Steve Simms's Blog, page 287
August 7, 2017
August 6, 2017
95 Theses for Reformation #1:
95 Theses 4 Reformation #1:
Keep people’s attention focused on the living, resurrected Jesus.
I’m celebrating the 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation:
–On October 31, 1517 a guy named Martin Luther posted “95 Theses” on a church door in Wittenberg, Germany which was the catalyst for many changes in church around the world.
–Beginning today, August 6, 2017 and going through October 31, 2017, I will post my 95 Theses over the next 87 days. I will post one per day until the final 8 days and on those days I will post two per day. (The number 8 represents new beginnings.) I pray that there will be new beginnings — a new reformation — that will transform church into the Greek New Testament concept of ekklesia.
–To read all my 95 Theses, check out my book, “Beyond Church” @ http://amzn.to/2fjupKS. The Salvation Army USA’s “War Cry” magazine calls it “Groundbreaking.”
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August 4, 2017
Since sin still seduces in the 21st Century
To keep your mind
Caught up in sin
Is to slowly
Decay within.
Questioning Christ-followers — are we family?
When Christians meet & practice encouraging each other, their confidence grows and soon they’re encouraging folks everywhere they go. I love it when a group of people lets the Holy Spirit flow like music & carry them in His current. Let the Holy Spirit be your inner fire — soul stirring music that never fades!
Christians are called to meet as family–a group of people who share spiritual kinship & who genuinely care about one another. The family of God is about heart-felt relationships, caring interaction, & mutual support. When the body of Christ functions as a caring community that meets to compassionately listen to one another, lives are changed.
Family time in the body of Christ: hanging our with one another in the Holy Spirit as brothers & sisters in Christ. In the genuine body of Christ friends (and even strangers) become family.
Hanging out with Christ-follows who are hearing & obeying the Holy Spirit is my favorite place to be. The family of God is like beautiful music. There are high notes & low notes, but it’s always a heart-warming melody. Kinship with other Christians isn’t a doctrine to be taught, but a blessing to share. It’s when people love you, even when you don’t feel so lovable. Hearts connect.
Perhaps we should stop giving people a piece of our mind and begin to give them a piece of our heart. Let’s be a safe place for people’s hearts to unfold.
Christ-followers are called to engage in spiritual combat together — to fight for one another, not against each other. Then they become a band of sisters and brothers!
When we ignore the Holy Spirit & the Bible the family of God tends to become dysfunctional. We need to gather and together experience the Higher Power behind the universe to be the Creator who came in the flesh as Jesus Christ to restore us to Him, actively working in our midst.
Jesus calls gatherings of His followers “lampstands.” Let’s let His light shine. (See Revelation 1:20.) He challenges us to gather and listen to the Spirit together. (“Hear what the Spirit says to the assemblies.” Rev. 2:11 WEB) Let’s obey Him and do what He’s saying in that Bible verse.
A Christ-follower is someone who consistently does what Jesus said to do. A Christ-follower is always being trained to think, to act, & to be more like Jesus.
I believe the Bible & read it daily because the words burn in my heart & it works deep inside me, continually transforming my life. When I began to daily read the Bible it broke down the barricades around my heart.
God has inspiring music for the souls who will listen to Him. The things that can’t be expressed in words have to be heard directly from the living God.
To analyze the Bible is like trying to work a Rubik’s Cube. To open your heart to it is like eating your favorite ice cream. To approach the Bible as an analytical conquest, is to miss its wonder, bewilderment, & awe!
To analyze Scripture is one thing; to absorb it is another! The Bible’s God’s playlist. Don’t just read it. Keep its music playing in your soul. Reading the Bible like a love letter will unbind your heart.
Some people think they need to “fix” the Bible. I prefer to let the Bible fix me! If you will consistently read the Bible with an open heart, Jesus will set you free from the tyranny of your thoughts.
God wants people to follow Jesus with so much joy, love, & enthusiasm that no one can ignore their commitment to Him! You can’t dance with God if you won’t tune in to His music in your soul.
Without a solid foundation built on the living, resurrected Jesus Christ, it’s easy to crumble into hopelessness. Don’t do that. Don’t rust out. Wear out burning for Jesus!
Learn more about how we can be family. Click this link to go “Beyond Church.”
July 30, 2017
A lens to bring life into focus.
Don’t get so focused on “loving yourself” that you neglect to show love to others. Seeking self-fulfillment produces continual frustration. Surrendering to the risen Jesus releases a soothing flow of inner peace.
You can see life much more clearly through the lens of Christ than you can through the lens of self. The lens of modern media distorts human vision, but the lens of the Bible, read with an open heart, clears things up.
The Bible is the lens that will bring your life into focus; but only if you regularly look at life through it. Whatever you continually allow in your mind will be gradually reproduced in your emotions and in your life. The darkness in your life will disappear if you will begin to daily read the Bible with your heart open to the risen Jesus.
Your life will function much more effectively if you listen to & obey the inner unction of the Holy Spirit. By ignoring God’s holy unction of inner compunction we stay stuck in various forms of dysfunction. Jesus won’t leave us, but we humans sure do leave Jesus! Jesus is proactive! He paid the penalty for your wrongs before you were even born! Don’t reject His forgiveness.
Life works much better when we strive to think & act like Jesus, instead of assuming that Jesus thinks & acts like us. Humbly reading the Bible daily will train you to hear the risen Jesus in its pages & His voice in your heart.
You can find much more joy & inner peace by following the Bible than you can by following your own feelings, desires, & opinions. The words that you think, say, & write, reflect the condition of your heart.
Don’t buy the idea that the Bible is in conflict with Jesus. Fact is, Jesus used the Scriptures to show who He is!
The Bible is how God texts human beings. Daily read the Bible & God will begin to text you with words that vibrate in your soul. Daily reading the Bible transformed me from a doubter to a believer. Now everyday when I read the Bible, it stirs my heart to love Jesus even more.
While writing this, I just flipped open the Bible and began to read where it opened. It touched me so powerfully that I cried.
Don’t believe anyone who tells you that you can’t understand the Bible by yourself. You don’t need someone to tell you what the Bible says. You can read it yourself! I’ve always preferred reading the Bible instead of reading books about the Bible or theology.
Life’s not about your net worth. It’s about finding your place in God’s network. Life’s not about the square footage of your house. It’s about the quality of love that you share.
It’s life-changing to see members of the body of Christ come together & each one listen to & obey Jesus as the living Head.
Every time we choose what’s wrong rather than what’s right, we reject God and distort our vision. To live life on our on terms is to be out of focus with God.
God by grace offers to forgive & set us free from our rebellion against Him. He doesn’t applaud it.
July 29, 2017
Scaramucci words!
New White House communications director Anthony Scaramucci threw a profanity-filled temper tantrum at New Yorker reporter Ryan Lizza. He published it. Although I’m not going to read Anthony’s vulgar rant, the news reports about it helped inspire these thoughts.
You can’t fly by flapping around with fowl, earthy words. People won’t help you get off the ground if you verbally give them the bird.
There’s nothing “colorful” about profanity. It’s dark, shady, & dismal. A cuss word is a one-word temper tantrum (an immature outburst usually associated with children).
Why aren’t cuss words considered to be hate speech? They’re sure not loving. Blasting a conversation with vulgar verbal bombs is disruptive & dominating.
Cussing is the language of anger, insult, & frustration; not the language of love, serenity, and happiness. Most words known as “adult language” are really adolescent words.
Profanity is designed to insult, intimidate, & disrespect. Is that what you want to do?
To keep your mind pure (as the Bible instructs) it helps to avoid exposure to profanity. (Philippians 4:8)
Here’s a simple way to make your life better: Replace discouraging words with encouraging ones.
July 26, 2017
Cage free eggs or a cage free life?
Some people prefer cage free eggs more than a cage free life. If you’re stumbling over the past, you’re in a cage & going backwards.
Life becomes a mess when we begin to say yes to the wrong impulses. When we ignore God’s boundaries we go bounding headlong into bondage.
Two ways to go through life: with good sense or with nonsense. What you try to grab with your paws often doesn’t last; what you pause & let God give you does!
To think we are wise, yet make unwise choices, leaves us otherwise. Education teaches us what to know, but not how to enjoy what we know.
Surrounded by God, but unaware of His presence, people think & act like they’re alone & unaccountable for their thoughts & actions. But God’s always aware of them.
To live a self-centered life in this beautiful world is to miss out on the marvelous. The person who is full of himself has crowded out God. Christ calls us to follow Him. So why do we try to get Him to follow us?
Denial attempts to make the obvious obscure. We try to take one day at a time. God sees it all at once.
Solid faith isn’t built on what you are going to do; but on what Christ has already done! A good sermon teaches people how to follow Jesus. Discipleship shows people how to follow & trust in Jesus.
If you follow Christ, you’ll leave your comfort zone behind. To be gifted but unwilling to use your gifts is the same as being giftless.
Jesus is the way. Should we substitute our plan, our program for Him and His word?
The Bible is how God texts you. Daily read the Bible & God will begin to text you with words that vibrate in your soul.
Those who distort the Bible should at least read it first. The Holy Spirit wrote the Bible & is revealed through it. But don’t debate me; read the Bible & experience the Spirit yourself.
The Bible: it works if you work it! You don’t have to understand the Bible to obey it. You have to obey it to understand it.
The Bible is a Book full of living words that burn inside those who read it with an open heart. Daily reading the Bible transformed me from a doubter to a believer.
The Bible helps us discern the Spirit. The Spirit teaches us the Bible. We need both! Christianity is built on objective truths, not on human feelings & opinions.
If someone is trying to get you to decide between Jesus & the Bible, run. Hold to both.
Why is the Bible illegal in 52 countries? Because it is incredibly powerful! Read it daily & see for yourself.
When the Holy Spirit works a room, people’s faces & hearts are set aglow. I love to see Jesus working in & through a group of His people ministering to one another.
Life’s not about the square footage of your house; it’s about the quality of love that you share. Life’s not about your net worth. It’s about finding your place in God’s network.
Everyone needs forgiveness–even you
Your heart was made for God. It’s lost without Him. Receiving God’s forgiveness can reconnect you heart with God. A dark heart can have a fresh start with Jesus.
To many people say “I’m trying to find myself,” instead of “I’m trying to find God.” However, life goes better when we let go of ego.
To be out of step with God is sad. To be unaware of being out of step with God — that’s tragic. However, God offers you the most costly gift in the Universe — His forgiveness paid for by the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the Cross.
There’s no size in sin. It’s all devastating to our relationship with God. If you seek pleasure in sin, you miss out on the greater pleasure of God’s presence. To think that you don’t need forgiveness is the ultimate form of denial.
Even if we reject Christ & break His heart; He still loves us & longs for us to repent & be reconciled to Him. The solution to guilt isn’t denial or medication. It’s to repent and be forgiven. Those who have experienced God’s forgiveness for their wrongs are willing to forgive others.
Got guilt? God’s forgiveness cures it. Guilt is a reminder that you need God’s forgiveness. Without it we humans are tormented by guilt. God’s forgiveness is: a fresh start; a new beginning; a clean slate. However, no matter how hard you try, you’ll never get completely free from guilt without God’s forgiveness.
Living without God’s forgiveness creates an atmosphere that is worse than living without deodorant. Stinky guilt? Or God’s sweet forgiveness? The choice is yours.
God’s forgiveness makes us feel so good that we want to “Go and sin no more.” No one truly understands mercy until she/he asks for & receives God’s forgiveness.
Self-forgiveness only goes so far. Ultimately we need God’s forgiveness. If you can’t forgive yourself; then go to Jesus and let Him forgive you.
True, you can never be perfect; but through Christ you can be forgiven! You can’t outrun your guilt. But you can run to Jesus and be made clean.
So, don’t carry guilt around with you. Every time you do something that creates guilt, go to God & get forgiven! Remorse leads to repentance which leads to being renewed by God’s forgiveness. To reject God’s forgiveness is to stay stuck in shame and guilt.
Forgiveness involves: admitting your responsibility for your wrongs; asking Jesus for mercy; & pursuing what is right. Experiencing God’s forgiveness is more cleansing that taking a shower after weeks lost in the woods. “Then Jesus said to her, ‘Your sins are forgiven.'” (Luke 7:48) Has He said that to you?
Perfect people never need forgiveness. Flawed people do. Guilty (unforgiven) people often hold grudges & refuse to grant others the forgiveness that they, themselves,
desperately need. Only God’s mercy can mend the mess we’ve made.
All who carry Christ within need to let Him overflow to others. Without an inner source of moral strength, we become slaves to society’s values. God inspired the Bible, so the more that you read & obey it, the more you’ll align with God. When we fail to cooperate with God’s empowerment, we miss out on miracles.
Until our lifestyle shows that the Holy Spirit is in charge, we’re still in some degree of rebellion against God. True Christianity is lived out in daily life, not just celebrated at holy sites. The Sermon on the Mount describes the lifestyle of a Spirit-led person.
To believe in Jesus only by reason or tradition is unstable faith. But experiencing His reality changes lives forever! Christ doesn’t want to make us comfortable. He wants to set us free.
July 24, 2017
Nashville church that meets like AA, Al-Anon, & NA
Millions of people have found comfort, help, & serenity from various types of support groups, such as, AA, Al-Anon, and NA. Al-Anon’s web site states: “Everyone at the meeting shares as an equal.” It also says: “We help each other by sharing our experience, strength, and hope.”
The recovery-group style of meeting has been so successful that it has spread all over the world and been used to help people cope, hope, and overcome many different kinds of problems. In a time when the church in the Western world is in decline, could the support group model turn things around? Perhaps.
One Nashville church has been using the recovery model for their Sunday morning meetings for almost 10 years: The Salvation Army Berry Street. If you could use some support come visit. No one is asked to share, but everyone is free to share as they feel prompted by the Holy Spirit.
We meet every Sunday morning at 10:45 at 225 Berry Street, Nashville, 37207. Looking forward to your visit.
July 23, 2017
The worst condition for a human being
To think we’re right with God if we’re not is the worst state we can be in. We need God to show us where we’re not right with Him. How can we live right if we won’t let God show us where we’re wrong?
Until we understand the depth of our personal rebellion against God, the Cross is just a religious symbol. Human guilt can only be removed by the Cross of Christ!
The Holy Spirit reminds us of our sins so that we will become aware of our bondage and seek His freedom! Does 21st century Christianity ignore the Holy Spirit’s conviction of sin?
When the human conscience falls asleep while the mind excuses wrongful behaviors, we need God to wake us up! When we think up arguments to justify our wrongs; we falsely convince ourselves that we have no need of Christ’s forgiveness.
Guilt, like pain, is a warning that something is wrong about the way we are living; and a call to make it right. It’s difficult to appreciate the good news about Jesus until we are deeply aware of the bad news about our sin. When we become aware of the presence of God we also become aware of our sin & of our deep need to turn away from it.
People who don’t know they are in bondage, never seek freedom. Spiritual awakening opens our eyes to see, to be deeply sorry for, and to turn away from our sins.
The closer we are to God, the more aware we are that we are totally dependent on Christ’s love & forgiveness. Your heart was made for God. It’s lost without Him.
Love without justice is license. Justice without love is cruel. At the Cross God demonstrated both toward you. Love & justice intersected at the Cross where Jesus lovingly paid the penalty for my rebellion against God.
If you don’t like liars but like to lie, you won’t like yourself no matter how hard you try. All who carry Christ within need to let Him overflow to others.
