Steve Simms's Blog, page 173

If Luther could criticize church, why can’t we?

Any condemnation that has come on you for sincerely questioning a pastor, is not from God. Be healed and be free to follow Jesus.

Martin Luther criticized church (and is honored for it today). Honest criticism of church is often needed and shouldn’t be silenced. If you’re not Catholic or Eastern Orthodox, then Luther’s rebukes of church opened the door for “your” church. Luther criticized the church and then established churches that didn’t tolerate criticism, leading to centuries of church splits.

Any Christ-follower who meets to pray and share with others who love Jesus, shouldn’t feel guilty about not going to church. If a church can’t attract attendees without manipulating people with guilt or obligation, something is off track. Christians are supposed to be trained and sent out to obey the Spirit, not corralled, contained, and controlled by pulpit power.

Many people in religious systems are following Christ as much as they know, but their spiritual vision is often limited by the system and its leader. “Quenching the Spirit” isn’t always an individual thing. It’s also a systemic problem that is built into much church programming. The living Jesus is working in people, but because church leaders have trained them to be quite about it, we seldom hear their stories.

Pulpits have silenced the testimonies of God’s people. Sound systems have overridden their voices. Their spiritual insight has been rejected.

Pulpit control often robes itself in self-appointed authority. Preachers who stifle criticism too often act like the religious leaders who tried to silence the prophets.

Pulpit control can compel uniformity in a church, but it can never produce the unity of the Spirit. If a church knocked over the pulpit and unplugged the sound system, people would need to sit close together and share with each other. After decades of Bible reading, I still can’t find the idea of one person continually controlling a congregation from a pulpit.

The person who controls the pulpit, too often controls the church, but that is a man trying to do Jesus’ job! A preacher standing in a pulpit should never distract people from the presence of the living Jesus. A pulpit, a degree, an ordination, a crowd, or being an inspiring speaker or a church planter, doesn’t make a man or woman of God.

Christianity is supposed to be about humility and heart connection, not about control and manipulation. Most Christians can tell you stories about how church hurts. Far too few can tell you about how Jesus’ ekklesia heals.

Going to church without connecting with the living Jesus is like going to Starbucks without getting anything to drink. Without personal connection with the living God, religion becomes deceptive. When Christianity is disconnected from the direct leadership and control of living Jesus, it quickly institutionalizes.

When religion tries to control people, it is acting like the New Testament Pharisees who wanted to end Jesus’ life. Stuck in tradition, habit, and controlling leaders, church too often gets upset about earthly things and ignores spiritual realities.

Nowadays many Christians are saying that masks “muzzle” them, yet they’ve been muzzled by pulpit control for years. Many preachers who condemn people as “rebellious” for criticizing them are busy criticizing other preachers (and even politicians).

Church conflicts are usually about people squabbling over control. If we all let Jesus be in control, there’s no church conflict.

To say that a meeting is being held in Jesus’ name, but not let Him have full control of the meeting is false advertising. If there’s anywhere Jesus should be expected to have full control, it’s in a meeting that claims to be in His name.

Jesus connectivity
Allows His inner activity
To freely stream
Through your heart.

“Here’s the church
And here’s the steeple”
Turn over the pulpit
And free the people.

Something you say or do (or don’t say or don’t do) will impact someone’s life today. To make the world better, make your impact positive.

War as cancel culture.

War is the ultimate cancel culture. It dresses everybody the same so that it’s hard to recognize people as individuals. War is an excuse to kill people and it’s is always unfair.

War is insanity, but the people who speak out against war are too often the ones who are called “crazy.” Perhaps we should find a way to personalize war and let opposing soldiers get to know each other before they start killing.

War blows up truth with the dense smoke of deception. If wars weren’t glorified and romanticized, but instead their horror and cruelty was clearly seen, nobody would want to fight them.

Soldiers are both the victims and perpetrators of war. No one wins a war. Those who remain alive just survive it.

The act of war is surrender to Hell’s worst demons. Regardless of the side they fought on, the war dead know no victory.

Peace comes from caring enough to connect heart to heart with people. War comes from being unwilling to care about certain people.

People find it shocking (even appalling) when people speak against war (yet many famous generals have done so). General Sherman said: “War is hell.” Here is the rest of what he said: “It is only those who have neither fired a shot nor heard the shrieks and groans of the wounded who cry aloud for blood, more vengeance, more desolation. War is hell.” ―William Tecumseh Sherman

War sheds blood,
But friend or foe,
The blood is
Always red.

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More humble thought could mean fewer wars fought

War fights
Violence with violence,
Destruction with destruction,
Killing with killing.

War enrages
And engages
The worst phases
Of humanity.

War weaponizes,
Dehumanizes,
And trivializes
Human life.

War villainizes
And demonizes
People
To make it easier
To kill them.

Compassion is humanity’s most underutilized weapon.

War is deceptive. It’s cruelty and chaos confuse even the wisest people. The path to war leads to horror. The outcome of a war makes no difference to the people who are killed in it.

Battlefield medics know what war really is. Most of us hide behind mythical ideas about war to shelter us from its horrific truth.

War fully embraces the merciless use of violence. It gives in to humanity’s violent tendencies instead of resisting them.

From my earliest memories I was saddened and confused by war. I still am.

War plants the seeds of future wars. War is a failure to communicate. After listing all the possible excuses, justifications, and causes, war remains horrific. It releases and empowers hordes of demons.

The slaughter of human beings is never something to celebrate. The aftermath of a battlefield should be grieved, not celebrated.

War says: “If you believe you are right, then it’s okay to kill those you believe to be wrong.” It also says: “If our nations don’t agree, let’s kill each other until one side surrenders.”

War is infinitely more gory than it is glory. If you feel like a uniform makes a person your enemy, look beyond the clothes to the soul.

War fails to protect soldiers from being killed or wounded and innocent civilians from being collateral damage. When nations fight cruelty with cruelty, it increase cruelty instead of decreasing it.

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To be Spirit-led is to overflow with compassion

Being led by the Spirit isn’t an optional part of Christianity. It’s an indicator of who God’s children are. See Romans 8:14.

Repentance and humility are how you make more room for the living Jesus in your heart and mind. When people try to a analyze Jesus, they disagree. When they surrender to and obey Him, they discover unity.

Now is the time for Christians to worship and be led by the Spirit. There’s no need to squabble.

When Jesus is allowed to be present in a human heart, He continually makes His presence known. If the reality of Jesus’ presence isn’t alive in your personal experience, you’ve missing out.

Rivers of living water flow from Christ-followers. Ekklesia (Jesus’ town hall meeting) is God’s forum to learn to freely express those Holy Spirit rivers. Some Christians are coming back to ekklesia & it’s all about Jesus and being led by His Spirit.

Knowledge alone achieves nothing but pride. Information unapplied is useless.

Knowledge doesn’t change hearts; compassion does. Perhaps a curriculum that doesn’t include a course on compassion is incomplete.

Compassion pays great dividends, not with cash, but with the mystical delight of human heart connection. If you have an attitude of compassion when you meet people, you’ll like them better than if you have an attitude of suspicion.

A compassionate heart facilitates interpersonal connection. A suspicious mind hinders it.

We learn to follow Jesus by doing it, not by listening to Sunday lectures about following Him. Church was a 4th century compromise with the Roman Empire, when Christianity received government approval and was institutionalized.

To be motivated and moved by your desires is to surrender your freedom and become enslaved to their demands. To obey the the Holy Spirit is true liberty.

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High octane hope.

If you make your desires and feelings your fuel, they’ll burn up your engine. Run your mind and heart on premium fuel. Fuel your heart with high octane hope.

Don’t just fill up with anything that comes along. Some things that we think we’re being fueled by, we’re actually being fooled by.

Self-deception is common. Without wisdom and courage it’s easy to deceive ourselves into using destructive fuels.

Try not to become a casualty of your own thinking and emotions. Examine them before they sear your conscience. Feelings and desires are the great deceivers of humanity.

Anybody can be fooled and everybody is to some degree. Nobody’s opinions are fully aligned with truth. he refusal to acknowledge something doesn’t mean it isn’t true.

Desensitized hearts overlook much of life’s simple pleasures–it’s high octane fuel. Desire-driven lives tend to descend into decadence. When compassion is shut down and the conscience ignored, the human mind can think and advocate many messed up things. T

God is incomprehensible, beyond understanding, yet accessible to any human heart. Jesus continually fuels me with His presence.

Give the gift
Of an encouraging lift.
Help someone shift
From sadness to joy.

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Until our hearts are together, we’re not really together

Together?
I see
Connection lost,
Disconnected hearts,
Human alienation,
People apart.

The avoidance
Of heart connection
Is the rejection
Of compassion
And affection.

A programmed heart
Has lost the art
Of taking part
In spontaneous joy.

Loneliness is the symptom of a disconnected heart. It’s important to sometimes let your heart unfold, like a flower in the sun, and open up to caring, connection, and compassion.

It’s hard to hear someone’s heart when you’re living in a loud crowd of superficiality. We humans have myriads of unobserved commonalities but too often focus on our differences.

Mingling is common. Heart connection’s rare. When human hearts connect, differences diminish. Until our hearts are together, we’re not really together.

Jesus connects people’s hearts. Religion separates them. Biblical Christianity is about Christ-connection & heart affection, not mere theological reflection. Subjects of the kingdom of God need to frequently gather to interact with King Jesus in a citizen’s assembly.

If you don’t personally connect with the living Jesus, lectures about Him will do you little good. I find a circle of heart-felt sharing to be much more open to the Holy Spirit than a programmed talk from a “higher up.” I want to be a catalyst for Christ-connection, inspiring people to connect with the living Jesus and with each other.

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The listening to & obeying Jesus lifestyle

Miracles happen when people gather around the living Jesus, open their heart to listen to Him, and then humbly share what they hear. Jesus repeatedly said that God’s Spirit is speaking to His people and told them to listen. See Revelation, chapter 1 and 2.

People who listen to and obey the living Jesus live a different lifestyle than those who don’t. “You will know them by their fruit.” Jesus said: “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws them.” Even unbelievers can hear and respond to God if they listen.

Discipleship isn’t a casual float trip with the currents of our culture. It’s an upstream battle as we paddle against the tide.

Listening to a man trying to explain Jesus to a group of people should never replace daily experiencing Jesus yourself. It’s easy to go to church and sit for a service, but it’s vital that we don’t stop short of connecting with the living Jesus. When I humbly read the words written in the Bible, I hear God’s living word speaking loudly in my heart.

Church tends to roll people around on a religious gurney, but the living Jesus heals them and sends them on a Spirit-led journey. The spectator mentality keeps church goers sidelined–merely sitting on the bench and listening to lectures about Christianity. Reading the Bible and following the living Jesus gradually dechurched me and let me see beyond religious institutions.

Jesus’ assembly isn’t a physical building, but a gathering of living stones being built together heart-to-heart by His presence. Christ-followers need to meet together, but not as religious spectators–as active seekers of God’s presence. –Hebrews 10:25.

Intellectual analysis isn’t understanding. To be in awe is the true understanding.

–God’s relay–
What you’ve heard
Jesus say,
Humbly share it
With someone
Today.

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Meetings Jesus controls

Watching someone control your computer remotely, is an example of how Jesus want’s to direct you from the inside. Accept?

Jesus said, “Follow Me.” Following takes motion. You can’t follow if you’re locked in place mentally, emotionally, and spiritually.

Religious people want to get you plugged into a routine, an organization, or a place. Jesus wants you plugged into Him. Human plans and programs tend to fence Jesus in and impede Him from taking direct control church services.

An orchestra gathers to be led by a conductor. An ekklesia gathers to be led by the living Jesus.

Spirit-led meetings can happen anywhere and anytime two or more people focus on Jesus and then say and/or do what He says. Jesus’ Town Hall Meeting (His assembly) isn’t bound to any place or any schedule.

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The 5 roles of Ephesians 4 help my heart to frolic with Jesus

When Christians aren’t submitted to and in tune with the Spirit, they aren’t on the same page with each other. Every Christ-follower needs to be trained to continually and actively hear the living Jesus and do what He tells them to.

I want to let my heart freely frolic with the living Jesus. Don’t fence me in.

In Ephesians, the Bible lists five roles to help Christians keep each other connected to and rolling along with the living Jesus. They aren’t offices or titles, but servant gifts designed to empower all Christ-followers to be led by the Spirit and to frolic with God’s joy.

The five roles are supposed to connect people with Christ, the living Head, so they can be joined and held together by Him as one body. To function in the five roles in Ephesians requires that we “be completely humble and gentle…patient, bearing with one another in love.

The goal of the five roles is to train Jesus’ followers to live and love like He does and be united in their relationship with Him. The 5 roles are to steer people clear of getting stuck in the rut of continually being taught but not doing what they ought.

Here are the five roles of Ephesians 4:

Apostles are envoys sent to humbly demonstrate the presence and reality of the living, resurrected Jesus.Prophets are seers who courageously proclaim and do what God shows them, no matter what it costs them.Evangelists are persuaders who live and speak in a way that touches people’s heart and convinces to surrender to and obey Jesus.Pastors are shepherds who support and coach people as they help them follow Jesus, not themselves or an organization.Teachers are trainers giving people hands-on experience in the skills and knowledge that they need to be disciples of Jesus.[image error]Pexels.com" data-medium-file="https://stevesimms.files.wordpress.co..." data-large-file="https://stevesimms.files.wordpress.co..." src="https://stevesimms.files.wordpress.co..." alt="" class="wp-image-28397" />Photo by Helena Lopes on Pexels.com

Looking for more in Christianity . . .

Detached observers are happy with church. People who want to actively participate in seeking God, long for more.

The Bible says Christians are led by the Spirit, but that’s impossible if we’re unwilling to surrender our control and be flexible. God’s assembly gathers to demonstrate the hearing of faith by walking in the freedom of the Spirit.

Jesus is looking for loving people, overflowing with compassion, not for enforcers trying to coerce people to act right. Religion without humility and a heart full of God’s love can quickly turn mean.

Biblical Christianity doesn’t need any human government to support it or defend it. It stands on the living, resurrected Jesus.

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