Is the Asbury “revival” a modern John the Baptist?

Posted on February 18, 2023 by Steve Simms

Like John the Baptist, Asbury University is pointing people to the risen Jesus and allowing Him to be the living Leader and people are coming from around the world to experience Him! They’re letting Jesus work outside the traditional church format and look what’s happening!

In his time John the Baptist broke free from religious formalism and prepared the way for Jesus. Today multitudes at Asbury are breaking free from human controlled religion and here comes Jesus!

John the Baptist said, “Prepare the way of the Lord,” not “Don’t bother Jesus, just let a preacher or elder board run things.” John said, “He (Jesus) must increase, I must decrease,” not, “Jesus will give me whatever I want.” Asbury is showing us how to prepare the way of the Lord and how Jesus will increase if Christian leaders will decrease.

John the Baptist said, “He (Jesus) will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire,” not “Attend a weekly scripted meeting about Jesus.” Asbury University is showing us how to open our heart and our churches to the risen Jesus and His holy fire!

John the Baptist said: “Repent for the kingdom of God is at hand,” not, “Go to church and live however you want.” He said: “Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world,” not “Give to and support my ministry.” Asbury is showing us how to behold Jesus and how to repent and let Him take control.

John the Baptist was a humble forerunner introducing people to Jesus, not a grandstander on a formalized religious stage. It’s time for churches to be like John the Baptist and to point people to Jesus, not to buildings, programs, or preachers!

Christians are getting excited about Jesus! Pastors and church leaders, please don’t dampen their enthusiasm! Jesus wants to personally connect with people and people today are wanting to experience and obey Him. I encourage churches not to hold this back.

Search for: The Joy Of Early Christianity.

Jesus Christ,
The Living Word,
Needs to be
Regularly
Seen and heard
Deep within you.
Until this has occurred
He'll merely be
A religious theory
To you.

Look beyond church as usual!
"Behold the Lamb of God!" --John the Baptist
"Behold the man!" --Pontius Pilate
"Looking unto Jesus." --Paul of Tarsus
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Posted in Asbury revival 2023, He must increase, I must decrease, John the Baptist, prophetic, prophetic insight, revival | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Asbury shows that many people want Jesus instead of religious talks and programs!

Posted on February 17, 2023 by Steve Simms

What’s up at Asbury? Jesus is being continually lifted up and allowed to lead. The awe of His presence has filled the room and is overflowing around the world. Look how thousands of people are showing up as Asbury University allows the risen Jesus to be the living Leader.

Jesus wants to personally connect with people and people today are wanting to experience and obey Him. I encourage churches not to hold this back.

Christians who have experienced the living Jesus at Asbury will no longer be content with religious formalism and control. Asbury is showing the world that Christians have the ability to assemble themselves together and worship Jesus without being controlled by a church structure.

Many Christians are longing for an environment that welcomes them to freely and openly express their love for Jesus. If churches don’t offer it they’ll look elsewhere. This is the time Christians are going to choose the risen Jesus instead of religious services. If churches won’t open up to Jesus, they’ll be left empty.

Jesus said that rivers of living water will flow out of individual Christ-followers, not out of religious institutions. Open your heart and let His rivers flow!

If a sermon doesn’t improve your connection with the risen Jesus, it hasn’t done its job. Sermon addiction has substituted hearing a weekly talk for daily interacting with and obeying the risen Jesus.

Churches have tried to make Christians content with a few songs and a sermon when they’re starving for Jesus the living Bread of Life. Churches that don’t learn to let the living Jesus manifest His presence and directly lead the congregation will fade into irrelevance.

The Asbury revival is showing that Christians are hungry for Spirit-led gatherings where they can experience Jesus off the religious clock. People need Jesus, not religious talks and programs! A church that allows no room for spontaneous heart-expression is shutting itself off from God’s Spirit.

Don’t ask people “Where do you go to church.” Ask them, “How do you hang out with the risen Jesus?

You haven’t come close to understanding the Bible until you begin to daily do what it says. Start doing it today!

Be aware
Of Jesus
Right there
Now where
You are.
Then connect
With Him
Thru prayer
And share
His presence
With others.

Worship music
Is everywhere
But passionately flowing
Heart-felt worship is rare.

Let heart-felt worship
Overflow everywhere
With joyous song
And Spirit-led prayer.

Posted in Asbury revival 2023, great awakening, heart of worship, revival, spiritual awakening, worship | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Insight from the Asbury awakening 2023

Posted on February 16, 2023 by Steve Simms

God wants to free up
Sit down and listen
Church attendees
To stand up
And freely express
Their love for Jesus!

You don’t need
To go anywhere
Or attend anything
To experience
Christ in you.

Whether you were at Asbury
Or not,
Jesus still
Wants you
To surrender
To His will
So He can fill
And thrill
You with His
Glorious presence.

God is calling Christians
Beyond church as usual,
Just passively sitting thru
Sermons and programs,
To where everyone
Is interacting with
And being led by
The living Jesus.

It’s time to shed
Our religious skin
That holds us in
Rigid church programs
And endless one-man teaching
So we can begin
To obey the promptings
Of Christ within
And be His
Spirit-led body.

If we aren’t free to obey God’s promptings in church services around people who love us, we’ll not have the courage to obey them in our daily life when we’re around people who don’t love us. It’s time for churches and individual Christians to let the risen Jesus, Himself, lead us!

You don’t need to be at Asbury to bask in Jesus’ presence. He’s where you are now! Open wide your heart to Him.

It’s important that church and religious leaders don’t quench the revival that God is pouring out by trying to make it fit into frozen forms of church! Make church spontaneous, untimed, and Spirit-led. Search: Beyond Church Ekklesia.

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Posted in a new reformation, Asbury revival 2023, ekklesia, great awakening, reformation, revival, spiritual awakening | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

“He gets us,” Asbury, & radical humility in 2023!

Posted on February 15, 2023 by Steve Simms

The living Jesus is on the move in 2023! In 2023 radical humility will become a common sight among Christ-followers. The risen Jesus invites us to go lower in radical humility so He can demonstrate His presence and power in and through us.

Lord, take this revival You are pouring out from short term meetings into a long-term movement of powerful and ongoing spiritual awakening! It’s important that church and religious leaders don’t quench it and try to make it fit into frozen forms of church.

In 2023 Jesus is showing people that there’s so much more to Him than a Sunday morning one-man show. He’s calling people out of religious formalism and into Spirit-led relationship with Him.

The body of Christ is about radical humility. Church is too often about ego and pride. Following Jesus in radical humility is to obey the Bible command to “consider others better than yourself.”

In 2023 some churches will realize that they need to humbly let people freely express what Jesus is doing in their heart. Many churches will dispense with programming Sunday services and instead let people obey the inner promptings of God’s Spirit. In 2023 many pastors will give up their pulpit time so God can prompt ordinary people to share what the Spirit tells them. They’ll be referees instead of lecturers.

In 2023 some churches will even take the pastor’s name off the church sign and literature so no one but Jesus gets the glory. Jesus loves radical humility. Show some today.

In 2023 Christ-followers will begin to gather in Spirit-led groups to listen to the risen Jesus and do what He says. I saw one of the leaders at the Asbury revival who has the authority to take the mic and put himself in the spotlight, instead practice radical humility by walking down the aisles giving out bottles of water. Other than that, he was mostly unseen in the crowd.

He gets us. Jesus is calling us to stop fighting each other and to begin fighting the inner enemies that are at work in our own heart.

“This #asburyrevival2023 is that #Ekklesia.” Make church ekklesia again.

If you embrace
Radical humility
Jesus will shine
Through your face.

There’s tranquility
In radical humility
And the ability
To love your enemies.

The waves of God’s Spirit will wash through 2023. Let them wash through you!

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Posted in Asbury revival 2023, church reform, ekklesia, radical Christianity, radical obedience, revival | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Revival revs up the body of Christ

Posted on February 14, 2023 by Steve Simms

In revival we begin to see beyond our eyes, hear beyond our ears, and understand beyond our comprehension. People 1) Behold the Lamb of God, 2) Surrender to His authority, and 3) Begin to be led by His Spirit.

Revival happens when Jesus becomes the most powerful current event in your life and sweeps you away in the current of His Spirit! Revival is Heaven flowing from your heart and mingling with the Heaven that is flowing from other hearts.

Revival is God having His way, not me having my way! It is revolution, a radical heart-change from self to God. Meetings are a tiny part of revival. Hearts overflowing with love for God and people are its essence.

Praying without obeying the inner promptings of the living Jesus is not enough to release, reveal, and sustain revival. Revival overflows with actual demonstrations of the presence of the living Jesus!

Revival is Christ in charge — the people of God being ruled by King Jesus and set free from human ego and control. It opens heart doors that the risen Jesus has been knocking on for years! Revival revs up the body of Christ!

The content of your heart matters far more than religious programs and sermons. “Christ in you the hope of glory.” When revival starts in your heart, never ever let fade away! Revival happens when Christians “quench not the Spirit.”

Jesus called His disciples “evil” (Matthew 7:11). Revival happens if His people “turn from their wicked ways” (2 Chronicles 7:14).When people experience revival, they stop hiding and begin to confess and turn away from their sins. When revival happens, Christians begin to turn away from their sins and to seek God with their whole heart.

Revival won’t fit into fancy church forms of religious control. If we want revival, we need to loosen up the rituals and dump the hype. Christianity without showmanship and grandstanding and focusing on one person’s oratory comes alive with God’s holy fire!

If we want to live without revival, God will let us. Organized revival is an oxymoron. Human organization only hinders and quenches it. There’s no room for apathy in revival. People either passionately embrace it or criticize and complain about it. People who are weary of the emptiness, hype, and hostility of our culture will welcome revival.

For some practical ways to create a climate that is open to experiencing and sustaining revival, search for: Beyond Church Ekklesia.

Christians,
Show the world
How “Jesus gets us”
By letting Him
Take personal control
When we gather
In His name!

Jesus gets
How to lead
A gathering
Of His followers.
We need to set aside
Our religious programs
And let the living Jesus
Step in and lead us.

Posted in Asbury revival 2023, Bible type revival, great awakening, revival fires, revival links, spiritual awakening | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

The ongoing Jesus-led gathering at Asbury University

Posted on February 13, 2023 by Steve Simms

A huge Jesus-led gathering has been going nonstop at Asbury University in Wilmore, Kentucky for days! I’m so glad I got to be there for a while! On February 11 and 12 I was at the Asbury Revival. Here are my observations:

1) The attention stays on Jesus;

2) People are thrilled to be there;

3) People are free to come and go, interact with each other, and move about as they wish;

4) No one seems to be aware of the time;

5) Everybody present looks fully engaged (there seems to be no spectators or reluctant contributors);

6) There is no hype or manipulation and minimal programming;

7) No one individual is controlling or directing things,

😎 Faces are beaming, people are being deeply touched by God, and lives are being changed.

9) In all this freedom there is a holy sense of order and glorious awareness of Jesus’ presence and leadership.

A Jesus-led like that gathering can be few people or many as long as the focus stays on connecting with and obeying Him. I love to experience Jesus-led gatherings every day. Most are small; some are even so tiny it’s just me and one other person with Jesus. Even a phone call can be a Jesus-led gathering if we let Him lead and direct our conversation and prayers.

A Jesus-led gathering doesn’t meet around a human leader, a hierarchy, or even a speech. It comes together around Jesus! For me the real Super Bowl is a Jesus-led gathering overflowing with His glorious presence.

Repentance is an important part of revival. There’s no right time to do the wrong thing, but it’s always the right time to obey God. When the Holy Spirit releases the flames of red-hot faith it’s vital that we don’t fold it into formalism.

I’m overwhelmed with gratitude for how God is moving at Asbury! Spread it everywhere, Jesus! If you’ve been to the ongoing Jesus-led gathering at Asbury take it home with you. Gather with one or more people and let the living Jesus take direct control.

While I was at the Jesus-led gathering at Asbury people gathered at the windows around the auditorium to pray that God will send the revival in all directions. I went to the closest window to me, put my hand on it and prayed for God to pour out His spirit in that direction. When I open my eyes, I saw this stained-glass window image right in front of me. Then these words came to my mind: “Revival happens when you’re broken at My feet.”

No photo description available.
Revival can happen in you!
O hear and heed
The inner seed
That Jesus is planting
As He whispers
In your heart’s ears,
And let Him daily write
His living Word
Deep within your soul
And make you
Gloriously whole!

I love to be part
Of a Jesus-led gathering
And let His presence
Ovreflow my heart!
Posted in Asbury revival 2023, Asbury Revival 2023, great awakening, revival, revival fires, Spirit-led, spiritual awakening | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Jesus can . . . Let Him . . . The revival will come!

Posted on February 12, 2023 by Steve Simms

Jesus can do amazing things when people gather in His name. Revival happens when we let Him! It happens when people realize that Jesus can take over and be the One in control and they humbly let Him!

Revival: Jesus can . . . Let Him! Release your control and give Jesus the wheel. Let Him be the Pilot, not your co-pilot To be spiritually revived is to be awake to the presence of Jesus and joyously led by His Spirit. (See Romans 8:14.) Jesus has no problem bringing revival and spiritual awakening, but we have a big problem letting Him!

Perhaps God is searching for people who will open their heart to receive the outpouring of His Spirit (2 Chronicles 16:9), who are willing to decrease and make room for Him to increase (John 3:30). Will you? Jesus can spread revival everywhere. Let Him!

Jesus is knocking on your heart’s door seeking to continually fill you with His presence, power, and reality. Let Him!

Jesus can lead and guide your every step from within you. Let Him!

Jesus can heal your broken heart. Let Him!

Jesus can fill you with unspeakable joy and peace beyond conprehension. Let Him!

Jesus can rekindle the fire and excitement of the love you had for Him when you first discovered His reality. Let Him!

Jesus can set you free from the thoughts, desires, feelings, and behaviors that interfere with your relationship with God. Let Him!

Jesus can and does personally speak when Christians gather in His name. Let Him! Jesus can and will speak through you. Instead of speaking on your own initiative, let Him prompt what you say.

Jesus can prompt you to speak out publicly during a church service. Let Him! (See 1 Corinthians 14:30-31.)

Jesus can use you to manifest various gifts of the Spirit. Let Him!

Jesus can embolden you to pray out loud with people. Let Him!

Jesus can give you the courage to share your salvation testimony with individuals, in social settings, and even in church. Let Him.

Jesus can give you deep heart-to-heart connection with other Christ-followers. Let Him!

Jesus can give you the boldness, confidence, and power to obey the 50+ New Testament “one another commands.” Let Him!

“God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble.” Let Him lead you into humility and poverty of spirit.!

Jesus can take full control of and directly lead a church service, conference, or other Christian worship gathering. Let Him! When people make room for Jesus by removing the things that are keeping Him out, He shows up.

Recipe for revival: Set aside religious protocol and make room for people to follow and obey Christ’s inner call.

Jesus can be your Pastor. Let Him!

Jesus can! Let’s step aside, clear the way, and make a clear path for Him.

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Who’s Jesus?

Posted on February 10, 2023 by Steve Simms

Who’s Jesus? O, for a clearer view of the real Jesus.

I woke up this morning with these thoughts about Jesus going through my mind and heart:

“Jesus is the Maker of all things — Emmanuel, God with us! Realizing who Jesus is — that realization is the rock of revelation that turns dry bones into living stones so Jesus can build them together as His assembly and be the Head of His Spirit-led body. Christ, the Creator-man, living in you is infinitely more powerful than any religious activity. Let Jesus, the Creator-man, personally show Himself to you. You don’t have to die to meet your Maker. Christ will interact with you right now! Jesus, the Creator of the Universe who became a human being, is now reaching out to you.”

Receive Him as your literal Lord and Master. Enough religious lecture-hearing, Christians need Spirit-led lab work. God didn’t become the man Christ Jesus so we can hear weekly religious talks about Him, but so we can continually interact with Him and stay ever connected to Him heart-to-heart.

The term “incarnation” has nothing to do with a car or with a nation. It refers to the Creator of the Universe becoming a human being named Jesus. The Crafter of Creation became a man to directly relate to you without the need of religious systems, priests, or programs. Jesus is God who became and continues to be a human being!

“Man’s Maker was made man that He, Ruler of the stars, might nurse at His mother’s breast; that the Bread might hunger, the Fountain thirst, the Light sleep, the Way be tired on its journey; that Truth might be accused of false witnesses, the Teacher be beaten with whips, the Foundation be suspended on wood; that Strength might grow weak; that the Healer might be wounded; that Life might die.”
―Augustine

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Posted in Christ the solid rock, On Christ the solid rock I stand, On this rock, revelation, Rock of ages, rock of revelation | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Church should be windy!

Posted on February 9, 2023 by Steve Simms

Church needs to be windy — overflowing with the blowing of God’s Spirit. The stale air of this world needs to be refreshed by the windy city of God. Hierarchy and institutionalism take the wind out of the body of Christ. Too many Christians have never gotten wind of the glorious prsence of the living Jesus. O for windblown churches!

Learn to enjoy the windy weather of God’s Spirit. It’s time for Christ-followers to run with the wind! Let’s get off the religious rail and begin to soar and sail. I love it when I’m blowing in the Spirit’s wind, getting carried away by the presence of the risen Jesus.

If you’re never blown away in church that’s a sign that the Holy Spirit is being quenched there. The sound of systematized, structured religion should never be a substitute for the sound of the blowing of God’s Spirit. People caught up in a religious system tend to see the wind of the Spirit as an irritation.

If you hide your heart deep in a cave you won’t be able to hear the sound of the wind of God’s Spirit. Open your heart and turn your face to the wind of God’s Spirit. Let the wind of the Spirit free up your soul the way that wind reshapes your hair. Follow the living Jesus down the windy road where God’s Spirit freely blows.

The old wineskins of religious practices or human effort will burst if they open up to the blowing of the wind of the Spirit that releases heart-to-heart friendship and intimacy with the risen Jesus. Windy Spirit-led behavior doesn’t conform to religious institutionalism but breaks out into the glory of God! Churches too often knock the Spirit’s wind out of their members.

Churches are often compromised by looking for government favor and political advantage. Instead they need to follow the wind of the Spirit. Read the Bible with the risen Jesus and let Him teach it to you.

Learn to bend
Like a tree
And dance
In the wind
Of God’s Spirit.

“The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.” “Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting.” 

Jesus loves to send
The power of His wind.
To lead you from within
By the presence of His Spirit.
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Posted in Holy Spirit, Holy Spirit like wind, mighty rushing wind, Spirit-led, Spirit-led church, the wind blows where it will | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Focus on what was chosen to be in the Scriptures

Posted on February 8, 2023 by Steve Simms

For an accurate view
Of God’s Chosen One
Read the Bible every day
As you pray
And listen to God’s Spirit.

Avoid being a puppet
Of your pet pulpit,
Search the Scriptures
Like they did in Acts 11:17.

Many details and events from Jesus’ life were chosen to be in Scripture. Focus on them, not on streaming imaginary depictions and additions. If we ignore the Bible, we can easily be deceived about who Jesus is.

Christians need to be careful that we don’t let people’s descriptions and depictions of Jesus divert us from what the Bible says about Him. Anybody can make up entertaining and even inspiring stories about Jesus, but if those stories aren’t contained in the Scriptures, they’re going to be inaccurate.

The first Christ-followers
Knew Jesus personally
And were supernaturally
Empowered by God’s Spirit.
The closer we get to Jesus,
The more our experience
Will match what they describe
In the Bible.

Going to church (or streaming religion on TV) is often an attempt to avoid having to rely on the Holy Spirit to teach us and to lead us into spiritual growth. The ancient Greek town meeting met without a program or agenda. Any citizen was free to speak spontaneously. That’s what Jesus said He would build: His “ekklesia.”

Before you make
A life-altering choice
Make sure you hear
God’s voice!

Decide to hide in Christ’s Light!
Jesus invites us to reside
In His presence
And to continually abide
With Him,
But it’s so easy
To be yanked aside
By the world’s
Compelling clamor
And to follow it
Stride for stride
Until we collide
With despair.
The risen Jesus
Is the only guide
Who can lead us
To safely hide
Ever by His side
And to overflow
With glory
As we ride
The inner tide
Of His streaming Light.

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Posted in Bible, Bible reading, biblical, biblical Christianity, Christ in you, religious TV, Scriptures, sola Scripture | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment