Beyond sermon-hearing to Spirit-hearing

Posted on May 13, 2018 by Steve Simms

Christ experienced is much more powerful than Christ explained. The “let the preacher do it” mentality has crippled contemporary Christianity. However, Jesus never said: “Whoever has ears, let them hear what the preacher says.” (He said, “Let them hear what the Spirit says.”)

If church would teach Spirit-hearing rather than sermon-hearing, it would transform the world! Sermon-hearing can give you a weekly heads-up, but Spirit-hearing gets your continually heart fired up.

“Today’s sermon” is usually tomorrow’s amnesia. And what good is a sermon heard if you don’t do the word? A sermon is a preacher’s formal talk. The Spirit’s inner voice is revelation. It’s easy to hear a sermon an miss out on revelation. Try not to do that!

Today great sermons are electronically available anytime and anywhere, so why spend our time together as Christ’s body, sermon-hearing? It’s time for church to begin pioneering the ignored, 1 Corinthians 14:26, alternative to sermon-hearing!

Church is about sermon-hearing — showing up, sitting passively, and going home after enduring till the end. Early in its history church substituted a sermon for the Spirit’s spontaneity.  However, look at the Great Commission. Christians are called to preach the Gospel; not to listen to sermons. Perhaps we could go beyond sermon-hearing and meet to practice praying, testifying, teaching, and our spiritual gifts.

Sermon-hearing is informational. Holy-Spirit-hearing is transformational! Go beyond sermon-hearing to Spirit-hearing–listen to and obey the inner promptings of the risen Jesus!

Sermon-hearing hears what a preacher says. Sprit-hearing hears what the Holy Spirit says. They are not the same thing!

Sermon-hearing continually instructs people, but doesn’t hold them accountable (or help them) to carry out the instructions. A sermon a week often makes Christians passive and weak. (Compare contemporary sermon-hearers to 1st century believers.)

Creating sermon-hearers is easy. Making disciples is much more complicated. Acts 2:42 says early Christians “continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine.” (“Doers of the word” not just sermon-hearers.)

Sermon-hearers are the most underutilized human resources on the planet–sitting and listening when we could be changing the world. Perpetual sermon-hearing seems to produce a lot more boredom and passivity than it produces spiritual growth.

In some ways sermon-hearing is like inoculation. It can expose us to just enough Christianity that we build up resistance to it. Christians miss out on so much because we have been trained to trust in one-man sermons rather than the Spirit’s presence.

No sermon can ever determine your relationship with God. That’s up to you! Jesus is speaking directly to you. You don’t need to go through a preacher to hear Him!

If preaching only informs us, it misses the mark! It needs to connect us with the Spirit, not make us dependent on a preacher! Sermon oratory is auditory. The Spirit is revelatory. Listen to the Spirit.

Instead of saying, “Listen to me explain the word,” perhaps preachers could say, “Listen to the living Jesus!” Prechurch Christianity transformed a cruel, violent, pagan world. I think we need it again!

Sermon-hearing requires no thought, no action, no obedience, no response. It’s totally passive. It’s much easier to get bored and to nod off when you’re hearing a sermon than when you’re doing the word! I’ve always preferred reading the Bible for myself and directly interacting with Jesus, much more than sermon-hearing.

People learn to pray by praying together more than by hearing a sermon about prayer. People get to know the risen Jesus by directly listening to and obeying Him, more than by sermon-hearing.

Is there anywhere in the Bible that tells Christians to listen to a weekly sermon? I can’t find it. It is much easier to be a sermon-hearer than it is to be a Christ-follower.

Daily dare to let the Holy Spirit weed-eat your heart and cut down anything ungodly. Then the fruit of the Spirit will flourish. God’s love ≠ God’s approval of wrongdoing.

The body of Christ is a collaborative community of collectively hearing from and obeying the Holy Spirit. All Christians are to be functioning parts of the body of Christ and need to both minister to others and to receive ministry. To regiment and program Christianity is to unplug it from the Spirit. Love’s not a program, it’s from the heart!

Christianity isn’t about how much you know; but about how freely you flow with the Holy Spirit. Too many Christians live in the ebb while missing out on the flow of the Spirit!

The best worship CD is Christ’s Dominion — to let the living Jesus dominate and direct us when we gather in His name! Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote: “One act of obedience is better than one hundred sermons.”

“There is a fine line between a long sermon and a hostage situation.” –from a cartoon I saw.

cropped-scott-rainbows1.jpg

Posted in art of listening, Bible reading, body of Christ, church programs, cost of discipleship, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, disciple making, discipleship, Great Commission, homiletics, homily, how the body of Christ functions, how to be a disciple, listening, listening to God, preaching, spiritual growth, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Dare to lovingly pray for Christians you disagree with

Posted on May 11, 2018 by Steve Simms

Should we pray for Christian groups that hold beliefs that we disagree with and/or that do things we don’t approve of? Jesus did. In John 17, Jesus didn’t just pray for His first disciples, “but for them also who shall believe on Me through their word; that they all may be one.”

To me, that means all true Christ-followers, in all time periods, in all nations, and in all Christian groups. Perhaps you and I also should pray for all Christians (and Christian groups), too. God wants to reach the nations. I believe that He also wants to reach the denominations.

In Luke 6:28, Jesus told His disciples to: “Bless them that curse you, and pray for them who despitefully use you.” If we are commanded to do that, surely we can pray for other Christians. (Those who have ever been hurt by church know that Christians are sometimes the ones who despitefully use us.)

The book of James tells Christians to, “pray for one another, that you may be healed.” Of course we can pray for individuals, but we can also pray for groups of Christians other than our own.

Here’s how Paul prayed for the Ephesian Christians: “That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him: the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, and what is the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe.”

So how can we pray for the Baptists, Lutherans, Catholics, Orthodox, house churches, Pentecostals, megachurch attendees, Anglicans/Episcopalians, charismatics, Methodists, Presbyterians, Dones, nondenominational, and thousands of other Christian groups? Here’s a sample prayer we could use:

Father, I ask You to bless the (fill in the specific name a Christian group here). I pray that You will give them Your wisdom and supernatural revelation through Jesus. Enlighten the eyes of their understanding. Let them know and experience the hope that Christ has called them to, the inheritance that He has given them, and the exceeding greatness of His power in them.

Father, let them have the unity of the Spirit among themselves and with other Christians. May they deeply love one another and all other Christ-followers, so that the world will know that You are from the Father.

May they have a harvest of souls in their midst. Bring their nominal and/or non-born-again members and attendees to full salvation and transformation through Christ. And use them to bring multitudes of people, who have ignored or rejected Christ, to repentance and freedom in Jesus.

Fill them with your Spirit. Give them all a supernatural love for You and an all consuming passion to follow and obey Jesus every day.

Empower them to live godly lives. Renew their minds and keep them from being conformed to the world.

I ask this in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Posted in body of Christ, book of James, Christian community, Christian unity, Ephesians, intercessory prayer, James, Jesus prayer, love your enemies, pray for your enemy, prayers, praying community, Uncategorized, unity | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

A meeting of Jesus’ people should be like a mighty waterfall

Posted on May 6, 2018 by Steve Simms

The “gifts of the Spirit” are really “flows” of the Spirt–not handed to you externally, but flowing from within you. (John 7:38) You can’t grow strong in Christ if you have given a no-go to the Spirit’s inner flow.

Jesus said; “My sheep hear my voice.” The churches’ most inspiring sermons pale in comparison to that. Listen to Jesus.

A church service is a program and a program can never take the place of the Spirit freely flowing in your heart. Church should be like a mighty waterfall–the Spirit’s rivers roaring out of Christ’s people as we gather in His name.

Christianity that doesn’t freely flow in the Spirit, is mundanity. Have you let beavers dam the Spirit’s rivers in your heart and turn it into a swamp?

Water that doesn’t flow stagnates. That’s what happens when you shut down (quench) the Holy Spirit’s rivers inside you.

Watch our for the world’s influence. It gradually creates plaque that will harden your heart and eventually shut it down.

Dammed hearts that have shut down the Spirit’s flow are in danger of being damned. Open your heart to the living Jesus.

Too many Christians row in the flesh when they could flow in the Spirit. Church trains people to shut down the inner rivers of the Spirit and rely on the preacher instead. To only hear a preacher is one dimensional Christianity. It misses out on the direct witness of the Bible and roaring of the Spirit.

Talks about whitewater rafting can’t replace running the Colorado. Talks about God can’t replace flowing in the Spirit. Jump in!

waterfall

Posted in church programming, church services, God's flow, Holy Spirit, Holy Spirit flow, inner flow, sermons, Spirit's flow, spiritual flow, spiritual formation, spiritual growth, spiritual innovation, spiritual intoxication, spiritual movement, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Experience solar power; be electrified by the Son

Posted on May 5, 2018 by Steve Simms

I live on solar power. I’m continually electrified by the Son! Fall in love with Jesus and you’ll be drawn into a new orbit that’s out of this world!

To orbit the risen Son, continually surrender to His gravitational pull. Don’t let anyone
or anything block the Sonshine from your life! It’s sad when we ignore the clean and renewable energy of the Son, for the fossil fuel of religion.

When clergy are between the people of God and the Son of God it causes an eclipse of the heart. It’s easy to sit through church and just “take up space” instead of soaring in the heavens with the Son of God! However, when church meets like a solar panel and lets the risen Son speak in and through ordinary people, the Son’s power is released. Jesus created the first solar cell (His ekklesia), uniting people’s hearts to listen to and obey the Son together.

Go solar! Follow and obey the risen Son of God! When you let the Son of God continually shine in your soul — that’s the real soul-er energy. Humanity wants to conquer outer space; but perhaps it would be wiser to first conquer the space between our ears!

Christianity turns into religion if we let tradition eclipse our heart. Theologian, Martin Buber (1878-1965) wrote: “Eclipse of the light of Heaven, eclipse of God – such indeed is the character of the historic hour through which the world is now passing.” Jesus, the Son of God, can be eclipsed; but He can never be extinguished!

Be a beam of the Son.; not a self-exalting one! Inner space is he final frontier! We need to learn to surrender out hearts completely to the living Son of God. After all, human hearts were designed to orbit the Son!

It’s an amazing thing to step out of a religious eclipse and be bedazzled by the Son! We humans have a choice. We can orbit the world or we can orbit the Son of God; but we can’t do both at the same time.

Prechurch Christianity orbited the risen Son. Today, church tends to think that the Son orbits it. (We need a new Galileo.)

Church has eclipsed the risen Son by hiding Him behind hierarchies, homiletics, hype, and human programs. We engage in synthetic homiletics — preaching without the invigorating power and life-transforming presence of the risen Jesus.  Church needs to orbit the risen Son; not eclipse Him!

orbiting Jesus

How effective would an army be with no hands-on training, but just a weekly 30 minute talk? (How about a church?)

How can church “close in prayer” since we are supposed to be open to God 24/7/365? Christ isn’t understandable, but He is embraceable. Embrace Him now!

Solar eclipse at Berry Street

In August of 2017, my wife and I experienced both an eclipse of the sun and then an eclipse of the Son as we were made to stop 9 1/2 years of open, Spirit-led ekklesia at The Salvation Army Berry Street.

Posted in clergy, eclipse, ekklesia, Martin Buber, orbit, solar cell, solar eclipse, solar panel, Son of God, Son of Man, Son of the living God, the Son can do nothing by Himself, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

The body of Christ grows, nose to nose!

Posted on May 4, 2018 by Steve Simms

Jesus said:
“The light of the body is the eye.”
So let’s turn around and
Look into each other’s eyes
With unveiled faces,
And experience Christ,
The hope of glory,
Living in other believers.
Oneness in Christ
Is a matter of seeing
Into each other’s hearts,
Not a product of our heads.
Face to face, nose to nose;
With hearts open to each other,
That’s they way
The body of Christ grows.
Jesus said that we would
Experience inner flows;
Not that we would
Sit in rows!
So let Jesus make your heart flip;
Don’t settle for just a head trip.

Posted in burning heart, fire in the heart, heart, heart care, heart religion, heart-felt, heart-felt worship, hearts on fire, Jesus in my heart, pure in heart, the door of your heart, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

The spiritual weapon of heart-felt Christian unity

Posted on May 4, 2018 by Steve Simms

People who try to avoid morally wrong thoughts, words, and behaviors, soon discover that they have an invisible, inner enemy that strongly resists their attempts to live morally. They get continually ambushed by anxiety, accusation, temptation, torment, depression, and many other negative emotions.

The Bible identifies this inner enemy as, Satan or the devil (aka “the prince of darkness”) and his hordes of demons. Fortunately, we humans aren’t defenseless against our evil foe.

God has given us weapons. However, these weapons are not physical weapons, but spiritual. (You can’t overcome an invisible, supernatural enemy with natural weapons.)

The Bible teaches us about many spiritual weapons, such as, prayer, fasting, blessing others, speaking the truth in love, showing love to people who speak against us or hurt us, forgiveness, thinking on good things, inner resistance to wrong, surrender to Christ, Christ in you, and many more. However, one of the most neglected weapons, that increases the power of all the other spiritual weapons, is heart-felt unity and genuine community in the body of Christ.

Jesus said that the oneness of His followers would demonstrate to the world that He is really from God. In the Roman world, one of the most noticed characteristics of the early Christians was their deep love for one another.

However, at some point in church history, the enemy injected divisiveness into the body of Christ and we dropped our weapons of flowing and rejoicing together in the loving unity of the Spirit. Today we Christians are split into innumerable groups, tribes, sects, denominations, organizations, churches etc.; that are frequently hostile to one another (and at the best, mostly ignore each other). We are also, unbibilcally divided by race, nationality, politics, religious opinions, socio-economic level, etc.

Perhaps that explains why Christianity is in decline in the Western world. That also may explain why many Christians seem to have little power to live godly lives — why so many of us are under the influence and control of the same self-destructive spirits that control the world around us. We have laid down our weapons.

It’s hard to maintain a fight, to battle on, as a lone, solitary soldier. But when masses of individual soldiers come together as an army, united around common dreams and goals, and submitted to the same leadership, they become almost invincible.

Perhaps it’s time for us struggling, straggling Christians to take up the weapon of oneness by uniting under the direct leadership of the living, resurrected Jesus Christ. But how can we do that? If all of us individually begin listening to the living Jesus, and then doing what He says (not what our particular group, tribe, religious opinions, traditions, or nation dictate), we will find ourselves, supernaturally united into the literally invincible army of God! (“The gates of Hell shall not prevail against it.”)

“To arms! To arms!” Take up the spiritual weapon of heart-to-heart oneness in Christ. Don’t wait for others to come and unite with you. Reach out with God’s love to all the Christians you know. Accept and embrace them as sisters and brothers in the Lord. Share an encouraging Scripture with them. Give them an edifying prophetic word. Pray with them and pray for them. As you encourage and strengthen them, God will do the same for you. Try it and see. Don’t drop your weapons!

Jesus said that Christians would experience inner flows of the Spirit; not that we would meet to sit in rows. Christians, like Legos, aren’t designed to sit in rows, but to interact with one another. Let Jesus release your inner aquifer and be the choreographer of your heart.

To be a Spirit-quencher is to miss out on life’s greatest adventure–being directly led by Christ living in you!  How can we “close in prayer” since we are supposed to be open to God 24/7/365?

Posted in Christian community, demons, division, evil spirits, fight the good fight of faith, one in the Spirit, overcoming evil, the gates of hell, the gates of hell will not prevail, Uncategorized, unity | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Drawing a fish with a stranger

Posted on April 28, 2018 by Steve Simms

If you’re fishing for unity in the body of Christ, bait with your heart, not with minute theological details! To experience “reel” unity, we need to let the Holy Spirit pull us together!

 

The early Christians experienced a supernatural sense of oneness with one another. However, they had many enemies who were ready to arrest or kill them, so they had to be careful to correctly identify other believers.

 

One thing that they did was to use a fish as a symbol of their faith in Christ. The word “fish” in the Greek language makes an acrostic with the first letters of the phrase, “Jesus Christ, God’s Son, Savior.” 

 

It is said that sometimes when early Christians met a stranger that they would draw a curve in the dirt. If the other person was a Christ-follower, she or he would draw a reverse of the curve and complete a rough fish drawing. Then they could safely enjoy their miraculous unity in Christ, with one another.

 

Deep, heart-felt oneness with other Christ-followers is a tremendous source of strength and comfort. Why don’t we experience it more often?

 

This Bible verse can help us with that question: “Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.” –Ephesians 4:3

 

The Greek word (“henotes”) translated as “unity” literally means “oneness.” I found these two definitions of it: “harmony from sharing likeness of nature with the Lord” and “the God produced unity between believers.”

 

Ephesians tells us to do everything we can to “keep” (“maintain”) the harmony with other believers that God has put in our heart. If we ignore our intimate, inner connection with other Christ-followers and fail to maintain it, we soon lose it.

 

Then instead of drawing a complete fish together, we hold on to and control our tiny (doctrinal or institutional) piece of God’s amazing world-wide fish puzzle. Today they say that the body of Christ is chopped up into about 70,000 independent organizational pieces. (Diced fish!)

 

So, have we maintained the unity of the Spirit in the body of Christ? Not so well. Perhaps it is time to reach out to Christ-followers who don’t look, think, or act like you and discover and embrace their part of God’s fish!

 

Posted in early Christianity, early Christians, persecution, religious persecution, Uncategorized, unity | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Jesus came to revitalize us; not to ritualize us!

Posted on April 28, 2018 by Steve Simms

Jesus came to revitalize, revolutionize, and radicalize us, not to systematize, traditionalize, and ritualize us. The risen Jesus is radical, but church tries to make Him liturgical.

Church programs are a poor substitute for the living presence of Christ and His power. Robots need programs. Humans live lives. Let’s go beyond church programs and flow with the presence of the Holy Spirit. You can sit through many church programs and be unchanged, but if a Christ-gram enters your heart, you’re transformed in an instant!

Religious observers, passively watching church programs, can confuse the programs with Christ’s presence and miss out on His power. However, the reality of the resurrection means there is no need to substitute religious programs for the presence of Jesus.

Jesus said: “I am the way.” We don’t need a program because Jesus is the program!

Churches make it easy to follow men and programs, but Christians are called to follow Christ. The Bible lists divisions; “of Paul,” “of Cephas,” “of Apollos,” “of Christ,” & says “You are still worldly.” (1 Cor. 3)

Many people have Freudian’s but Christ wants to slip you a Godian! (Watch for His light!)

God has more answers than Google! Ask Him!” If you find faith to be monotony, then you’ve forgotten Me!” –God

Posted in google, Jesus is the way, liturgy, non-liturgical, Paul of Tarsus, Sigmond Freud, spectators, the way the truth the life, the way we do church, transformation, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Need a Christian, life coach?

Posted on April 27, 2018 by Steve Simms

My wife, Ernie Froedge Simms is a Christian coach. Most of her clients are women in their 20s-30s, who want to improve their relationship skills, and who need prayer and direction. She loves to work with any women who are making transitions in life in their careers, and dating and marriage issues.

Check out her coaching page @ https://www.noomii.com/users/ernie-froedge_simms

Also, here is an encouraging, 5-minute interview of Ernie. https://www.noomii.com/users/ernie-froedge_simms/get_user_interview_widget

Ernie's ladies

Posted in advice, Brentwood, coaches, cost of discipleship, dating, disciple making, discipleship, human relations, inner coach, making disciples, marriage, Nashville, prayer, prayers, self-help, self-improvement, spiritual relationships, Tennessee, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Lone Ranger vs. Lone Lecturer (Hi-yo, sermon!)

Posted on April 22, 2018 by Steve Simms

On Sunday mornings, in almost all churches, the “Lone Lecturer” rides again. “Hi-yo, sermon! (And if you disagree, you may be asked to leave, pronto!) It’s easy to think, “We do church the right way,” but is God limited to only one way? Surely church can be more than a lone lecturer and a group of loyal but lethargic, lay listeners!

Sometimes pastors tell people, “Don’t be a lone ranger,” and then they invite them to come hear a lone lecturer (themselves). So, what do lone ranger Christians and lone lecturer Christians have in common? They both work in isolation.  However, if church would finally lay aside the unbiblical concept of laity, spiritual awakening would occur. Here a couple of pastor quotes criticizing the “lone ranger” idea.

“No Christian can be a lone ranger. We won’t make it on our own. We need each other to cling to Jesus.” –John Piper

“As Christians we’re called to belong, not just to believe. We are not meant to live lone-ranger lives; instead we are to belong to Christ’s family and be members of His body.” –Rick Warren

Lone ranger Christianity is unbiblical, but why don’t pastors ever criticize the other unbiblical concept of “lone lecturer”? (The Bible tells Christians what to do when they meet in 1 Corinthians 14:26.)

This quote from Bob Dylan explains how many people also feel about the “lone lecturer” concept:

“The Lone Ranger and Tonto are riding down the line, fixing everybody’s troubles everybody except mine.” –Bob Dylan

Many Christians need personal ministry, not just a lecture. Even more, they need to be given the opportunity and the confidence to minister to others. Perhaps it is time to break out of the traditional “lone lecture” church model.

Here’s how church usually goes: People repose in rows to hear what one man knows. The “Basic Church Program” seems to be: *Sing *Sit *Donate *Listen *Leave — (Variables: *Announcements *Readings *Rituals.) Attending church is like auditing a class. There’s no accountability to learn anything and no assessment or grade given.

However, Christ as a sermon topic can never compare to Christ, the risen Lord, speaking directly to your heart! When we meet to hear words about Jesus, but don’t meet with Jesus, we miss the purpose for meeting. Mt. 18:20.

Instead of living water rushing out of people’s inner being (John 7:38), church seems like a crowd watching a single faucet drip. Surely Jesus doesn’t want us to gather in His name and be monotonous!

You might need a preacher to explain the Christ in distant Heaven; but the Christ who lives inside you can speak for Himself!

Don’t let anyone give you a spiritual lobotomy and turn you into an empty bot. MDiv, DMin, PhD? The only degree that matters in Christianity is the “degree” of your surrender to the risen Jesus.

Since all Christians have direct access to King Jesus, there is no need for a religious hierarchy. A “Christian hierarchy” is an oxymoron like a “humility hierarchy.”

The fingers on a hand (although all different) listen to the head, and act as one. Perhaps the various members of the body of Christ could listen to our Head, Jesus Christ, and do the same.

So, why have we complicated and obscured the simple message of Jesus by building multitudes of independent religious institutions around it. (When the living Jesus isn’t allowed to freely flow through everyday people, Christianity becomes an institution.) To formalize and systematize Christian worship seems to take away from Jesus being the Head of it. When we begin to see through Christ’s eyes (and not our own) we will see as one body, not as thousands of religious organizations.

Human explanations have divided Christians; however, divine revelation can unite us as one! Let’s listen to and obey Jesus! Church tends to limit divine revelation to the distant past and settle for human explaination today; but that’s not biblical!

The world’s greatest apathy is God-neutrality. Churches seem to want God’s neutrality; not the totality of complete surrender to the reality of the living Jesus.

What would happen in a church if Jesus suddenly opened the eyes of the bland? Let the Spirit’s inner rivers freely flow and soon they will manifest a manna-fest of God’s revelation inside you.

The Spirit gently soothes and guides your heart; but the demons prefer to divide and torment your heart. The Holy Spirit gently prompts you; but the demons prefer to stomp you. In your conscience you can hear Jesus giving you wisdom and direction so you can avoid evil, self-destruction, and guilt. Obey Him!

Even if you don’t believe in prayer, it makes much more sense than worry! If your lifestyle doesn’t show Christ, you might not know Christ.

Lone ranger

Posted in Bible one anothers, house church, mutual ministry, one anothering, organic church, preaching, sermons, simple church, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment