Hear Jesus here, there, and everywhere. When Christianity is presented as mostly just listening to one man lecture, it causes many people to reject it. Many Christian leaders have been well trained to and are very experienced at quenching the Holy Spirit.

A preacher’s mission is to present Jesus to non-believers, an overseer’s is to help keep a Christian gathering under the direct and personal leadership of God’s Spirit. Where are the overseers? The body of Christ desperately needs more Spirit-led, Bible-aligned pioneers. Be one! Christ-followers need to radiate the presence of the living Jesus, not simply sit thru another weekly sermon.

Traditional Christianity says: “Jesus is alive so come here and hear a weekly talk about Him.” But let’s use some logic here. If Jesus is alive and present when we gather in His name, then we can hear directly from Him. Right? If Jesus can talk to a preacher, He can talk to you. Go directly to the Source!

Members of the body of Christ are not and never were intended to be an audience! Let’s get out of our chairs and run with Jesus! “The gates of Hell” haven’t overcome the church, but making people passive spectators has sure taken the wind out of its sails. Churches that lecture but never train their members to boldly hear and obey the living Jesus will be full of mostly passive people.

Why should a preacher be the only person in a church who is considered to be able to hear from Jesus? There’s nothing in the Bible to justify that idea. Christians don’t need more sermons, studies, conferences, and courses. They need to be released and empowered to effectively and powerfully live out what they already know.

People need Jesus more than they need sermons. “Just give me Jesus.” How many sermons will it take till we learn that too many people have substituted sermon hearing for hearing Jesus?

A preacher’s bias and opinion can easily twist the Bible. Otherwise Jesus wouldn’t have warned us about false prophets. So why not read the Word ourselves so that it isn’t filtered thru a man’s opinion?

Rely on risen Jesus. Put your trust in Him, not in one of the tens of thousands of divisive, mutually independent religious organizations that call themselves churches or denominations. The answer to cruelty, oppression, bullying, name calling, hatred, violence, and war is the risen Jesus–the Prince of Peace! I’m in awe of Jesus when I see nature’s beauty and when I see His image in people’s heart (even in people who don’t acknowledge Him).

Western society proclaims that feelings are Lord–that a person’s feelings and desires define who he is and what he does. True Christianity declares and demonstrates that the living Jesus is Lord–that the resurrected and ever-present Jesus Christ defines who a person is and what he should do.

For me, listening to most formal sermons drowns out the voice of Jesus. I went to a church this morning and felt so distracted from Jesus that I had to leave half way thru the sermon to get focused on Him again. Given the choice, I’d rather hear directly from Jesus than from a preacher. How about you? If churches won’t train people to daily listen to Jesus, who will?

Hope’s in Christ, not in sermons!

Christians are sitting
Week after week
To hear the same man
Give a religious lecture
In a hope-starved world.
But the Bible says,
The hope of glory
Is “Christ in you.”