Ain’t nothin’ like watchin’ God work in ordinary people!

Posted on August 26, 2015 by Steve Simms

Berry Street nothing like it

Last Sunday at The Salvation Army Berry Street in Nashville one of our members started the meeting by reading a Scripture that she had chosen. It was Romans 8:28: “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose.”

Immediately afterwards our guest worship leader, who had picked his songs out earlier in the week, began to lead us in a song that repeats these words over and over: “You make all things work together for my good.” The two had no idea of what the other was going to do. Message heard! I got goose bumps.

Now hear this! Whatever you are going through is going to work out for your good if you love God and follow His calling in your life. (Do you?)

A few minutes later, a 19 year-old college freshman shared an amazing testimony. A couple of years ago she completely lost her voice and couldn’t speak at all. She went to various doctors and specialists and they couldn’t help her. She was devastated because she was planning to major in theater. She prayed for over a year that God heal her voice and many other people were praying for her, but nothing happened. She was ready to give up, but then in desperation she prayed one more time, picked up her phone that she hadn’t spoken on in more than a year, and called her father. Suddenly she felt like something grabbed and shook her throat. The she said, “Daddy, I can speak.” She has been speaking normally ever since!

God is doing amazing things in the lives of normal people, but unfortunately we seldom allow them to share in church meetings. How we miss out, because we silence God’s people!  “Let the redeemed of the LORD tell their story.” –Psalm 107:2

A glimpse of God will save you. To gaze at Him will sanctify you.” –Manley Beasley
–God is invisible like the wind — you can’t directly see Him with your natural eyes. However, you can clearly see the movement God creates when everyday people come together and individually listen to Him and then say and/or do what He tells them to. To regularly gaze upon God working in and through ordinary people will transform your life!

“We might be wise to follow the insight of the enraptured heart rather than the more cautious reasoning of the theological mind.” ― A.W. Tozer
–At Berry Street ordinary people share insights from their heart as they are led by the Spirit. Come see — Sunday mornings @ 10:45, 225 Berry St., Nashville 37207.

Posted in A.W. Tozer, Berry Street, He makes all things work together for my good, Manley Beasley, miracles, organic church, Psalm 107:2, Romans 8:28, Salvation Army, Spirit-led | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments

I believe in being naive!

Posted on August 25, 2015 by Steve Simms

What’s your threshold of naivety?
–I believe in being naive about some things. To choose to be naive about certain things can relieve anxiety, stress, and deception and help you achieve inner peace and contentment, by closing the door of your mind and heart to evil. The knowledge of evil opens us up to the influence and torment of evil. To be entertained by evil is the beginning of entrapment and entanglement by evil.
–If your hope has died, perhaps you have left the threshold of naivety. “You must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.” –Genesis 2:17
–The living, resurrected Jesus Christ can restore you to innocence. “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus,” –Romans 8:1

power of naivety

Your choice of lifestyle matters!
–Some lifestyles produce pain, discouragement, depression, frustration, anxiety, guilt, and/or shame.
–One lifestyle produces love, joy, peace, patience, contentment, hope, and self-control — the lifestyle of daily following and obeying the living, resurrected Jesus Christ. One person actively following and obeying the living, resurrected Jesus is much more effective than 1,000 people passively sitting and listening to a sermon about Jesus.

Can you predict church?
* People in rows focused on the front; A welcome from a platform; Announcements; Some singing; Offering; Sermon; Closing song; Benediction.
–When ordinary people are free to follow and obey Jesus in a meeting, church becomes unpredictable and exciting!

Posted in choice of lifestyle, church, condemnation, contentment, denial, Genesis 2, hope, original innocence, power of choice, psychology, quilt, Romans 8:1, the power of, tree of the knowledge of good and evil | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments

Let Jesus be the church program . . .

Posted on August 24, 2015 by Steve Simms

A God-gathering (ekklesia) has a program, a plan, a presentation, and a purpose:
The program . . . to let ordinary people follow and obey Jesus.
The plan . . . to free up everybody present to be led by the Spirit.
The presentation . . . to allow everyday Christ-followers to walk in His steps.
The purpose . . . to have no one in the meeting quench the Spirit.

* Did Jesus plan His day, week, month, and year?
–“The Son can do nothing by Himself; He can do only what He sees His Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does.” –Jesus in John 5:19
* Should we?
–“For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God.” –Romans 8:14

I am the way

–The way is not following a system, a technique, or an agenda, The way is the living, resurrected Jesus — listening to Him and following His directions.
–The early Christ-followers were called people of the Way — meaning they followed Jesus. So what if we gathered with no program except to all listen to and obey Jesus! You would be amazed and in awe.
–Come see for yourself at The Salvation Army Berry Street, every Sunday at 10:45 am. at 225 Berry St., Nashville, TN 37207.

Let’s let Jesus be the program! Rather than giving people a printed bulletin, let’s hand Jesus out to people as they come into a God-gathering.

Posted in church bulletins, ekklesia, John 5:19, led by the Spirit, Nashville, participatory church, Romans 8:14, Salvation Army, simple church, Spirit-led church, the Son can do nothing by Himself | Tagged , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Church/ekklesia/lampstand showcase the light in everyday Christ-followers . . .

Posted on August 23, 2015 by Steve Simms

lampstand

The word that the New Testament uses for the body of Christ is ekklesia. However ekklesia was replaced in English translations with the word church. Jesus said that ekklesias are lampstands. “The seven lampstands which you saw are the seven ekklesias.” Jesus in Revelation 1:20

“No man, when he has lighted a lamp, covers it with a vessel, or puts it under a bed; but sets it on a lampstand, that they who enter in may see the light.” Jesus in Luke 8:18

A lampstand doesn’t restrict or limit the light, but rather showcases the shinning of light so that it may be seen by all who come in. The light is shinning in all Christ-followers. “For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, has shined in our hearts.” 2 Corinthians 4:6.

Therefore, as a lampstand, ekklesia (church) is a gathering that allows everyday Christ-followers to shine for Jesus as they show and tell what God has done, so that “they who enter in may see the light.”

Paul of Tarsus explains how this works in 1 Corinthians 14:25-26: “But if all prophesy, and there come in one that believes not, or one unlearned, he is convicted of all, he is judged of all: And thus are the secrets of his heart made manifest; and so falling down on his face he will worship God, and report that God is in you of a truth. How is it then, brethren? when you come together, every one of you has a psalm, has a doctrine, has a tongue, has a revelation, has an interpretation.”

Posted in 2:Corinthians 4:6, God who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, has shinned in our hearts, if all prophesy, Luke 8:18, Revelation 1, sets it on a lampstand, the seven lampstands | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Don’t let inner fear interfere with you . . . enjoy the ice cream!

Posted on August 22, 2015 by Steve Simms

Does inner fear interfere with your life?
The living, resurrected Jesus Christ can make you fearless!

However, don’t just take Christ in — let Him flow out through your words and actions. The inflow of information without the spark of inspiration and the outflow of participation is powerless and quickly forgotten.

Would you rather hear a talk about ice cream?
Or eat a bowl of your favorite ice cream?
“O taste and see that the Lord is good!”
(Why settle for a talk about God?)

ice cream cone

Walking in the soothing rain,
Eating a vanilla ice cream cone,
Enjoying Jesus;
Watching people rushing everywhere,
Hiding beneath their umbrellas,
Rejecting the heavenly gift.

Posted in false evidence appearing real, freedom, how to defeat fear, inner fear, inspiration, poem | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

Ekklesia plugs into the Scriptures and the Spirit’s current.

Posted on August 20, 2015 by Steve Simms

Welcome to ekklesia where:
* You “behold the Lamb of God” working in and through ordinary people, (John 1:29);
* “Christ in you” (everyday people) is “the hope of glory,” (Colossians 1:27);
* Jesus’ sheep hear His voice in and through regular people, (John 10:27);
* Normal people “cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard,” (Acts 4:20);
* “Each of you (ordinary people) has a hymn, or a word of instruction, a revelation,” (1 Corinthians 14:26);
* Everyday people love, encourage, teach and admonish one another; (Colossians 3:16);
* There is no hierarchy, (Matthew 20:25-26);
* Rather than a human head controlling the meetings, the living, resurrected Jesus is the Head, (Ephesians 5:23).
* Jesus Christ is “the same, yesterday, today, and forever;” (Hebrews 13:6).

(Ekklesia is the word used in the Greek New Testament for the assembly that Jesus is building.)

Bible plug

Ekklesia lets God’s current flow . . .
–A piece of wire with no electrical current is boring, but plug it into the flow of electricity and the wire becomes alive with power!
–A religious gathering with no Holy Spirit current flowing through it is boring, but plug it into the flow of the Spirit and it becomes alive with power!
–The Holy Spirit flows from person to person as ordinary people are allowed to share from their heart what God has done in their life! However, if we don’t allow them to speak what the Spirit puts on their heart when we come together for worship, then we cause them to disobey this New Testament commandment: “Quench not the Spirit (1 Thessalonians 5:19).
–“When you are brought before synagogues, rulers and authorities, do not worry about how you will defend yourselves or what you will say, for the Holy Spirit will teach you at that time what you should say.” –Jesus (Luke 12:11-12)
–“But they could not stand up against the wisdom the Spirit gave him as he spoke.” (Acts 6:10)
–What then shall we say, brothers and sisters? When you come together, each of you has a hymn, or a word of instruction, a revelation, a tongue or an interpretation. (1 Corinthians 14:26)
–Experience these Bible verses in action in the 21st Century with us at The Salvation Army Berry Street every Sunday morning at 10:45 at 225 Berry St., Nashville 37207.

Posted in Bible quotations, Bible quotes, Bible verses, biblical Christianity, Biblical principles, house church, Music City, Nashville, Nashville church, Nashville churches, Nashville tourism, Nashville tourist attractions, Salvation Army, Salvation Army Nashville, simple church | Tagged , , , , , | 7 Comments

What in the world does God want?

Posted on August 19, 2015 by Steve Simms

How can we know what God wants?
1) By God’s Spirit showing us through the Bible;
2) By God’s Spirit speaking directly to our heart;
3) By humbling ourselves and laying down our traditions, desires, opinions, fears, patriotism, pride, intellectualism, sins, and anything else that may hinder us from hearing God speak something against our personal defense mechanisms.
–“God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” (James 4:6)

Whose voice
Do you hear?
Jesus said:
“My sheep
Hear My voice.”

How can you be sure you are hearing God’s voice and not your own voice or a counterfeit voice? Here are some ways to make sure:
1) Check out what you hear with the Bible. If it disagrees with the Bible, it’s not God’s will.
2) Examine it to see if it is morally right. If it’s sinful or immoral it’s not God’s will.
3) Examine your heart to make sure you are not acting in anger, hurt, fear, self-defense, rebellion, pride, revenge, manipulation, self-righteousness, greed, or any other wrongful attitude or impure motive. If what you are hearing is compulsive and tormenting it is not from God. God lovingly woes and draws; He does not try to override your free will.
4) Ask God to show you if there is anything in you that is interfering with your hearing His will and then be open to receiving instructions directly from God that may disagree with your opinion and/or desire.
5) Share what you hear with some spiritually mature Christ-followers. If they don’t confirm what you heard as the will of God and you agree with their counsel then don’t do it. However, if you still believe you are hearing God’s voice, go back to God in prayer and ask for His confirmation. Also, continue to search the Scriptures for direction.
6) If what you are hearing continues after these steps, there is a strong chance it is God instructing you.
7) Check out Acts 5:29: Peter and the other apostles replied: “We must obey God rather than human beings!”

question marks

Posted in Acts 5:29, discerning of spirits, How to be led by the Spirit, how to know God's will, spiritual discernment, We must obey God rather than man, witness of the Spirit | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

The paralysis of analysis or the openness of brokenness?

Posted on August 18, 2015 by Steve Simms

Our culture analyzes everything. We mentally pick things to pieces. Yet, sometimes our logic locks out love. Love often doesn’t compute — it can be very irrational. Yet love is an essential ingredient for a lovely life! Without love, we’re human information processors — feeling accurate but lonely — full of proud hypotheses, trapped in the paralysis of analysis.

Brokenness breaks the brain’s burden of analysis. It opens us up to thinking with the heart, not just with the mind. Brokenness breaks us out of the mental box that the brain’s logic has left us in (accumulated left brain information) and gives us the right to hear fresh ideas with our heart (free-flowing right brain inspiration).

“Love is not the absence of logic
but logic examined and recalculated
heated and curved to fit
inside the contours of the heart”
–Tammara Webber

Brokenness opens us up to love’s openness and keeps our heart from going down the brain drain. Like Roto Rooter, brokenness unclogs our heart.

Analysis is tidy. Brokenness is messy.
Analysis follows logic. Brokenness flows with light.
Analysis is programmed. Brokenness is unprogrammed.
Analysis relies on the head. Brokenness releases the heart.
Analysis process information. Brokenness embraces inspiration.
Analysis is controlled. Brokenness is surrendered.
Analysis is rational. Brokenness is revelatory.
Analysis is boastful. Brokenness is humble.
Analysis is closed to what it can’t explain.
Brokenness is open to and desperate for miracles.

The psalms of King David flow with brokenness — an incredible man humbled before God. The Jewish prophet, Isaiah, put it this way: “‘Woe to me!’ I cried. ‘I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty.'” And Paul of Tarsus declared: “O wretched man that I am,” and “For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out.” John the Baptizer said: “He must increase, I must decrease.”

Yet, contrary to these biblical examples, church meetings in the West tend to be based on analysis — programmed to a tee — centered around a one man theological analysis of a Bible passage.  However, in the Greek New Testament, church is called ekklesia and it is a group of broken people called out of the pride of life and into participatory and interactive, support-group-style meetings in submission to and obedience to the living, resurrected Jesus Christ.

Read more about ekklesia here: The Lost Word of the Bible — Ekklesia

analysis brokenness

Posted in church, David, ekklesia, I am a man of unclean lips, Isaiah, John the Baptist, love, O wretched man, Paul of Tarsus, Quotations, Roto Rooter, Tammara Webber | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Look! — Light near. — See?

Posted on August 17, 2015 by Steve Simms

I woke up this morning with these words in going through my mind:
“The longing for meaning and purpose deep in your heart is the Light shining in the darkness of your discouragement and despair, demonstrating your divinely designed destiny. To deny or ignore the inner Light is to embrace your own defeat and to destroy your hope.”

Our culture teaches us to live by and obey our feelings and desires.
–However, Christians are called to obey the teachings of Jesus Christ, living by God’s inner Light.
(We can’t do both.)

Some things are obvious . . .
A book has an author;
A building has a builder;
The Universe has a Creator;
And there’s a Light in your heart.
Don’t turn away from God’s Light!

Christ on the cross,
He took your place!
That’s the cost
Of grace.
Isaiah 53:6

Light shining in our heart

Enough with darkness! Go out and have a Light year — follow and obey the Light of the living resurrected Jesus Christ for the next year, and you’ll never be the same! You’ll never turn back to darkness.

“When a person is free from the tyranny of thoughts, that is freedom!” –Thaddeus of Vitovnica

Read more about the Kingdom of God and the Inner light.

Posted in 2 Corinthians 4:6, alternative lifestyle, depression, destiny, freedom, God who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, I saw the light, light shinning in darkness, light-year, purpose driven, Quaker light, shine the light, shined in our hearts, Thaddeus of Vitovnica, the light came on, tyranny of thoughts | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Faith Hearing (Meeting To Be Taught By The Spirit)

Posted on August 15, 2015 by Steve Simms

Faith Hearing

Listening to God,
Releases His miracles,
When Christ-followers meet,
Yielded and obedient
To the promptings
Of the Spirit
That reach beyond
Rhetoric, rituals,
Rallies, repetitiveness,
Repertoires, and religion.

(“Does He who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you do so by works of the law, or by hearing with faith”? –Paul of Tarsus (Galatians 3:5 ESV))

Have you been “taught by the Spirit?” It’s an amazing experience. There’s nothing else like it!
–“This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, explaining spiritual realities with Spirit-taught words.” –Paul of Tarsus (1 Corinthians 2:13)

“Set a fire down in my soul that I can’t contain, that I can’t control. I want more of You, God!” –Jesus Culture
–When Christ-followers get together to listen to and obey the Spirit, with the fire of God burning in their souls, uncontained and uncontrolled; ekklesia breaks out!

021

Posted in 1 Corinthians 2, ekklesia, faith healing, Galatians 3:5, hearing with faith, I want more of You God, led by the Spirit, Paul of Tarsus, Set a fire down in my soul, taught by the Spirit | Tagged , , , , , , | 2 Comments