[Listen to audio here.]
Truth be known, this blog has been over thirty years in the making. Not that there were blogs way back then, but the truths that I will be sharing in these pages have been working in my heart for all of that time. It seems that God has had me in His school of the Spirit for over three decades with a continued focus upon the centrality, supremacy, significance, and all-sufficiency of the Lord Jesus Christ in all things.
I can vividly remember the day when I poured out my heart to the Lord with deep questions about the focus of the Church and the culmination of His end-time purpose. The Father spoke to my heart as clearly as if He had spoken audibly. He silently thundered one simple phrase concerning His Son: “…that in all things HE might have the preeminence.” (Col. 1:18) That word resonated with such prophetic power in my spirit that it marked a watershed in my life. I vowed at that moment that the rest of my life, by the grace of God, would be marked with having the same heart that I saw in the Father concerning the centrality and supremacy of His Son in all things. I pleaded with God to so burn that passion into my heart that nothing could surpass it and nothing could supplant it, ever. I saw that this was the highest thing I could commit myself to and desired to be a man after God’s own heart in this regard for the rest of my days. Now, some thirty years later, I am ever so grateful that the Father has been faithful to keep that which I committed to Him on that day.
Over these many years the Lord has continued to reveal and build His truth into my heart concerning the reality and ramifications of the centrality of Christ in all things, especially as it relates to the corporate life and expression of the Church. That revelation has come with a price, and my wife and I have been tested and proven repeatedly concerning it. Being faithful to the revelation has caused us to move out of the traditional path of institutional Christianity and seek an organic expression of the ekklesia fully centered in, around, upon, and according to Christ alone, without man-made supports, even as it was at the beginning. Much of our journey has been through the wilderness, but God has sustained us and strengthened us through it all. When one sees “a city whose builder and maker is God”, he becomes ruined for anything less. Such a vision will make one content to live in “tents”, if need be, until he possesses it, even as Abraham and Sarah. Those who would seek to follow in the faith of Abraham must be prepared to follow in the footsteps of Abraham as well, no matter where it leads.
The Church is in a time of a major transition. There is much searching, questioning, re-evaluating, re-envisioning, re-inventing and restructuring going on. There seems to be a widespread dissatisfaction, unsettledness, and yearning for something which more fully answers to the longing within our hearts for a deeper communion and community in Christ. I believe with all of my heart that there is one single answer to that longing both individually and corporately and it is found in that most profound phrase “…that in all things He might have the preeminence.” (Col. 1:18) All that is lacking, all that is askew, all that is dis-unified, all that is corrupted in the Church and in our lives originates from a missing of the mark in this one thing. If we fully return to the Lord Jesus Christ and give Him his rightful place in all things, all will be remedied. I believe it is really and truly that simple.
I have dedicated this blog to the exploration of this simple truth with all of its profound ramifications, believing it is the most significant pursuit that you and I can follow after.
I look forward to the journey together!
~David
January 2012
HOME PAGE
or…
“Surprise me!” (Different post with each click. 🙂 )
Christ-Centered Christianity 
I found your website while searching for a copy of “Ultimate Intention” by DeVern Fromke. I am so very gratified to read your comments about being “Christ Centered” and not the “fluff” we are so often given by most current writing and on so called “Christian tv and radio”. I read A.W. Tozer , J.I. Packer, Francis Schaeffer and other writers who seem to be serious about their relationship to Christ. I do not mean these comments to be prideful in anyway, just a hunger and thirst to be rightly related to Christ.
LikeLike
Thank you, David for your comment. I’m glad that you happened to come across the blog and were ministered to by it. I’m encouraged by what you’ve shared. I hope you check back occasionally, or possibly “follow’ by email. It is good to connect with new brothers in Christ. Blessings!
LikeLike
for about a year, i’ve been rallying the church which i pastored for 6 years to this direction, Christ as the center, supreme and the the only life of a believer. it started when when i came across the teachings of jason henderson and t-austin sparks. now i found your blog very helpful and thank God you are one of those i found as companion in this journey of proclaiming Christ as the life of the believer. hope you will post the second part of “The Essential Character of the New Covenant ” i enjoyed it!
LikeLike
Thank you, Thom, for your comment. I am most encouraged by it. May God bless you as you continue to seek the centrality and supremacy of our Lord Jesus in all things for the church. “He must increase…” -Blessings!
LikeLike
David,
Thought you might be interested in our new journey… http://covenantfields.wordpress.com/2013/05/04/our-humble-beginnings/
The Lord bless and lead you brother.
Much love in Christ,
Kris Connors
LikeLike
Good to hear from you Kris. May God bless you in this new adventure and teach you many spiritual truths as you work with His creation in this “organic” way!
Love in Him,
David
LikeLike
Kris, we stumbled into David’s blog and were blessed. We appreciate so much what you are able to do with your own life, and hope, one day, we may learn from you.
In Christ,.. ~ Ned Nossaman
LikeLike
Hi David, I’m relieved to not being alone in finding that our churches seem to have fallen from the narrow path. Being a lady, I particularly notice that Christian gentlemen are not finding their strength in Jesus. I pray for our people and families to cling to Jesus with all their heart and all their mind and all their strength. The churches would be filled to overflowing overnight if we were able to find men & women of God in them. Monique
LikeLike
Thank you for your comment, Monique, and for taking time to visit the blog. I hope you find that which is encouraging and helpful in your walk with the Lord here.
The thoughts you shared are poignant, and they beg the question, “Why is it so?” There are no easy answers to that question, but in a sense, I believe there is a simple answer to that question… albeit, one that has profound and difficult ramifications, yet is simple in essence. That is what I have shared in this About page, and hopefully is found throughout this blog. I believe it all boils down to the centrality and supremacy of the Lord Jesus Christ in all things, both individually and corporately. Our missing of the mark in this regard individually, weakens the churches, and our missing of the mark in this regard corporately, weakens the individuals. The remedy, therefore, has to be applied to both aspects, simultaneously, if there is to be any real change. Most, it seems to me, tend to focus on the individual. Some focus on the corporate. Unless it is both, however, the opposite aspect will cancel out the change needed in the one focused on. This tendency towards a one-sided approach is why things stay in a locked down state, with no real or lasting change taking place. That’s how I see it at least, and I hope to address both aspects in this blog. I hope you join in the journey and the conversation!
You may be interested in my most recent post, (as of this comment) Centrality and Eccentricity It goes to the core of my heart’s burden and vision for the restoration God is seeking. And there will be more to come along this line in the months ahead.
God bless you as you continue to seek the Lord and labor for His Church!
David
LikeLike
David,
I’ve been thinking to write a book entitled “Christ, the Sum of All Virtue” and was drifting toward that direction when we came upon your blog. We immediately signed up for your e-mail subscription (poetryseminar@aol.com) and are looking forward to joining you on the journey. Wow! …what a start! You indeed sound in tune. David, and your writing (this one alone) has blessed both my wife and myself this evening. If you are ever in Orange County, CA, please look us up. We have no formal church affiliation. I will not post our phone number here, but if you’d like, you can contact us at the e-mail address above. Keep the flow going. We’re looking forward to it! David, from your words, I sense we may have traveled a similar path. In Christ… ~ Ned Nossaman
LikeLike
Hi Ned,
It is great to connect with you. Thank you for your comment! (It made my New Year’s Eve!) I’m glad that you and your wife found these words encouraging and that you are on a similar journey. There are many who are on this journey as well, but often are separated from one another geographically. It is a blessing to be able to connect through venues such as this to encourage and edify one another, even as we seek to walk out a practical expression with those God has joined us with where we are.
The topic of your book sounds excellent! Exploring the heights, depths, lengths, breadths and fullnesses of Christ needs to be our supreme passion! I hope you find some edification along this line here as well.
Thank you also for the invite to visit you in California. If we are ever out that way we will certainly keep that it in mind!
Love and blessings in Christ,
David
LikeLike
Some years ago a great deception and heresy swept the church. I was much confused as to how Christians could fall for it. It was called the “Toronto Blessing” and countless Christians were swept up in it, even some I thought of as the spiritual elite. I asked Lord Jesus why this happened. He replied to me, “They know me as the Way, they know me as the Truth, but they do not know me as the Life”. At the time I had little knowledge of Christ as my Life either. I owe my Lord Jesus everything as He has revealed to me that He is my EVERYTHING! I believe that there will be a Church in these last days that will be exactly as the Lord said it should be, as revealed in Paul’s letter to the Ephesians. We enjoy the teachings of Watchman Nee, Andrew Murray and others who know Christ as “The Life” I sense the same “knowing” in you.
LikeLike
Thank you, Peter. It seems we are of kindred spirits in our pursuit of Christ as our “All!” May you be encouraged in your walk and your work in Christ in Australia! Glad to have connected!
Cheers!
LikeLike
This is balm to my soul, David. I was searching for an excerpt to Watchman Nee’s “Christ, the Sum of all Spiritual Things” and I found your wonderful blog. I wanted to repost on my blog a section of it as well as your poem “Christ in me is Everything I need.” Would that be ok with you? Here is a link to my blog: http://www.abranchinthevine.com.
I’m awaiting publication of my Bible study/devotional book called “The With-ness of our God: Relationship in Every Dimension” (CrossBooks/ Lifeway). It is on some of the key prepositions of Scriptures and is heavily focused toward our union with Christ. So I’m looking forward to reading your section on the prepositions…
Also is there a way to subscribe to your blog?
Many blessings, dear brother! One with you in HIM for His pleasure and purpose in our generation (Acts 13:36a), Jan & John Loyd
LikeLike
Hi Jan, and welcome! I’m glad the Lord led you across this blog. I took some time to explore your blog and was very blessed by what I found! This life of union with Christ is everything, and His life comes through wonderfully in your writings!
Your upcoming book looks like a rich exploration of the “prepositional truths” that are the substance of our relationship with Him. I see you have two chapters on “IN” which have to do with “the bottle in the ocean, and the ocean in the bottle.” We are tracking along the same lines as you will see in the posts I did on “IN” in the series “Prepositional Realities – The Church in Relation to Christ”. (I also have the series in audio format if you prefer.) I plan on adding to that series this year with a new preposition. You may also enjoy the fourth and fifth parts of the “Christ the Center” series where I focus on four prepositions as they shine light on the Father and the Son in relation to the eternal purpose.
As for subscribing to the blog, I recommend becoming an email follower. There is a “widget” on the sidebar for signing up in that way. (I look forward to following your blog as well!)
Also, you are welcome to reblog/repost the material on this blog provided it is unchanged and you supply a link back to its post or page here on this blog. I’m glad to be able to share!
Thanks, Jan, for leaving a comment and for connecting in this way. I look forward to further interactions!
David
LikeLike
Thank you, David.
So glad to connect with you at “Christ-Centered Christianity.” Thank you for your encouragement IN Him! I’m grateful for your time and interest in my blog and writings as well.
I certainly will include links back to your blog and will not change anything in reposting.
I have a free day of rest tomorrow and look forward to exploring your prepositional reflections.
Many blessings to you and yours!
Jan
LikeLike
Thanks, Jan.
All blessings IN Him!
LikeLike
Hello David Bolton,
Please, can you direct me to where I can get/buy the Sheet Music to the song, He Must Increase,
sung by you. And, also an accompaniment track for piano, guitar, vocal for this song. Thank you so much for your anticipated reply. God Bless, Jeannette
LikeLike
Hi Jeannete,
I sent you an email to reply to your request. Thanks for your interest in the song and your follow of the blog! I pray that you are blessed by them!
Grace and peace! David
LikeLike
A friend sent me your blog. It was so refreshing. My husband and i feel quite alone in our journey. We met with others in homes for a time but they dont want to include us any more. We are just giving thanks and trying to follow the Lord. We DONT want to just settle for second best. Our hearts cry out to find others that are like minded. I am sure the saints that dont invite us would say they just want Christ to be everything, but that is not what we encountered Do you know anything about Bethel Church in Redding Ca? Our daughter and family are related to that group and it is frightning to us. We are praying and not clear to give them a strong warning. Thank you so much. So glad to know we really arn’t so alone in our walk with the Lord.
LikeLike
Hi Marci,
I’m glad that you found the blog and have been refreshed by it. I can relate to your situation and the difficulty of finding like-minded people where we live. This seems to be a very common problem for those who have come out of the institutional church and are seeking to gather with other believers simply in the Name of Christ. You may find some encouragement from the series I did concerning those who are intentionally outside of the institutional church: “Rebels, Refugees, and a Returning Remnant”, as well as from the most recent post. I truly believe that God is doing a similar work in our day to what Bro. Mackintosh dscribed. We must simply be faithful, even if it is costly and we have to walk alone for a season. He will make a way in the wilderness!
As for Bethel Church, I only have a distant perspective on it, and not first-hand. One of the followers of this blog, Matt Hintze, published a post on his experience in Bethel which has some 63 comments on it. You may find that helpful. The link is: “Is Bethel Church a Cult”
I will pray for you and your husband that you will have God’s wisdom and grace both for your own situation and also for your daughter and her family!
Thanks for connecting through your comment!
All blessings in Him,
David
(p.s. I have your email address now and took it off your comment for your privacy.)
LikeLike
David, I recently came across your website and enjoyed reading some of your postings on Christ-centered church. You might also enjoy some of the teaching on our website: http://www.ChristCrucified.info. In Him, Peter
LikeLike
Hi Peter,
Thanks for connecting. Your website is filled with much to feast on. Very Christ and cross centered! I would recommend it to all those who follow this blog. All blessings in Him!
LikeLike
David, my book is now in print. You asked me to let you know when it was. Here is a link for more info. Thank you and blessings, dear brother:
http://www.abranchinthevine.com/the-with-ness-of-our-god-relationship-in-every-dimension/
LikeLike
Congratulations, Jan! I will check it out. May our Lord use it to draw His saints more deeply into relationship with Himself. I’m sure it will be a blessing to many! Thanks for sharing, and all blessings to you!
LikeLike
Thank you so much, David. I’m so thankful for you and your insights into the mystery that is our Christ!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Hey David,
My Dad just recently found your blog and shared the entry “Pragmatism and the Truth” with our family. I thank God for the wisdom that has so obviously been granted to you in writing such a profound piece. Over the years the Holy Spirit has been ministering to my Dad and I about this exact subject. It’s like you’ve been reading my mail! Although I’ve never really thought about it using the term pragmatism I must say that’s a great distillation of the issue. What I’ve started to call it is essentially Gnosticism. But that’s not really the best label to put on it, I think you’re pragmatism label works much better. Essentially, the issue has always been the same. Will man, whether it’s Adam in the garden or Kyle in 2019, trust the Lord and what he has said or will he trust his own understanding? Will he acknowledge God for being God or will he make himself God?
You’re point about blessing not equaling endorsement is so very, very good. The church is convinced that if we do good we’ll get “good” and that means God is pleased with our good behavior. But this is not so! God is good, to us all, good and bad, because GOD IS GOOD. God is pleased not with our right and “good” behavior but with our FAITH. Why? Because our faith testifies of God’s goodness! Faith is the only thing that pleases God because in it, we proclaim his goodness. We are saying the object of our faith, God, is to be trusted, that he is good. When we lack faith and trust our own understanding we simultaneously exalted ourselves as gods while at the same time we malign the character of God by questioning whether or not he can be trusted to be good.
I have so much that I’d love to share but I’ll leave you and anyone who would read this with this thought. I believe the primary reason man falls for pragmatism rather than the Truth of God is he has a love problem. I believe the Holy Spirit is grieved by the church. We fear his voice. Knowing like Adam and Eve, that we are naked in our sin, we hear his voice and instinctively fear it. We know we’re sinners, we know he’s a Holy God and he will punish sin. So we hide from his voice and seek to cover our nakedness in all manner of ways and when we do this we prove ourselves faithless to trust in the character of God. That He is good, that He is loving. All the while in our sin not knowing that he has already made a way for us. He has already provided coverings for our nakedness. We forsake our hope of his steadfast love because we doubt his loving character. Oh the riches of his wondrous love that we so foolishly forsake when we question his character! Faith works by love and faith comes through hearing and hearing by the utterance of God. Without faith it is impossible to please God. That which is not of faith is sin. Lord grant us repentance! Grant us ears to hear and faith to believe. Let us trust in your character, your goodness, your love. Knowing that while we were YET sinners, you demonstrated your love for us in this, that Christ died for us.
Grace and peace to you in Jesus name.
Kyle
LikeLiked by 1 person
Kyle, thank you for your thoughtful and encouraging comment! I’m glad you and your dad found the post “Pragmatism and the Truth” confirming and clarifying to the truths that He’s been writing on your hearts. I appreciate what you’ve shared along those lines and how you boiled it all down to the most essential matters of the heart, faith and love. I’m also encouraged by the relationship that you have with your dad around the things of the Lord. As a father of four, who enjoys a similar relationship with each of my children, I understand what a rich treasure that is! Blessings to you both as you continue to follow after the Lord in true faith and love!
All blessings in Christ, David
LikeLike
This is exactly where my husband and I have found ourselves. It’s a burden and a struggle. God has been sustaining us and setting captives free along the way, by his message, but we are lonely. Where is this little church you guys are apart of?
LikeLike
Bonsoir David, thank you for your blog, i appreciate to read it from Europe. On the media internet there are plenty publications that their reading or listening can sometimes induce a surplus hindering the way
In addition, in the sensitivities, it is complicated for me to follow the ways of doing internet media, where it is proposed to come together collectively to share the gospel, to pray
It is therefore a relief to be able to read you in your progress on your way, on your journey with Christ Jesus
we have to be faithful to Him & in the same time it’s not easy to walk the journey with Jesus Christ alone. And as you say, i quote you “He creates a way in the desert”
Interactions are necessary & on the media internet, there are so many people that making meaningful connections is complicated
So, i prefer to choose to browse some blogs that put it forward in a individual way where the various distractions of the media are less. Perhaps they give the possibilities for more meaningful connections & talks with the brothers who follow Jesus Christ
Thank you to give the possibilities to comment on your blog
Blessings
LikeLike
Hi Flo,
Thank you for your comment! It’s a blessing to connect with other believers around the world through this medium. When used wisely and in moderation, the technology we have today can be a great blessing, but it can also be overused and abused if we aren’t careful. I hope that you are finding a source of encouragement and edification on this site and taking advantage of some of the free resources I’ve been able to host here as well. We’re living in perilous, crazy times! Stay close to the Lord and stay safe under the shelter of His wings!
All blessings in Christ!
LikeLike
Bonsoir David,
Thank you David for your words of wisdom & for your blessings
You are blessings for me & your blog is blessings as well
i am grateful to Christ Jesus & to you for all the substantial material in Christ Jesus that you share
The Church seems to be inclusive & at the same time, it is not always easy to be accepted because collective precepts may not be echoed there, as well as individual sensitivities
There are many church currents & divisions in the Church that can disrupt & cause recent pilgrims & some long time christians people to take a different way to follow Christ Jesus
So reading your blog is invigorating
there are riches of introspection & openness in your pilgrimage with Jesus Christ
i’m sure that your blog develops & densifies the connection with Christ Jesus in unity & community in Him
your blog is a real balm, it renew the heart & the soul, thank You so much !
your blog is structured with wisdom, equilibrium & centering, other perceptions are going to come to me
If you give me the opportunity, i would like to tell you, in a future writing, about a site that is looking for quality publications in Jesus Christ & i would like to submit your blog to them, with your approval, of course
Would it be possible to talk to you about it?
Grace & blessings of love, peace & joy be with you
Flo
LikeLike