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"Here as in Heaven."
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Welcome to Garden Church podcast. We're in part two of a series on the book of Revelation. We're doing a deep dive into how to read and interpret this amazing amazing book. Enjoy.
Darren Rounzion:Alright, church. We are we here? We good? 10AM? Oh, lord.
Darren Rounzion:You got your bibles? Let me see your bibles. Hold them up. Let's go. Yeah.
Darren Rounzion:This is good. I want 10:00 to be better. Come on. Hold them up. Don't be lazy.
Darren Rounzion:Word of the Lord. Let's go team team Lamb, some of us. Oh, man. It's gonna be good today. I said it's gonna be good today.
Darren Rounzion:Lord is with us. He's so good. Let you settle in. I'm gonna preach the word today. I'm gonna ask Jesus in a little bit to really anoint the sermon because in worship I felt 10:00, I feel like the Lord wants to minister to you.
Darren Rounzion:And there's so much that we bring in. There's a lot of distractions. Some of you brought some demons in here. Just kidding. I'm not playing around.
Darren Rounzion:But we want the word of the Lord to be strong in this room, right? So when I was in middle school, there was a lie that I adopted that shaped my whole life. And, it wasn't loud, it wasn't a demon on the corner that spoke it, it wasn't a voice from the sky, it was just subtle. Subtle, personal, inside my heart. This kind of idea that you're only valuable when you succeed.
Darren Rounzion:Right? Which it morphed. Your worth comes from performance. Your you deserve love based on what you do. And to be honest, you know, I didn't even know that it was a lie until probably in my thirties.
Darren Rounzion:And this is what happens. It starts with moments I was overlooked maybe by unintentionally by my loving family or there was a moment maybe where I I felt like I was failing to measure up. Maybe it was the culture I was surrounded by in SoCal where there was a celebration of perfection, performance or a particular image. And I didn't know it but this lie would shape how I would live the rest of my life. The way I would interact with people.
Darren Rounzion:The way I would choose to engage in relationships. The way I would eventually be a husband to my wife. The way I would father my kids. I would be, taking this lie into my relationship with God and it would shape how I've worshiped, how I chose to be a disciple. It impacted everything and what happened is the lie would grow from a small belief.
Darren Rounzion:Years later in high school, the lie was so powerful that it shaped and distorted my image of self to where I hated myself. Where as a young kid, 14 to 15 year old, I had suicidal ideation. I looked in the mirror and hated what I saw and it shaped everything for years. And what I've learned from this journey is how the enemy works. You see, the enemy doesn't work through obvious attacks, not through subtle, but he works through subtle deceptions.
Darren Rounzion:You see, he doesn't come at you with a pitchfork, he whispers. You are not enough. You'll never change. God can't be trusted. Everyone else is doing it.
Darren Rounzion:It's only a little. No one's gonna know. There's a psychologist that tells a story. Imagine a little boy that finds a baby dragon in his house. It's small, it's harmless, it's even cute.
Darren Rounzion:He tells his mom about it, but his mom says there's no such thing as a dragon. So the boy stops talking about it. But the dragon doesn't go away, in fact, it starts to grow. And every time the family ignores the dragon, it gets bigger. It fills the hallway, then the stairs, then the whole house.
Darren Rounzion:It eats all their food. They can't go anywhere. Eventually, it picks up the entire house and walks away with it. You see Satan's tactics are subtle. He whispers until it's too late.
Darren Rounzion:And I believe every one of you have believed a lie that has formed your soul. And it's not just from a enemy or an enemy, it's from the enemy of God's great creation. And today, I get to share good news. Chapter 20 is the final destination for Satan. Chapter 20 tells us the story of how things go for the evil one.
Darren Rounzion:It's gonna be really good news, but I need to say before we jump in, chapter 20 is by far the most controversial chapter in all of the scriptures. Did you know that? Yeah. Some of you are like, I've been waiting this entire series for chapter 20 and here we are. Some of you are like, I have no idea what we're getting into.
Darren Rounzion:What's going on? So I wanna pray that God would speak to you because I know we can get sidetracked. I'm gonna give you some rich theology. I have to. I have to educate you because the word of God is rich and full and there I'm gonna stretch your ability to focus so pay attention.
Darren Rounzion:But I'm also gonna land it somewhere where every one of you will resonate. So just stay in, lean in, okay? So let's pray and then we'll go from there. Father in heaven, we love you. Lord Jesus, the lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.
Darren Rounzion:The alpha, the omega, the beginning, the end, the bread of life, the water for the thirsty, the light of the world, the word of God speak to us. Holy Spirit, enliven us, animate us, ignite our hearts ablaze today to receive manna, food for now, to to move us towards eternity, to move us in the direction of wholeness which is always truth. And Lord, let us be open to new possibilities in Jesus name. Amen. Revelation 20, here we go.
Darren Rounzion:And I saw an angel coming down out of heaven, having the key of the abyss and holding in his hand a great chain. He sees the dragon, that ancient snake who is the devil or Satan and bound him for a thousand years. He threw him into the abyss and locked and sealed it over him to keep him from deceiving the nations anymore until the thousand years were ended. After that, he must be set free for a short time. I saw thrones on which were seated, those who had been given authority to judge and I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony about Jesus and because of the word of God.
Darren Rounzion:They had not worshiped the beast or its image and had not received its mark on their forehead or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended. This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy are those who share in the first resurrection.
Darren Rounzion:The second death has no power over them, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with him for a thousand years. The word of the Lord. Okay. We'll get to the next part in a second, and then we'll do the last part of chapter 20 next week. So this is perhaps the most controversial, story section of scripture that has debates for lots of reasons.
Darren Rounzion:Followers, let me rephrase that. Faithful followers, loving followers of Jesus have debated what the thousand years means for the last couple hundred centuries. Some believers say that it's a literal reign on earth. Other believe others believe it's the return of a golden age of the gospel spreading across the world. And others believe that the millennium is symbolic pointing to the reign of Jesus happening right now through his church.
Darren Rounzion:Revelation 20 is not about timelines, it's about the testimony of Jesus. Eugene Peterson says the apocalypse is not coded sequence of end times events, it's a proclamation of Jesus Christ. Last week after what happened with Iran and Israel, people in our community are who have been here said to me, it has begun. And I said, have you not listened to my sermon for the love of all that is holy? And I get it because we've been formed to believe a certain thing about the events.
Darren Rounzion:And and I wanna present to you options around this particular text that have all sorts of debates. But it's Revelation is not about what happens in the end as much as it is about Jesus now. It's the revelation not of coming events. It's the unveiling of Christ and seeing him for who he really is. So it's about the church that resists the lies of the dragon, that refuses the compromise of Babylon, and reigns with Christ in truth.
Darren Rounzion:And at the center of all of this, the devil doesn't get the last word. Jesus does. So what we see here in the first six verses of chapter 20 is John sees a dragon. Satan bound and thrown into the abyss. Can I get an amen, hallelujah?
Darren Rounzion:Amen. Satan is restrained and the faithful are raised from the dead. The martyrs reign. No one saw it coming. The martyrs in the first century were forgotten.
Darren Rounzion:They were beheaded. And now, the ones that thought they lost are now winning against Babylon and the kingdoms of the empire, the ones who stayed faithful and nobody saw it. The ones that stayed faithful to Christ when nobody was watching. Jesus flips the kingdoms upside down. Now, this text is so intense for lots of reasons, and I want to present some options to you.
Darren Rounzion:Is that okay? So you guys go with a little bit of theology. Okay. You guys can I get some amens? Yep.
Darren Rounzion:I got thumbs up from my boy. So, how do we interpret this text and how do we make sense of it? Let's start with recognizing that context structure, genre, language matters. Remember? And if you don't remember, go to the first sermon I did on Revelation and I present to you the the framework for interpreting scripture.
Darren Rounzion:It's not just revelation, but how we approach scripture matters that it was written by a person to a particular group of people. So for this to be the word of God for us, we must first understand what it meant to them, the original audience. Does that make sense? So it's in a really unique style and genre called apocalyptic literature, but it's also prophetic and pastoral or epistles. So this is written by a pastor to local church, trying to encourage them.
Darren Rounzion:So what is that about? Now, the language matters. There's a word used in the New Testament for resurrection. Here's where the debates come in. Okay?
Darren Rounzion:The the word that's used most often for resurrection is used 40 times is this Greek word right here. And it means, raising up or rising up, standing up resurrection. It's used all over the Bible for resurrection. And I wanted to say, you can have your phones out. I'm gonna put a bunch of theological slides up.
Darren Rounzion:Take a picture, look at them later. I'm not gonna go in deep dive. I don't have time because that's not the point. The point is is not to get really good at the information of what it could be. The point is Jesus and living in response to the word today.
Darren Rounzion:Does that make sense? Take as much time as you want to study. This series I'm reading, I have read over 17 commentaries. I'm not saying that to brag. I'm just saying from as far dispensational and and new as today, as far as old as early church fathers, we're reading wide to present to you the best possible interpretation that I can.
Darren Rounzion:Does that make sense? So one word for resurrection is this word, and that's used all the time. But the word used in Revelation chapter 20 verse four and five is a different word for resurrection. And it's this word and it means they came to life. And it's specifically about people that were dead and alive but it doesn't necessarily mean bodily resurrection.
Darren Rounzion:Now here's some truth. That's debated. So as far as I can tell, scholars are saying, yes, it means bodily resurrection and others say, no, it means spiritual regeneration. Meaning, you could be raised to life now because your old self died with Christ and it's raised with him, your new self is alive now. Does that make sense?
Darren Rounzion:So you see by just the language, there's some room for debate. Is that okay? As I talk, can I just share this? Like I felt Lord's like preach this humbly. Because it's very easy to throw like certain belief systems out when we're like prideful in our theology and we cannot be like that.
Darren Rounzion:We Let me just say that again. Garden Church, we're not gonna be like that. Even when we're right, we're gonna humbly say, maybe I'm wrong. Yeah? Yeah.
Darren Rounzion:For the sake of love and relationship. Theology should not puff up. It should lead to greater encounter. And if it leads to greater encounter, it leads to you looking more and like, more and more like Jesus. Right?
Darren Rounzion:I said this and I'm gonna keep saying it, Christians should look like Jesus. The church should look like Jesus. I apologize for it not doing that, but that's where we're going. That's our MO. We're gonna keep going.
Darren Rounzion:So the word itself leans to some debate. So there's some stuff here. Scholars argue it could mean spiritual life. Some argue it could mean literal resurrection. So there you go.
Darren Rounzion:Now, there is a bunch of theology around this section of scripture because of this phrase millennium, this idea, that requires some thinking. Revelation 20 speaks of a thousand year reign. Some interpret it as literal, a literal one thousand years. Some interpret it as a symbolic number, meaning Christ reigns completely now symbolically. Now to be honest, there are some great people in in the world of theology that, debate this and have very different opinions and scholarship around them.
Darren Rounzion:And I would say for 99% of us, no one's Nobody really cares what millennialist you are. Right? No one's coming up to you going, what's your view of the millennial reign? Have you ever been asked that? I have because of this series, but have you like No.
Darren Rounzion:Nobody really cares. Like, it's like they wanna know, is God in control? Will evil have the last say? What do I do with my suffering marriage or my anxiety? They're not concerned about that.
Darren Rounzion:So I wanna give you some framework because we're teaching through the text and I can't avoid it. So here's the three primary views. Can we do this real quick? I'm gonna do either way. So this is where a lot of people have their view of end times shaped by a interpretive framework.
Darren Rounzion:So the interpretive framework, they have this view, they apply it over the text and they interpret the text from their lens. I present that we should look at context and structure and literature and the genre of the literature and the literary content, and and try to from there receive as much as we can without putting our bias over the text. Is that okay? Listen to the first sermon for more context on that. So these three views, premillennialism, postmillennialism, and amillennialism are the primary views.
Darren Rounzion:Now with all of these, I have to say there's a 100 different nuances. So if I wanna just say pre millennial is pre millennialism is this, there's like five different variations. So here's pre millennialism. You can take a picture of this. Just summarize for you.
Darren Rounzion:You don't have to read all the work. Pre millennialism is often most associated with your favorite book, The Left Behind series. So if you grew up, you know, in Southern California at Calvary Chapel, the dispensational view, which I'll define in a second, is this view. It is a literal reading of the text. Jesus will come back and reign for a thousand literal years and, there will be a tribulation period that's seven years and some will be raptured, some won't.
Darren Rounzion:There's all sorts of things here. Go to the next one. So part of pre millennialism comes out of classic dispensationalism. I'm using big words. Guys, give me five minutes.
Darren Rounzion:Some of you, I know you love this, some of you don't, but these this just helps frame something. So the classic dispensationalism is left behind. We put that slide up. Oh, I forgot this. Okay.
Darren Rounzion:Here you go. Go back. I apologize. I'm going too fast. Here's an image of the timeline of events.
Darren Rounzion:Take a photo of that. You can look at it later. We'll have this on the website. I'm just giving it to you. You should know.
Darren Rounzion:Is that okay? So pre millennialism, this is what it looks like. If I had a laser pointer Anyone have a laser pointer? Any youth have a laser pointer that you wanna use? I'm just gonna see.
Darren Rounzion:Let's go to third through fifth. I bet it's in there. Someone's like, yeah, I got one. So, but we walk through the Pentecost through the church age, then there's a tribulation. Can I just say this?
Darren Rounzion:I said this before. If you hold to this view system, rapture is not mentioned in Revelation. Do you know that? The word rap, that's not, that comes from first Thessalonians chapter four. So there's like a season of tribulation, you can have a view on that.
Darren Rounzion:And then what happens is the millennial reign comes and then believers are go to to be into the eternal kingdom. Unbelievers are judged and they go to eternal torment. Okay. That's next week. Wait for that.
Darren Rounzion:So then there's classic dispensationalism, which is the Left Behind series. I'm not gonna go off on this because I don't wanna waste your time. But let me just say, this is a new theology. So of the three, classic dispensationalism is the youngest. So it's the most popular because it's fascinating and you read the scriptures with a newspaper and I'm getting all of the, you know, all my aunts on Facebook are sending me all of the news events saying Armageddon is here.
Darren Rounzion:Gog and Magog and Armageddon, Iran, you know, and past who are dispensationalists will make the case, which I'm going to just, take that down subtly today with all gentleness and humility. But for me, I would prefer belief systems that are ancient. Right? We are a part of an ancient tradition and something that's new that moves boundary lines, let's not play with that, okay? So let's keep going.
Darren Rounzion:Alright, the next one is post millennialism. Every time I say that I think of post Malone but anyways, millennialism. This is a unique belief system that basically believes that the world is gonna get better before Christ comes back. Like the gospel will transform society. The problem with this is it underestimates the persistence of evil.
Darren Rounzion:I love what Scott McKnight says. He says, though the church overcomes, it does does so by faithful witness not worldly success. Post millennialism has this hope that it's all gonna get progressively better. It sounds actually like the progressive mindset of utopia. Right?
Darren Rounzion:The kingdom without the king, progress without God's presence. It's what the world promises. The last one, again, there's variance to all of this is amillennialism which is the belief system that the language of revelation is symbolic. So the thousand year reign is symbolic of the age we're in now where Christ reigns from heaven. Satan is bound but not fully bound yet until Christ's second coming and we participate in the kingdom through suffering witness and worship.
Darren Rounzion:But the problem with this view and I would say, this is what I see the problem with the kind of the Southern California or I would just say the current church in most contexts. Our context included. Is it kinda downplays the reality of ongoing evil and the future hope for final justice. In other words, it downplays the need to preach the gospel. Right?
Darren Rounzion:Like, I don't I don't hear many of us being like radically transformed with urgency to talk to our neighbors about Jesus. In other traditions, like especially pre millennialism, I see the urgency. With this view set system, it's kinda like, they just, you know, it's all gonna work itself anyway, so I can grab my $5 latte in one hand, have my headphones on in another hand, it's all gonna work out. And I I see the problem with that. Does that make sense?
Darren Rounzion:These are the three primary view systems of end times and you can have it there. But here's what we can agree on, I wanted to share. What can we agree on? Number one, Jesus is king now. Let me try that again.
Darren Rounzion:Jesus is king now. Jesus will return. Evil will be defeated and the new creation will come. Is that good news? Yes.
Darren Rounzion:That Satan is bound but also active. He works currently through systems of power. He works through lies. He works through evil. He works through, demons and activities in our lives of belief systems and physical illnesses.
Darren Rounzion:Do we agree? Evil's still going on. Right? So when I think about post millennialism, think, oh, it's a world and society is gonna get better except right now there's more slaves alive today than previous generations. That's getting worse.
Darren Rounzion:Right? Anxiety is all time high. Suicide is an all time high. So we know that evil is still active. The other thing is the gospel is advancing.
Darren Rounzion:Do we agree that every conversion is a sign of the enemy's defeat? I had some people last week say they wanna get baptized. That they wanted to get baptized when we did it a couple weeks ago and they didn't do it. So I say we do baptisms next week. Yeah?
Darren Rounzion:Yes. Should we do it? Yes. Some of you wanna get baptized. Why are you waiting?
Darren Rounzion:So I'm telling the team now, we're gonna do it next week, we'll send out emails, bring some clothes, let's go, let's baptize. At least one person wants to get baptized and we'll do that for all services because of the one. Because it's a symbol, Satan is being bound. Amen? Amen.
Darren Rounzion:Church reigns with Christ through suffering and love. Would you agree? That the number is symbolic. Now here's thing. I don't If you wanna go literal, that's fine.
Darren Rounzion:But if we're gonna read Revelation, then you have to take all numbers literally. So just remember, whatever tool you use to interpret Revelation, just be consistent for the entire Bible. That's where I get you. Like if you wanna be literal in Revelation, make sure you're literal with Psalms or you know Matthew where it says chop off your hand if you stumble, gouge your eye out. I mean, it's not metaphor, it's literal.
Darren Rounzion:We're gonna read it literally. He says, if any man lusts, take out his eye. I don't don't see any single eyes that I know right now. Lastly, we can't divide over this. Right?
Darren Rounzion:Some of my favorite people have different views on this stuff. It's great we can love each other because we're not gonna divide over that. Amen? Okay. So a couple of scholars says the number one Oh, sorry.
Darren Rounzion:The number 1,000 is figurative to describe a complete imperfect reign. Richard Bacham says the lamb reigns now not just later. You with me? Alright. Let's go to the next section.
Darren Rounzion:There you go. Whoo. I got through it. No one walked out but if you walk out on that, it's just the wrong thing to walk out. What you're gonna walk out on is this part.
Darren Rounzion:Here we go. Or next week. Verse seven, you ready? Jesus speak. Here we go.
Darren Rounzion:When the thousand years are over, Satan will be released from his prison and will go out to deceive the nations in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, and to gather them for battle. In number, they are like the sand on the seashore. They marched across the breadth of the earth and surrounded the camp of God's people, the city he loves, but fire came down from heaven and devoured them. That was a big battle. And the devil who deceived them was thrown into the lake of burning sulfur where the beast and the false prophet had been thrown.
Darren Rounzion:They will be tormented day and night forever. Forever. For the word of the Lord. I just can't help it. Sandlot.
Darren Rounzion:Right? It's just like a summer movie forever. Let's go. I'm getting after it. How can I have some more if I haven't had any yet?
Darren Rounzion:First you take the gram. No, here we go. So we have this perspective of Satan being released and the deception returns and things get really bad. Like the the chaos of evil surrounds the people of God. Right?
Darren Rounzion:Because evil doesn't die quietly. Evil rises against the move of God. The nations surround the camp of God's people but there is no war. Armageddon, there is no Armageddon war. Evil doesn't die easily, but it doesn't go out in victory, it goes out in flames.
Darren Rounzion:This is not a scary moment for the church. This is a moment we've been waiting for. This is justice. This is the moment where love is demonstrated to God's people. Only if you're on the wrong side of love, you see it as wrath.
Darren Rounzion:Right? This is where God finally once and for all gets rid of the evil destroyers of his good and beautiful creation and we get to exist in loving relationship with God forever. Has anyone here dealt with the lies of the enemy? Has anyone experienced things in life the way they're not supposed to be? The fruit of our rebellion and sin, but the but the fruit of Satan, the deceiver who's held strongholds in our lives.
Darren Rounzion:He's held strongholds in our belief systems of our identity, strongholds in our marriages, in our relationships, in our capacity to thrive. We've had an enemy all along. And where does it end? Does it end with you just kind of casually getting the way, getting better? No, it ends with Jesus ending the enemy once and for all.
Darren Rounzion:This is a celebration moment for the church that's persecuted. This is a celebration for those that are being beheaded. Those that have been crushed by the serpent's lies. The promise is there will be a moment even after your death, will you will reign. And the cosmic destroyers of God's creation will be judged once and for all.
Darren Rounzion:And it's final and they don't have the final say. The gloves come off and I can't wait for that moment. I'm telling you, I have seen the enemy's work in my life. There have been moments deep in prayer where he is trying to destroy the loved ones in my life. And I pray to God, have your way.
Darren Rounzion:I pray to God, resolve this now. And I pray on my knees for health to come in back into the room, for the lies to be done, for my life to be marked by shalom. And I can't wait to see those unmasked beings judged by Jesus. You've seen the havoc of family system destruction, And your hope is for the your family to be made whole. But imagine the day once and for all, it's final.
Darren Rounzion:Yeah. This is the hope he's putting inside of you. This is the hope he wants you to know right now where sickness and death has had the final word in your life. He says death is not Does not have the last word. Can I tell you good news for next week?
Darren Rounzion:Death is thrown into the fiery lake. It's swallowed up in victory. Where o death is your sting? Paul will say. Has anyone dealt with the sting of death?
Darren Rounzion:Yes. It hurts. It sucks. It's There are moments of unquestionable pain that doesn't make sense. Words don't happen to make sense.
Darren Rounzion:So groans are the only thing. Tears are the only thing. But Jesus collects those groans, he collects those tears and he says to you it doesn't have the final say now or then death is swallowed up. So we live with hope of what's coming. Not for the events to reckon be recognized by some nationalistic geopolitical military victory.
Darren Rounzion:No. For the Messiah to return and deal with all of the chaos that has plagued God's creation forever. It's as big as the cosmos and it's as small as your broken heart today. Equally big to Jesus because he's gonna mend your heart and heal the nations. Is that good news?
Darren Rounzion:Yes. So this is where we get hung up in the story because you know, I'm seeing it on online. All the all the people trying to make sense of what's happening in Iran, what's happening now at US and they're just waiting for Russia because in the Bible in Ezekiel thirty eight and thirty nine, there's this war that's described of Gog and Magog, which are, on a on a map are like northern parts of what would be the Middle East today. So people are like, oh my gosh, it's happening and can I just say that since the formation of God's people, there's been war against them? Yeah?
Darren Rounzion:And the use that John has of the author John has of Gog and Magog is rich symbolism of the enemies of the people of God. So theologians, even, you know, all sorts of theologians interpret Gog and Magog not as literal geopolitical powers. The only people that do are dispensational, classical dispensational pre millennialists. They they believe that thirty eight and thirty nine of Ezekiel is a future war and that Gog and Magog are linked to Russia and Iran and Turkey and that in other modern nations based on ancient tribal names, based on what's talked about in Revelation, they believe Armageddon's coming according to sixteen, nineteen and twenty. This is Tim LaHaye, this is dispensational, but almost all the scholars I've read from various perspectives see Gog and Magog as symbolic.
Darren Rounzion:Non dispensational scholars in every camp argue that John is universalizing Gog and Magog to make the case this is not about geography, this is about metaphor. This is not literal literal Russian Iran, this is a battle map. It's a symbol of the final global opposition against Gog, God. So here's some scholars, they say Gog and Magog do not refer to specific historical nations, but are symbolic of the totality of evil opposing God. One author says John adapts Ezekiel's imagery to depict a final universal rebellion.
Darren Rounzion:Daryl Johnson's commentary says, they're not a map, they're a metaphor. So here's what I'll say about this. Number one, there is no epic battle, just fire. Yes? There's no final war, just one final word from God, justice.
Darren Rounzion:And deception is Satan's final strategy. Now lean into this part, this is where it gets serious. Because if you want to read 20, chapter 20 with a lens of future events, you miss the purpose of the point of the of the chapter. And this is what I need you to see as disciples of Jesus Christ at Garden Church. You need to see John is not building a case for you to have some escape plan in the future.
Darren Rounzion:He's trying to give you courage to see the fight that's already present in your life today. Two thousand years ago and now and in the future until Jesus decisively returns and everyone will know at that moment. Everyone will know when he comes again. Do you know that? It's not gonna be a secret moment.
Darren Rounzion:Right? It's not gonna be Well, and people are like, do you believe in the rapture? Yes. I absolutely believe in the rapture based on what the rapture is. Right?
Darren Rounzion:So when Jesus comes back, those who are here and those who are dead will be raised up with Jesus and come right back to earth. There's no time in between. That's what it means. It means we'll be caught up and brought right back down because Jesus's work is where? Not they're here.
Darren Rounzion:Right? So it's that simple. Yes, I believe in the rapture, the biblical view. Because if you tell me that we're gonna The church is gonna be zapped out of here for seven literal years, Show me any other narrative in all the scriptures that holds that view system that the people of God won't suffer. If Jesus suffered for us, the church must suffer to bear witness to his resurrection.
Darren Rounzion:Do you does that make sense? Like like how Let's let's look at the scripture in its entirety and make wise decisions when it comes to interpretation. What happens is we get to Revelation, we throw out all wisdom and we just look to this, you know, fiction. Anyways, you alright? I'm This is for like 12 of you.
Darren Rounzion:I'm you're I'm just trying to help heal the wounds of your past as you drove listening to the Left Behind series like I did, afraid that I was not I was gonna get left behind. Right? And the antichrist was this guy from Russia and I would just read the news terrified. Right? Just confessing my sin every night.
Darren Rounzion:Lord, just don't come back until I get married first. Know, that was always every young man's prayer. Am I wrong? Who else prayed that prayer? This was confession moment.
Darren Rounzion:Yeah. There we go. All the, yes. That was me. Are you married?
Darren Rounzion:Yeah. Praise God. Not yet. Let's hurry this up. Because he's coming.
Darren Rounzion:Soon he's gonna return. So here's where it gets interesting. As I was praying for us, I was like, man, I don't wanna get caught up in the theology of end times. I wanna know Lord your heart. Like what what's this is so crazy when you read this.
Darren Rounzion:You're like, gosh, tormented day and night forever. Like what is going on? But then I felt like the Lord in my study, he said why don't you because I I had I have about 22, 26 pages of notes. And I'm using five. This I mean, it's just so much here to talk through and I wanna be I wanna give you the best possible teaching that I can for our church for this moment.
Darren Rounzion:I could go off on so many rabbit trails. And I reread it and I was like, oh my gosh, every time Satan is mentioned, it talks about him being a deceiver. I was like, woah, and how many times has it been mentioned? Seven times in the book of Revelation. Here's a bunch of scriptures, seven times Satan or the devil or the the beast are mentioned and their descriptors are those that deceive.
Darren Rounzion:Right? So the the the purpose of this is to say that he's the complete deceiver. Like this is how he works in the church. Right? And I need you see, so in John's gospel when he organizes the gospel, there are seven signs that reveal his glory.
Darren Rounzion:And this is how disciples believe this. The word Samia is the sign that points to something bigger. In John's gospel, there are seven I am statements. Jesus is the great I am. I mean, so there's structure to the books and we've read about the various perspectives, but John puts in here seven times, Satan is a deceiver.
Darren Rounzion:And why does that matter? Well, when it comes to how things are gonna end, would you agree with me right now? Things seem worse today than it did five years ago. Like in 2016 Oxford dictionary coined the word of the year was post truth. We have lived in a world where truth is relative.
Darren Rounzion:Where your feelings about yourself are the highest truth in the land. And what we're gonna do is co op government to enforce your individual perspective to be enforced by everyone based on what you feel because your therapist tells you that the truest thing about you is the thing you discover inside of yourself and that becomes the idol you live by. This is the, the therapeutic self that we live in our culture where we have allowed ideas to be shaped in our narratives. We have allowed ideas to shape our world views that are based on a post truth culture, where we ignore what's real and we build systems of belief or belief systems, excuse me, that are simply ways of being deceived by the devil. And we don't know right from left or truth from non truth because whatever feels right is truth.
Darren Rounzion:But Jesus says, I am the way and the truth and the life. He says, the spirit of truth will guide you into all truth. He says, sanctify them by your truth. Your word is truth. This is all from John's gospel.
Darren Rounzion:In other words, truth is not a concept, it's a person. Truth is not a vibe, it's his voice. It's not a trend, it's our foundation we live on. And we live in a world where where truth is curated, bent, and monetized based on our feelings. And the church doesn't survive on algorithms.
Darren Rounzion:The church overcomes the world by the blood of the lamb and the word of our testimony. And so we live in this moment where we've been lost swimming in things that we don't even know are lies. And this is how the enemy will work in the end times, which we are in. And we have been in since Pentecost Sunday, two thousand years ago, at 09:00 in the morning when the holy spirit fell on the church. That's when the end times began.
Darren Rounzion:Did you know that? Yes. Okay. Now you know. Tribulation began at the birth of Jesus.
Darren Rounzion:So we have been in the great tribulation, we have been in the end times, and things are progressively getting worse. Because we live in a moment where we don't stand on much truth anymore. We stand on our own belief systems that each of us have. So we need to come back to what is true. So what do we do?
Darren Rounzion:Here's some practical steps. We live truth in an age of lies. So I wanna invite you church to respond to Satan's weapon. If his weapon is deception, then our defense is truth. Right?
Darren Rounzion:It says that the beast and the dragon, is from Baum, deceived not through violence alone but by masquerading evil as good and empire as salvation. He counterfeits signs, distorts worship and rebrands empire as faithfulness. This is exactly what's happened in our culture where what we see as as good is is simply covering up the evil that we're participating in. And this is the work of Satan. So I wanna invite you to live truth in an age of life.
Darren Rounzion:So here's some practical things for all of us to engage in the end times that we're in. Number one, return to scripture and listen to what I say, let the word of God retrain your instincts. So sometimes your natural instinct will be to do this, but would you allow the scripture to redirect it? Like allow the word of God to influence your decisions in life. I'm not talking about your spiritual life.
Darren Rounzion:I'm talking about your habits. I'm talking about the way you date, the way you use your finances, the way you run your business, the way you respond to emails and engage in online world, the way you shop, the way you consume. Let scripture form you and your decision making because your natural instinct is formed by the world and the world is formed by satan. So you didn't even know it. So when people, you know, church hurt is a real thing, Right?
Darren Rounzion:And there's spiritual abuse and all sorts of things. But what's happened in our culture is we don't wanna talk about sin and any person of authority that says, okay, you can't sleep with your boyfriend and girlfriend. And that person says, well, that's spiritual abuse. We're confused Cause that's what's going on today in some context. Some context legit spiritual abuse, of course.
Darren Rounzion:But in other context, people just don't wanna submit to authority. They don't wanna submit to the word of God. And so because it doesn't it's because all of a sudden truth is being spoken, I no longer feel safe and culture promised us safety. The word is not safe. It's gonna cut like a double edged sword and your systems of belief will be will be very offended when the word of God has really spoken to you.
Darren Rounzion:Had this, conversation with my wife recently. I didn't tell her I was gonna talk about this, so you can just say stop if you want me to. But we were we were driving and she's talking to me about my tone with people. And she said this line that I was offended by. She said, I think something happened to you during COVID that and since then you've had this angers.
Darren Rounzion:It hurt you and since then you've had this anger. And it's come out in ways that I don't think you see. So like a good husband, I shut down the argument. No, that led to what would be repentance, but not first repentance. It led to a discovery where I just opened myself to the Lord and he showed me.
Darren Rounzion:Yeah, like your lie was that your values based on success when COVID came and shut down the church. You you know, you were started church with three people and it grew to like 06/2020 and then COVID shut it down. It didn't just shut it down but when you regather, there's like a 150 people. But in that time period, everyone was angry at you and they were. They were angry at me.
Darren Rounzion:Like, I was getting yelled at by people because we didn't have enough people of color on staff. And then I was getting yelled at because we followed the protocols and required masks and we weren't fighting the system and protesting government and Gavin Newsom. In the same day, it was this world of political anger, hostility, and I just absorbed it and I it was it was some I'm realizing now and this is not me just trying to like air everything, but she's right. And I have to retrain, which gets to number two, which is name the lies. I'm only as valuable as my success.
Darren Rounzion:God can't be trusted. Sex or sexuality is my identity. I mean, you think how diminishing that is to the image of God? That we wanna say your sexual preference or your sexuality is the truest thing about you. You have just limited the entire capacity of who you are in the image of God.
Darren Rounzion:You are divine. You have You are the breath of God. You exist because he breathed into your life and because of his loving countenance towards you. And you are physical and emotional and relational and and and you have a a mental capacity. You have this divine nature that is your soul all wrapped up and to limit it to one minor aspect of sexuality minimizes the grandeur of the the the, the massive mountain or or the Grand Canyon or the Tetons of life that you are.
Darren Rounzion:The world that you are as a person cannot be diminished by a minor piece of who you are in your identity. But culture wants to elevate that one and neglect the rest. So define right now what are the lies you're living? Name it. Is money your security?
Darren Rounzion:Is comfort your success? Back to that story I started with, the enemy doesn't come with a pitchfork. He whispers. Imagine a little boy finds a baby dragon in his house. It's small and harmless and kind of cute.
Darren Rounzion:He tells his mom about it but she says, there's no such thing as dragons. So the boy stops talking about it and the dragon doesn't go away. In fact, grow it starts to grow. Every time the family ignores the dragon, it gets bigger. It fills the hallway, the stairs, and the whole house.
Darren Rounzion:It eats all the food. They can't go anywhere. Eventually, it picks up the entire house and walks away with it. Finally, the boy says again, mom, there's a dragon. And she looks.
Darren Rounzion:And that moment, she names it and it shrinks. The more you acknowledge the dragon, the smaller it gets until it finally becomes small enough that you can handle it. The moral of the story is you can't defeat what you won't name because lies grow in the dark But truth exposes and shrinks them. So why does this matter today? Why is this so important?
Darren Rounzion:Chapter 20. Because this is what happens when we let deception, compromise, or avoidance grow in our lives. A small lie becomes a habit of hiding. A little bitterness turns into rage. A compromise impurity becomes a stronghold and an unchecked belief becomes our worldview.
Darren Rounzion:We say it's not that bad. It's okay. I'm fine. I'll deal with deal with it later. And that lie, like the dragon grows silently until it owns us.
Darren Rounzion:But Jesus doesn't invite us to ignore the truth. He invites us to name it, to face it and to be set free. This is why Jesus says in John chapter eight verse 31, if you hold to my teachings, then you really are my disciples. Then you will know the truth and the truth will set you free. It's not, then you will know the truth and the truth will set you free.
Darren Rounzion:It says, if you hold to my teachings and are my disciples, then you will know the truth and the truth will set you free. You see culture wants to say, truth will set you free. No. If you know Jesus, he is the truth and he's the only being that can set you free. So what's the dragon you're living with?
Darren Rounzion:What's the lie you've tolerated that you've lived with comfortably that Jesus wants to confront and throw into the lake of fire? What's the lie of your identity? What's the lie of your success or pleasure or fear? Maybe today is the time to name it. Maybe today is the day you come up and kneel and drag that lie into light and let Jesus the truth speak a better word over your soul because truth doesn't crush it, Truth saves us.
Darren Rounzion:Number three, a couple more points then we'll end with this is don't echo the enemy. Tell the truth even when it costs you. Church, we have to be a truth telling community. I don't mean picket signing people that have a different perspective. I mean living with truth in your life at all costs.
Darren Rounzion:When you identify the lie, speak the truth. When that self image lie comes in, you deny it and say that's straight from the pit of hell and you speak truth over yourself in the name of Jesus. When that lie comes into your marriage and you say, my identity is based on the success of my marriage or what my wife thinks of me. You say that is not true. My success, my value comes from him, nothing else.
Darren Rounzion:And I'm loved for no good reason other than he loves me. And my belovedness is where I get my value from Jesus and from there I can bring value anywhere I go. Do you see? Name the lie. Don't echo the enemy.
Darren Rounzion:Number four, let truth confront you. Look at that. I hope it's outside. Hopefully it is. Let truth rebuke your politics.
Darren Rounzion:Yeah? Yes. I don't Let truth rebuke your politics. Let it rebuke, let it comfort your wounds and expose your motives and call you high higher. So tired of the church getting hyper political thinking that that's how we're gonna win the battle.
Darren Rounzion:Of course, it's political. Of course, your faith is expressed in politics. It has to But let us not divide over that or demonize the other side that has a different view. There is truth on the left and there is truth on the right. There is wrong and false belief systems on both sides.
Darren Rounzion:Last week, was going on this rant and I We're in the sermon I say and truth prevails. And at the 12:00 service, I accidentally said on the day of no kings, and Trump prevails. And there was a loud cheering gasp. And I was confronted by I was like, I'm talking about the one true king Jesus Christ. We will not cheer any other king in this room.
Darren Rounzion:Whether you agree or disagree, that's the reality of the kingdom of God. So this church will bow to no king except Christ. And we will not allow our allegiances to political kingdoms to be bigger than that of the Christian community we are a part of. So we welcome all people from all places because that's what the church is designed to be. Does that make sense?
Darren Rounzion:But let truth rebuke you. Yeah? And lastly, I think there's a five a fifth, is there? Be a truth teller in community. Amen.
Darren Rounzion:Lead your family in truth, lead your friends in integrity, and this is just for me. Be the same person on Monday that you are on Sunday. Yeah? Blessed and holy are those who share in the first resurrection. They will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with him.
Darren Rounzion:Did you ever notice that the ones who reign are the ones who are overlooked? What do you think it means to reign right now? I think it's the widow who's prays quietly for their kids. It's a single dad who resist pornography. It's the young woman who walks away from a job offer because it will compromise her character.
Darren Rounzion:A teenager who chooses prayer over popularity because Colossians three, this is Paul's version of Revelation chapter 20. Since then you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts and on things above where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above not on earthly things for you died. When did you die? This is great theology.
Darren Rounzion:When did you die? When you were when you believe that Jesus is Lord. When you came to believe that that he is the son of God and you got baptized in baptism, the symbol is you died with Christ on the cross. You were buried with him and then you currently raised. Look at what Colossians three says, you For you died and your life now, so your past tense life dead, your current life now is hidden with Christ and when Christ, by the way if you forgot this, who is your life appears, then you will also appear with him in glory.
Darren Rounzion:This is Paul's version of Revelation 20. You were designed to reign but not the way you think. So brothers and sisters, may you name the lies, kill the dragons. Let's pray. Father, would you stand?
Darren Rounzion:The dragon is bound, the lamb is enthroned. Would you open your hands? The deceivers defeated and the church is rising to truth. You don't need to fear the future. You need to walk in truth.
Darren Rounzion:Reject the lies, live the truth and follow the lamb wherever he goes. Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on us. Where we've conformed to the propaganda of our culture, may we live now in truth. Would you free us Lord to walk in your ways. Lord where we have allowed the dragons to grow grow in hidden secrecy.
Darren Rounzion:May we confess our sins today that we may be healed. Jesus name. Amen. We're gonna worship. Our prayer team's gonna come forward.
Darren Rounzion:Every week we create space for you to respond. If you need prayer for anything, would you come forward? If you're grieving, loss, if you're longing for someone just to lay hands and bless you, we'd love to do that. If you wanna just confess, we'd love to receive your confession and pray life over you. Let's worship.
Darren Rounzion:Thank
Intro/Outro:you so much for listening. For more information, please visit us at garden.church.