darren rouanzoin
a husband to alex.
a friend, brother and son.
a servant to the garden church.
a missional practitioner.
a student of leadership, community and discipleship.
i love a good conversation. a good story. good food. good beer. better wine. great coffee. a good read.
most of all I love that I'm loved by the Father, hidden in the life of the resurrected messiah, Jesus of Nazareth, and empowered, filled and motivated by the Holy Spirit.
passionate about the kingdom moving forward.
currently learning how to love.
Love bade me welcome, yet my soul drew back,
Guilty of dust and sin.
But quick-ey’d Love, observing me grow slack
From my first entrance in,
Drew nearer to me, sweetly questioning
If I lack’d any thing.
“A guest,” I answer’d, “worthy to be here”;
Love said, “You shall be he.”
“I, the unkind, ungrateful? ah my dear,
I cannot look on thee.”
Love took my hand, and smiling did reply,
“Who made the eyes but I?”
“Truth, Lord, but I have marr’d them; let my shame
Go where it doth deserve.”
“And know you not,” says Love, “who bore the blame?”
“My dear, then I will serve.”
“You must sit down,” says Love, “and taste my meat.”
So I did sit and eat.
FINIS
Glory to God on high, and on earth peace,
Good will towards men.
“this kingdom” by eliot rausch
- 4,000 churches will close this year
- Only 1,500 churches will successfully launch (that’s an 80% failure rate)
- Only 15% of American churches are growing
- Of those that are growing, only 2.3% are growing through conversion. The rest is transfer growth.
- Just half of the 200,000 viable churches in America added even 1 new member through conversion last year
- This is chasing away 1,500 pastors from ministry each month
“Whoever claims to live in him must live as Jesus did.”
we stand in waiting expectancy for the coming age, present and on its way, established and yet to be furthered- we walk in the current reign of a loving God who heals, restores, renews, strengthens, forgives, resurrects, and serves- today, tomorrow and forevermore. for my friends needing hope- hope in the person of Christ, for my friends who need help- ask, seek and knock, for my friends who are hurting- he knows your pain, he hears your cries, he’s there in the midst of your tears- hold on.
Can anyone guess what this is? I’m using it for Sunday’s message.
When I was speaking at New Wine a couple of weeks ago. A young man came up to me and asked me how I heard God’s voice. After explaining my thoughts he said, “Well, okay. I get that, but how do you know it’s Him?”
How do you know its God?
Really, though. How do you, really know its Him? The question was a bit puzzling. How do I know its God? How do I really know when God speaks? Is it just me? Does God speak to us in personal ways?
I realized, when the young man asked me that question, that I was living with a lot of assumptions, one of which is the fact that God does speak and the other is that he speaks to me. It may sound crazy. I’m laughing thinking about it now. But, only a few years ago did I begin to believe that God does speak to us in ways that are intimate, direct and real. In ways that are knowable. As opposed to “hearing God” through fortune cookies or not hearing him at all. God can speak through fortune cookies (I hope the one I’m saving will come true one day), but I currently live with a developed belief, theology and experience that God speaks to us today in ways that are tangible and real.
If you believe that God speaks today, that he can speak to you in tangible, ‘hearable’ ways then the next question I ask is, “how do you, hear God?”
When someone asks me how do I hear God, I first ask if they know how to listen to him.
I am, personally, a terrible listener. In fact, I’m constantly interrupting people before they finish talking. This gets me into a lot of trouble. I’m often so eager to tell people my own thoughts and ideas that I bulldoze over them trumping their thoughts and statements to proclaim my seemingly more important perspective. I’m terrible at listening. If I could tell you how many apologies I’ve given in conversations with my wife, my friends and leaders at The Garden you would probably be shocked at my lack of interpersonal communication skills. Hah. I find this interesting, as I confess my inadequacies with my interpersonal dialogues; I realize the solution to these problems is found in the way that I listen to God. (This is another conversation, but let me explain what I know about through my time with Jesus).
For some reason, I’ve learned to create space for God to speak. When I was 18 years old I began to journal. I would read a couple of chapters from the bible and then jump into my journal. I would start with the things that distracted me, almost making a list of everything on my mind. I would literally write them down and then mentally give them to God. Handing him over the things that I’m concerned about. I would then go into a time of listening. I would ask questions, “Lord, what do you want me to do with this or that?” Then I would wait.
Wait.
Wait.
And wait.
And finally I would wait some more.
Sometimes more stuff would distract me. But, I would put that on the list I already made and just sit, expectant to hear from God.
Then thoughts would come into my mind. Sometimes verses, sometimes movies I’ve seen, sometimes words and people and sometimes nothing at all, just silence. When I did hear something, I would write it all down. Just a quick word or phrase to capture those thoughts. All the while asking, “Lord, is this you?”
I created a space for God to speak to me.
It started with the things I was concerned about, and it later moved to just allowing space for God to speak. What did he want to say to me? Seriously, what did he want to say to me? That’s a scary thing to ask.
“Lord, say whatever you want.”
Do you want to know what I thought he would say? I thought he would correct my mistakes, I thought he would give me a list of things that I needed to work on. Every time I gave him space to “speak to me as he pleased,” I was expecting him to highlight sins and problems that I needed to fix.
In fact, I first started writing down those things. So, when I created that space for him, I started listing out all my sins and issues and fears and doubts. It was a long list. A lot of space. But after a few months of doing that I realized, that wasn’t his voice at all. That was mine.
How do I know what God would say?
I asked him to speak and waited. This time with out a pen. Do you know what I heard?
“I love you. I’m so proud of you. You are more than enough”
That sounds a lot like, “You are my son, the beloved, with you I am well pleased.” That sounds a lot more like what God would say to us if we were listening, doesn’t it? That’s what he said to his son a couple of times when he was in key moments of ministry. In Mark 1 when he’s baptized and in Mark 9 when Jesus is on the mountain “transfigured” with Peter, James and John. Both key transitions in ministry and moments in Jesus’ life. But, this wasn’t a significant time for me; just at time I wanted to hear God.
Point one. God speaks today. Point two. He says the same thing sometimes. He brings words of life, not condemnation. He speaks in away that creates new worlds; his words create space for us to discover ourselves, as he see’s us. So often we want to hear what we think he says, skewed by all of our brokenness, sin, pain, and noise. But, he speaks life, affirmation, hope, and love into our lives. When God speaks it brings us out of a self-condemning, insecure, fearful world and it pulls us into his world. When we are really listening for relational sake, we hear a loving Father who will do anything to reaffirm the identity we so often lack, that we are his beloved.
When people ask me how did I hear God, how did I know it was him, my response is- I know his voice. When you have heard his voice, its unmistakable.
What are we hearing? Who are we listening to?
If it’s really from God, it’s going to sound a lot like love.
