The Holiday Season — Celebrating the glorious value of an inconvenient, out of marriage, unplanned pregnancy!

Posted on December 13, 2013 by Steve Simms
Posted in birth of Christ, Christ, Christmas gifts, Christmas giving, Christmas is about Jesus, Christmas story, Jesus, Jesus Christ, marriage, marriage debate, Mary mother of Jesus, Mother Mary, unplanned pregnancy, unwanted pregnancy, virgin Mary | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Fresh/New/Original Christmas/Holiday Greetings

Posted on December 13, 2013 by Steve Simms

Do you ever get tired of the same ole Christmas/Holiday greetings?  Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, Seasons’ Greetings are nice, but somehow lack the pazazz that a holiday of such significance deserves.  So here are some fresh, new and original Christmas greetings for you to try out this holiday season:

Happy Jesus Days!

Have a wonderful Christ*mas!

May the living, resurrected Jesus be born in the Bethlehem of your heart!

May your lifestyle conform to Christ’s as you celebrate the birth of the living resurrected Jesus!

Best wishes for a joyous Christ*mas season!

I hope you enjoy your celebration of the birth of Jesus!

Merry Messiahmas!

Get to know the Reason for the season!

May you have a joyous celebration of Jesus’ birthday and may you experience the glorious reality of Emmanuel, God with us, on Christ*mas Day and every day throughout the year, becoming a committed, obedient follower of the living, resurrected Jesus Christ all the days of your life.

 

 

Posted in Bethlehem, birth of Christ, birthday, Christ, Christmas greeting, Christmas is about Jesus, Christmas story, Christmas traditions, Happy Holidays, holiday, holiday hype, Holiday season, holidays, Jesus, Jesus Christ, Jesus is alive, Jesus' name, Messiah, Reason For The Season | Tagged , , , | 4 Comments

Realty TV / Reality Church . . .

Posted on December 10, 2013 by Steve Simms

Reality church?
We have reality TV that features ordinary people.
So, why not reality church, where everyday people show and tell why God has done?

When church is scripted, the freedom to flow in the Spirit is restricted to the agenda. When church is spontaneous, the Holy Spirit can break out in glorious demonstrations of His power and presence.

Here are some quotations about reality church:

“During open worship people may share something that they feel God has laid on their heart. It is a time where we all practice being ministers. Open worship creates a space where God can have a chance to move among us and teach us; invites participation from all present; trusts that God interacts with all people and that everyone has something to contribute to the people of God.” –C. Wess Daniels

“Congregations have been oriented toward audience mentality. What are we doing to deal with this problem? Much of what we do as leaders actually contributes to the congregation-audience problem. Confess this and begin transforming your culture one participatory invitation at a time. Passivity does not lead to an encounter with God, participation does.” –Ryan Flanigan

“The shift to participatory culture means people find their identity through what they create. Our churches are still structured in such a way that we do it to them, not inviting them to create worship with us. So, if that’s the case, there’s really no space for people who’ve been formed by our participatory culture in our churches.” –Ryan Bolger, Fuller Seminary

“Many of the Sunday orders of worship consist of the pastor speaking, the pastor praying, the pastor reading and the choir singing, with little opportunity for the congregation to do anything but sit and listen. When the Sunday service is simply a time to sit quietly, hear some good music and a good sermon, sing a hymn, and then go home to eat dinner, no wonder many of our people get confused into thinking that Christ only wants passive admirers rather than active followers.” –William Willimon

“Participatory worship is experiential worship—experiencing the presence of the risen Christ in the fellowship of community.” –Constance M. Cherry

“When Paul instructs about orderly worship in 1 Corinthians 14, it’s clear that New Testament worship was highly participatory.” –Andy Chamberlain (See 1 Corinthians 14:26).

Experience reality church for yourself at The Salvation Army Berry Street.  Sundays at 10:45, 225 Berry St., Nashville, TN 37207.

 

 
Posted in 1 Corinthians 14:26, Andy Chamberlain, C. Wess Daniels, Constance M. Cherry, experiential worship, Fuller Seminary, Music City, Nashville, new kind of church, New Testament, open church, open mike, open sharing, order of worship, participation, participation in church, participatory culture, participatory sermons, passivity, pastor, popular culture, quotation, quote, Quotes, religious innovation, Ryan Bolger, Ryan Flanigan, Salvation Army, Salvation Army church, Salvation Army Corps, television, TV, TV network, William Willimon, worship, worship center, worship gathering | Tagged , , , , , | 4 Comments

When church is scripted, the freedom to flow in the Spirit is restricted to the agenda. When church is spontaneous, the Holy Spirit can break out in glorious demonstrations of His power and presence.

Posted on December 10, 2013 by Steve Simms
Posted in church program, church programs, church services, order of worship, participation, participation in church, participatory church, scripted, simple church, Spirit-filled, Spirit-led, Spirit-prompted, spiritual, spiritual flow, spiritual innovation, spiritual life, spiritual movement, spontaneity, worship, worship gathering | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Church isn’t lessons to be learned by lecture; but life being lived together.

Posted on December 8, 2013 by Steve Simms
Posted in church format, church leadership, church program, church programs, church services, lecture, led by the Spirit, lessons, life, life together, life transforming, lifestyle Christianity, lifestyles, non-traditional church, one another, one anothering, one anothers, simple church, speech making, speeches | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

The Christmas season without the living Christ is like a song without a tune.

Posted on December 8, 2013 by Steve Simms
Posted in birth of Christ, Christ, Christmas carols, Christmas greeting, Christmas is about Jesus, Christmas music, Christmas shopping season, Christmas traditions, Jesus, Jesus Christ, Merry Christmas, Messiah, Music City, musicals | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Celebrating the Pregnant Virgin

Posted on December 4, 2013 by Steve Simms

‘Tis the season of the pregnant virgin!
A pregnant woman tells people she is a virgin, and they believe her and spread her story! Now billions of people all over the world, through out the past 2,000 years, have believed her.

I believe her story. I was taught her story as a kid in church, but as a teenager I rejected it as being impossible. Then as a young adult I encountered the living, resurrected Jesus Christ and began to read the New Testament for myself. My life was transformed and I gradually became fully convinced that Mary’s story (and the rest of the New Testament) is true, reliable, and factual! I’ve sought to live my life by the New Testament’s teachings ever since and it has been an absolutely amazing adventure!

“Merry Christmas” is not a mythical greeting, but a powerful proclamation of the season of the pregnant virgin and the birth of her Child!  Let it sink in.  Pregnant virgin is not an oxymoron.  It’s a fact that marks the invasion of planet Earth by an alien power — the Creator has become a man and is establishing His kingdom in the hearts of multitudes — Emmanuel, “God with us!”

I hope you enjoy all the pregnant virgin celebrations this year!

Posted in Bible, Bible concepts, birt of Christ, Christmas carols, Christmas story, Christmas traditions, difficult pregnancies, Emmanuel, God with us, Mary mother of Jesus, miracles, miraculous, Mother Mary, New Testament, Our Lady Mary, oxymorons, pregnant virgin, virgin birth, virgin Mary, virginity | Tagged , , , | 3 Comments

The Inner Teacher

Posted on December 4, 2013 by Steve Simms

Listen to the Inner Teacher!  He speaks within your heart.  He is the Holy Spirit, the presence of God in your soul, the inner Light.  He is calling you to follow and obey Him daily.  Don’t refuse His call.

When church is set up to feature one man, week after week, as “the preacher” or “the speaker,” it tends to limit people’s ability to hear the Inner Teacher and to make them dependent on a mere human being.

The Bible puts it this way: “As for you, the anointing you received from Him remains in you, and you do not need anyone to teach you. But as His anointing teaches you about all things and as that anointing is real, not counterfeit—just as it has taught you, remain in Him.” –1 John 2:27.

Experience the Inner Teacher at The Salvation Army Berry Street in Nashville, Tennessee, where ordinary people show and tell what God has done (instead of a one-man, weekly sermon):  Sunday’s @ 10:45 am., 225 Berry Street, 37207.

Posted in 1 John 2:27, anointed, anointing, Bible, Bible quotes, biblical Christianity, Biblical concept, His anointing teaches you, inner Light, inner teacher, John, New Testament, organic church, preacher, preaching, preaching the Word, Salvation Army, Salvation Army church, Salvationism, Salvationists, Scriptures, sermon, sermon-free, sermon-hearing, sermons, teach me and I, teacher, you don't need a man to teach you | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Atheism or A Theism

Posted on December 3, 2013 by Steve Simms

Atheism doubts and denies a Creator, while putting great faith in the ability of nothing to produce everything.

Atheism is the ultimate personification — bestowing on nothing the abilities of an intelligent being — the capacity to create, to bring order out of disorder; to engineer amazing mechanisms; and to develop rationality, reason, and logic.

A theism is a belief in one God as the Creator of the universe.  The three main theisms are Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.  They have many branches.  Here are some quotes about theism:

“This most beautiful system of the sun, planets and comets, could only proceed from the counsel and dominion of an intelligent and powerful Being.”  –Isaac Newton

“There is no indisputable proof for the big bang,” said Hollus. “And there is none for evolution. And yet you accept those. Why hold the question of whether there is a creator to a higher standard?”   –Robert Jay Sawyer, Calculating God

“Scientists are slowly waking up to an inconvenient truth – the universe looks suspiciously like a fix. The issue concerns the very laws of nature themselves. For 40 years, physicists and cosmologists have been quietly collecting examples of all too convenient “coincidences” and special features in the underlying laws of the universe that seem to be necessary in order for life, and hence conscious beings, to exist. Change any one of them and the consequences would be lethal.  Fred Hoyle, the distinguished cosmologist, once said it was as if “a super-intellect has monkeyed with physics”.  –Paul Davies

Theist and atheist:  the fight between them is as to whether God shall be called God or shall have some other name.”  –Samuel Butler

Posted in a theism, big bang, Big Bang Theory, Calculating God, Christianity, creation, creativity, Creator, Fred Hoyle, God, Isaac Newton, Islam, Judaism, Paul Davies, quotation, quote, Quotes, Robert Jay Sawyer, Samuel Butler, science, scientific debate | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Salvation Army Red Kettle Donations Link

Posted on December 2, 2013 by Steve Simms

You can help The Salvation Army right where you are.  No need to go looking for one of our Red Kettles.  Just click on the donation link:

The Salvation Army Red Kettle Donation Link

Help support The Salvation Army Berry Street’s outreach and ministry in the McFerrin Park Neighborhood of East Nashville.

Posted in Christmas, Christmas gifts, Christmas giving, contribute to The Salvation Army, donate, donations, giving, make an online donation to Salvation Army, Music City, Nashville, Nashville charity, Nashville church, nonprofit giving, Salvation Army, Salvation Army Bell Ringers, Salvation Army church, Salvation Army Corps, Salvationism, Salvationists, support The Salvation Army | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment