When Christianity isn’t Christ-centered it’s counterfeit

Posted on December 30, 2022 by Steve Simms

Church-centered Christianity is a first step. It’s a good starting point but it’s not something to passively settle into and be comfortable with for the rest of your life. It’s vital to move forward into Christ-centered Christianity. Church membership without discipleship and Spirit-led obedience to the risen Lord Jesus is deceptive.

Church-centered Christianity says it’s a “hospital for sinners” but far too often it’s a nursing home for sinners. Instead of healing broken people and sending them out restored it makes them passive life-long dependents on Sunday services.

Church-centered Christianity seldom follows people out of the church door. It divides believers into separate independent groups and keeps them apart.

The Bible says that Christians are “competent to instruct one another.” (Romans 15:14.) However, church-centered Christianity hires a professional pastor to do it.

Church-centered Christianity is tied to a special time and place. Christ-centered Christianity is 24/7/365. Church-centered Christianity is incomplete because it leaves out discipleship and moment-by-moment intimacy with and obedience to the risen Lord Jesus Christ.

The world has seen church-centered Christianity and isn’t impressed. Now let’s show them Christ-centered Christianity. Christ-centered Christianity is the ongoing, passionate pursuit of a closer relationship with the living Jesus. It recognizes Jesus as the living Lord of every moment in everyday life.

Christ-centered Christianity occurs when a human heart is captivated by and surrendered to the risen Jesus. It excites and empowers people to live a Christ-centered lifestyle and unites believers around the risen Jesus.

Christ-centered Christians promote the name of Jesus not the names of ministers or churches. They stay thrilled about Jesus.

Christ-centered Christianity declares and demonstrates dependency on the risen Jesus that delivers delight. Keeping Jesus at a distance is an attitude of defiance. The best way to grow in the faith isn’t thru religious routines and rituals but thru daily dependency on the risen Jesus.

Be a Christ-centered Christian! Whenever anything contrary to Christ comes to mind cast it out. Christ-centered Christians are distracted from self-focus. When Christianity isn’t Christ-centered it’s counterfeit.

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The grace-based Christ exchange

Posted on December 29, 2022 by Steve Simms

To grow to be like Emmanuel who is God incarnate, requires an ongoing exchange–the surrendering of our will for God’s will. We must step away from our desires, feelings, and opinions in order to prepare the way of the Lord and make room in our innermost being to freely receive and submit to His ever-streaming presence that will transform us into glorious partakers of His divine nature.

The routine of rationalized religion rarely results in radical heart change. It may occasionally raise an eyebrow but seldom rouses a spiritual sleeper. Instead of disturbing all Jerusalem like the newborn Jesus did it caters to and coddles human nature. Now is the time for Christ-followers to stir up the gift that is within us until it breaks out of us as gushing rivers heavenly radiance.

Christianity shouldn’t be like a tethered hot air balloon. It should be freely soaring with the wind of the Spirit. When I’m tethered to my own desires, I’m unable to be directly led by God’s Spirit.

When the human heart is like a capped oil well and God’s living water isn’t allowed to freely flow, religion is but an empty and powerless glove. Christianity isn’t a invitation to snuggle into comfortable religion. It’s a call to take an inner, life-lasting journey toward the kingdom of God.

A banana peel is a poor replacement for a banana. Religious routine is a poor substitute for heart intimacy with the risen Jesus.

“Jesus is Lord!” is the elephant in the room. It makes people uncomfortable to hear about the accountability He requires of them.

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God’s route is Spirit-led

Posted on December 28, 2022 by Steve Simms

Christianity’s about Jesus and being led by His Spirit. Anyone or anything that gets more of your attention than Jesus blocks the way. Every Christian needs to learn to be led by God’s Spirit.

There’s nothing routine about being Spirit-led! It’s vastly different than settling into routine religion. The Bible clearly demonstrates that God wants people to rely on His presence, power, and reality, not just on religious routine. If you’re not being led by the Spirit, you might be asleep to God. Routine religion can become bland but being led by God’s Spirit is never dull.

The idea that Christianity should look the same each week isn’t biblical! Christians are called to be changed from glory to glory. It’s difficult to be led by the Spirit when you’ve embraced the route of routine.

You can’t follow Jesus if you’re unwilling to be led by the inner urgings of His Spirit and by His promptings in your conscience. Unless Christians are trained to be Spirit-led we’ll stay stuck in things that are spiritually dead.

Christians are called to be led by God’s Spirit in all we think, say, and do. Learn to be inwardly directed by God’s Spirit concerning everything you read, watch, or listen to.

Prepare the way of the Lord. Make plenty of room for the living Jesus to daily direct your life. Cooperate with the Holy Spirit as He convicts you to redirect your life away from self-will to God’s will.

Let the Bible be your daily training manual. It’s full of real-life examples of people who learned to be led by God’s Spirit.

Too many Christians ignore the fire of God and settle for smoldering ashes. If you’ve ever felt God’s fire in your heart stoke it back to full and roaring flame. To drown out the flames of the Holy Spirit’s fire is to reject being led by the Spirit.

Only the living Jesus, ever-present in the Holy Spirit, can safely lead us beyond the deeds of darkness. Christ in you is indeed the hope of glory! How desperately we need to be trained to let God’s Spirit daily lead us with His inner promptings and conscience urgings! See Romans 8:14.

Rather than welcoming
Wrongful thoughts
Into their head,
Christians need
To instead
Be Spirit-led.

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The world’s worst power outage

Posted on December 27, 2022 by Steve Simms

The power outage the Bible warns us about is powerless Christianity: People “having a form of godliness but denying its power.” When love is organized, programmed, and put on a calendar it loses vitality. That’s what churches have done to Christianity.

When electricity touches a person there’s usually a noticeable reaction. The same thing happens when Jesus touches a human heart.

When a church meets
Without the touch
Of the living Jesus
It’s lasting impact
Won’t be much.

#Jesus
Is trending
In my heart
And in my mind
Every day.

Biblical Christianity
Is relational
And transformational,
Not organizational.
It’s built on genuine affection,
Heart-to-heart connection,
With the risen Jesus
And His disciples.

The more Christianity
Is organized
The more
It’s trivialized
Until dead.
But the more
It’s Spirit-led
The closer it is
To the risen Jesus
It’s living Head.

Christianity is much more
Than sitting in a church
And hearing a pastor
Present religious research
From his perch
In a pulpit.
It’s spiritual jolts
That cause
The heart to lurch
Forward toward
The living Jesus.

Revival (spiritual awakening) restores the faded heart-connection (the lost first love) between Jesus and His lukewarm followers. It transforms Christianity from an organizational duty to a burning passion of the heart!

If you are a Christ-follower, toss off all spiritual slumber. Rouse yourself. “Fan into flame the gift of God that is in you.” Today is the day to wake up and begin to live your life as directly and powerfully led by God’s Spirit!

If you don’t let God the Builder continually build your faith, it will gradually fade from fire into formalism. Church is too often like a spiritual retirement home where people passively settle in to be entertained by talks about the past.

The choice for a church service isn’t preacher control or chaos. It’s preacher control or Christ’s control.

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Jesus is the reason I have hope in every season!

Posted on December 26, 2022 by Steve Simms

The church calendar tries to fit Jesus into seasonal categories, but the Bible says that Jesus is “the same yesterday, today, and forever.” Never make Jesus seasonal!

Jesus is the reason I stay excited about being alive! He’s the reason I’m forgiven. Jesus is the reason I “go tell it on the mountain.” He’s why I can’t be silent and passive–why I write, blog, post, and tweet all year long. He’s the reason I have hope in every season!

Jesus is the reason I write and say things to challenge people to directly connect their heart to Him and to obey His inner promptings. He’s the reason I want churches to be more than passive formalism and to let people personally obey His Spirit when they meet. Bodies in a church service do not equal hearts in love with and obedient to the risen Jesus.

The good news is that God is with us and ready to continually live inside us and empower us with His presence! Take Him up on His offer. Jesus is the God-man–the Creator of the Universe who became and a human being. He wants to be your everyday personal friend, not just a religious recipe to hopefully get you into Heaven someday.

Christians aren’t called to put our faith in church attendance, but to daily rely on the presence and power of the risen Jesus. Christ’s body has been falsely taught that it’s more important to hear a sermon than it is to obey Jesus’ inner promptings.

Church is too often a dry well offering people weekly talks about water but not training them to drink deeply from God’s Spirit. It too often ignores the living, present, and active Jesus and settles for a formalized, passive, and controlled Jesus. Jesus goes to those who are ignoring Him and knocks on their door. That may be the cause of the discomfort you feel in your heart.

When Peter saw Jesus transfigured with glory, he immediately wanted to build chapels. When spiritual awakening happens, people want to quickly organize it and fit it into churches and thus quench it. It’s time to set aside gimmie gimmicky religion and go all out for the risen Jesus!

Jesus is the reason I want to connect heart-to-heart with people and to “encourage one another” when I gather with other believers. When Christians gather it’s a great opportunity to encourage each other by allowing each person to openly express their faith.

Jesus is inside me continually crying out for expression. Church services expect me to sit quietly and quench His Spirit. Instead of breaking down the gates of Hell, church seems to shackle people to passive religious formalism.

Jesus wasn’t born so pastors can line people up in rows and lecture basically the same people each week until they die or leave. A pastor should be like a coach. Occasionally he lectures his players, but mostly he has them practice and then makes them active participants in the game.

It’s time for relationship not religion. The living Jesus can’t be controlled by religion whether by the ancient Pharisees or by the modern church. Instead of paying somebody to study the Bible and give us a weekly report, perhaps it would be better to read it for ourselves.

Never let Jesus be seasonal! Christmas hype and “Silent Night, Holy Night” are not the same thing! “Could we be perpetuating an image of Jesus that fits our pious expectations but does not match the person portrayed so vividly in the Gospels?” –Phillips Brooks

Instead of
Setting hearts on fire
Church seems
To merely require
Sunday attendance.

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The parable of the author’s wife (Jesus isn’t a baby anymore)

Posted on December 25, 2022 by Steve Simms

There was once a famous author whose wife mostly ignored and rarely communicated with him. She did however attend a book club where she heard a weekly lecture about him and his books, and she enjoyed looking at his baby pictures once a year.

That woman is like millions of Christians who mostly ignore and rarely communicate with the living Jesus. They do however go to church to hear a weekly lecture about Him and His book, and they enjoy hearing an annual account of His birth.

I can’t be content with a weekly lecture and an annual birthday remembrance. I want to experience the risen Jesus 24/7/365. Following the risen Jesus is vastly different than sitting thru a church service.

Jesus wasn’t born so you can attend church services. He was born to rescue you from your sin!

A service is something that’s done for you. Churches offer religious services. Jesus wants you to daily participate in His presence and power!

Jesus isn’t a baby anymore! He’s the risen, ever-present, almighty Emmanuel–God with us! Baby Jesus grew up, died for our sins, rose from the dead, and promised to be with us always! Get to know Him today, not just in history. If you’ve never gotten beyond the Christ child in a manger to “Christ in you,” living and active, you’ve missed the meaning of Christianity!

Every moment that I put my attention on Jesus is special. Every day is full of those moments. I don’t need a special day to remind me of Him.

Calling celebration that crowds out Christ Christmas seems like a misnomer. Merry Christ-experiences.

Continually experience
The God-man,
The Creator
In human flesh,
Emmanuel
Who can make you well.

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Have you been merry lately?

Posted on December 24, 2022 by Steve Simms

Don’t worry, be merry! To be merry is to be full of grateful cheerfulness and radiating with heart-felt joy. Without a merry heart merriment is just an empty show.

Being merry is the rare but glorious condition of a heart that opens up to overflow with joyfulness. To be truly merry requires an open heart. A closed heart can only mimic merriment.

More than 2,000 years later Mary’s first born keeps me merry throughout the day! A merry Christmas is nice, but a merry heart is so much better! Merry is a seasonal word confined mostly to the Christmas holidays, but seldom do we carry it into the New Year.

Jesus makes me merry all year long! The more I surrender control of my life to Jesus the merrier I am. Sometimes I’m so joyous that I’m off the merry-meter! Realizing the great mercy that God has shown me by washing my guilt away keeps me gratefully merry!

Merry heart to all and may all behold Christ’s light!

“Ho. Ho. Ho!”
Being merry’s
Not about
What you know.
It’s about
How much you grow
In a relationship
With Jesus.

When I keep Jesus
In clear sight
He makes my days
Merry and bright.

Emmanuel means
“God with us.”
I think He would like it
If we would continually
Notice His presence
And interact with Him
With a merry heart.

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Christmas events & the Jesus-thrill!

Posted on December 23, 2022 by Steve Simms

The Christmas events are about people experiencing the Jesus-thrill. That’s the thrill that can last all life long and beyond! They proclaim that the Creator of the Universe was born as a human baby to lay down His life in order to offer eternal life to humanity.

Like Mary, humans have been invited to carry the living Jesus inside them and reveal Him to the world. Christ living and growing in Mary began a process that is supposed to lead to Christ living and growing in you. If you’re unwilling to make room for Jesus to live and grow inside of you, you’re aborting God’s desire to give you eternal life.

The Christmas events are full of people being directed by God: Mary, Joseph, wisemen, shepherds, Simeon, and Anna. Are you? Those events are about various people searching for ways to encounter the living Jesus.

They’re also about people who rejected Jesus. The innkeeper had a good excuse for turning Jesus away, but he sure missed out on a blessing. Try not to be like that guy. On hearing about the birth of Christ, Herod, the self-seeker, said He wanted to worship Jesus, but His real intent was to kill Him. Don’t be like Herod either!

Church has always seemed to me to be a formalized way to avoid heart-piercing encounter with Christ. On the other hand, Christmas shows us people who were led by God. Organized Christianity seems to be either cerebral, sentimental, or hype driven. Biblical Christianity is Spirit-led. See Romans. 8:14.

Celebrating the birth of Jesus is nothing to take lightly. It’s the most amazing event in world history. The Christmas events shout out the fact that love cares sacrificially even when it disapproves. Read the ignored Christmas Bible verses that declare that Jesus is God: John 1:1-5.

Since I found Jesus, I’ve been so thrilled and captivated by Him that I’ve felt no need to find myself. Jesus asks: “Who do you say that I am?” The most important identity isn’t self-identity. It’s to identify and receive who Jesus really is.

A discouraged society needs more than a sentimental Christian holiday. It needs to see people being joyously led by God’s Spirit.

It’s easy to be led
By the opinions
In your head
Or by the desires
And feelings
That you’ve fed,
But it takes
Courage to be led
By God’s Spirit
Instead.

People like to make Christmas about gifts. People who are being led by God’s Spirit radiate both the fruit and the gifts of the Spirit. See Galatians 5:22 and 1 Corinthians 12. Here are the Ephesians 5 gifts to the body of Christ in everyday language:

  • Sent ones,
  • Proclaimers for God,
  • Salvation sharers,
  • Shepherds,
  • Disciple makers.

I believe that the calling on people who function in various gifts is to reproduce themselves by training ordinary Christ-followers to also function in those gifts. Merry Christmas! (The best way to a Merry Christmas is to open your life to the Jesus-thrill!)

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A closed heart creates “I-solatioion” & “lone-me-ness”

Posted on December 22, 2022 by Steve Simms

Heart walls
Prevent us
From hearing
Heart calls.

When a human heart breaks insight enters into it, but too often people cling to the pain and push out the light. Jealously indicates a closed heart. Being happy for other people’s good fortune reveals an open, caring heart.

The latch on your heart is within you. No one but you can open it. It takes effort, discipline, and courage to keep your heart open. Human nature wants to shut it down.

An open heart fills up with compassion and concern, trust and transparency. A closed heart wallows in fear and negativity. It’s like a powered down phone–shut off from communication. You can’t be truly grateful if you keep your heart closed.

An open heart feels no need to lie. Dishonesty reveals a closed heart. Sometimes it’s important to quiet our mind and open our heart. An open heart is willing to listen to other people, to conscience, and to God.

Let your heart be a bridge to connect with other people, not a barricade to keep them out. A closed heart creates “I-solatioion” and “lone-me-ness.”

To be smart
With a hard heart
Is to function
Like you’re part
Of a cold machine.

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I’m a spiritual romantic enjoying an ongoing Christ-mance

Posted on December 22, 2022 by Steve Simms

I’m a spiritual romantic. I keep falling deeper and deeper in love with Jesus. No religion can compare to a spiritual romance with the living Jesus Christ.

My life is a Christ-mance. Ever since I first encountered Jesus He has continually captured and wowed my heart. The ultimate benefit of an open heart is continual awareness of the presence of the living Jesus in the present moment.

A closed heart is like a stagnant pond. A heart that opens to God begins to experience rivers of living water.

Let God roll away the stone from your entombed heart and fill you with His life. If you keep your heart excited about Jesus, you’ll want to spend every moment interacting with Him. Jesus deserves much more than a little “quiet” or “devotional” time during your day. Think about and interact with Him all day long.

Because Christ-followers all have a direct connection with the living Jesus, we’re not dependent on an organizational hierarchy. Christianity isn’t about a particular church. It’s about a particular Savior–the living Jesus as described in the Bible!

When you can’t think of a way out of a difficult situation, turn down your mind. Then open up your heart to God’s inner guidance. The most effective way to connect with other people and with God is to open your heart.

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