Help your country steer clear of chaos and corruption!

Posted on April 11, 2023 by Steve Simms

Our chaotic and corrupt culture is collapsing all around us and desperately crying out for help in the confusion of its spiritual lostness. We are now frequently seeing cruel and bloody mass shootings that prove that a culture that lives like we don’t need the living God desperately needs Him. America is the first society in history where individuals massacring people (for no apparent reason) has become a common occurrence.

Breaking hearts are crying out to God for peace, safety, and hope. The myth that says we don’t need the living God is being shattered by the demonic cruelty of random mass murder.

As long as people want to be entertained by violence and disrespect for righteousness, the profit motive will supply that entertainment for them. The more a culture consumes violent and disrespectful entertainment, the more they will experience it in their society. We need the living God to change our heart so that we as a people enjoy entertainment that vividly demonstrates the beauty and joy of kindness and a clear conscience, instead of overflowing with cruelty and rebellion.

Now is the time for Christians to cultivate, embrace, and demonstrate continual awareness of the presence and power of the risen Jesus Christ — to rely on and illustrate His ability to change human hearts and set people free, instead of relying on the proven ineffectiveness of guns, politics, laws, and law enforcement.

Flee the inner emptiness of trying to entomb the living Jesus in intellect or in religious ceremony. His resurrection can neither be rationally explained nor institutionalized.

We need the internal stirring of awe produced by the awareness of Christ’s supernatural presence as an ongoing heart experience. Choose to humbly open up to and consciously abide in His present-day reality.

The risen Jesus longs to release His ever-flowing inner rivers of spiritually uplifting power and hope in and through His contemporary followers. Put and keep humble obedience to the risen Jesus first, far above every other desire and interest, not only in words, but also in thought and behavior. See for yourself!

Refuse to quench God’s Spirit. Keep the stone rolled away from your heart. In full surrender ever embrace and obey Jesus’ presence. Let Jesus off the religious chain!

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Posted in contemporary culture, corrupt culture, healing life's hurts, patriotism, revival fires, spiritual awakening | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

The risen Jesus is working on me (and you)

Posted on April 10, 2023 by Steve Simms

I have encountered the Lord. Now the risen Jesus interacts with me heart-to-heart.

I wake up in the morning with encouraging words running through my mind and heart. Then I get up and write them down.

Throughout the day hope-filled thoughts come to me and make me aware of Christ’s reality. I delight to bask in them and to savor His presence.

When I read the Bible, the words come alive. They cause me to feel that Jesus is real and with me in the moment.

Sometimes Jesus corrects me. Sometimes He directs me. Sometimes I even sense Him calling my name and saying that He loves me. He releases rivers of living water that flow out my heart and fill me with the fruit of His Spirit.

This morning I awakened with this poem flowing from within me:

The risen Jesus
Isn’t stuck far away
Back in history
Or in some future day.
He promised to be
With His people always
So He can now
Live inside of you
And give you victory
Throughout each day
As “Christ in you,
The hope of glory.”

The best day to celebrate Jesus’ resurrection is every day. The best place is everywhere!

Easter Sunday may be over and done with for another year, but the resurrection of Jesus never passes away! Experience Him today!

I was in the woods on Easter Sunday (2023) celebrating the big stone that rolled away and left Jesus’ tomb empty. I was thrilled to see that nature had written Jesus’ initial on another big stone. Enlarge the pic below and notice the J on the big boulder in the waterfall at the center of the picture.

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Have a Spirit-filled, hippity hoppity Easter!

Posted on April 9, 2023 by Steve Simms

Have a hippity hoppity Easter! Hop out of religious formalism and into daily interaction with and obedience to the risen Jesus.

Christ-centered Christianity is continually conscious of the presence and power of the risen Jesus! Happy Resurrection Day! Church history shows that Christianity gradually drifted from individuals daily and passionately interacting with and obeying the living Jesus to holding the annual, formalized commemoration of His resurrection that we call Easter.

First century word of mouth took news about Jesus viral. Soon the good news of the risen Jesus was trending and generating persecution around the Roman Empire and even in the world beyond its borders.

Then over the next few centuries the glorious news about the active presence of the resurrected Jesus was institutionalized and replaced with a ritualized religious formalism that removed passionate commitment to the living Jesus from everyday life. The spiritual habit of being continually aware of and obedient to “Christ in you” that made Christ-followers a force to be reckoned with became so rare that the few people who had the habit which every Christian needs were canonized as “saints.”

Now hippity hoppity and dare to be Christ’s Spirit-led oddity! Hippity hoppity, surrender your life and become Christ’s property!

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Posted in Easter, how to celebrate Easter, Looking unto Jesus, meaning of Easter, Resurrection Day, resurrection of Jesus | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

A “handy” example of how Christ’s body should function

Posted on April 8, 2023 by Steve Simms

“If the foot should say, ‘Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,’ that would not make it any less a part of the body.” (1 Corinthians 12:15.)

The resurrected body of Jesus ascended into the sky and disappeared into a cloud. His risen body is now in Heaven. However, the Bible also declares that all true Christ followers, world-wide and across time, are a part of His body (because He actually lives in us), whether we are actual members of a particular religious institution or not.

So how is the body of Christ (the children of God) on earth supposed to meet together? We’re supposed to be Spirit-led (Romans 8:14) — to be led by Jesus as our literal Head — not controlled by the headship of a human hierarchy or a religious organization.

So how should the body of Christ function under Jesus’ Headship? Let’s think about your hand.

Please follow along with me. Make a thumbs up sign. Now keeping your thumb up, open up your fingers. Then wiggle your thumb and observe.

That’s the way a typical church is set up. The pastor (your thumb) wiggles about on a stage and gives a talk while the congregation (your fingers) sits passively and comfortably still unless the pastor or program tells them to do something.

Now stop moving your thumb and point your fingers to the sky keeping your hand open and your thumb up. This time take turns randomly wiggling different fingers and your thumb one at a time. According to 1 Corinthians 14:26, that’s the way the body of Christ should meet together. Anyone present can speak as prompted by the Head of the body — the risen Jesus.

What did you just do? You illustrated the difference between the headship of a pastor (your thumb) and the Headship of Jesus. In the first example the pastor controlled everything as your mind directed him to wiggle. In the second example your mind directly directed each finger and the thumb when to wiggle. The pastor (your thumb) wasn’t the head, but your mind was the head.

That’s how Jesus wants to be the literal Head of His body. He doesn’t need a pastor or a human hierarchy to head things up. He Himself wants to be the Head and to directly direct each person present when to speak and when to listen without first having to run things through a pastor.

If you won’t allow Jesus to directly run a gathering of His body in that way, then you’re missing out on amazing demonstrations of His Headship and reality as He prompts ordinary people to speak as led by the Spirit. Perhaps it’s time to hand control of church meetings over to the risen Jesus and let Him be the living Head of His body!

By humbly and continually submitting to and obeying God while resisting and rejecting the devil’s temptations to self-focus on our own desires we put ourselves in the position where Jesus can lift us up to daily live and flow in the power of the Spirit. Be Spirit-led!

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Posted in alternative church, body of Christ, church services, how the body of Christ functions, reformation, worship, worship service | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Is the Easter holiday a spiritual distraction?

Posted on April 7, 2023 by Steve Simms

People who truly believe Jesus is alive and available either cling to Him or avoid Him. They don’t enjoy lukewarm religion. See Revelation 3:16. If you truly believe Jesus is risen from the dead and present with you, then you’ll live your everyday life as if Jesus is alive!

Don’t let Easter pageantry distract you from the actual presence and power of the risen Jesus! If you have a compulsive thought or behavior that you can’t seem to stop, that’s bondage. There’s hope though. The risen Jesus wants to set you free!

Jesus doesn’t want you to wear a religious Band-Aid. He wants you to be continually banded together heart to heart to Him and to some of His passionate followers.

Since there’s not much opportunity to learn to flow in the gifts of God’s Spirit in church settings, you need to let the risen Jesus train you in your daily life. The people I spend the most time with are those who are passionate about the living Jesus and those who want to be.

The Resurrection:
It’s not an Easter sermon.
It’s the risen Jesus
Calling your name!

The resurrection of Jesus
Shouldn’t only be
A once a year holiday.
Let Him be your living Way
Every single day!

Jesus died on
A cross-shaped tree
And rose to rescue
You and me.
We shouldn’t
Ignore His presence
While focusing on
Easter pageantry–
Ceremonies, programs,
Flowers, baskets,
Clothes, candy,
Eggs and bunnies.
Where’s the risen Jesus
In all of the distraction?

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Posted in Jesus is alive, meaning of Easter, Resurrection Day, resurrection of Jesus | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Tune in to the resurrected Jesus . . .

Posted on April 6, 2023 by Steve Simms

I woke up this morning with the answer to the question, “How did you emerge on the other side of temptation?” running through my mind and heart before I read that question on a blog post just now. Here’s the answer that I woke up with: “Tune in to the risen Jesus. Tune out self-focused desires.”

Tuning in to Jesus and out from self-desire isn’t an easy thing to do. It’s not a once and done deal. Instead, it’s a lifestyle that we learn by seeking to do it throughout the day, every day, all day long. A medieval European monk (known as Brother Lawrence) called it “Practicing the presence of God.”

When temptations and distractions are interfering with our communication with the living Jesus and our hope has fled leaving our heart feeling like led, we mustn’t give up on the resurrected One who has complete victory over the devil and his demons. We need to earnestly pursue Christ’s presence more than ever by living a consistent 2 Chronicles 7:14 lifestyle.

I had another thought this morning before I got out of bed: “Any day not spent openheartedly interacting with the resurrected Jesus is off track.” Every time we drift off or feel pulled away by temptation, let’s quickly get back on track and humbly interact with the resurrected Jesus!

The Bible clearly shows that Jesus loves people and that He wants us to be free from demons that deceive, manipulate, and torment us. True Christianity isn’t theoretical. It’s about daily experiencing and living with genuine freedom from the control, guilt, and torment of sin.

It’s a great loss to celebrate Jesus as history and yet be unaware of and/or unsubmitted to His actual daily presence and Lordship. Religion prefers to follow a program instead of following the actual presence and power of the living, resurrected Jesus Christ. If Jesus is really risen from the dead, then Christians should act like He is by letting Him be the genuine Leader and Lord both in church services and in daily life!

If attending church isn’t empowering you to align your daily lifestyle with the resurrected Jesus, it’s not working for you. Try connecting your heart directly to the living Jesus.

An observation: Church is often . . .
More programmed than empowering,
More ceremonial than life-changing,
More tradition than transformation,
More ritualized than revitalizing,
More show than Spirit-led,
More hype than holiness.
I want more
Of the risen
Jesus!

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Posted in cost of discipleship, discipleship, Jesus is alive, obedience to God, submission, temptation | Tagged , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

“Reproductive rights” & freedom of speech

Posted on April 5, 2023 by Steve Simms

“Reproductive health care” and “reproductive rights” are by definition about helping babies be conceived and born alive. Tearing babies apart before birth is anti-reproductive.

Freedom of speech is the right to openly disagree with people. It’s not the right to verbally attack and intimidate people for disagreeing with you.

Posted in freedom of conscience, freedom of speech, prenatal care, prenatal medicine, reproductive rights | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Noticing Jesus!

Posted on April 5, 2023 by Steve Simms

Jesus-spottings,
Jesus-encounters,
Jesus-miracles,
Jesus-friendship,
And Christ in you:
All are happening today
Because He is risen indeed!

Too often the risen Jesus is unobserved. His resurrection is proclaimed but His presence isn’t noticed. We need to recognize Jesus not just hear talks about Him.

Go beyond analysis. Let awe, amazement, and adoration of the resurrected Jesus abound in and overflow from your heart. Every breath I breathe is by the graciousness and mercy of God. Not even one is earned or deserved. Every good thing in my life is an unmerited gift. Thank You, Jesus!

In the Bible the emphasis and focus of Christianity is on heart-felt relationship with Jesus and with other Christ-followers, not on being a religious audience. Jesus speaks directly to human hearts. Hear Him now! It’s much more important to hear what the risen Jesus is saying than what the church calendar is saying.

Until you’re willing to admit to Jesus that a behavior that you engage in is morally wrong, you won’t be able to truly repent from it. Tell Him now!

Look!
You won’t find Jesus
In His tomb.
Today His presence
Is everywhere
But rarely noticed
By distracted human hearts
That struggle along
Falsely feeling
Abandoned and alone.

If you want
To defy
The devil’s
Downward pull
Daily experience
And learn to rely
On the risen Jesus.
Then boldly testify
About what He’s doing
In and around you!
Revelation 12:11!

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Posted in empty tomb, experiencing God, experiencing Jesus, Resurrection Day, resurrection of Jesus | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

There’s never enough confetti to heal an empty heart.

Posted on April 4, 2023 by Steve Simms

An empty heart doesn’t appreciate Jesus’ empty tomb, but a heart full of His presence continually celebrates His resurrection! Discover the risen Jesus this week, not on a church calendar but with your heart! There’s never enough confetti to heal an empty heart!

The resurrected Jesus wants to build people who have experienced heart-changing, God-given insight, into Spirit-led community. When the body of Christ gathers as a Spirit-led community the presence and power of the risen Jesus begins to be revealed.

There are no time or location limits on Spirit-led community. Jesus can connect people heart-to-heart anytime and anyplace they’re willing to humbly and honestly open up to Him and to each other. Part-time Christianity is uncomfortable with Spirit-led community because it has no time constraints — no on and off button.

Spirit-led community openly demonstrates the reality of the resurrected Jesus. That’s because it allows Him to shine in and through people’s hearts, words, and actions.

Biblical Christianity is a full-time job. Part-time Christianity tries to squeeze by on a couple of hours per week or less. It takes very little time to be a part-time Christian, but all the time in the world isn’t enough to find a biblical justification for being one.

Even when you’re twisting
And resisting
What God’s saying,
He’s not desisting
But insisting
On persisting
In assisting
And pursuing you
In love.
Peace comes when you
Start untwisting
Your heart
By daily submitting
To God’s will
And boldly resisting
The devil’s.

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Posted in Christian community, church community, empty tomb, meaning of Easter, Spirit-led church | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

An observation: A society that promotes sexual confusion produces much mistaken identity.

Posted on April 4, 2023 by Steve Simms
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