I have a dream for Christ-followers

Posted on January 16, 2023 by Steve Simms

Jesus isn’t dead. It’s time for Christians to quit acting like He is. I have a dream today that Christ followers will wake up and become much more than divided religious institutions called churches. I dream that we will become God’s “beautiful symphony of brotherhood” clearly reflecting the glory of the risen Jesus in all places and situations.

Martin Luther King, Jr. said: “I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, and every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together.” That will happen when the body of Christ wakes up and begins to follow the living, resurrected Jesus Christ.

I have a dream today of a world-wide revival of Spirit-led Christianity! Revival doesn’t rely on programs; religion does. I have a dream that church will become a Spirit-led Jesus-experience! Being Spirit-led isn’t weird; it’s Christianity! See Romans 8:14.

I believe that “the fierce urgency of now” cries out for the body of Christ to cease from operating under the control of institutionalism and to come under the direct authority of its rightful Head — the living, resurrected Jesus Christ! I have a dream that Christ-followers will begin to gather to experience an in-breaking of God’s government (His kingdom) as they listen together to the risen Christ and then awakening to His inner voice (Christ in you), courageously say and do what King Jesus tells them to.

I have a dream today that one day Christians will meet to interact with the risen Jesus like He’s truly alive — that people won’t just hear lectures about Jesus but will actually experience Him. Depending on a one-man preacher every week prevents the members of the body of Christ from functioning together as led by God’s Spirit.

I have a dream that members of the body of Christ will know they are free to be led by the Spirit instead of by religious programs. I have a dream that Christians will move beyond the fantasy-faith-wall and begin to trust in and rely on the living Jesus instead of on our religious programs.

I have a dream that one day Christians will meet as the body of Christ and not as a one-man show. The body of Christ needs to be more than the same person speaking every week.

I have a dream that one day Christians will gather to personally encounter and obey the living Jesus, not just to hear a sermon. It does little good to say Jesus is alive and present if we act like He’s dead and gone.

I have a dream that one day churches will give Jesus the mic and let Him prompt people to speak as He directs them. I dream that the love of Jesus will freely flow from our hearts unhindered by institutionalism and that our childish fear, anger, and divisiveness will cease. I’m never giving up on the dream God’s given me!

I have a dream today that Christians will stop listening to preachers and leaders who are saying listen to me and start listening to those who are saying listen to Jesus. “This is my Son, whom I love. Listen to Him!”

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Posted in dreams, I dream of things that never were, I have a dream, Martin Luther King Day, Martin Luther King Jr. | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

There’s no perfect church but there is a perfect Savior!

Posted on January 15, 2023 by Steve Simms

To go to Jesus
You don’t need to go
To a special building.
You can go to Him
Any time and any place.
All you need to do
Is to open and surrender
Your heart to Him
And He’ll be there!

Being led by God’s Spirit,
Christ in you,
Who speaks with
The still small voice,
And releases inner rivers
Of glorious living water,
Is an amazing adventure!
Learn to follow and obey
The risen Jesus
Every day.

Church isn’t the focus of New Testament Christianity; the living Jesus is. There’s no perfect church, but there is a perfect Savior! Keep your focus on the risen Jesus. If everyone who goes to church would actually go to the risen Jesus, the world would experience an amazing spiritual awakening.

True community isn’t lecture and audience based. It requires open sharing and heart-felt interaction. If various members of the body of Christ aren’t allowed direct input when they gather in His name, the body becomes a one-man show.

Where do you go to Jesus? I go to Jesus wherever I am because I need Him everywhere I go.

The greatest problem Christians have today is our lack of awareness of the continual presence of the living Jesus. Jesus isn’t confined to church. He’s everywhere. Learn to be continually aware of His presence. To be led by the Spirit you have to be aware of Him and of what He’s telling you to do. –Romans 8:14.

True preaching includes a demonstration of the Spirit’s power. “My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power.” Here’s a way to demonstrate the presence of Jesus: 1) Gather with some Christ-followers, 2) Everybody listen to Jesus, 3) Say and do what He prompts.

The best worship leader is the Holy Spirit. Let Him lead you into passionate adoration of God. Worship in song must be from the heart, not just singing words.

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Let God’s Spirit set you free

Posted on January 14, 2023 by Steve Simms 
Are you in sync with God's Spirit?
Hear what the Spirit is saying.
Be filled with the Spirit.
Be taught by the Spirit.
Quench not the Spirit.
Be led by the Spirit.
Walk by the Spirit.
Live by the Spirit.
Pray in the Spirit.

Let your heart
Be continually touched
By God's Spirit
And be guided
And directed
By Him.
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Learn to be God’s Spirit-led marionette

Posted on January 13, 2023 by Steve Simms

Jesus is the puppeteer and Christians are the puppets. We need to let Him and Him alone pull our strings! Let the risen Jesus be your invisible puppeteer all day long! To successfully navigate the jungle of this life, learn to be God’s Spirit-led marionette.

When I try to run my life, I get my strings tangled up. When I let Jesus take the strings, He causes me to dance with true joy. It’s important to learn to be God’s marionette. A Christian is called to be God’s puppet, not a puppet to the pulpit. Be led by the Spirit.

With many thousands of denominations and hundreds of thousands (if not millions) of independent churches, which religious organizations can truly ordain someone? Since Jesus said there will be many false prophets, surely some organizations are producing false ordinations.

I believe all true Christ-followers are ordained by God and “called to be saints.” The purpose of the five leadership functions in Ephesians 4 isn’t just to do the ministry, but to train the saints to do the ministry powerfully and as led by God’s Spirit. Biblically, Christian leadership takes the low place and turns hierarchy upside down with the greatest being on the bottom while training, empowering, and releasing others to follow and obey God’s Spirit even more effectively than they do. Although the people of God are equal through Christ, we are called to “consider others better than yourself.”

To sow for a great awakening, we need to stitch our hearts together with humility and allow all Christ-followers to listen to and obey the risen Jesus. The four principles of the great Welsh Revival of 1904 were: 1) Repent of and put aside all sin, 2) Stop any questionable behavior, 3) Do whatever the Spirit says, and 4) Openly and publicly declare your love for Jesus. That’s what we’re all genuine Christians are ordained for. Let’s all do it!

When lecture and /or liturgy-based church services replaced the direct leadership of the risen Jesus, Christianity lost much of its power. A key question when visiting a church is who’s in control, who’s pulling the strings. Is it a pastor or committee or is it the risen Jesus?

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Let Jesus in your heart before you head out of this life

Posted on January 12, 2023 by Steve Simms 
Here's the deal:
If you're asleep to the thrill
Of knowing Jesus
And caught in the chill
Of a cold heart,
You'll seldom feel
His real presence.

A Christian audience
Can easily overlook the radiance
Of the presence
Of the risen Jesus
That continually wowed
The first Christ-followers
And become uninspired,
Lone rangers in a crowd
Hearing one man speak aloud.

If “If you snooze you lose,” applies to Christianity, we better wake up! Let Jesus in your heart before you head out of this life.

If you think you deserve good things from God, you don’t understand grace. God gave me a wonderful relationship with Jesus that I didn’t earn and don’t deserve.

When church is an audience, people are personally disconnected from each other and become lone rangers in a crowd. Instead of being a gathering for heart-to-heart connection and Spirit-led expression, church became a place for head talks and mentally-prepared messages.

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Are there any “lay people”?

Posted on January 12, 2023 by Steve Simms

I don’t believe that there are any lay people. The Bible says that Christ-followers are “kings and priests.” The Protestant Reformers taught the priesthood of the believer (however, they weren’t very good at actually implementing it since they all established a clergy/laity system that continues till this day).

I’ve discovered that God’s ordinary people are eloquent and extraordinary! I was saved during the Jesus Movement and saw hundreds of ordinary people proclaiming and demonstrating the presence and power of the living Jesus. I was a team member on many “Lay Witness” Missions” and heard and saw everyday Christians spark church awakening after church awaking by simply sharing their salvation testimony.

I’ve heard too many ordinary Christians to count open their heart to God and passionately pray in a way that moved me in my innermost being. I’ve seen far more everyday Christ-followers operate in the gifts of the Spirit than I have clergy.

As a new Christian God gave me a vision of everyday Christians meeting together to all directly listen to and obey the risen Jesus. As the Jesus Movement began to die down, I moved around the country looking for a place that allowed “lay people” to speak out in church as prompted by God’s Spirit, but never found such a thing. Finally, God led my wife and me to start such gatherings.

For a year we met with two other couples in our home and followed the biblical pattern of 1 Corinthians 14:26. It was awesome! Then we found and joined a church that had an open mic and let anyone present speak. We loved that, but after a year they closed down the open mic.

After that we started a church in the old black neighborhood of Franklin, Tennessee. There anyone could share as led by God’ Spirit. What an awesome time of seeing God connect people heart-to-heart interracially. We even joined a black denomination.

Eventually The Salvation Army supernaturally opened a door for us and invited us to start a “nontraditional church” in an empty “corps” (church) building in inner city Nashville. That lasted for 10 years and in all that time we never had a sermon. However, we did experience the glory of God flowing out of ordinary people as they testified, shared Scriptures, gave short teaching, prayed, shared prayer request, confessed sins, flowed in spiritual gifts, started songs, and praised God. This was all strongly supported by many leaders in The Salvation Army. Finally, a new leader was put over Nashville who ordered us to follow the traditional sermon format. The pressure was so great we felt we had no choice but to resign.

Shortly after that God supernaturally opened a door for my wife and me and another couple to lead a ministry on the campus of a local auto/diesel college. We sit with a group of young men and encourage them to talk and share their heart and God shows up!

God recently led us to step out of the college ministry and last week was our last meeting. Now we are eagerly anticipating God’s next open doors. Like Simeon and Anna, as ordinary people we’re ready to speak up for Jesus and to encourage and empower other everyday Christians to do likewise.

Simeon and Anna spoke out during a religious ceremony in the New Testament because they recognized the living Jesus. May the same thing happen to us!

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Posted in Christianity, lifestyle Christianity, normal Christianity, priesthood of the believer, radical Christianity | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Spirit-given & Spirit-taught words are seldom popular

Posted on January 10, 2023 by Steve Simms

Spirit-given (Mt. 10:19) and Spirit-taught (1 Cor. 2:13) words are powerful and burn in the heart of those who notice them. Being Spirit-led involves noticing, obeying, and speaking Spirit-given and Spirit-taught words, however, those words are seldom popular.

Spirit-given and Spirit-taught words are much more common than people think because they’re often mistaken for mere human thoughts. As a short paragraph or phrase the Bible calls them either a word of knowledge or a word of wisdom. In longer sections they are called prophecy. The Bible says that Christ-followers “can all prophesy.” One reason that prophecy, words of knowledge, and words of wisdom appear rare is that Christians have been trained not to notice them and/or to quench the Spirit and shut them down.

Being Spirit-led isn’t a methodology; it’s a relationship of surrender to the living Jesus. If following other people’s model for Christianity shuts down the Holy Spirit, then it’s a hindrance, not a help!

Biblical Christianity isn’t about a system of theology, a religious institution, or an organized approach to God. It’s about being led by the Spirit. (Romans 8:14.) Christians need to begin to implement what the Holy Spirit shows them instead of merely following methods taught by people.

I love to find and read Christian books that are full of Spirit-given & Spirit-taught words that burn in my heart. After the Bible, I mostly find them in books by Christians who have graduated into glory and who had an intimate relationship with the risen Jesus while they were on earth. Some of my favorite, are John Wesley, Catherine and William Booth, Watchman Nee, Mother Theresa, Marie Curie, George Fox, Catholic mystics, and Orthodox Monks. I also love Jesus-lead-us gatherings where Christians meet to all listen to and obey the risen Jesus.

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Church criticism without church hurt

Posted on January 9, 2023 by Steve Simms

Some people assume that when I criticize church, I speak from church hurt but that’s not true. My views on church came from daily experiencing the reality, presence, and glory of the living Jesus, years before I ever experienced “church hurt.”

Faith isn’t a Jesus jersey for religious spectators to wear to Sunday games. It’s daily dependence on the risen Jesus. It’s not enough to hang Jesus’ artwork in your heart. Let Him live and work in there and do a complete remodel. The world today needs to see lab Christianity, not museum Christianity.

Non-church Christianity is growing. More and more Christ-followers are assembling together without the umbrella of a religious organization.

Christians need more than history lessons about Jesus — memories and stories about Him taught through lectures in a museum-like environment. We need the acute awareness of His actual presence that daily arrests our attention & awakens our heart to never-ending adoration of Him.

A church should be more than a nursing home for sinners and a museum for saints. A museum is a habitat for memories, but a church should create an environment for present day experiences with the risen Jesus. The purpose of remembering Jesus in the past is to motivate and empower us to continually experience Him in the present.\

If Jesus isn’t an active part of your daily life, a dab of Sunday religion won’t revolutionize your life. It’s frustrating to analyze the Bible, but when you internalize it and let it mingle with your heart, it’s lifechanging.

“Assembling yourselves together,” (Hebrews 10:25) is much more than being in the same room with other Christians while watching a religious program.

When Christians
Are trained
To freely verbalize
Their love for Jesus
They internalize
His presence
And awaken
To His reality!

You need to see Jesus
With spiritual eyes
Not just learn about Him
In a religious museum.

It's time to internalize
The risen Jesus
In the now!
It's not enough
To merely memorialize
What He did
In the past.

Look at Jesus
With eternal eyes
Open your heart
And internalize
His presence.

Church should be
A lab that actively demonstrates
The presence of Jesus,
Not merely a museum
That commemorates
His earthly life.
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Being face-to-face with the risen Jesus

Posted on January 8, 2023 by Steve Simms

When you truly
Experience God’s grace
Your heart will
Encounter Jesus
Face-to-face.

Life’s not about the circumstances you’re facing. It’s about who you’re facing! Keep your eyes on the risen Jesus. Once you’ve truly come face-to-face with Jesus you’ll never want to leave. Sunday sermons are quickly forgotten but face-to-face interaction with the living Jesus makes a lasting impact!

True Christianity is a life lived face-to-face with Jesus. Being face-to-face with Jesus should be a lifestyle, not a rare moment. Face-to-face interaction with Jesus is vital! Begin to live in the supernatural habitat of being face-to-face with the risen Jesus.

People shine the brightest when they’re living face-to-face with the risen Jesus. When you’re face-to-face with the living Jesus, your own desires melt away.

When a group of people gathers face-to-face with the risen Jesus it’s much more than a church service! You can actually see His glory shinning from their faces. There’s nothing wrong with sitting in rows to face a preacher, but it’s much more powerful to sit face-to-face with Jesus.

Religious talks about Jesus without face-to-face interaction with Him will keep you unaware of His presence. No church or religion should ever replace a face-to-face relationship with the risen Jesus.

I love to spend my days facing Jesus’ face and gazing into His eyes. Church has never been able to hold my attention, but I’m a huge fan of being face-to-face with the risen Jesus! I find church to be a poor replacement for ongoing spiritual connection with Jesus.

The key to Christianity isn’t going to church. It’s to keep your life facing Jesus and refuse to be distracted by the darkness around you.

Grace isn’t a once and done prayer. I need the presence and mercy of Jesus every day. If you turn your face toward temptation, you’ll eventually fall. If you keep your face set on Jesus, you’ll stand.

Until church becomes a place
Where people are trained
In face-to-face
Interaction with Jesus,
It will only be a tiny trace
Of what it could be.

The human heart
Has a longing
For belonging
That is only met
By surrender to God.

Your need to belong
Can’t be fully met
By just going along
And attending church.
To satisfy your
Hunger and thirst
Continually search
For more of Jesus.

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Posted in experiencing Jesus, God's glory on each face, Jesus is alive, meeting Jesus, seek God's face, we all with open face | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Great minds think! Try it. Put your brain to use

Posted on January 7, 2023 by Steve Simms

A person’s brain can be healthy, yet their mind be troubled by tormenting thoughts. Brian health doesn’t guarantee mental health. An unmanaged mind trends toward chaos. Inner peace requires mental and emotional discipline.

An aimless mind wanders like a stray dog — dazed, downcast, and despondent. You can manage your mind for beautiful well-being or allow it to wander aimlessly and pick up whatever it steps in.

Blaming your brain when you mismanage your mind is like blaming your legs when you miscalculate a step and stumble. More than a healthy brain is necessary for mental health. It also requires healthy thinking and a well-managed mind. Tormenting thoughts and feelings are the warning signs of a mismanaged mind.

The human brain is the world’s most incredible computer. The human mind is the operator and programmer of that computer. The human brain is made of physical material; the human mind isn’t. The human brain is confined to its programming, but the mind is free to reason, think, decide, feel, will, create, and perceive.

The brain can be dissected and analyzed by science, but the mind operates in ways that are beyond the material universe. The human mind is the consciousness that is able to manage, operate, and program the brain. Emotional well-being requires sentimental health — the mind’s effort and desire to resist destructive feelings and not let them overrun you.

You can make up your mind, but you can’t make up your brain. You can experience a weight off your mind, but not a weight off your brain. Something can blow your mind but if it blows your brain, you’re in deep trouble.

You can lose your mind, but you can’t lose your brain. It’s stuck inside your head. You can speak your mind, but you can’t speak your brain. Ideas sometimes spring to mind, but they don’t spring to brain.

To call something to mind is to transfer information from your brain to your consciousness. You can get something out of your mind, but you can’t delete it from your brain’s memory. Great minds think! Try it. Put your brain to use.

You can give someone a piece of your mind, but not a piece of your brain. You can get your mind around something, but you can’t get your brain around it. Just because you’re using your right brain doesn’t mean you’re in your right mind.

A group of people can experience a meeting of their minds, but they can’t experience a meeting of their brains. You can have a closed mind but if you’re brain closes down, you’ll be dead. You can control your frame of mind, but you can’t frame your brain.

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