Steve Simms's Blog, page 251

Fresh definitions of some Bible terms about leadership (APEST)

The most moving Christians I’ve met (through their writings) have sought God for themselves as mystics, misfits, reformers, and monks . They have helped inspire me to seek God about the meaning of some Bible terms.

Elders are mature Christ-followers, examples of godliness and of Spirit-led obedience to the risen Jesus Christ. Overseers (bishops/elders), function like basketball officials and monitor Christian meetings to keep them freely flowing in the Spirit.

Sent ones (apostles) leave their comfort zone and go wherever the Spirit sends them, to proclaim and demonstrate the reality of Jesus. Prophets speak, write, and do what the Spirit tells them to — regardless of the consequences. Evangelists (preachers) proclaim the reality of Jesus to those who haven’t heard or followed Him yet.

Pastors guide, coach, and counsel people, one on one, assisting them in growing in an intimate walk with the risen Jesus. Teachers use words, actions, demonstrations, and living examples, to train people to understand, follow, and obey the living Jesus.

Deacons (like Stephen & Philip, of “the Seven”) break out of the religious mold and do radical things in obedience to God. Priests are any Christ-follower, who because of Jesus’ death and resurrection, doesn’t need a human intermediary to get to God. Ministers are any Christian who reaches out to others with compassion, love, and service.

“Reverend is His name.” Psalm 111:9 KJV. Reverend is only used once is the Bible (to refer to God) but never as a person’s title.

Human order makes Christians comfortable, complacent, and controlled. God’s order challenges, confronts, and commissions them. My favorite “Order of Worship:” Everybody listen to Jesus and then say or do what He tells you to.

People need to see Christ living in and through all the members of His body, not just a few professionals. When Christianity became about attending weekly meetings of a religious organization, it lost much of its spontaneity.

Christians are supposed to be overflowing with inner “rivers of living water.” Why settle for an occasional spiritual drip? A fuller experience of God is available to all of us if we will only surrender more fully to Him. When your heart hurts, press into Christ’s healing presence.

Jesus doesn’t need to be memorialized because He’s alive to comfort, heal, and empower us with His presence. We just need to let Him freely work in us, among us, and through us. Let all women and all men who have a relationship with the risen Jesus, preach the Good News. If we make every Christ-follower a preacher, people won’t need to go to church to hear the Gospel.

Yes! I believe in women’s ordination. Let’s ordain everybody who loves and follows the risen Jesus!

The law says, “Walk the line.” Grace says, “Walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.” (Gal. 5:16.)

Saying no to the boxes that steal our peace & freedom.

When society teaches that getting what we want is more important than doing what is right, injustice will prevail. Sometimes we need to forcefully say to our desires, “I ain’t doin’ it!” no matter how much they cry out for our compliance.

If you open your mind to every idea and suggestion that comes your way, you’ll be overwhelmed. Mental health requires discernment.

Freedom to do what we want can enslave us to desire. Freedom to do what’s right liberates us from desire’s domination.

All thoughts matter. Choose and embrace uplifting thoughts; refute and reject destructive ones.

Love chooses noncooperation with unethical, immoral, or evil thoughts, words, or behaviors, no matter the consequences.

Boxed thinking, boxed hearts, boxed politics, and boxed religion, challenge us to box against our boxes and break free.

Forget the past or “never forget”? (Memorial Day thoughts)

Too often our memory of the past is selective. Many people want to forget America’s history of racial injustice, but when it comes to Memorial Day they want to “never forget.”

I wrote a book about many incredible, yet forgotten, American heroes we can remember on Memorial Day. It’s called: Off the RACE Track” and is available at https://amzn.to/2EARyCp

Why are whites who fought against America honored as heroes, but Native Americans who did & slaves who rebelled, aren’t? On Memorial Day shouldn’t we also remember America’s forgotten fallen who fought for freedom inside the USA.

Memorial Day makes me sad because it reminds me of the massive and intentional destruction of life that warfare has caused.

Freedom to do what we want can enslave us to desire. Freedom to do what’s right liberates us from desire’s domination.

What makes America great? The idea that all people “are created equal . . . with inalienable rights.” O for universal acceptance of basic human rights.

It’s okay to say some things aren’t okay!

Every thought, feeling, desire, and action isn’t okay. Desire without self-control usually runs amuck. It’s okay to say that some things aren’t okay!

We live in a culture where people feel entitled to demand other peoples’ approval of whatever they do. However, doing whatever you feel like doing and then demanding people to approve, is like shooting an arrow into a board, drawing a bullseye around it, and then telling people to applaud you.

If disapproval equals hatred, then love becomes impossible. God cares about people even when He disapproves of their behavior. That’s love!

Every person has veto power over her/his own desires. Not to use your veto is to be continually in tow to your inner foe.

Success is often portrayed as owning and showing off fancy, expensive stuff. However, stuff without joy, love & inner peace isn’t success. It’s just a stuffy lifestyle!

Swallow pride, follow Jesus, and be set free inside!

If you’re a Christian, you’re an actual part of the body of Christ. How’s your part doing? Instead of religious observance, perhaps we need to observe and obey the risen Jesus.

Biblically, there are no passive, non-functioning members of the body of Christ. Following Jesus isn’t going from event to event or Sunday to Sunday. It’s being caught up with Him daily and doing what He says!” Seeker friendly” churches abound, but where are the “doer friendly” churches that welcome people to come in & do what Jesus says?

When faith is formalized and systematized it changes from a spontaneous relationship with Christ into a stylized religion about Him. Christ wants to be your tour guide through daily life, not your religious affiliation.

Following Jesus gives the excitement and adventure of travel. Even when I’m at home He takes me to indescribable spiritual places! When people are individually following Jesus with all their heart, they have an amazing, supernatural connection when they meet.

It’s hard to follow Jesus if you’ve never even learned to be spiritually fed by Jesus. Jesus leads people by internal promptings. If we ignore His inner voice we won’t be able to follow Him. Jesus speaks truth. He doesn’t make suggestions.

Christ-followers aren’t mass produced. They are individually called, trained, and led by the risen Jesus living inside them. Don’t go where the Holy Spirit doesn’t lead you. (Romans 8:14.) Swallow pride, follow Jesus, and be set free inside!

When we let Christ live and lead from within us, we begin to “jump” with inner life, like a Mexican jumping bean. However, if we won’t listen to Jesus, our efforts at Christianity will be misdirected and mechanical. He said: “My sheep listen to My voice.”

Sermons that appeal to the brain, but fail to touch the heart, have little lasting impact. Maybe pastors could be empowering influencers training people to hear and obey Jesus, instead of giving religious lecturer about Him. If people are allowed to contribute their insights and testimonies in church (not just their money) spiritual breakthroughs will abound! If a church isn’t being directly controlled by Jesus, then it’s being controlled by someone (or something) else.

The shortest distance between two hearts is a straight line — open, honest, and caring, heart-to-heart communication. To fill your life with hope and healing, begin to regularly interact with the living Jesus, heart to heart.

Violence, insults, hostility and an effective alternative

Violence has always been a part of society, even part of much of our entertainment. Perhaps what we enjoy watching is influential.

Humans tend to resort to meanness (and even violence) if we have trouble getting what we want by being nice. Violence uses physical force to try to change or control another person’s free will.

Violence is used when people feel powerless and believe that they have no other alternative to get what they want. Perhaps violence comes more from an angry, tormented heart than from a confused mind.

Words can cause physical harm. Mean, insulting words often escalate into violence and/or incite violence in others.

When our free will is continually frustrated, our dreams thwarted, and our feelings trampled, violence can falsely appear appealing. Society seldom teaches and trains people how to self-defuse violent impulses and to find powerful alternatives to those impulses (like MLK and Gandhi did).

Jesus took a radical view of violence: “Forgive,” “Bless those that curse you,” “Turn the other cheek,” “Love your enemies.”

Rather than verbally or physically attacking others, we can learn to fight against our own self-destructive thoughts and behaviors. That’s a positive way to put our violent feelings to good use.

God’s love isn’t a license to live any lifestyle you like, but a call to follow and obey the living Jesus. Both of America’s major political parties need to put the biblical “love chapter” in their platform. (1 Corinthians 13.)

the incredible, readable, livable Bible

For nearly 5 decades I’ve been regularly reading a book that still gets me high & excited when I read it. My daily experience of Bible reading is almost indescribable!

heart-lab experiments for individuals & groups

Creativity is a thought-lab where various ideas are mixed together to discover helpful associations that make life better. Since the Creator became a human in Jesus, Christianity should the most creative activity on earth (not a spectator event). Christianity suffers from a severe lack of serious implementation — too many hearers and far too few doers!

The human heart is a laboratory for faith experiments that demonstrate the reality of God. Use your heart-lab today! The boundaries of doubt, comfort, and tradition keep many people from boldly exploring the frontiers of faith in the risen Jesus. Watch your thoughts and emotions like guinea pigs, and learn from the way they behave. Be a Christian investigator, not a Christian spectator.

Your heart is a lab where you can conduct spiritual experiments that will demonstrate the reality of Jesus Christ. Science labs experiment with chemical reactions, but in your personal heart-lab, you can experiment with spiritual reactions. When you discover something for yourself it means far more to you than if an authority figure spoon feeds it to you.

The heart is too often a closed, unexplored wilderness within us. (People who never examine the consequences of their thoughts, feelings, and behaviors, are unaware of the true sources of their inner torment.) However, when opened up to God’s inner Light the heart comes alive with joy.

Denial never overcomes guilt, but “the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.” Jesus’ blood can make you clean. The early Christians overcame “by the word of their testimony.” Victory comes as you tell others about your Christ experiences. Early Christianity wasn’t pampering or self-focused. The first Christ-followers “loved not their lives unto death.”

Make your life a Christ-lab. Humbly receive Jesus’ blood; testify about what’s going on in your life; surrender your life to Him. Be a doer of God’s word and not a hearer only. Then observe the results.

The early Christians “turned the world upside down” through Christ. They didn’t “drain the swamp” through politics. Laboratories make life-changing discoveries. How we need laboratories of the Holy Spirit! In an interactive, gifts of the Spirit laboratory, ordinary Christians can see amazing results that will change their lives and then change society!

Instead of a robe, perhaps a preacher needs a lab coat to get the congregation active in Christ-centered spiritual experiments. Maybe church should be a lab where people can experience the truth through interactive Christ-focused experiments.

Church could be like a science lab where Christ-followers gather to do experiments that demonstrate the reality of their faith. Church should be a Christian laboratory, not a religious museum. Christians should meet to experience and demonstrate the reality of theology, not just to hear someone theologize about reality. Theology unapplied is theology denied! If church doesn’t lead you to Christ-centered, spiritual discovery, something is off base.

The formality of religion should never be substituted for the reality of the risen Jesus. Why are churches so reluctant to let the living Jesus take the reins and override the Sunday morning program? When everything done in a church service could still be done if Jesus was dead, it’s not a powerful testimony for His resurrection. If Jesus is truly alive and present, why don’t churches allow Him even a little bit of time on the Sunday morning program?

An hour isn’t enough time to worship God–neither is a lifetime. That’s why we need eternity! The Bible is God’s quality assurance handbook here on earth. Use it.

Knock-knock — Jesus is knocking!

Knock-knock. / Who’s there? / Jesus. / Jesus who? / Jesus Christ–the same, yesterday, today, and forever.

Jesus is always knocking. He wants you to hear, open up, and continually interact with Him.

All of the inner knocking in your soul isn’t dysfunction or depression. Some of it is Jesus trying to get your attention.

The unopened door of the heart keeps people isolated, lonely, amd self-obsessed. We heal when we let Christ amd caring people come in.

Jesus knocks, offering the opportunity of a lifetime — forgiveness, freedom from inner torment, and reconciliation to God. Jesus doesn’t stop knocking, but many people stubbornly stop hearing His knocking and try to believe that He has gone away.

A guilty conscience fears Jesus knocking, but He knocks to bring grace, healing, and power over sin, not condemnation. When Jesus knocks, too many people say, “Come back later.”

Some people respond to Jesus’ knocking by locking their door. Try not to do that.

Temptation attacks, but Jesus knocks. Too often we surrender to tormenting attacks while ignoring Jesus’ loving knocks.

Jesus persistently knocks, trying to find open doors so that He can break through into today. (Revelation 3:20.) It’s hard to hear Jesus knocking when the sounds of self-interest are shamelessly shouting in your soul.

Even church can train people to ignore Jesus. When church is outwardly focused on programs, performances, and pulpits, it can distract people from hearing Jesus’ inner knocking.

Learn to listen carefully to Jesus. Daily life tends to drown out His knocking. Jesus is knocking on your heart’s door, even when you’re distracted and don’t hear Him. Just slow down and listen.

Heaven’s knock-knock, knocking on your door. Right now!

Where do you go to Jesus and His invisible Spirit?

Jesus is present today as the Holy Spirit. The Spirit is invisible. The Holy Spirit isn’t a doctrine to be taught but Christ’s presence to be listened to and obeyed. To be led by the Spirit we have to learn to follow invisible leadership.

Too often Christians treat the Holy Spirit like a myth instead of as present reality. Ignoring the Holy Spirit is one way of quenching the Spirit.

God’s invisible leader doesn’t speak from the front of a church service, but from within the heart. Follow the Spirit. A meeting where everybody is free to hear and obey the Spirit will demonstrate the reality of invisible leadership.

Visible Christian leaders need to train believers to follow and obey the invisible Leader in their heart — the Holy Spirit. Christ-followers are full of powerful spiritual apps that they’ve never learned to fully use.

True faith knows Jesus, grows in relationship with Jesus, and flows in the Spirit with Jesus. It’s takes less focus to live by habit than it does to listen to and obey the Holy Spirit.

Every Christian has a testimony about how the Spirit has worked in her/his life, but only a few are being told. Untold testimonies cripple Christinaity by keeping mighty works of God hidden in people’s hearts.

For me, the existence of a Creator of everything is much more logical than the idea that nothing produced everything. Everybody has the right to disapprove of other people’s beliefs & behaviors, but nobody has the right to be mean to people. If you respect yourself you won’t need to use a title to try to get other people’s respect but you can humbly follow the Spirit.