Steve Simms's Blog, page 87

Wake-Up to false teaching with honesty and love!

I woke up this morning with these two short poems in my mind and posted them on Facebook before coming to today’s Wake-Up Call blog post that warns Christians about false teachers and false teaching:

If you fake it
Till you make it
What you make
Will be fake.

The simplicity
Of authenticity
Never needs the spin
Of publicity.

The first thing I saw when I went to Facebook this morning was the picture of a thin cross posted by Carol Custer Perry with the words “This is the real deal. I didn’t photoshop the flame off this one.”

The next thing I saw on Facebook was “This is a great statement from JD: False teaching, while often cloaked in plausible shifts in interpretive methodology, is usually driven by an attempt to accommodate or otherwise pave the way for the expansion of human appetites and novel ideologies concerning the human body,” posted by Janet Wehrle.

Before I went to bed last night, I posted this on Facebook: “Christianity needs to align with the teachings of Jesus and the earliest Christ-followers (as found in the Bible). To depart from them is to abandon the faith.” Yesterday morning I posted: “To want or proclaim a God with no consequences or judgement is to want chaos and injustice.”

It appears that the past 24 hours the Holy Spirit has been confirming to me the importance of this morning’s Wake-Up Call warning. I hope Christians who embrace the term “deconstruction of the faith” will wake-up and begin to follow Jesus and the writings of His earliest followers instead of their own appetites and desires.

It’s time to disassociate from false teachers by “speaking the truth in love,” and truly loving them (but not approving of their wrong behavior and false teaching) even when they treat us like they are our enemies. Honest and kind disagreement when we believe someone is in dangerous error isn’t our judging them. It’s a loving warning that we believe they are in danger of creating harmful consequences for themselves, for other people, and for society at large.

Why ekklesia? What’s the purpose of going beyond church to Christ’s Spirit-led town hall meeting?

Jesus had a purpose when He said: “On this rock (direct personal revelation from the living God) I will build My ekklesia (the Greek word mistranslated as church). Ekklesia was the proper name of the fully participatory town hall meeting in ancient Greek cities. The purpose of the Greek ekklesia was to democratically govern a city. The purpose of Christ’s ekklesia is to train people to submit to and manifest the government (kingdom) of God under the direct personal Headship and command of the risen King Jesus.

Jesus wants to demonstrate His presence and power to people in real ways that transform their lives. The purpose of His ekklesia is to cultivate an environment where He can actively do that–where His followers can learn to be literally led and empowered by God’s Spirit actively working inside them, not by their own thoughts, feelings, and desires. Then they will begin to change the culture in the country where they live by continually following and obeying the living Jesus and demonstrating His supernatural presence and power wherever they are, through their lifestyle that overflows with the gifts and the fruit of the Spirit.

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Greeting matters (Just look at Romans 16!)

Warmly and openly greet and connect heart-to-heart with God’s people wherever you encounter them. Take time to recognize them as spiritual family members. Find the hope of glory in them by opening your heart to encounter the presence of the risen Jesus in them.

Obedience to the 50+ “one another” commands begins with greeting. Before we can effectively “bear one another’s burdens,” before we can actively “encourage one another,” before we can sincerely “bear with and forgive one another,” before we can truly “be of the same mind with one another,” before we can honesty “confess our sins to one another,” before we can actually “submit to one another,” we need to greet, welcome, and acknowledge one another with an open heart.

For me, every open-hearted encounter with a sister or brother in Christ is a taste of Heaven. Heart-felt greetings are powerful! Yet, they are easy to miss. When you come across a Christ-follower, take some time to find and appreciate Christ in them! You’ll be glad you did!

Anytime your heart is closed the Holy Spirit is quenched. How our world needs more genuine heart-felt connections.

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Jesus the Builder builds with “living stones”

Jesus, the Creator of the Universe who became a man, is the Ultimate Builder, but too often His living stones ignore His instructions and do their own thing. When churches deny the living Jesus an active building permit in their worship services, they build them according to their desires and ignore His. When Jesus’ living stones are passive and unresponsive to His direct building instructions, the body of Christ is paralyzed.

Jesus is the Great Bodybuilder. He wants to build His body of living stones by revealing His supernatural presence to them. The risen Jesus builds eternal relationships.

People build church buildings and religious programs. The living Jesus builds powerful and lasting heart connections. If Christ-followers would allow the risen Jesus to build us together heart-to-heart, there would be more Spirit-led Christianity in the world! Surrender your whole heart to God so that you can become a living stone in the spiritual house that Jesus is building on the rock of direct personal revelation from God,

The Master Builder wants to reveal Himself directly to you so that He can build you together, heart-to-heart, with His sold-out followers. Then He can make His people a spiritual house–an assembly where He can freely manifest His power and presence using ordinary people as His Spirit-directed building blocks.

If you have “tasted that the Lord is good,” then “come to Him, the living Stone—rejected by humans but chosen by God and precious to Him” so that “you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house a to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices.” That “spiritual house” is Christ’s town hall meeting (ekklesia) where all Christ-followers (living stones) are called out to be Spirit-led priests who actively minister to and serve both God and one another as they are prompted by Jesus, the present and living Head of His ekklesia. (Inspired by 1 Peter 2:1-10.)

Only the living Jesus can assemble “living stones” together as His body built on the rock of direct personal revelation from God. A preacher can’t; a church planter can’t; a program can’t; a sermon can’t; tradition can’t; liturgy can’t; but Jesus can! Will we get our stuff out of His way and “prepare the way of the Lord” so that the risen Jesus can build us together under His direct presence and leadership?

Whoever owns the building can override the living Jesus and control what goes on in church. Instead, let the risen Jesus be the Lord and Master of His assembled people, The organization that owns the building should never be in control of what happens when Christians gather in Jesus’ name.

Be like “living stone” Phoebe (referred to in Romans 16:1-2). Be a humble servant who helps Christ’s Spirit-led town hall meeting (ekklesia) freely function in your city and wherever Jesus sends you and you will be an amazing blessing to many people.

Christianity isn’t built on ideas or idols. It’s built on the rock of inner eyesight full of ongoing revelation that continually beholds the risen Lamb of God.

If churches won’t train Christians to be Spirit-led–to listen to and obey the risen Jesus–who will? (See Romans 8:14.) To brand Christianity around anyone but Jesus is to create a false Gospel.

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Ekklesia — democracy or the kingdom of God?

Ancient Greek cities had a town hall meeting where anyone present could speak. It was called the ekklesia. Jesus, in Matthew 16, said He will build His ekklesia.

It’s amazing that Jesus said that He would build His version of the interactive, Greek town hall meeting called ekklesia. It’s also amazing that Christians have mostly ignored the ekklesia model of free expression and implemented a highly programmed, ritualized, and controlled form of worship instead.

In the Greek ekklesia, people listened to each other as equals, not to a single expert lecturer. Christ’s ekklesia drifted from the original model, embraced human hierarchy rather than equality, and called it church.

There was no head (one person leader) in the ancient Greek ekklesia. Decisions were made by voting. However, in Christ’s ekklesia, Jesus is the Head and He actually directs the assembly through His Presence as the Holy Spirit by prompting those present to listen to and obey Him.

The ancient Greek ekklesia was about governing a city. Christ’s ekklesia is about being governed by the Headship of Jesus.

Jesus builds His town hall meeting (ekklesia) on the rock foundation of direct, personal revelation from God (individuals being led by His Spirit). The ancient Greeks built their town hall meeting (ekklesia) on the concept of democracy (individuals expressing and voting their personal feelings, desires, and opinions). Christ’s ekklesia is a manifestation of the kingdom (government) of God as His followers gather to submit to and surrender to the leading and Headship of His Spirit (freedom to deny the flesh and obey the Spirit). The Greek ekklesia was a manifestation of government by the people through majority rule where everyone voted as he saw fit (freedom to obey the flesh).

Paul wrote letters to Christ’s ekklesias in various cities, not to the official city ekklesias (interactive town hall meetings) to proclaim the message of Christ’s ekklesia:

A human heart that’s being transformed and led by the presence and power of the living Jesus is far more powerful that a heart that’s trying to satisfy outward laws and religious rules. The key to being forgiven for the things that make you feel guilty isn’t trying to forgive yourself. It’s to renounce and turn away from them and to ask for and receive God’s forgiveness.

Using your thoughts, words, or actions to embrace what is morally wrong kills inner peace. It slays innocence and guiltlessness. It murders self-respect and crucifies the conscience. It causes the death of direct connection with God and makes Him seem far away because we’re lost in the decay caused by our frequent choices to rebel against His will. We’re caught in the hopeless trap of guilt and death and there’s no way we can restore ourselves to life.

Yet, there is one who is “the way, the truth, and the life.” The Creator became a man named Jesus so that He could suffer the death caused by humanity’s guilt and be raised to life again so that He can daily live in and empower all who will continually believe/rely/depend on His sacrifice for them.

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Be like the world’s most famous bush

Be like a bush, but not just any bush. Be like the world’s most famous bush that didn’t even have a name. It lived in a dry and isolated place. So how did it become world famous?

This bush began to burn with God’s supernatural fire. As it burned it didn’t burn up. It caught the eye of a lonely shepherd who was tending his flock deep in the desert and God began to speak from within the bush. “Do not come any closer. Take off your shoes, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.”

The shepherd was a broken man who had been raised in a palace as an adopted family member of the world’s most powerful king. He had killed a man and as a result lost his power and prestige. He had to flee into the desert to save his life and now many decades later was on holy ground hearing God call him by name, “Moses! Moses!” Moses asked God His name and God said: “I AM THAT I AM.”

As the bushed burned with the presence of God and God spoke from within it, Moses was told to return to Egypt and to set the children of Abraham free. Moses’ encounter with the living God changed world history by setting Egypt’s Hebrew slaves free and establishing the nation of Israel on the foundation of honoring and obeying the great “I AM” — the God of Abraham, Issac, and Jacob.

From that nation came a man named Jesus, the Creator of the Universe in human flesh who said, “Before Abraham was, I AM.” His people wanted to kill Him for making Himself equal with God and eventually they got the Romans to crucify Him.

Then He rose from the dead and today He lives within His followers as “Christ in you, the hope of glory.” Be like the bush. Let the risen Jesus, God in human flesh, burn inside of you and speak through you. Surrender fully to His presence and be continually led by His Spirit. Refuse to hinder His fire within you and let His voice flow through you day and night!

“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” If Christians aren’t allowed to share testimonies about Jesus in church, how will they ever get the courage to share them in daily life?

Would you rather hear your favorite band live or go hear a lecture about them? That’s how I feel about Jesus. I want to hear Him personally, not just hear about Him!

It is continual awareness of the presence of Jesus that empowers a person to follow and obey Him. Sermon-hearing is a poor substitute for conscious awareness of Jesus.

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There’s nothing super about being superficial.

The meaninglessness of superficial entertainment bores me. The calling of purpose thrills me! Look beyond superficiality. The fumes of superficiality will never fill up your think tank.

Closed hearts are trapped by superficial things. Open hearts discover life-enriching vision and purpose.

You’ll never learn to dive into a life of meaningful purpose if you spend your time in the shallow wading pool of superficiality. The more you fish for the superficial, the more you’ll catch discouragement and despair.

There’s nothing super about being superficial. Superficiality is an attempt to hide the trouble that is raging in your heart in order to protect your pride. If you will humbly listen with an open heart, criticism from other people can be a superhero that rescues you from superficiality.

If we don’t open our heart to God and to other people, religious activities do us little good. Whenever “two or three gather’ in the name of Jesus and humbly open their hearts to Christ and to one another, there will appear “the love of the Spirit” — “the love of God shed abroad in human community.

Love that’s superficial
Is merely artificial.
True love connects deeply
Because it’s sacrificial!

Superficiality
Tries to dodge reality
By embracing triviality
And artificiality
But here’s a technicality.
It lacks the capacity
To erase actuality.
Its denial and irrationality
Are full of ineffectuality
And release dysfunctionality.

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Chruch is a confusing word

Church can refer to a building or a Christian organization or a religious program or the members of a Christian organization. But when Jesus said that He would build something that would overcome the gates of Hell, what was He referring to? It helps to know the meaning of the Greek word used in that Bible passage. That word was the proper name for the participatory town hall meeting in ancient Greek cities where there was no hierarchy, all were equal, and everyone present could speak up in the meeting — the ekklesia. Jesus said that He would build His ekklesia — His interactive town meeting that belongs and is directly led by Him. Now is the time for Christ-followers to go beyond church as usual and to let Christian gatherings be Jesus-led ekklesias again!

I think understanding the Greek word ekklesia is essential to understanding what Jesus wants to build. I don’t believe that Jesus wants to build a religious building, a religious program, a religious organization, or to recruit people to join a religious organization. I believe He wants to build a body of Spirit-led believers who function like the ancient ekklesia in Greek cities. After all, that’s the word He is quoted as using in the book of Matthew. That’s also the word used throughout the New Testament to describe the body of Christ.

Perhaps Jesus was serious when He said He wanted to build His ekklesia — His participatory town hall meeting of equals. Maybe we should let Him. Indeed, it’s now time for citizens of God’s kingdom to gather and to share what’s in their heart with each other like the citizens of ancient Greek cities did in their ekklesia. Let’s allow the risen Jesus to build His ekklesia in our time.

Search for: Beyond Church Ekklesia.

The joy and transformational power of Christian heart connection

Can contemporary Christianity step beyond the addiction to religious curriculum and pulpit lectures that doesn’t “add up to transformational living” and to begin to experience ongoing heart connection? I believe that the answer is yes! Christian heart connection requires that we train ourselves to frequently open our heart to other believers and to God.

My heart opened to God and to people when I first heard someone humbly, tenderly, and publicly tell how they first encountered and surrendered to the risen Jesus. At that moment a vail was torn inside of me and I’ve never been the same. I began to attend a Spirit-led meeting in a college dorm where people opened their hearts to one another. I was being beautifully led into transformational living and became so hungry to be among open hearts that I have sought them out all of my adult life by intentionally opening my heart to people and making them feel welcome to open theirs to me. I discovered that when I humbly and honestly open my heart to people, they begin to reciprocate and suddenly I am banding and bonding with them at a transformational level.

I frequently experience Christ-centered heart connection with both friends and strangers, both as individuals and in groups. When I sincerely open my heart to them, they open theirs to me. They show me love and compassion and they share their struggles and joys with me in ways that touch me deeply.

An open heart is the key. If you want more Christian heart connection, open your heart to God and ask the Holy Spirit to prompt you when He wants you to verbally open your heart to people. Then courageously obey when He prompts you to testify, to pray, to confess, to cry, to sing, to show compassion. to forgive, to prophesy, to humble yourself, to quote a Scripture, etc. A band is a good place to begin, but there’s no need to only open up to a few. Open your heart in all you say and do and let Jesus connect your heart with people in every area of your life.

O that the body of Christ would begin to gather like the ancient Greek ekklesia that met like a town hall meeting as a group of equals where everyone present could openly share and testify. Perhaps it’s time to make church ekklesia again.

Let the Creator of the Universe connect you heart-to-heart with people and begin to experience the joy and transformational power of Christian heart connection. (In order to avoid taking the name of God in vain, the ancient Jews called Him Lord. To proclaim, “Jesus is Lord!” is to say that the Creator of the Universe became a human being.)

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God’s fishing net (the body of Christ knit together heart-to-heart)

When some of the members of the body of Christ begin to frequently gather to individually listen to and obey the Headship and Lordship of the risen Jesus, He begins to reveal Himself as present in their midst by actively directing the meeting through the things that He leads them to say and do, and by assembling their hearts together in the beautiful unity of the Spirit as He reconciles them to Himself and to one another. God knits their hearts together with gentle knots of love creating a net that draws people into heart-felt surrender to the kingdom (the direct leadership) of God. The body of Christ needs to continually gather as a network of Spirit-led heart-connections, not as a bulwark of religious formalism.

In 1 Corinthians 14: 24-25 Paul describes the net of Christ’s body in action. He says: “If an unbeliever or an inquirer comes in while everyone is prophesying, they are convicted of sin and are brought under judgment by all, as the secrets of their hearts are laid bare. So, they will fall down and worship God, exclaiming, ‘God is really among you!’”

That happened to me when as an agnostic freshman in college I saw a group of Christ-followers openly testifying with tender hearts full of love for Jesus. In an instant the living Jesus became real to me, and I’ve never been the same. A few minutes later I openly exclaimed my gratitude to God for showing me that Jesus is real and present today! Ever since that time I’ve searched for Christians who will freely open their heart to Jesus with me and with others. In those settings in dorms, Sunday school classes, homes, phone calls, conference rooms, restaurants, Zoom calls, and street corners, I’ve seen the net of testimonies from heart-knitted believers cause people to exclaim “God is really among you!” as tears come from their eyes and their face fills with peace.

Let Jesus make changes in your life. Click the allow button in your heart! Hard hearts don’t heal. They hide their hurt and deny it. When a church service provides a place for hurting hearts to hide, it does people a disservice by keeping them isolated from the healing power of Christ-centered, open-hearted community.

Allow Jesus to be the search engine for your heart. Open the links He shows you and let Him take you to supernatural sites. The “C” in Christianity stands for Christ not for church!

When Jesus pops up at your heart’s door, click allow. Let Him surround you with His net of compassion and pull you from the waves of misinformation that threaten to drown you in despair. Don’t blame God for the disruptive cookies that you allow in your heart.

Neither call to worship,
Nor praise band,
Nor responsive reading,
Nor one-size-fits-all-message,
Nor beautiful benediction,
Can turn closed and silent people,
Who aren’t free to verbally express
Their inner sensitivity to God,
Into a group of people
Connected heart-to-heart
In Christ-controlled community.

If you want to grow
Strong in the Lord
You can’t live like
Hard-hearted Pharoah
And pretend you know
More than God.

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