Do you ever take the time to ask, “Who or what am I following?”
A lot of people talk about Christianity. What’s rare is to follow the risen Jesus wherever He leads. If you’re not looking for the living Jesus, you may walk right past Him.
At some place in history, church started following sermons by professional preachers and shut down open sharing based on 1 Corinthians 14:26. But can you find even one Scripture that says a worship meeting should be focused on a sermon?
Sermons are fine, but why should every church service be required to have one? Can’t the risen Jesus work without a sermon? So why is having a one-man sermon considered to be the only acceptable way to have a worship meeting? There are plenty of churches for people who like to hear sermons; but where can people go who like open sharing & testimonies?
Sermons keep people silent & sedentary. Open sharing sets them free to obey the Spirit! Perhaps, the best “sermons” come form ordinary people sharing as they are prompted by the living Jesus.
When the same person preaches every week, he is seen as out ranking everybody else & equality before Christ is disrupted. Nowhere in the Bible does it say that one person in a church is a pastor or preacher and the rest are not. Where Christ is the Head, there’s no room for human authoritarianism.
In the New Testament preaching was for unbelievers. Now it’s almost exclusively for Christians. What happened?
“All hands on deck!” Every Christ-follower needs to be openly speaking out about Jesus and living a godly life! Don’t wait for institutional permission. If you’re a follower of His, Jesus has already given you permission to share the Gospel!
Humans cannot make God fit into an hour program. So why try?
You don’t need formality and a program to relate to a friend. Jesus wants to be your friend. Amazing possibilities open up when a group of people meets with Jesus without a program.
We can follow dreams, instincts, feelings, bliss, people, organizations, etc. However, we are called to follow the risen Jesus!
You don’t have to click on “unfollow” to walk away from Jesus. Just follow you’re own feelings and soon you’ll be off track.
Don’t follow your heart if your heart isn’t following the living, resurrected Jesus. Following the risen Christ takes passion, persistence, & self-denial & sometimes results in persecution.
You can’t follow Jesus if you’re wearing Son-block. Listen to advice, but follow the resurrected Jesus! If you keep on trailing the risen Jesus, you’ll wind up in amazing places!
If your faith doesn’t frighten you a little bit, it’s probably not big enough. Moving mountains can be scary. To learn more about how to move beyond the mountain of traditional church, click here.
