Tag Archives: preaching

What Is “Effective Preaching?”

Posted on March 12, 2013 by Steve Simms

Information: A message prepared and delivered by a mind, reaches a mind. Inspiration: The testimony of a burning heart reaches a heart. God is looking for a burning heart; not for doctrinal charts. “I would rather teach one man to … Continue reading →

Posted in Charles Spurgeon, Come Join Our Army, Crest Books, doctrinal charts, early Salvation Army, exhortations, how to pray, how to preach, information, inspiration, inspirational, learning to pray, mind, prayer, preaching the Word, R.G. Moyles, Salvation Army church, Salvation Army Corps, Salvationists, sermon series, testimonies, testimony, USA, William Booth | Tagged church, preacher, preaching, quotations, religion, sermons | Leave a comment

The Worst Religious Advice I Was Ever Given

Posted on January 30, 2013 by Steve Simms

The worst religious advice I was ever given came when I was a student at Memphis Theological Seminary. A professor in a preaching class said: “You need to spend one hour of study for every minute you preach.” Since then … Continue reading →

Posted in academics, Bible study, burning heart, change, change agent, Christ followers, Christian, epidemic, expect change commercial, fire, fire of the Holy Spirit, glory days, God, how you catch the flu, Jesus, Jesus Christ, Jesus Movement, kingdom of God, kingdom values, Memphis Theological Seminary, moral failure, moral foundations, morality, Music City, religious academics, religious innovation, religious tradition, Salvation Army church, Salvation Army Corps, Salvationists, spiritual, spiritual awakening, spiritual formation, study one hour for every minute you preach | Tagged Christianity, Nashvlle, preaching, religion, religious advice, revival, spiritual awakening, The Salvation Army | 3 Comments

Is The Church Trying To Teach People To Swim Without Letting Them Get Wet?

Posted on January 29, 2013 by Steve Simms

I heard a very good sermon today. But while passively sitting and listening to the sermon, I began to think my own thoughts instead. I pondered to myself: Which is more effective in changing lives – studied and prepared sermons … Continue reading →

Posted in attention holding, challenging, God, gripping, Holy Spirit, informative, inspirational, instructive, learning to swim, life transforming, living words, Quotations, quote, Quotes, relevation, religion, Spirit-prompted, spiritual, spirituality | Tagged Christianity, church, Nashville, preaching, Samuel Logan Brengle, sermons, The Salvation Army | 11 Comments

Sermon-Free Church Spread Across America In 1857-1858

Posted on July 5, 2012 by Steve Simms

Spirit-led, sermon-free church meetings spread across America in 1857-1858. Jeremiah Lanphier started a prayer meeting on September 23, 1857 in New York City. Six men showed up. In the next few months 10,000 people began meeting daily for prayer in … Continue reading →

Posted in 1 Corinthians 14:26, American, American church, American history, Americans, Berry Street, Berry Street Worship Center, business men, Charles Finney, Christian, Christian community, Christian history, Christian values, church, church history, church structure, conversion, East Nashville, ekklesia, England, good sermon, Great Britain, history, humility, interdenominational, Jeremial Lanphier, lifestyles, missional, move of God, movement, Music City, mysticism, new birth, non-traditional church, normal Christianity, participatory church, prayer, preaching, quote, Quotes, repentance, revelation, revival, salvation, sets the captives free, simple church, spiritual, spiritual awakening, supernatural, The Salvation Army, Uncategorized, United States | Tagged Christianity, organic church, prayer, preaching, quotations, religion, Revival of 1857, The Layman's Prayer Revival, The Third Great Awakening | 11 Comments

Incarnation Is Not A Flower (But God With Us)

Posted on January 1, 2012 by Steve Simms

Incarnation is not a flower, but like a flower it is beautiful and glorious — the life of God animating physical matter. Describing Jesus Christ, John the Beloved said: “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.” God didn’t … Continue reading →

Posted in alternative lifestyle, Berry Street, Berry Street Worship Center, Christ, Christian history, Christianity, church, church structure, East Nashville, glory, God, guidance, Holy Spirit, house church, I Corinthians 14:26, Jesus, Jesus Christ, John the Beloved, kingdom of God, life, lifestyles, mystery, mysticism, Nashville, non-material reality, organic church, Paul of Tarsus, religion, revelation, simple church, spiritual, spiritual disciplines, spiritual formation, spiritual growth, spiritual skills, The Salvation Army, Uncategorized, worship | Tagged 10:45, 225 Berry, 37207, about, about you, actually, allow, allowing Christ, and Him crucified, animating, beautiful, became a human, being, believers in Christ, Berry Street, best learned in, Christ in you, come, community, control, daily lives, demonstrate, describing, direct, don't resist, dwelt among us, eloquence, except, flower, follow, functions, gathering, give up, glorious, God's instructions, how do you, human wisdom, I came to you in weakness, I Corinthians 14:26, I was resloved, in my Name, in the midst of them, incarnation, incarnational, instructed, Jesus Christ, John the Beloved, listen, message, might not rest on, move, move beyond, Nashville, no matter what other peopole may think, not enough to talk, not with wise, obedience, obey, on God's power, Paul of Tarsus, perhaps it is time, persuasive words, physical matter, physiology, preaching, proclaimed, puppet, puppeteer, put it this way, Quench not the Spirit, send a messenger, so that your faith, Sunday mornings, supposed, surrender, talk, teaching, the hope of glory, the life of God, the living Christ, The Salvation Army, the Spirit's power, the testimony, the way, the Word became flesh, thembling, theology, there am I, thoughts and actions, TN, to know nothing, unconfortable, understnad, visit, walk, When I came to you, when two or more gather, with a demonstration, with great fear, word, Worship Center | Leave a comment

Are Sermons Effective?

Posted on December 9, 2011 by Steve Simms

Have you ever tested the effectiveness of sermons? I did. I was a brand new pastor in my first church — Mayfield Cumberland Presbyterian Church in Mayfield, Kentucky. After finishing three years of seminary, I had been preaching for about … Continue reading →

Posted in Berry Street, Berry Street Worship Center, Christ, Christianity, church, Cumberland Presybterian Church, East Nashville, house church, I Corinthians 14:26, kingdom of God, lifestyles, movement, mystery, mysticism, Nashville, organic church, praise and worship, religion, sermons, simple church, spiritual formation, spiritual growth, spiritual skills, supernatural, The Salvation Army, Uncategorized, values, What is church?, worship | Tagged 225 Berry St., 37207, AA, afternoon, alcoholics, Alcoholics Anonymous, American, American Christianity, an oral test, Berry Street Worship Center, better caught than taught, brand new, called, captured by, Christianity, church meeting, church setting, congregation, considered, continued, creating, culture, Cumberland Presbyterian, decided, doctrines, effectiveness of sermons, evening, everyone has a, experience, exploded, facts, fads, first church, following, follows trends, functions, grow, help people change, hot to hold, house church, however, hymn, ineffective, influencing, interpretation, job description, Kentucky, lecture, less than, lifestyles, like, little happens, little power, Mayfield, meetings, membership, message, mind, much more, Nashville, noble, nobody, none, one simple and easy question, open participation, openly, organic church, overwhelming, passively, pastor, Paul of Tarsus, Paul's instructions, poems, preach, preaching, prepared in a, professional, questions, requires more than, response, revelation, right, shocked, simple church, simple questions, sit and listen, society, society's, something more than, sometimes, started, Sunday morning, test, the basic point, the main topic, The Salvation Army, three years of seminary, TN, to build, to reach people, tongue, treating, try, type, virtuous, visit, weekly, When you come together, word of instruction | 20 Comments

GVAOS — God’s-Voice Activated Operating System (For Church Meetings)

Posted on August 28, 2011 by Steve Simms

Jesus commanded His disciples to “Go and make disciples of all nations . . .” So what can activate the nation-changing power of God? Are there any discipled nations in the 21st Century? How can a nation be discipled? Can the traditional … Continue reading →

Posted in alternative lifestyle, Christian history, Christianity, church history, disciple making, discipling, Great Commission, house church, morality, morals, Nashville, operationg system, organic church, prayer, religion, revelation, salvation, simple church, spiritual, voice activated, What is church? | Tagged 21st Century, 225 Berry St., 37207, activate, adopted, adopted, aimed, all nations, allow, anti-biblical, Biblical, breaks forth, building, change, church attendance, church services, church-service, command, commanded, contemporary church, controlled, declining, direct, director, discipled, disciples, early christians, embracing, England, everyone has, examples, give up, Go and make, God, God-s-voice, group, His, historical, how, human voice, humanly, hymn, I Corinthians 14:26, inability, ineffectiveness, influence, interpretation, isn't working, Jesus, John 2:5, life-transforming, locations, Mary's, media, methods, mind, modern-day, Nashville, nation-changing, nations, openairs, operating system, ordaining, organized, outdoor, perhaps, position, power, preaching, programmed, programming, promoted, put aside, revelation, rightful, sanctioning, says, society, spiritual movement, start, strengthening, Sunday, Sunday morning, Sunday mornings, syste, talk, Tennessee, the world upsidedown, tongue, traditional, turning, used, views, Wesley, When you come together, Whitefield, word of instruction, working, world | 5 Comments

Conversion/Salvation/Being Born Again Or Blind Belief?

Posted on May 31, 2011 by Steve Simms

In some Arab countries it is against the law for a person to convert to another religion than the religion of her/his birth and/or upbringing. However, having been raised in a particular religion is no indication of its truth or … Continue reading →

Posted in American Literature, Bible, biography, Creator, freedom, God, history, human rights, Jesus Christ, John Wesley, lifestyles, Oh my God, popular culture, prayer, Quotations, Quotes, religion, The Salvation Army, Uncategorized, What is church? | Tagged 1700s, 18th Century, a direct, accepting without questioning, adhering, adopts, against the law, America, American, another religion, Arab countries, being, belief, believer, birth, blind belief, born again, called, change, childhood, Christ, Colonies, coming into, conversion, deceptions, deep work, defined, devoted, divine perfection, Dwight L. Moody, encountered, England, entire life, Examine yourself, experience, faith, frustrated, give up, goal, goes, Gordon D. Fee, heart work, Holy Spirit, home, human, I came to, I felt my heart strangly warmed, illumination of the soul, Indians, indication, infect, infection, introduced, invaded, Jesus Christ, John wesley, Joseph Alleine, lack of success, likeness, living, living God, man, members, mighty, mind, movement, multitudes, on fire, one of the greatest, otherwise, particular, passionate, Paul of Tarsus, person, personal relationship, personal transformation, personally convinced, preaching, quote, raised, realized, receive, returned, risk his life, rituals, rote, salvation, set in, some, spark, spiritual, spiritual awakening, suggestion, teachings, Theodore Ledyard Cuyler, think, thoughts, throughtout, to convert, truth, trying to convert others, upbringing, validity, ways, who will convert me?, will, wish, with God, witnessing | 1 Comment

Ralph Abernathy Said What!

Posted on May 20, 2011 by Steve Simms

Famous Civil Rights leader, Ralph Abernathy, was a campus speaker when I was in college at The University of Tennessee Martin. In a packed ball room he told about his experiences in the Civil Rights Movement and about working with … Continue reading →

Posted in apologists, biography, black history, Civil Rights, freedom, God, history, human rights, Jesus Christ, lifestyles, popular culture, prejudice, Quotations, Quotes, race, religion, social justice, speech making, Uncategorized, What is church? | Tagged altar, angry, answer, ball room, Baptist church, better, black-church, boldly, boy, campus, changed, Christianity, civil rights, college, curious, decalred, did, dismissed, Dr., excited, experiences, famous, father's, firmly, five, guy, hand up, human, inspired, Jesus Christ, Jr., know, leader, lecture, life, love, Martin, Martin Luther King, met, minuters, morning, movement, never been the same, paused, people, picked, preaching, pulpit, questions, Ralph Abernathy, Rev., rushed up, said, Savior, speaker, special, startled, stated, style, Sunday, testimony, topic, true, University of Tennessee, Why, young | 2 Comments

Have A Jesus Demonstration Sunday

Posted on April 26, 2011 by Steve Simms

Churches like to have special Sundays. For example, many churches have an annual Youth Sunday when the church teenagers actually run the church service, from song leading, to announcements, to sermon, while the pastor sits and watches. So I was … Continue reading →

Posted in apologists, Creator, God, Jesus Christ, lifestyles, Nashville, organic church, popular culture, Quotations, Quotes, religion, Uncategorized | Tagged 2:4-5, alive and present, announcements, annual, awkward, beautiful, Biblical, churches, congegation, demonstration of the Spirit, enticing words of man's wisdom, facebook, faith, heart, I Corinthians, in the power of God, in the wisdom of man, Jesus Christ, Jesus demonstration, kids, lead, let Jesus, living, meeting, miss, morning, organic church, page, pastor, Paul, personally per year, power, preaching, really true, right things at the wrong time, sermon, sharing, simple church, sits and watches, smile, song leading, Special Sundays, Sunday, tapestry, teen leaders, to Jesus, unfold, voice, why not, Youth Sunday | 16 Comments

Tag Archives: preaching

What Is “Effective Preaching?”

The Worst Religious Advice I Was Ever Given

Is The Church Trying To Teach People To Swim Without Letting Them Get Wet?

Sermon-Free Church Spread Across America In 1857-1858

Incarnation Is Not A Flower (But God With Us)

Are Sermons Effective?

Conversion/Salvation/Being Born Again Or Blind Belief?

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