Steve Simms's Blog, page 292

An Army Is Not An Audience!

Meeting to wait on the Lord is different than meeting to follow a program. However, meeting that way is off the beaten path of religious Christianity. The body of Christ is called to assemble as an army actively obeying its Commander — the risen Jesus — not just as an audience.

The Kingdom of God has a powerful army, “fighting the good fight of faith.” Are you an active part of God’s army? The Kingdom Of God first; above all other nations. (Matthew 6:33)

Jesus is like a power outlet. To receive His power we must plug in & let His current freely flow through us when we gather for worship and when we are alone.

Don’t just sit and mope; get up and hope! Many surrender to drugs to try & feel good. I surrender to Jesus & feel great! Getting on the innernet and live streaming Jesus is amazing! There’s no better addiction than addiction to spending time with the risen Jesus! Follow & obey the risen, biblical Jesus; not “another Jesus.” (2 Corinthians 11:4)

Christ-followers are called

Beyond self-expression

To Christ-expression!

For ekklesia:

* Come together;

* Listen to the Spirit;

* Let people share what they hear.

Ekklessia express: Everyday people expressing what the Spirit is saying. To return to ekklesia is to release the free flow of the Spirit. The mistranslation of “ekklesia” as “church” has caused considerable confusion in Christianity. Jesus chose to call the gathering of His body “ekklesia” which was the name of the city council in Greek city/states, where any citizen could attend and have an equal voice with any other citizen. More at http://amzn.to/2pbrciY.

Spiritual formation is not a study, but a long-term experiential process. Christianity has neglected soul refreshing, a time to actually drink of Christ’s living water. Sometimes we need Jesus to goose us to drink from His living water.

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Group dynamics & community meetings

Group dynamics is the process of people in a group interacting with one another. When one person controls a meeting it completely shuts down group dynamics.

Let’s go beyond merely instructing spectators to facilitating good group dynamics. Group dynamics are unprogrammed, unscripted, and free flowing. When group dynamics are shut down, a group becomes a passive audience.

God’s Spirit seeks to release positive group dynamics in a gathering of believers. Jesus manifests His presence when there is freedom for Spirit-led group dynamics. Group dynamics (interactions between people) can invigorate a church service. When a meeting of Christ-followers has good group dynamics even the shy get involved.

When Christians have an interactive, community meeting, their risen Leader shows up! A Christ-community meeting engages people with the risen Jesus & with one another.

Let’s let Jesus have the floor! To meet & be directly led by God is different than to meet & be taught about God. A talk about God is nothing like a group encounter with God.

The body of Christ needs Spirit-led community engagement meetings! When Christians meet for mutual support & love, they strengthen one another. After all, the New Testament is all about group dynamics in Christ’s body. It’s full of “one anothers.” Christians are called to meet for “one anothering”–heartfelt “sister & brothering.”

God-driven group dynamics return us to the Greek New Testament concept of ekklesia. My first experience of ekklesia transformed me from an agnostic to a Jesus-lover.

Ekklesia leads a group of people into the dynamic of God’s spiritual dimension. Ekklesia releases abundant life — the beauty of life shared in community. True ekklesia brings the fortunate and the unfortunate together in loving community. Ekklesia is not one-size-fits-all, but customizes ministry as the Spirit leads. In ekklesia the members of Christ’s body become hope coaches for one another.

Ekklesia is a dynamic network of Christ-followers interacting with God & one another. The web of ekklesia captures hearts with demonstrations of Christ’s love. Ekklesia gathers regularly to train with spiritual weapons & be sent into the world.

Ekklesia’s like baseball. The goal’s not to sit in the dugout; but to run the bases. Ekklesia’s like football. No true playmaker wants to be a bench warmer. Ekklesia’s like basketball. Any player on the court can take a shot at the basket. Get my book about ekklesia here.

Faith-based facilitation releases positive group dynamics in worship meetings. A group of people, each responsive to the Spirit, flows together in love and unity. Faith-based lecture informs. Faith-based facilitation empowers.

If the body of Christ is kept passive, merely watching 1 man speak; not much happens. To sit like statues when Jesus wants us to be filled with His spiritual fire, misses the point. Religion is rote; relationship with Christ is rousing.

Like a teleprompter, Jesus runs words through human hearts. Most of us ignore them. God give us the guts to grab hold of Your grace and Your spiritual weapons and go all out for Jesus! (Physical weapons take lives. Spiritual weapons transform lives.) We can’t stand for justice if we’re barely standing. Let’s encourage one another!

The best psychological state for humans isn’t self-will, but self-surrender to Jesus. To choose my will over God’s, is to disconnect from true happiness. If we don’t find inner peace, all the success in the world won’t mean much.

Knock all the rust

Off of your trust;

Follow and obey

The risen Jesus!

Jesus Christ MC (emcee)

Let’s come together & let Christ, the Invisible Choreographer, take direct control. When Christians meet to all follow the Invisible Choreographer, miracles happen.

The risen Jesus is the uncurriculum. He’s the Way–follow Him. A program, agenda, or curriculum should never take the place of the risen Christ.

When a preacher emcees a meeting, what’s left for the risen Jesus to do? If we will let go & let Jesus emcee a worship meeting, we will see amazing things! (Let JC B the MC.)

Let Jesus be

His own emcee

The only Head

Of His body!

The risen Jesus can be His own host. Worship doesn’t need a human cheerleader.

Too many want to be minimalist Christians when Jesus wants our all. A little bit of Christianity, like a little bit of air, won’t keep you going.

Sharing heart-felt love with one another is more powerful than religious programs. Jesus lives in His followers’ hearts, however, when your heart is shut down, then Christ is hidden. Christ in me, makes me want to avoid even the appearance of wrong doing.

Ekklesia is a gym for the soul, a Christ-led group-work-out for spiritual fitness. Ekklesia is a gathering of hearts open to Jesus, willing to do what He prompts them. It is a place of open hearts, open caring, & open sharing. In ekklesia the living Jesus is the Master of Ceremonies.

In His ekklesia

Christ gives you

A part to play,

An active role,

Something to say.

All Christ-followers are clergy

Called to minister

To one another

And share God’s Good News.

All Christians are

Preachers, prophets, & priests;

Not one-person shows,

But parts of Christ’s body

Alive to show God’s love

As light houses in darkness.

–A cool “Call To Worship”–

The preacher stands up and says:

“Today Jesus is going to be the emcee,

So I’m going to sit down and you guys

Listen to Jesus and then say and/or do

What He says.”

Church focuses on explanation; ekklesia on manifestation. Church tends to focus on weekly God-talks, while silencing people’s God experiences. Church formality tends to shut down the spontaneous flow of love in Christ’s body.

Learn more about ekklesia.

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Listening to the subtle voices of bad spirits causes much pain.

The evil in the world (& in our own heart) demonstrates the reality of bad spirits. Everyone is subject to the attack, torment, temptation, & seduction of bad spirits. The ultimate goal of bad spirits is the ultimate defeat of you and others. Bad spirits try to get us entangled in self-focus–a tiny thing to get wrapped up in. Jesus believed in the reality of bad spirits & even drove them out of people. Bad spirits try to keep you from Jesus; because Jesus can give you power over them.

Bad spirits often entice us to follow self-destructive feelings rather than wisdom. When people choose self-destruction over self-preservation, bad spirits are at work. Destructive spirits are real. They often manifest in our thoughts & emotions. Destructive spirits like to use obsession & compulsion to torment people.

Destructive spirits steal your inner peace and replace it with torment. However, you don’t have to passively allow bad spirits to torment you. You can resist them!

Bad spirits speak in human hearts directing us toward evil. They try to convince us that we are right, even when we’re wrong. Listening to the subtle voices of bad spirits causes much pain. They are are inner impostures calling evil good. To surrender to & obey bad spirits can be pleasurable, but the end result is misery. Bondage to bad spirits starts small but slowly grows into strong shackles. Though demons are invisible, you can see their destructive impact all around you.

Three voices speak in human hearts: 1) ours, 2) bad spirits’, and 3) God’s. Can you tell the difference? Bad spirits are tricky. They disguise themselves as our inner voice, tricking us into obeying them. It’s very easy to mistake the voice of bad spirits for your own voice. Much inner pain comes from not resisting the torment & deception of bad spirits. Many psychological problems result from cooperating with those negative inner voices. Most conflict (and violence) is instigated & maintained by bad spirits. Much bad language comes from people repeating words bad spirits put in their mind.

To avoid deception by bad spirits, we need God’s Spirit, His discernment, & the Bible. That’s because bad spirits like to entangle themselves with our psyche so that we don’t even notice them. Bad spirits trick & manipulate people in many various & subtle ways. Be on guard.

Prayer & fasting can help you defeat tormenting spirits. Honest confession & accountability to a trusted friend can also conquer bad spirits.

To overcome bad spirits takes training, discernment, resistance, persistence & God. It’s much easier to deny the existence of bad spirits than it is to defeat & overcome them. The timid avoid spiritual warfare. It takes boldness to banish bad spirits!

I’ve never doubted the existence of demons because I’ve fought them all my life. To win outward victory, but lose to inner demons, leaves a person still in misery.

Are you happy now?

Self-focus forfeits happiness. Asking, “Am I happy?” opens the door to unhappiness. A key ingredient in the pursuit of happiness is self-forgetting. You are the one who is painting the canvas of your life. How you doing with it? Could you use some help?

Perhaps ancient Greek civilization has something to teach 21st century Christians about happiness. Greek city councils were called ekklesias. All citizens were invited & anyone present could speak in the meeting. Jesus & His early followers used the same word for their meetings.

Perhaps we need a focus-shift demonstrated in those New Testament groups. As Christianity became programmed, it lost the spontaneity of the early ekklesias. Ekklesias are greenhouses for spiritual growth in & through regular people. If Christ-followers are family, why not meet like family, without a precise program?

Ekklesias meet to focus on the risen Jesus and to actively share God’s love with one another. They give us a present from the past: the presence of the risen Jesus. Ekklesias are Christians professing their faith as prompted by the living Jesus; not one professor teaching a course. Ekklesias train ordianry people how to spend time with Jesus. A day spent without Jesus is a day of distraction from the world’s greatest hope.

“The ekklesias of God are instructed by Christ.” –Origen in 230 A.D. It’s time for the recovery of ekklesias in the body of Christ. http://amzn.to/2nVkazY. .

Pics beyond the church norm

Searching for living water? Check out Beyond Church.

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It’s beautiful to go beyond church as usual and let the risen Jesus be the One in charge of the meeting!

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Jesus’ death & Resurrection is a counter-cultural demonstration of non-violence

The New Testament was (& still is) counter-cultural. Read it & see! In the New Testament, the Zealots used violence; but Jesus loved even unto death. Who impacted Rome the most?

The Bible is full of testimonies about and demonstrations of nonviolence, that many people have never even read. Jesus taught “Love your enemies.” Soldiers, following government orders, killed Him.

War causes & celebrates death. Jesus overcame death. War bombs – “fails, falls flat, flops, ruins, wreaks havoc & even blows people up.” War blows up the very things that Jesus died to give us: love, mercy, humility, peace, joy.

Returning evil for evil launches snowballing evil; but love slowly melts evil. Jesus fought and overcame evil with sacrifice, love, and truth with humility. He showed that spiritual weapons are the most powerful (yet most ignored) weapons.

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Good Friday honors Jesus’ demonstration of non-violence & love for enemies. Violence & evil did their best to destroy Jesus, but we know the rest of the story! Jesus became undead so He can live in human hearts that surrender to Him. God turned our violence against Jesus into a timeless, worldwide movement of love.

Doing violence to others contradicts the words of the Prince of Peace: Matthew 5:38-39 “You have heard that it was said, ‘Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.’ But I tell you, do not resist an evil person. If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other cheek also.”

MOAB: The mother of all bombs is the violence in human hearts. Jesus overcomes evil by transforming human hearts.

In this dangerous world,

The best protection

Is to hope in Jesus’

Resurrection!

Darwin theorized about “natural selection.” Jesus demonstrated Resurrection! Reflection on the Resurrection will overcome your feelings of dejection!

The Resurrection has a deep connection in my soul. The Resurrected Jesus ejected me from misery and anger & infected me with joy and love. Have you detected that the Resurrected Jesus is knocking on your heart’s door?

Focusing on trifles stifles your soul. Hope & despair dance in your psyche. Which one is your primary dance partner?

The Bible is the fitbit for your soul. Read it daily to keep your heart healthy. Don’t accept what’s wrong just so other people will say you’re right.

Loving community offers protection against violence.

Everyday Easter sayings

If Jesus is alive on Easter, then He’s alive every single day of the year!

Jesus ceased being deceased!

This Roman fatality opened the way to immortality! (Who is Jesus Christ?)

Jesus didn’t rise to create a religious holiday, but to be our living Lord!

Jesus is the Eternal Leaper over the grim reaper!

Jesus is the Uncorpse — alive forevermore!

Jesus left His tomb empty so that He can fill your empty heart!

Looking into Jesus’ empty tomb has emptied many people of their unbelief.

To attend church on Easter is one thing. To live a resurrection life is another.

Don’t just hear about Him. Experience the death-defeating Jesus for yourself!

Resurrection reality reverberates in my soul.

When I met Jesus, I realized that He wasn’t dead anymore.

There’s no high like the risen Jesus flowing through your soul!

Go beyond remembering the Resurrection to hanging out with Jesus live.

Jesus’ resurrection reveals the real world. This temporary world is passing away.

Running on empty? The empty tomb says, be empty of self & full of the risen Jesus.

Everyday is Easter! (Experience the risen Jesus every single day all year long!)

When Jesus rose up in victory; death went down in defeat!

The death-defeating Jesus turned “The End” into “The Beginning.”

Jesus’ resurrection overcame the casualty of human mortality.

It’s easy to live like Jesus is dead and gone. Wake up to the reality behind the Resurrection!

Jesus experienced death & then made a U-turn, coming back to live forever!

They carried Jesus’ dead body into the tomb, but He walked out on His own!

Jesus defeated the doom & gloom of His tomb!

Two “roses:” Jesus rose from death & then rose into Heaven.

Let the risen Jesus explain the Scriptures to you & your heart will burn within.

Don’t exchange the risen Jesus 4 Easter Eggs, Bunnies, Services, Candy, Clothes, Etc.

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When they thought He had

Breathed His last breath

Jesus got up from death!

Death was undone

When it tried

To take away God’s Son!

One day the Son rose

From a Judean tomb

Never to set again.

I believe in the Resurrection

Because the Resurrected One

Is my constant companion.

The last chapters of

Matthew, Mark, Luke, & John

Claim & proclaim

Jesus is alive!

Easter calls us beyond church as usual to something altogether different, ekklesia!

Without the Resurrection, ekklesia is impossible, because it requires a living Jesus.

A risen Jesus can personally & directly lead us when we gather in His name!

Ekklesia is an informal, unplanned, participatory God-gathering led by the risen Jesus.

Learn how to experience the risen Jesus in ekklesia.

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“No Fear” by Tony Perkins

The book, “No Fear — Real Stories of a Courageous New Generation Standing for Truth”, by Tony Perkins, starts out on the wrong foot. It begins with a lie!

The very first story Perkins chooses to tell about someone “standing for truth” is about an 18 year-old woman named Lila (wonder if Perkins is telling the truth about her name) who goes into a Planned Parenthood abortion clinic and says: “I’m fifteen years old and I am pregnant by my boyfriend who is twenty-three years old and I need help.”

Not only is “Lila” lying, she is hiding a recorder under her T-shirt. Perkins says: “The tale had been crafted carefully because such a scenario was not only a lie, it was a felony under California law.” Lila’s purpose was to deceptively entrap the person at Planned Parenthood into incriminating herself, and because Lila’s deception “previals,” Perkins highly praises her.

However, later in the book Perkins contradicts himself. He says: “If the stand we take is motivated by a need to ‘win’ an argument or prevail over those we oppose, we may win the battle but lose in the long run.” He also quotes another one of his courageous young people as saying: “There’s a way to take a stand for your faith without attacking others. That doesn’t mean that we back down from our convictions, but that we hold to them in a loving way–in a way that respects even those who oppose us.”

Even though the other stories are inspirational, I had trouble being inspired by them, because of Perkins praising the use of sin to fight sin. If you are looking to be inspired, I’d recommend another book.

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This review was written in exchange for a free copy of the book from Blogging For Books.

Experience Jesus live!

If your life keeps going from gags to glitches, perhaps you need God. There’s no time like when you’re aware of Christ’s presence. Experience Jesus live!

To bow before God is to rise above self. Pride is an “I” full of self-focus — pr”I”de. For inner peace–minimize self & maximize Jesus! Christianity is to turn away from self and follow the risen Christ instead. Although human nature prefers self-defense, Jesus calls us to self-denial. Like a soldier setting aside self-concern to obey his commander, humility obeys Jesus!

I lost my religion when Jesus became my best friend & made the Bible come alive.

Hanging out with the risen Jesus is adventurous, astonishing & addicting. When I met Jesus, He led me to the Bible & made it come alive in my soul ever since. Now I’m addicted to Bible reading because it’s one place I meet with the risen Jesus. When Jesus in my heart connects with Jesus as revealed in the Bible, my spirit soars.

I’ve never used Bible commentaries. I prefer to listen to Jesus as I read it. If you let Him, Christ in you will interpret the Bible & it will teach you to stay close to Christ. The Bible helps you know if a thought is from God, self, or the devil.

So many things that I read about in the Bible, have happened in my life, that I’m convinced it’s true. The Bible’s not fantasy. It works amazing things both in my heart & in daily life. Scripture shows that Christianity is so much more than what we commonly experience. The book of Acts shows the 1st Christians experiencing God’s fire, power & miracles. We can, too!

To be sure you’re hearing the voice of Jesus, check it out with the Bible. Jesus tells us to stop doing wrong. We prefer to justify our wrongdoing.

Need a heart-mend alignment? Take your heart to the risen Jesus. Too often we humans focus on hardware (physical existence) & ignore the software our soul. A comfort zone is a place to hide from God.

Without moral virtue, love’s on shaky ground. The more we love Jesus, the more we will act like Him. You don’t have to approve of people’s opinions/behavior to show them love & kindness. Christians are called to be captured by Christ, not by their contemporary culture.

Church = people looking at a podium. Ekklesia = people ministering to one another. Ekklesia (Greek city council) is a forgotten word Jesus used to describe His body. Jesus said: “I will build My ekklesia (ancient Greek town hall meeting).” The Christ-follower’s heart is the house of God (not a religious building).