Free Gas for Your Think Tank — Short Reflections, Lasting Encouragement

Jesus calls people to be child-like; not to be scholar-like. It’s important that Christ-followers not just listen to preachers but also listen to and obey the inner voice of Jesus, or else they become preacher-followers. Jesus said that His followers would “cast out demons,” not “sit through sermons.”

You can’t hear enough sermons to empower you to follow and obey Jesus. That takes His presence freely living inside of you! Open sharing in church makes the invisible Jesus obvious as He prompts various people to speak and causes it all to flow in harmony.

To keep on preaching to people about something, but never helping them to actually do it; makes them sluggish and apathetic. The “let the preacher do it” mentality creates Christians who think that all they need to do is go to church now and then. In reality, Christians need hands-on, experiential training in obeying the Holy Spirit, much more than we need another sermon.

Church is like an NFL team that cuts out practice & instead has the coach give continual lectures. (How effective would that be?)

I believe church is slowly fading away because it won’t change from one-man lecture to Spirit-led interaction. Perhaps we need to return to the New Testament concept of ekklesia. “To each one (not just to one preacher) the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good.” -1 Corinthians 12:7.

People didn’t experience ekklesia in Greek cities until they heard and responded to a hearld. To experience ekklesia we hear and obey the risen Jesus.

The Holy Spirit has gifts He wants to release through various people when we meet for church. It would good if we would let Him. Let’s meet for worship and do what the Bible says: Allow the Spirit to distribute His gifts “to each one, just as He determines.”

Why should Christians have a human hierarchy? The Bible says that “the government shall be upon His shoulders.”

For many centuries church has planted seeds of passivity in Christians — just sit and look like you’re listening. However, Christians could become much stronger if we turned church services into ministry practice for all who attend.

If Christians in church are not free to hear Jesus and do what He tells them, where will they be that free? Church is content for people to merely sit and watch; but ekklesia calls for us to interact with Christ and with each other.

Don’t let the life of Christ wither in your heart like some dried up twig. Stir up your heart till His fire blazes within you! Christ’s power comes through His presence. If we bypass His presence, we bypass His power. Anointing flows through heart-connection with the risen Jesus and with one another; not through formal talks.

Have you heard what God is doing in the hearts of the people you go to church with? Ask them & let them tell you! To only allow one person to speak in church is like only allowing one channel on your TV. To have the same person speak in church week after week is like listening to the same TED Talk every week.

Christians are called to meet as the body of Christ; not as a classroom for Christ. When Christians meet to tune their hearts to, surrender to, and obey the life of Christ in their midst; Jesus shows up and shows out!

A sermon that doesn’t help people interact with the risen Jesus is just a lecture. It causes spiritual atrophy. That’s when members of the body of Christ just sit and listen in meetings, but aren’t actively involved.

Christianity is not a consumer product that you replenish by going to a church. It’s a radically transformed life.

Church allows Christians no opportunity to discover what Christ is doing in each other.
“Christ in you, the hope of glory.” Christians who haven’t been trained to share with one another what God is doing in their lives, miss out on many miracles!

Feelings fluctuate but faith is faithful. However, faith requires action and participation; not just being a spectator.