Steve Simms's Blog, page 278
December 30, 2017
Religion — a track for God to run on?
Church sometimes seems like going to a restaurant to hear a talk about food and then thinking we’ve been fed. Too many Christians have been taught that their primary role in the body of Christ is to sit and listen to a preacher once a week.
A meeting of the body of Christ is full of anointed people. It’s too bad that only one is usually allowed to speak. Christians often meet to hear a talk; but why don’t we meet to walk the walk with one another and live out our faith together?
Jesus wants to be the pervading and controlling Presence when we gather in His name; not just a teaching topic. Sermons and ceremonies about Jesus should never take the place of focusing on His presence and personally interacting with Him.
Watching Christ, jump off the track that has been laid for Him, and use everyday people to release the gifts of the Spirit, gives me unutterable joy! The body of Christ has way too many frozen body parts that are frozen to the rails of tradition. When we don’t let everyday Christians speak up in church, the meeting will misses out on what Christ has to say through them.
If the passive spectators in church services would become active participants, the level of Christian maturity would surge. If pastors would shift from Sunday lectures to facilitating individual connection with & obedience to Jesus, revival would break out!
Religion wants a controllable God who will run on a track, like a train, and not deviate from what He’s supposed to do.. However, Christianity calls us to obey Christ, not to control Him. Jesus wants to be your Guide inside; not just the subject of Sunday morning programs.
If a sermon doesn’t connect you directly to Jesus, you’ll quickly forget it. If it does, it will be an unforgettable moment! So why should churches continually lecture Christians about Jesus when they can help them directly interact with Him and personally hear His voice?
God doesn’t need a program, a track to run on. He’s God. Let Him do what He wants. God’s not predictable. So if we let God control a church service, wouldn’t it be unpredictable, too?
It’s sad that many churches miss out on the Holy Spirit’s amazing choreography by insisting on their own programs instead. The fact is, the living Jesus is a much better meeting manager than any clergyman on earth.
When the body of Christ focuses on one man’s gifting, it tends to shut down the giftings of everybody else. Therefore, preaching should connect people directly to the living Jesus; not make them dependent on sermons and preachers.
Sermon-hearing can be a small step toward a Christian life; but it’s not the ultimate goal of a Christian. There’s so much more!
To say (or act like), “I don’t need the invisible God,” is like saying, “I don’t need the invisible air.” Why settle for hearing a weekly talk about Jesus when you can personally interact with Him?
Everyone with Christ living within is qualified to talk & preach about Jesus! We must carry Christ in our heart, not in our data base.
Following Jesus isn’t a technique to get what you want, but the way to get what He wants for you, and that’s far better!
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December 27, 2017
December 25, 2017
The most important embassy isn’t in Jerusalem.
The body of Christ is called to meet as the embassy of the kingdom of God–demonstrating the government of God, to the world. Therefore, the most important embassy isn’t in the city of Jerusalem, but is located wherever two or more gather under the direct leadership of the living Jesus.
“We are ambassadors for Christ,” and His ekklesia (the Spirit-led assembly of His followers) is His embassy. What it takes to experience ekklesia: two or more people letting the Spirit lead them.
Most family gatherings are unprogrammed & aren’t controlled by one person. Perhaps that would also work for the family of God. When people who carry Jesus, living inside them, come together and let Him flow unprogrammed, all are filled with wonder and awe.
Anxiety is swept aside when I let my heart stream with the peace of Christ. When the risen Jesus comes to life in a human heart, a person’s entire perspective is, in an instant, transformed for a lifetime.
Having the time of your life can’t compare to the joy and wonder of letting Christ’s life continually consume your time. The birth of Jesus was the invasion of planet earth by the living God. Christ wasn’t born so Christians can hear weekly talks about Him, but so that He can live inside of and lead us and make us like Him.
We are all temporary residents of planet earth needing Jesus to be our way home. To miss the opportunity of a lifetime is sad. To miss the opportunity of eternity is tragic! Having an ongoing, intimate, personal relationship with Jesus is the opportunity of eternity.
Blessings and beauty surround you. Notice them.
December 22, 2017
The government shall be upon His shoulders
“Peace on earth, goodwill toward men!” The vision of Christmas includes caring for and getting along with all people; and being one with our brothers and sisters in Christ. Jesus prayed for the oneness of His followers in John 17.
However, it’s not easy to “love one another.” To go beyond religious ceremonies and sanctimonious words and to genuinely care for people, treating them with kindness and compassion, is a major challenge.
Fact is, we humans can’t truly love and serve one another without the love of the risen Jesus living and working in our heart. The Bible says; “Christ in you, the hope of glory.”
Christmas is a reminder that a Savior has been born and that peace and goodwill are not just dreams. They are a reality that comes into the heart, life, and gatherings (assemblies) of those who will surrender to and obey the living Jesus.
“Two thousand years after His birth, death and resurrection, Jesus is still everywhere. There is not a place in the universe where He is not. Anyone who calls on the Lord Jesus will find Him, wherever the caller’s location.” –from ONE: Unfolding God’s Eternal Purpose From House To House
This Christmas season, will you call on the Savior who was born as a babe in Bethlehem; and let Him be born in you and live in and through you as your risen Savior, which is Christ the Lord? It’s difficult to understand the word “Lord” in the 21st century.
“Lord” means absolute Master; the sovereign ruler of your life. To say to say, “No, Lord,” is an oxymoron; because telling Christ, “No,” means that (at least in that situation) He isn’t your Lord, your absolute Master.
The oneness that Jesus prayed for comes when people surrender their will to be governed and ruled by the risen Jesus — no longer directing their own life, but daily following and obeying Him. This is called the kingdom of God. It begins within a person and then gradually works its way into their everyday lifestyle, conforming them to the character and behavior of Jesus.
All who follow Jesus’ government (“and the government shall be upon His shoulders”) in their daily life will be in sync with each other. They will be one in the Spirit and will flow together in love, service, caring, and harmony.
So, the thing that you and I can do to help bring about the answer to Jesus’ prayer for oneness in His body is to make Him the absolute Master (Lord) of our life. All who do that begin to experience a wonderful and mysterious oneness with other people who have made Jesus their Lord.
They experience peace on earth, and goodwill toward men! (Make Jesus your absolute Master and see.) “All believers who abide in the life and nature of God are automatically one in Christ.” –from the book ONE available in Kindle or paperback @ http://amzn.to/2zgg8mD
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December 21, 2017
Exchanging the love of power for the power of love!
Religion is based on programmed meetings about God. Christianity is based on authentic experiences with the risen Jesus.
The kingdom of God is about letting the living God be the leader, instead of human leadership. God’s order isn’t about human hierarchy and the love of power. Instead, we minister to one another and submit to one another as equals led by the Holy Spirit. How amazing it is to go beyond religious ideas and to begin to daily experience God’s mystery and His love in and through one another!
Jesus lives in each of His followers, He doesn’t need to delegate leadership and positions of power to others, but He can personally lead each one. The body of Christ doesn’t function based on human authority and positional power, but on humility and spiritual life. The body of Christ functions by Christ living in and through each member, not by human organization.
The resurrected Jesus is the only Head of His body. No one should interfere with His authority. All are equal at the foot of the Cross. So why do we set up one person above everybody else in church? Jesus personally instructed that no one is to dominate (lord it over) others in the body of Christ. (See Mark 10:42.)
Jesus came to set us free from religious control. Instead of freedom in Christ, we’ve tended to focus on buildings and programs and human authority. However, when we depend on religion, we experience what religion can do. When we rely on the risen Jesus, we experience what He can do!
Because Christ is alive and directly accessible to all, there is no need for religious hierarchy and power politics in the body of Christ. Titles put attention on men, but the risen Jesus calls us to focus our attention on Him.
I long to see church become an interactive, discipling community, not just a passive teaching center dominated by one man. We need to exchange the love of power for the power of love!
Christianity is about Emmanuel (God with us). Ekklesia lets us experience Emmanuel, directly leading us as we gather in His name. The coming of Christ is a beautiful thing to celebrate; but until He consciously comes and lives in you, it is only a casual concept
Be an animated being, not self-propelled and awed by positional power, but animated by the risen Jesus and His love living within you. Behavior modification follows heart transformation. However, the reverse is not always true. To fill your mind, but neglect to train your heart to love and do good, leaves you at the mercy of your desires. “Thoughtless choices” is an oxymoron. What’s thoughtless is not a choice at all; rather it is surrender to habit or to a whim.
Creation put a plethora of visual “Hallelujahs!” on display across the universe.
Look up at night and behold! For me, looking at the night sky is like listening to the “Hallelujah Chorus” — King of Kings & Lord of Lords forever & ever!
December 20, 2017
ONE is so good you want to mark it up!
ONE isn’t a book that you just browse through once and then are done with. I’ve been combing it over for months now, underlining, taking notes, sharing it with others; and I’m still getting so much from it.
ONE grabs you and holds your attention. You can go back to it over and over again and continually discover fresh insights, new inspiration, and practical ideas. It’s really a house church handbook that helps you understand small home groups, both practically and theologically, so that you can feel comfortable stepping out and starting a home meeting in your own house.
You can read ONE a little at a time, or you can study it like a textbook. Either way, ONE stirs up the heart with such a vision of unity in the body of Christ that you start believing that it can really happen and you want it to begin with you.
There are many wonderful things in ONE that you will want to quote, to remember, and to share with others. Many quotations from ONE are listed on Goodreads @ https://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/15660436.Henry_Hon
Check out a few of those quotes. Then get into ONE for yourself. It’s on Kindle and in paperback. Personally, I prefer the paperback so that I can work it over as I underline, fold corners over, and write notes in the margins.
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December 16, 2017
Cast out demons? Or sit through sermons?
Jesus calls people to be child-like; not to be scholar-like. It’s important that Christ-followers not just listen to preachers but also listen to and obey the inner voice of Jesus, or else they become preacher-followers. Jesus said that His followers would “cast out demons,” not “sit through sermons.”
You can’t hear enough sermons to empower you to follow and obey Jesus. That takes His presence freely living inside of you! Open sharing in church makes the invisible Jesus obvious as He prompts various people to speak and causes it all to flow in harmony.
To keep on preaching to people about something, but never helping them to actually do it; makes them sluggish and apathetic. The “let the preacher do it” mentality creates Christians who think that all they need to do is go to church now and then. In reality, Christians need hands-on, experiential training in obeying the Holy Spirit, much more than we need another sermon.
Church is like an NFL team that cuts out practice & instead has the coach give continual lectures. (How effective would that be?)
I believe church is slowly fading away because it won’t change from one-man lecture to Spirit-led interaction. Perhaps we need to return to the New Testament concept of ekklesia. “To each one (not just to one preacher) the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good.” -1 Corinthians 12:7.
People didn’t experience ekklesia in Greek cities until they heard and responded to a hearld. To experience ekklesia we hear and obey the risen Jesus.
The Holy Spirit has gifts He wants to release through various people when we meet for church. It would good if we would let Him. Let’s meet for worship and do what the Bible says: Allow the Spirit to distribute His gifts “to each one, just as He determines.”
Why should Christians have a human hierarchy? The Bible says that “the government shall be upon His shoulders.”
For many centuries church has planted seeds of passivity in Christians — just sit and look like you’re listening. However, Christians could become much stronger if we turned church services into ministry practice for all who attend.
If Christians in church are not free to hear Jesus and do what He tells them, where will they be that free? Church is content for people to merely sit and watch; but ekklesia calls for us to interact with Christ and with each other.
Don’t let the life of Christ wither in your heart like some dried up twig. Stir up your heart till His fire blazes within you! Christ’s power comes through His presence. If we bypass His presence, we bypass His power. Anointing flows through heart-connection with the risen Jesus and with one another; not through formal talks.
Have you heard what God is doing in the hearts of the people you go to church with? Ask them & let them tell you! To only allow one person to speak in church is like only allowing one channel on your TV. To have the same person speak in church week after week is like listening to the same TED Talk every week.
Christians are called to meet as the body of Christ; not as a classroom for Christ. When Christians meet to tune their hearts to, surrender to, and obey the life of Christ in their midst; Jesus shows up and shows out!
A sermon that doesn’t help people interact with the risen Jesus is just a lecture. It causes spiritual atrophy. That’s when members of the body of Christ just sit and listen in meetings, but aren’t actively involved.
Christianity is not a consumer product that you replenish by going to a church. It’s a radically transformed life.
Church allows Christians no opportunity to discover what Christ is doing in each other.
“Christ in you, the hope of glory.” Christians who haven’t been trained to share with one another what God is doing in their lives, miss out on many miracles!
Feelings fluctuate but faith is faithful. However, faith requires action and participation; not just being a spectator.
December 15, 2017
Doin’ Da Crazy Bible Stuff–YouTube Channel
LET’S DO DA STUFF! — Miracles, loving your enemies, speaking in tongues, Dalton Georgia oil, salvation testimonies, giving thanks, healing the sick, gifts of the Spirit, virgin birth, hearing God’s voice, dreams and visions, and being crazy for Jesus.
–Jay Tyler & I talk about all that & more on our new YouTube Channel — Crazy Bible Stuff! — GIVE IT A LOOK N LISTEN.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UColI2irIIIG-jgbHieB2tVQ
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December 11, 2017
Creative Christmas ideas
For Christmas, decorate your heart with the Light of Christ!
My favorite Christmas Clause: “For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the government will be on His shoulders.”
Christmas pi — π: No matter how you slice it, let Christ be the constant in your life! π
Christmas pudding: Pudding (putting) Christ first in your life!
Christmas cheer: J-E-S-U-S! What does it spell? Jesus! Jesus! Jesus!
Let Jesus unwrap your heart and fill you with His presence!
While Christmas shopping, don’t forget to “count the cost” and then go all out for Jesus!
Have a Mary Christmas. Let Jesus live in you.
Many celebrate Christmas. Few daily surrender to, follow, and obey the risen Jesus.
Christmas! It took the entire Bible to explain it!
Enjoy the heart-felt ONEness and loving community that Christ came to give us. Have ONE very, merry Christmas! (Learn more about what Christ has done and is doing in the world by getting a copy of ONE: Unfolding God’s Eternal Purpose From House To House by Henry Hon @ http://amzn.to/2B9bVGy.
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December 10, 2017
TEDD Talks (“Train Everybody To Declare & Demonstrate”)
Let’s go TEDD and “Train Everybody to Declare and Demonstrate.” There’s no need for anyone to just sit and be passive!
Christians need to share from the heart with one another; not just to listen to an “expert” speak once a week. Churches let the same man talk every week. TED Talks let lots of different people talk. Ekklesia lets anybody present talk and declare and demonstrate Jesus.
In ancient Greek city/states a hearld called the ekklesia together. Hearld angels still call for Christ’s ekklesia to gather.
As messed up as this world is, there are amazing seeds of hope — a birth, a cross, a resurrection. Hallelujah! God’s looking for overseers who can see over the walls of religious traditions and behold the Lamb of God.
True theology is much more than the study of God. It is daily surrender to and relationship with the risen Jesus! Preach to me and I forget. Help me interact with the risen Jesus and I’m transformed and set free!
It can be difficult to experience Christian community in church when you’re restricted to passively listening to one man. Churches are full of ministers and priests — that’s what is meant by the Christian doctrine of “the priesthood of the believer.” So why is only one person allowed to speak in church?
Since the risen Jesus has promised to be present with and to personally lead His gathered body, there is no need for a hierarchy when we meet and we can practice mutual submission as we all submit to Him and to His working in and through each other.
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