The outta church Jesus Revolution

Posted on February 28, 2023 by Steve Simms

The Jesus Revolution movie ended by saying that much of the Jesus Movement happened outside of and independent of churches. That was my experience and the experience of multitudes in my generation.

In early 1970 some students from Asbury University came and spoke at a small college in a small town in West Tennessee (University of Tennessee Martin) and spread revival to a weekly “Dorm Devotion” meeting there. A few weeks later I visited one of those meetings and found a room full of people visibly thrilled about Jesus.

What I heard students say and what I saw on their faces that night immediately changed me from within. I have never been the same. It still moves me to tears when I tell people about how Jesus showed Himself to me in an instant that night.

Those students quickly became family as together we celebrated our love for Jesus. We met weekly to sing songs, pray, hear testimonies, share Scriptures, encourage one another and enjoy Jesus’ presence working among us.

We continually hung out with each other during the week sharing our excitement about what Jesus was showing us and the amazing way He was working in our lives. We felt a deep bond that went far beyond theology or church affiliation. When we would run into each other in various places on campus, we often held hands and had spontaneous prayer meetings. We wanted to tell everybody everywhere about the living Jesus and even though most of us weren’t hippies, we were all known as Jesus Freaks.

During my years there I didn’t go to church much. When I did attend a sermon-based church service it was always a spiritual letdown from my daily and weekly experiences with my fellow campus Jesus-lovers.

We saw churches as mission fields where we could show up and tell people that Jesus is real and truly alive and present. We formed a choir and were occasionally invited to sing and testify in churches. We went on long weekends in churches called “Lay Witness Missions” where we took turns sharing our stories about how the living Jesus was working in our lives and saw many church people weep and repent and be transformed by the risen Jesus.

I was ruined by my Jesus Revolution college years. Since then, I’ve never been satisfied with a few songs and a sermon. I want to hear God’s people share how the living Jesus is working in and through them! I want to let Jesus take charge when we meet together so we can be led by the Spirit instead of by a pastor or a program. Is that too much to ask?

In the Jesus Revolution movie, Chuck Smith (the official church pastor) tells Lonnie Frisbee (the hippie co-pastor) that the church meetings need to be kept under control. Lonnie says that no one should try to control the Spirit. Then Chuck eventually forces Lonnie (who God had used to fill the church with hippies) to leave because he was obeying the Spirit and praying for and proclaiming miracles. (Lonnie later helped start the Vineyard Movement/churches, along with John Wimber, which was more open to the leading and gifts of the Spirit. However, it still maintained the one-man sermon and senior pastor model of church.)

After I graduated in 1974, I went to Southern California for a year because I wanted to continue to experience the Jesus Revolution. I went to seminary at Melodyland, a huge charismatic church and small seminary. I also went numerous times to the Saturday night concerts at Calvary Chapel. By that time both places had already drifted away from the Spirit-led spontaneity of the outta church Jesus Revolution into a more formal and religious approach to Christianity. There I realized that it takes hard work to hold on to your “first love” for Jesus.

“Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken the love you had at first. Consider how far you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first.” –Jesus, speaking in Revelation 2:4-5.

Over the years, I’ve seen much “first love” from the Jesus Revolution shift into formalism, religion, and institutionalism. I’ve even been forced to leave churches because I prayed for and proclaimed miracles. I pray that this present and coming Jesus Revolution is not so quickly muffled and muzzled by churches and religious organizations but remains free to let the living Jesus be the active, literal and ongoing Head of what He is now pouring out in the earth. (The 2023 Asbury Outpouring did a wonderful job of letting Jesus lead and keeping the focus on Him instead of on human leaders.)

Go see the movie, Jesus Revolution, and observe the way Jesus showed up with glory, healing, and deliverance in non-religious people’s lives. Then notice the shift toward institutionalism in the second half of the movie. Ask Jesus to show Himself to you and to keep you passionately following Him (instead of an organization or a pastor) for the rest of your life!

A few more thoughts:

  • It’s hard to be led by the Spirit if you’re caught in the cages of institutional religion.
  • If you mention your pastor’s name in conversations about church more than you do the name of Jesus, you need to reverse the order.
  • I’d rather be thrilled about Jesus than chilled by church!
  • Remove the Sunday morning gag order. Let church attendees tell the congregation what God is doing in their life.
Posted in Asbury revival 2023, experiencing Jesus, Jesus Christ, Jesus Christ the Head, Jesus freaks, Jesus is alive, Jesus Movement | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Is church like bowling pins and gutter balls?

Posted on February 27, 2023 by Steve Simms

Are preachers throwing gutter balls? I just had an image come to my mind of bowling pins and gutter balls. The pins were neatly lined up and a man was rolling gutter balls so he wouldn’t disturb them. When God’s word is declared, it should disrupt us and reset us, not leave us unchanged and stuck in the same religious routine week after week.

True Christianity requires directly hearing God’s Spirit, not hand-me-down hearing through a preacher. Listen within, don’t depend on sermons. Institutional Christianity gathers spectators. The living Jesus fills, empowers, and releases witnesses who obey Him, testify to, and demonstrate His reality!

Spectator Christians are like stuck keys on a piano; no matter how much they’re tapped, they remain silent. When Christians gather as spectators, the Holy Spirit is hindered, but when they’re hungry and encouraged to freely interact with Jesus and one another, God’s glory shows up!

Jesus isn’t a religious institution. He’s the living Creator and Lord of all! Follow Him beyond church as usual to overwhelming peace, joy, and love!

It’s time to deinstitutionalize Christianity. Connect heart-to-heart with the risen Jesus and follow Him! Be daily led by God’s Spirit. Let’s drop the religious titles and just be brothers and sisters in Christ.

Troubles and trials are revelatory. They show us our frailty and cause us to deeply realize our great need for the power and presence of the living, resurrected Jesus. Trials motivate us to search our heart, to repent, to cry out for, and to cling to God’s mercy and help. When we are profoundly aware of our brokenness, we openly acknowledge our weaknesses and then Jesus steps into our inner abyss with His reality and strength.

Be Spirit-led
And Spirit-fed.
No longer live
As though you’re
Spiritually dead.
Let Jesus be
Your living Head
As you
Daily do
What He says.

Revival?
A Christian whose
Heart and mind
Are entwined
With unkind
Thoughts and
Bad desires
Needs to repent,
Unwind
And be realigned
To God’s inner light.

Photo by Matthias Zomer on Pexels.com
Posted in Asbury revival 2023, ekklesia, institutional church, organic chruch, religious blogs | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Jesus? Active or inactive?

Posted on February 26, 2023 by Steve Simms

An inactive Jesus must be explained by sermons, but the living Jesus wants to actively demonstrate His presence. Shall we let Him?

A tightly programmed and controlled church service reveals unbelief in the ability of the active Jesus to personally lead the meeting. Christianity is so much more than a group of inactive people passively sitting in rows to hear a weekly religious talk.

If the preacher doesn’t show up, the Sunday show doesn’t go on. If Jesus doesn’t show up, no one seems to notice.

Ever since I first encountered and began to follow the living Jesus, I’ve found that simply settling into the traditional church format isn’t the best choice for my relationship with Him. Merely attending church encourages me to be a spectator and to see Christianity as a once-a-week thing that a professional speaker does for me. It tempts me to see Jesus as an inactive historical figure who I merely need to learn about instead of seeing Him as the active and present King and Lord who calls me to ever surrender my life and my will to Him.

God has blessed me with a deep hunger for so much more of Jesus’ presence. The Holy Spirit continually calls me beyond church as usual and to daily dependance and reliance on the risen Jesus. He nudges and prompts me from within to obey His specific directions to me and to truly trust in God with heart-felt faith during everyday situations. The Spirit connects me heart-to-heart with other believers and as we listen to and obey the living Jesus together, we behold and experience Him actively and powerfully working in and through us.

The active Jesus will disturb an inactive Christian! Too many Christians are seeking preachers and/or religious celebrities instead of seeking “first the kingdom of God and His righteousness.” Christians are famous for sitting down for church. Now it’s time to stand up and show the love, power, and presence of Jesus!

Churches present Jesus as distant and inactive. The truth is just the opposite! Pastors who believe that Jesus is inactive feel an ongoing need to control church services.

When churches gather around an inactive Jesus, everything must be done by someone else. But when they gather around the living Jesus, He can run things Himself!

Church attendance is often used as an excuse for not obeying Jesus in daily life. To follow the inactive Jesus all you need to do is sit and hear a talk. To follow the active Jesus, you have to get up and get going!

The active Jesus works in and through everyday people. The inactive Jesus depends on sermons and programs. The inactive Jesus is a counterfeit Jesus that is proclaimed by tightly controlled churches that allow no room for the active Jesus to take charge.

Revival happens when the active Jesus is welcomed to replace the inactive religious Jesus. Keep revival going. Make room in churches for the living Jesus to take control!

Do you want to welcome the active Jesus into your church or small group? Search for: Beyond Church Ekklesia.

When Peter said,
“This is that . . .”
He was talking about
Freedom in God’s Spirit,
Not the one-man chat
Of the religious
Church format.

When a congregation
Moves beyond stagnation
And opens up to receive
Christ’s activation,
It changes their situation
From being spectators
Into being a demonstration
Of Jesus working in
And through ordinary people!

Posted in Asbury revival 2023, discipleship, revival center, spiritual awakening, spiritual formation | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Church’s rubber duckies . . .

Posted on February 25, 2023 by Steve Simms

Stop playing with church’s rubber duckies. Instead, let Jesus’ rivers of living water flow from deep within you. It’s time to stop being bored with church! If you aren’t experiencing the risen Jesus in the service, go and find Him somewhere else.

Watching nature shows is no substitute for smelling the flowers. Hearing sermons is no substitute for tasting and seeing that God is good. Christianity’s not about how much you know about Jesus and the Bible. It’s about how surrendered you are to rest and flow in His presence.

Why settle for sitting in a back row in church. Instead, go to the living Jesus and take the front row at His feet! Enough of sitting thru church! It’s time to move the tassel and let the living Jesus graduate you into daily living in His presence.

Be a Jesus fan! Look away from religious hype and controlling churches and let Christ be the only celebrity in your life. The more you let love for the living Jesus overflow from your heart, the less you’ll be satisfied with hearing weekly talks about Him!

If you won’t drive tormenting demonic thoughts out of your mind and heart and have nothing to do with them, they will burn up your peace and joy. Let the living Jesus help you cast them out! Jesus can fill your heart with His presence and restore what’s dried up in you with His flourishing growth and fruitfulness.

Let the invisible Jesus be center stage on the church platform. No one else deserves that place!

Preachers, no matter how long you bore people with analytical preaching and teaching, you won’t reach their heart until you open up and show them yours. Preaching to and teaching people who aren’t hungry for God accomplishes little. Instead, testify and let them see Jesus at work in you.

You can teach church attendees about God’s living water, but you can’t make them drink. Instead, open your heart and show them Jesus working in you. Be vulnerable and let people see Christ at work in you. That will be more powerful than any sermon. It will warm their heart and make them hungry for God.

The risen Jesus needs to be front and center in church and not be set to the side for a sermon, a pastor, or a program. “God so loved the world . . .” We don’t need to confine our love to one group of people or put one nation first.

Posted in Asbury revival 2023, bored in church, church, great awakening, revival, revival fires, spiritual awakening | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Revival seeks to return us to the original “awe-dition” of Christianity

Posted on February 24, 2023 by Steve Simms

We need the awe edition of Christianity, not the spectator version. Christians are awe-ditory learners. We don’t really know Jesus unless we allow our heart to be overwhelmed by His presence.

Instead of being an audience church attendees need to be an awe-dience completely enthralled by the presence of Jesus. Christianity is not a democracy. It’s an awe-tocracy. It was originally about boldness and awe in following Jesus. Now it’s too often about sitting through the dullness of a religious routine.

Let God sign His awe-tograph on your heart! Open up to God’s awe-flowing inner fountain. Let God awe-dit your heart! The sameness and tameness of Sunday morning Christianity makes spiritual zombies out of too many Christians! By suppressing Spirit-led spontaneity, churches have taken the surprise out of Christianity and replaced it with routine.

Tune in to God’s awe-dio and listen to the still small sound of His voice speaking inside your heart. Step inside of God’s awe-tomobile and let the awareness of the risen Jesus transport you to and keep you in His presence. Be careful that you don’t love church more than you love Jesus.

We need the awe-dacity to obey and proclaim Jesus no matter what people think about us! Christians should be overflowing with Jesus-inspired AWE–Astonishing Wonder Experiences! An audience of lifeless Christians has always made me bored.

Churches often hide God’s awe by refusing to allow people to stand up and openly testify about the miraculous things that God has done for them. Too many Christians instead of being overwhelmed by God’s majesty are underwhelmed by tightly controlled church services.

Revival recovers and restores the majestic awe of God that true Christ-followers once experienced but drifted away from. Let your heart be in awe of God, not just occasionally or momentarily but consistently throughout every day.

Life is wonderful when I stay awe-filled with the presence of Jesus! When I first experienced Jesus, He awe-tomatically changed my heart and I’ve never been the same!

Revival happens when Christians gather and cultivate an environment of freedom and awe where people can personally interact with Jesus. Pride consumes awe and leaves us patting ourselves on the back instead of falling at Jesus feet in radical humility. Don’t stay stuck. Search for Jesus moments!

Revival is beyond church. You won’t find it in a program or sermon. It begins in human hearts. Search: Beyond Church Ekklesia.

Posted in Asbury revival 2023, awe, awe in church, awe of God, revival, spiritual adventure, spiritual awakening | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Asbury & Lee and experiencing a glorious Spirit-led challenge

Posted on February 23, 2023 by Steve Simms

On Monday, 2/21/23, my wife, brother, sister-in-law, and I felt prompted to go to the Jesus outpouring that was happening at Lee University in Cleveland, Tennessee. We drove the 2 1/2 hours from Nashville, but the chapel was closed. That was our Spirit-led challenge. We were immediately tempted to get frustrated and disappointed, but God gave us inner peace.

As we were walking to the chapel, we met a family of four (a college-age man and woman and their parents) with beautiful accents. They had driven from Atlanta and were also tempted to be disappointed. However, instead we two sets of strangers prayed together and felt an immediate connection as the Holy Spirit moved in our hearts. About that time a young Lee employee drove up in a golf cart and asked if He could pray for us. He jumped out, prayed from his heart, then drove on.

After our prayer time together, we started to walk away in different directions. Suddenly I was prompted to ask them a question. I turned and said: “We were at the Asbury revival for two days a week ago, do you mind if we pray over you and impart the blessing that we received there to you?”

The father’s eyes grew wide, and he said: “I’ve been praying that we would meet someone here at Lee who had been to Asbury and would pray over us and impart what they received there.”

We said, “May we lay hands on each of you one at a time and pray over you.” They all eagerly said yes. We started with David, the son. He was very shy but hugged me after we prayed. Then we prayed for Tiffany, the daughter. As we prayed my wife began to get prophetic words for her and tears came to her eyes. Afterwards, she and Tiffany embraced. The mother began to rejoice and clap and said that those words were exactly what Tiffany needed to hear.

As we started to lay hands on the mother and father, they both knelt in the damp grass. After we prayed over them, they both jumped up and began to hug all four of us. They thanked us profusely and after a few minutes of awe and celebration at what God had done, we began to walk away again.

Once again God’s Spirit prompted me to turn around and speak to them. I asked, “Where are you originally from.” They said, “Nigeria.” I felt led to say: “Welcome to the United States of America. You may have felt unwelcome at times, but God wants us to welcome you.” They all smiled, began to hug us again, and told us that David was about to become an American citizen. This time instead of heading in different directions, someone said let’s all go to the chapel and see if anyone is there.

We got to the chapel and there were four people standing outside talking (who didn’t know each other). A women came over and began to talk to us. She was overflowing with the presence of Jesus. She was a student at Lee when the 1970 spiritual awakening happened there. With tears she began to tell us how as a young college student, the living Jesus had transformed her life and how she has felt and been led by His presence all these years. Then she began to pray for us.

The other three people came over and joined in a time of powerful, Holy Spirit inspired prayers. Afterwards a man began to prophesy over Tiffany and confirm what my wife had gotten for her. She was deeply moved.

Suddenly two women walked up. At first, they seemed disappointed, but then they pulled out flags that looked like flames of fire. They put praise music on a phone and began to dance and wave the flags in the Spirit for a long time. A few of us danced with them.

Then a middle-aged man and two college-age guys walked up. They had driven from Tampa to Asbury and stopped at Lee on their way home. They were aglow with God’s Spirit and began to tell us how God had blessed them at Asbury.

After our “revival” at the Lee chapel, we decided to walk across the campus toward a steeple we saw on the other side. It was a beautiful Church of God worship center. We walked in and asked if there was any place we could pray there. They sent us up to a “prayer tower” on the fourth floor with a beautiful 360-degree view of the campus and the surrounding area and asked if we would like someone to pray with us. We said yes.

In a few minutes a woman came in and introduced herself as “Pastor Ruth.” She was overflowing with Jesus and welcomed us with His love as she took the time to get to know us as individuals. Then she began to pray a tender, Spirit-led prayer, full of Scriptures and words of knowledge. We were all in awe at how God was speaking through her.

When we left the church, we decided to go into the Student Center. We got coffee from a Starbucks there and sat and talked about what we were seeing God do. When we left the building, my brother had disappeared. We waited for him a while. I finally went back in, and he was talking to a young man named Obidiah. I tried to hurry them up and Obidiah asked my brother to pray for him.

After the prayer my brother and I walked outside to our wives. Suddenly Obidiah walked up and begins to talk to the four of us. He is 29 and from Murphy, North Carolina. He had driven to Lee five days earlier to experience the spiritual awakening happening there. He shared amazing testimonies about what he had seen and heard the past five days. Then we all prayed together.

After an amazing day of Spirit-tailored revival we went to our Air B & B and basked in the glory that we had experienced on the Lee University campus. What a beautiful day!

We also celebrated what God had done on our way to the campus. We stopped once for gas and a man who looked oppressed and discouraged was slumped over by the door on a stack of firewood. After the rest of us had gone into the building, my brother asked him if he could pray for him. The man said yes and then had tears in his eyes as my brother prayed.

When we all got back in the car, my brother told us what happened and said he wanted to give the man some money but didn’t have any cash. His wife looked but only had a twenty. My brother (who can be very tight with money) said that’s okay. He took the twenty and gave it to the man. The man smiled a beautiful, bright smile that touched all of our hearts.

Before we went to the Lee campus we stopped at a meat and 3 restaurant and had lunch. An 80 year-old man named Larry walked by and my brother started a conversation with him. We told him we were going to the Lee University awakening. He got excited and began to talk about how wonderful it is that God is pouring out His Spirit.

We talked while we ate and eventually prayed for Larry. He left the restaurant but quickly returned while talking with His wife on the phone. He wanted us to tell her our names and encourage her. She soon was sounding joyful as we all enjoyed each other’s company in Christ. Larry asked us if we could take a picture of the four of us and send it to him so that he and his wife can pray for us by name. After that we had high expectations for our Lee University visit.

On our return trip to Nashville, we were driving through Tracy City and my sister-in-law yelled, “Stop! Go back! We have to go back.” She had spotted Dutch Maid Bakery and Cafe and said she had heard great things about it and wanted to go in. So, we did.

As they looked around, I began a conversation with the owner. I told her we had just been to the Lee College looking for the spiritual wakening, and she suddenly got excited. She said, “That’s what we all need!” She began to excitedly talk about Jesus. Soon the four of us were gathered around and she began to tell us about a terrible tragedy she had experienced and how God had brought her through it. She was full of joy. Eventually we all joined hands and prayed for her. Then she prayed for us as we all were thrilled and empowered by the presence of the risen Jesus.

I love seeing God in strangers! As a Jesus-freak college student I sold Black History books door to door. Numerous times a day as I was showing my books, the conversation would somehow shift to Jesus. I would close the books and interact with my brand-new brothers and/or sisters in Christ as we would pray and rejoice together. Check out my blog post: Experiencing God in Strangers.

Posted in Asbury revival 2023, outpouring of the Spirit, revival, revival center, spiritual awakening | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Are you sent?

Posted on February 22, 2023 by Steve Simms

I don’t want
My faith to be mild,
Dressed up
And styled
Into a sweet
Sunday sermon.

If Jesus lives within your heart, He’s giving you specific inner promptings to lead and guide you throughout the day. Learn to recognize and follow His loving voice.

Jesus is the Sender. Let Him bend your will so that every moment He can send you where He wants you to be.

I’ve been watching a squirrel out on a high limb, calmly resting and waiting for his next assignment. I’m impatient and want him to move on, but he still sits. I want to learn to wait on Jesus like that.

Every morning present yourself to Jesus to be sent to do His will throughout the day. It’s spiritually dangerous to turn your faith over to a church or to a pastor. Revival happens when people let Jesus free them from the control of religious tradition.

Revival is often
Tiny crowds,
Very small groups
Of two or three
Who gather
To experience 
Beautiful liberty
In Christ.

If you're a Christian
Then you've been sent
To be Spirit-led;
To demonstrate
And to spread
The reality of
Christ in you.

I'm not a fan of Lent.
Every day of the year
We need to repent,
To reorient
Our mind and heart
To the living Jesus
And be led and sent
By Him.

Photo by SevenStorm JUHASZIMRUS on Pexels.com
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Revival is a Jesus revolution

Posted on February 21, 2023 by Steve Simms

The Jesus revolution of “Christ in you” happens in the unseen realm of a human heart and overflows as light to our dark world. Oops! Modern Christianity has exchanged “Christ in you” for “you in church,” and wants you to jump through religious hoops.

Revival is a Jesus revolution that wakes people up. It disrupts religious routine with God’s glory and supernatural love. It releases jubilant joy and radical humility in the people that it touches.

The Asbury Revival 1970 and The Jesus Movement happened together. Now the Asbury Revival 2023 and the Jesus Revolution movie are happening together. Are they proclaiming another Jesus Movement? I’m convinced they are!

The most important revival you can ever experience is a Jesus revolution in your own heart. Let ongoing adoration of the risen Jesus begin deep within you. The difficulties of life can burry your heart and leave you in darkness. Look up. Jesus is searching your rubble to rescue and revive you!

Jesus didn’t say “Go to church.” He said, “Come unto Me.” Christianity is about freedom in Christ, not about bondage to a religious institution. If you feel guilty for not regularly attending an official church service, you may be in religious bondage.

Church for me has been like a “Where’s Waldo” book. Personally, it’s hard to find the risen Jesus there so I’ve had to look elsewhere.

The risen Jesus leads by inwardly prompting individual members of His body into action. Men lead by setting everybody down to hear a lecture. He teaches by supernatural demonstration, revelation, and heart transformation. Men prefer to teach classroom style.

Preaching is for proclaiming the Gospel. Once you’ve heard and responded you don’t need to be preached to. You need to listen to and obey the living Jesus.

Pastors have been trained to tightly program and control. Jesus is calling them to cultivate an environment where He can take control.

Okay, pastors. Asbury has shown what God is ready to do. Now surrender control where you are and let the living Jesus have His way there!

If your pastor won’t let the church have Jesus-led meetings, don’t die on the vine! Meet with one, two, or a few believers to spontaneously pray, sing, and let Jesus lead.

If your heart
Is to cold
To behold
Jesus,
You won’t
See Him unfold
Within you.

Posted in Jesus, Jesus Christ, Jesus freaks, Jesus Movement | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

A hope destroying mindset or mental health?

Posted on February 20, 2023 by Steve Simms

A hope destroying mindset isn’t good for your mental health. When guilt is denied or hidden, it leads to inner torment; when sorrowfully and openly admitted, to inner peace and mental health.

Step out of the entangling net of regret. Openly acknowledge, continually resist, and turn away from your sin.

Guilty pleasure
Is a fake treasure
That sends stormy weather
To steal your inner wealth
And destroy your mental health.

Life lived without repentance
And heart-felt contrition
Produces a fake rendition
Of your inner condition
And the demolition
Of your mental health.

True contrition
Isn’t once and done.
It’s an ongoing condition
Of the heart.

The inner condition
Of deep contrition
Is the ignition
That releases
The fire of God
In a human heart.

There’s a big difference
Between God and me
That for some strange reason
Is hard for me to see.
He’s perfect and I’m a mess.

When I know that I’m still far from 100% right, it makes me contrite and hungry for God. People who have the courage to face their guilt, openly admit and continually resist their sin, and seek Christ’s ongoing help are supernaturally transformed from within.

Contrition is the humble realization that we often stray from God and His will, and the burning desire to be continually healed and restored so we can daily live in His glorious presence. Without contrition and repentance, the kingdom of God will seem like a distant myth instead of a glorious reality.

The church you attend says it belongs to Christ. Therefore, Jesus is the highest authority in the meeting. Listen to and obey Him as the only Head! If churches were continually focused on Jesus, cultivating His presence, and surrendered to His authority, people wouldn’t feel the need to drive miles to a revival!

Your home can have the presence you felt at Asbury. Ask Alexa to play your favorite anointed worship songs. Then sing along pouring out your heart to Jesus (Try this one: “Sweet Holy Spirit” by New World Song.)

Your inside edition
Matters the most.
Always make your heart
A humble host
For Jesus!

Posted in a healthy mind, mental health, mental health note, peace of mind | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Asbury revival 2023 — a prototype of Christ-control

Posted on February 19, 2023 by Steve Simms

It’s time to put church on Christ-control and let the congregation cruise beyond their comfort zone, being led by the risen Jesus. Leadership at the Asbury revival put the meeting on Christ-control and let the living Jesus take charge. Churches can do the same. A simple shift from pastor-control to Christ-control would revive churches around the world.

Christians have been preached and taught to death! Pastors, open up Sunday mornings and let Jesus’ people testify! Churches should be popping with love for Jesus with people jumping up to show and tell what He has done! (Rev. 12:11.)

If Christ can control the Universe, He can control a church service. All I’m saying is give Jesus a chance to lead one Sunday! Some drivers don’t trust cruise control. It’s sad that many churches don’t trust Christ-control. If you won’t trust Christ to lead a church service, how can you trust Him to save your soul?

Christ-control works inside individuals. As people are allowed, trained, and encouraged to obey His inner promptings, a congregation begins to demonstrate His presence. When a church is full of human programming and control, people don’t learn to notice, obey, and rely on Christ’s inner promptings.

What the Bible calls “the flesh” is human effort. Church too often chooses to operate by the flesh instead of by Christ-control. To repent is to shift from human effort to Christ-control–to try less and trust more. If Christians aren’t allowed to obey Christ’s inner promptings during church, it’s hard for them to ever get the courage to do so elsewhere.

When a Christian gets spiritually revied and excited about Jesus, that’s revival. It won’t end unless the revived person drifts back into complacency. When Christians get revived and unbelievers begin to encounter Jesus, that’s a move of God. Unfortunately, I think many Christians go to church to hibernate–to passively sit back, endure a sermon, and earn points with God.

A meeting isn’t a revival unless the people in the meeting are being revived. I saw revived people all around me when I was at Asbury. If you’ve been revived at Asbury keep the fire in your heart burning. Raise your hand the next time you’re in church, then stand up and tell what God has done in you!

The world needs to see Christians overflowing with love for Jesus. I saw multitudes doing so at Asbury. Pastors, let people be free to overflow in church! Asbury University is allowing an ongoing demonstration of the presence of the living God. What happens in most church services can happen without God’s involvement, but there’s no explanation but God for what’s happening at Asbury! Pastors, let go and let God.

What is revival? Christ-control! If you really want a move of God in our time, surrender your will and your desires to Jesus.

A “prototype” of Christ-control?

I’ve read that pastors are frustrated, stressed, and quitting. I was a pastor in a traditional church format and it’s a crazy job to run a church and be an every-Sunday-morning celebrity. It feeds your ego on Sunday and saps your strength during the week.

I tried to find the one-man pastor job in the New Testament, but never could. The more I read it the more I discovered that gatherings of the body of Christ work best when the living Jesus, Himself, is allowed to personally lead them by prompting individuals in the congregation to say and do what He puts on their heart.

Then one day, The Salvation Army in Nashville approached my wife and me and asked us to start a “non-traditional” church for them. They gave us amazing freedom to let Jesus lead. For 10 years we met with no sermons. Instead, after pouring our hearts out in adoration of the risen Jesus, people were free to listen to Jesus and then say and/or do whatever He told them to. People were free to come and go as they please. The living Jesus took over and time didn’t matter. As people opened their hearts to God and to each other, HIs glory filled the room and shined on the faces among us.

After 10 years, a new leader was sent to town and demanded that we return to the traditional church format. My wife and I felt we had to “obey God rather than man” so we left with grateful hearts that we had been allowed to do that for 10 years!

In our early days, a woman declared that what was going on there was a “prototype” of what God wants to do in many churches and other Christian gatherings (but she didn’t even know what the word meant.) To read an account about what God did there, search: Beyond Church Ekklesia.

Christianity’s not about
Human ability
Or a church facility.
It’s about following Jesus
With radical humility.

Know Jesus now
Get to know
Jesus now
As your friend.
It’s not enough
Just to know
About Him.
Yes you can
Open your heart
And begin to
Know Jesus now.

It’s time to pop the church cork
That’s holding back
Christ’s new wine
So congregations can
Bask in His presence
And people can speak up
And freely testify
About His glorious works.

Posted in Asbury revival 2023, Christian spirituality, prototype, revival, revival center, revival history, testimonies in church | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment