Liturgy-led, preacher-led, or Spirit-led? That is the question for the church of the future. If church doesn’t train Christians to listen directly to God’s “still small voice,” doesn’t that make a preacher God’s middleman?
If your insights and spiritual gifts aren’t needed in a church service, does your presence benefit anyone but yourself? Christian spirituality is collaboration between the risen Jesus and you. The more you surrender, the more He is able to lead.
Jesus has relocated from being dead in His tomb to living inside those who are surrendered to Him. He’s not dead anymore. He can speak for Himself!
Clergy-focused meetings blur the resurrected Jesus by misdirecting our attention away from Him. A “Christian” narcissist is someone who has dethroned the risen Savior in his life.
Unconditional surrender to the risen Jesus brings glorious freedom from self-focus and self-torment Obeying Jesus is always surprising. You feel like you’re giving up what you want, but then those feelings are swept away by His presence.
Surrender to the living Jesus isn’t “once and done.” I have to do it many times everyday. Surrendering to Jesus is easier when times are hard. Then people need the risen Jesus and His supernatural power, not just church services.
Religion is often the stone that tries to keep Jesus entombed. It’s easy to forget about the risen Jesus except on Easter. It’s much more powerful to listen to and obey Him daily.
The biblical concept of ekklesia involves Spirit-led interaction with the living Jesus and some of His followers. Make church ekklesia again. Ekklesia says: You’re free to obey the Spirit; if you’re off track, an overseer will gently correct you. Church says: Sit and listen.
People tell me that the Holy Spirit can lead thru a preacher or thru liturgy. Here are some thoughts about that:
Liturgy is set in stone. How can the Spirit lead in something that isn’t flexible? The Spirit can be felt during liturgy, but the Spirit is seldom (if ever) allowed to redirect it or modify it. Also, if a preacher is leading, but the Spirit wants to interject something thru someone else, how often does the preacher allow that? I’ve never seen a preacher allow an interruption during his sermon, but 1 Corinthians 14 says that if one person is speaking and the Spirit gives something to someone else, the first person should sit down and allow the other one to speak.
