that were certifiable for your sacrifice, only that that was a corrupt system. The exchange rate was messed up and they were collecting off of God's presence. They were profiting off of God's presence. There was an injustice happening at the place where justice meets earth and Jesus walks in to the temple and he starts throwing things. In John's gospel, Jesus goes home that night because there weren't enough people there and he makes a whip.
Darren Rouanzoin:He's steaming. He goes in and sees the kind of fruitless activity that's happening, all the injustice towards the Gentiles and women, all the injustice towards the money changers, and he goes home and he starts grabbing cords. He's he's sorry about that. He's not gonna be. He's not alright, Lord, father in heaven.
Darren Rouanzoin:Let me be happy and peaceful. Non anxious present with lots of boundaries. He stays up making a whip and then he conceals that whip. He had plenty of moments as they say Hosanna that next night or in this case, he had plenty of moments to be like, alright, I'm gonna calm down. One, two, three, four, box breathing.
Darren Rouanzoin:No, righteous anger. Flip them tables. And then, the only time we hear Jesus describe his house. My house shall be a house for content. My house should be a house for self improvement.
Darren Rouanzoin:My house should be a house for me to find my people. My house is a house for political allegiances to align. My house is a house for my dreams, my ministry that the leaders of the church empower me to do. No. He says my house will be a house of prayer.
Darren Rouanzoin:Didn't didn't see a lot of you at the prayer room on Thursday. Five services for this, half empty, three quarters empty prayer rooms throughout the week. I'm just bringing what I'm convicted by. If the text says it, it's gonna be called the house of prayer only we wanna consume. We wanna go to his house so that we can be fed, so that we can feel right.
Darren Rouanzoin:I'm all for blessing you and giving you space and holding space for the journey you're on, but when did your therapist and your boundaries become more powerful than the word of God or Jesus's words himself? When did you allow the cultural TikTok influencer to shape your theology, not the risen Lord Jesus Christ? When was the last time you feasted on his word rather than indulge in Netflix? House of prayer. Every house he has must become a house of prayer.
Darren Rouanzoin:Just let that simmer for a little bit. Could you imagine if the place that's designed to show heaven was setting up tables to sell you spiritual paraphernalia? Like, could you imagine if those who are designed to point people to Jesus profited and built lives of profit and followers towards themselves rather than him. Yet you consume it, we consume it. Jesus says, judging by their fruit, you don't even care as long as they make you happy, as long as they help you with the crisis of your anxiety, you don't care how their family looks, you don't care how they are profiting and selling things that are not theologically ground, you don't know the difference because you're used to spiritual supplements not the feast of Christ and his bread and his water and the meat of the word of God.
Darren Rouanzoin:You you'll you're satisfied with protein shakes. I'm all for content. I'm all for podcasts and these books and, of course, we should do that. Yes. A %.
Darren Rouanzoin:But what happens is the church feast on the supplements and they forget what the real thing nutrition looks like. Okay. I'm gonna stop right there. Let's just pause. You alright?
Darren Rouanzoin:Good. It's alright. Okay. Looking at the one that matters, she's like, yeah, you're good. I'm gonna keep going with my notes.
Darren Rouanzoin:The rocks will cry out is what Luke says. Story of Jesus cleansing the temple. He cleans house. And then there's there's another story and this is very strange and then we'll get to a response and then close. Sound good?
Darren Rouanzoin:So glad to be with you. Yeah. Hopefully, the feeling is mutual but it's okay if it's not because you don't need me. Right? I love you too, thank you so much.
Darren Rouanzoin:I'm just I'm just trying to feel myself back into this place, you know. 18 verse 18 says, early in the morning as Jesus was on his way back to the city, so it's the next day. Oh, I missed something. Let's pause, knew I had thoughts. Here's what's interesting about that last story, he goes to the temple and if you read the Old Testament, there's all these prophecies about what happens when the Messiah comes.
Darren Rouanzoin:You know what's gonna happen? The blind will see and the lame will be healed. So what's crazy about that is you have Jesus who people are saying, okay, you are the messianic figure. Only he's not with a horse. They're like, okay, that's weird.
Darren Rouanzoin:And he goes to the temple and they're not like, get rid of the gentiles, the unclean animals. Yeah. He's like, flip the tables. What are you doing? This is not a house of prayer.
Darren Rouanzoin:You're hindering my people from coming to the presence. And then all the sick people, by the way, could only stay in the court of Gentiles. They couldn't get any further. If you were marked by leprosy, if you were marked by an ailment, condition from birth, you were limited to your access to his presence and then Jesus shows up, God in the flesh, you're healed. Now on this Passover, you rather than staying on the outside begging for money, you're walking into the court of Israel.
Jon Rosene:Yes. And
Darren Rouanzoin:the religious leaders are angry. Aren't you gonna say anything to these kids? Tell them to stop. He's saying you've missed it. You are not seeing the visitation of God.
Darren Rouanzoin:In Luke's gospel chapter 19, he says, the rocks will cry out and then he says at verse 41, as he approached Jerusalem and saw the city, he wept over it. So Jesus weeps over the condition, the spiritual condition of church point one point o. If you even you had only known on this day that you what would bring you peace? But now it is hidden from your eyes. I wanna speak to this moment real quick and I'm gonna come back to the fig tree.
Darren Rouanzoin:We are living in a time, not a season, a time and you have to have eyes to see what time it is. You have to have eyes to see what time it is. I'll get to that in one second. Jesus was coming into Jerusalem, the Messiah that they were praying for for thousands of years is in their midst and their expectations blinded them to his presence. They missed the visitation.
Darren Rouanzoin:It goes and he weeps and it says, it's hidden from your eyes and skip down to verse 44, they will dash you to the ground, you will and your children within your walls. He prophesies about the destruction of the temple in seventy AD and he says, they will not leave one stone on another because you did not recognize the time of God's coming. They missed the visitation of the Messiah. He comes back in Matthew's gospel and this is again, this is a prophetic drama to see what's happening so you get what's going on. Early in the morning as Jesus was on his way back to the city, he was hangry, seeing his Sorry, hungry, same thing.
Darren Rouanzoin:Seeing a fig tree by the road, he went up to it and put not, found nothing on it except leaves. Then he said to it, may you never bear fruit again. Immediately the tree withered. It's the first time and the only time in the New Testament we see Jesus use his power and authority to destroy or destruct life. Why?
Darren Rouanzoin:When the disciples saw this, they are amazed. Well, how did this fig tree wither so quickly? Jesus said, truly, I tell you, if you have faith do not doubt, not only can you do this, what I've done to the fig tree, but you will also say to this mountain, go and throw yourself into the sea and it will be done. If you believe, you'll receive whatever you ask in prayers. There's this weird story of faith and prayer and moving things and withering trees and fig trees, what's going on?
Darren Rouanzoin:Now, this is all supposed to be together in the narrative coming in Hosanna, temple, fig tree. In the first century, if you were reading this, you'd be like, oh, I get it. Luke records it as a prophecy of the temple being destroyed. Matthew tells it from the lens of a Jewish person. Fig tree, every successful man in the first century had a fig tree.
Darren Rouanzoin:Fig tree represented life flourishing with God, peace, abundance. There's this old Jewish saying that said, if you wanna learn how to pray, plant a tree. Psalm chapter one, blessed is the one and it describes a person that's blessed by God, flourishing life is like a tree planted by streams of water. This idea is symbolic to success and human flourishing but more importantly, the fig tree represents Israel. But in the first century, a fig tree was like having a flag on your property that represented the temple in particular.
Darren Rouanzoin:So as Jesus walked back into Jerusalem, he burns their flag in protest that they too are filled with leaves, religious activity but no fruit to show for it. And it withers, never will you eat it, bear fruit again. Never will the temple of Israel bear fruit again as they miss the visitation of the Messiah. You with me? Yeah.
Darren Rouanzoin:This is what Palm Sunday is about, how are we doing? Some fresh eyes to see, fresh fresh ears to hear what God might be doing. Let me get back to this. As Jesus approached Jerusalem, he saw the city, he wept over it. If you, even you had only known on this day what would bring you peace, but now it is hidden from your eyes.
Darren Rouanzoin:Brothers and sisters, may I propose to you that we are living in a very special time. Right now, how do we respond to the word of God in our moment? How do we, as Jesus draws near, align our expectations in our lives to the coming of our Messiah again? In history, see in the church, we call it ordinary time and then we have names for specific occasional times, but this in history is opportune unique time. There's seasons of our church life where we show up, the sermons are okay, they're base hits, where the presence of God is felt, but it's not what we're used to.
Darren Rouanzoin:Some people get saved, some groups grow, church is kind of steadily moving forward. Not right now. We are living in a moment that's strange. There's extra grace on it. There the normal activity has a sense of oil pressing through the systems of our activity.
Darren Rouanzoin:You have to see what God is doing. We are witnessing for the first time in my life a general public positive interest in the church and Jesus. If you listen to podcasts, people like Jordan Peterson, Douglas Murray, and historian Tom Holland, not the Spider Man. Non Christians talking positively about Jesus and the Christian church. We are seeing for the first time a mass in in say in my life, a massive awakening of celebrities coming out confessing Christianity and getting baptized.
Darren Rouanzoin:The rapid decline of the church in America has ceased, has stalled out as gen z is becoming the greatest church greatest generation to go back to church. There's an increase of biblical literacy and engagement over the last five years of 29%. The attendance in UK churches has increased by 50% in five years. God is on a move. College campuses are once places of deconstruction are now the centers for revival in America.
Darren Rouanzoin:Jesus is taking the curious and getting them to be moved Christians. He's moving cautious to curious and curious to Christians. I'm seeing this everywhere. Something is on the move and his name is Jesus. And here's the thing, you might be here because a friend brought you here, you're here because God is wooing you to himself.
Darren Rouanzoin:Not some yoga practice, not some spirit in the realm out there that created all things that's in everyone, not some nameless spirit. The Lord of Lords, king of kings, Jesus of Nazareth is here and he's drawing you to him. He the the tides of revival are here. You have to see this. This is why I'm here.
Darren Rouanzoin:This is why I'm so energized. Every church I went to has seen growth over the last few years. In a season of drought, the rain is coming and some of us are prepared. Some of us are collecting oil. We're staying up in the watches of the night, your hearts are burning as I speak, your heart is breaking, you wanna weep, you wanna run, you're saying yes and amen.
Darren Rouanzoin:Some of you are sleepy Christians, you're not even willing to leave the kitchen to drop that cloak at the feet of Jesus when he walks by and he weeps for you. My old mentor, Don Williams, who passed away a few years ago said, he wanted so desperately to see another move of God. He lived through the Jesus movement. He was the college pastor at Hollywood Presbyterian Church, he took over for Henrietta Mayers. He saw Bob Dylan come to faith, he saw a move of God happen in this late sixties and into the seventies.
Darren Rouanzoin:He was part of the vineyard movement, the Calvary Chapel movement, he was part of all of those things and and he was always in my ear about making disciples and praying for revival. Knowing that the time is now, The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news. The only thing is the church is sleeping in. The church has adopted TikTok influencer therapy philosophy into itself to make Jesus a an accessory accessory or addition to their life.
Darren Rouanzoin:The church is okay being lazy and lukewarm because we've put up shops in our services to sell you something. Only the message of Jesus is come. He will cost you everything. In fact, if you wanna be his disciple, you should count the cost because it will cost your life. It's not come, he's gonna give you the blessed life now.
Darren Rouanzoin:It's come, die to yourself, and you'll see what life really is. I don't know what's going on around the world but I do know God's on the move and I don't wanna miss his visitation. And I want our church to be ready for that heavy rain. Some of you have no idea what I'm talking about. Ask Jesus to reveal it to you.
Darren Rouanzoin:Let his let his life convict your heart. What do we do? How do we prepare? Well, on Palm Sunday, I think there's two ways that we can reflect from this text to prepare for his coming. Cloaks and tables.
Darren Rouanzoin:Cloaks in the first century were very expensive. Three to four to five months worth of wages to own. You had one. So they see the coming king, they take the most valuable thing they have, their car, their four zero one k, their career, their families. I don't wanna say families because I don't wanna I want I wanna keep this as costly as it can be.
Darren Rouanzoin:Your golf habit, your surf habit, your downwinder habit, your skating habit, your Zillow searches for the next house, your rental properties, your shoes, those jeans, Your reputation. Cloaks represent your your status. It's what distinguishes you from not being like them. They not like us. I miss you.
Darren Rouanzoin:I don't know. Their lot has happened. Right? She said the lot has changed. I leave and the world is different.
Darren Rouanzoin:So true. Not saying it was me, just saying that's really weird to be like through so much transition as a culture and society and not be with you in it. Would you lay that at Jesus' feet as your act of devotion? What does he wanna do with your time, with your intellect, with your energy, with your idols, your resources, your finances, your hobbies? What if instead of saying, I'm just gonna preserve myself.
Darren Rouanzoin:You take off the preservation mindset, that scarcity mindset and lay it at Jesus' feet? The second is the tables and here's what I wanna say, flip the table before Jesus does. And right now the Holy Spirit's at work. This is the beauty of the incarnational preaching of God's word. Because I could say something but the Holy Spirit just goes, air drops to you, the thing that has to be flipped.
Darren Rouanzoin:And you're like arguing with me in your head, that's not from the spirit. Yes, it is. He convicts us. He teaches us the way of Jesus. He reminds us of what's true.
Darren Rouanzoin:He's bringing to you to your life the next obedient yes. And guys, guess what we're gonna do? We're gonna worship now and we have this a church and I I had a really hard time not coming here on Sundays. In fact, I came to this service twice on my break. I wasn't supposed to.
Darren Rouanzoin:I broke Bill's rules but I couldn't take it anymore because I I love I love all the churches in the area but I wanted to go where there was a clear tangible presence of God Where it's not like a great worship set where there's an honoring of his presence in worship. Where the communion was received. I I wanna take communion in church. It says that's that's what we do as people that gather. We do it in his name.
Darren Rouanzoin:Where the word of God is preached and it's not just a spiritual Ted talk and I'm not condemning any other churches, but man, we need the word of God preached today. People need truth. It's hidden from them in plain sight. You wanna know what's gonna win over your neighborhood? Wanna know what's gonna win over your coworker?
Darren Rouanzoin:What do I do? Share your faith and live a life of love. Tell them it's Jesus, not some good idea or a podcast. Tell them to read scripture. Give them a bible and say just see what happens.
Darren Rouanzoin:This is what's bringing people to Jesus. You have tables in your life you need to flip. Look, if you aren't a follower of Jesus or you've been gone for a while, you're all you have to do is pray, Lord Jesus, come into my life. Let him clean you up. Yes.
Darren Rouanzoin:I'm not gonna judge you for that. All of you sleepy Christians that have been coming here for a while, wake up. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Darren Rouanzoin:Grab those cloaks, flip those tables, revival or die. Let's pray. Jesus, we love you. Thank you for 10AM. Thank you for this beautiful church, God.
Darren Rouanzoin:We love you, Jesus. Here here's what I'm gonna would you guys just pause for moving real quick? The worship team's up here. You can if you're here, your heart is convicted. I don't always do this on Sundays.
Darren Rouanzoin:But you just wanna respond to the gospel. The gospel requires a response. You can reject it or accept it. You're just like, you know what? It's been a while.
Darren Rouanzoin:I just wanna I wanna come back to Jesus. I wanna just open that door. Would you just raise your hand? No one's eyes are open. Just raise your hand.
Darren Rouanzoin:Raise them up high so I can see you and pray for you. Alright. There's a lot of hands right now. Just raise them up high. And just in your head, repeat this prayer, not out loud.
Darren Rouanzoin:Just repeat this prayer while your hands up. Keep your hand up so I can pray with you. Lord Jesus, I gave you my life. Thank you for dying on the cross for me. I confess that you are Lord and savior.
Darren Rouanzoin:Forgive me for my sins. Just stay there. He already forgave you just now. So thank you for the grace to do what I can't do on my own, Jesus. And now help me to follow you for the rest of my life.
Darren Rouanzoin:In Jesus name. Amen. There's like over 20 hands just now. So I wanna say this to you guys. No performance in Christianity.
Darren Rouanzoin:When I invite you to flip tables and to bring your cloaks, this is a response to the truth that you discover over time. So take one step, not 50 and know that life is not gonna get easy when you say yes to Jesus because his kingdom is contested by a kingdom of darkness And maybe you're here because you've already felt the darkness, but now you're covered by the blood of Jesus. So if you keep coming under his blood, so when you make that mistake, just say, Jesus, thank you for your forgiveness. I acknowledge that I was off. I repent.
Darren Rouanzoin:I changed directions. Help me figure this out. Let that be the journey. Oh, and grab a bible and start reading it. It doesn't matter where it just start.
Darren Rouanzoin:Maybe don't start in the old testament, it's little confusing. Start in the new testament for now. We'll get to the old later. The rest of us, can we all stand? I'm just opening the altar.
Darren Rouanzoin:You know what needs to happen. If you want prayer, come pray. Our team's gonna be up here. We'll lay hands on you. Let's throw down those cloaks and flip those tables.
Intro/Outro:Thank you for listening. For more information, please visit garden.church.