Flexibility Is Power.

So, here it is right out of the gate: Flexibility is developed by learning to adjust to changes in life.

In Philippians 4:13 we have one of the boldest and most aggressive statements of reality ever made.  Literally, “I can do all things— no matter what this entails or includes— by means of the One who keeps on infusing His strength into me, who keeps on pouring His power through me!” {RR Exp}.  See it?  Flexibility produces power.  This is true in golf; it’s true in the martial arts; and it’s true in our spirituality.  And if there’s one thing this passage illustrates, it’s spiritual flexibility as the outworking of spiritual contentment {vv. 11-12}.

Can you make this declaration in your own life?  Can you claim this by faith for every problem, every heartache, for every crisis, catastrophe, letdown or disaster?  I’m challenging you to make this v. and what it teaches a part of the discipline of your daily life, to bring it into experiential reality in your own life.  Not just tomorrow, or the next day, or the next day, but every day and in every adverse situation from here on out— until the Return of the King!

The progression is: We learn, which develops knowledge; and from knowledge comes ability, the ability to be flexible.  From flexibility, then, comes power.  This is what the ‘process of development’ looks like.

 I.  Divine flexibility begins with personal contentment— Philippians 4:11.

II. Contentment demands character, and character comes through trial— Romans 5:3-5a.  Paul said, “we ...rejoice [‘we exult, we glory’] in our sufferings [meaning our ‘trials,’ our ‘tribulations’], because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope.  And hope [absolute assurance in the plan and power of God] does not disappoint us....”

III From inner contentment comes adaptability— Phil. 4:12.  ‘Adaptability’ is defined in Webster’s New World Dictionary of the American Language as the ability ‘to adjust oneself to new or changed circumstances.’  I.e., we’re no longer intimidated by changes in circumstance or situation.  The issue is no longer what we have, but who we are {cf. 1 Tim. 6:6-10 and 17-19}.

IV.     Adaptability produces a tremendous power in our lives— v. 13.  From inner strength comes outer dynamics; but all of this comes from the sole Priority of life, Jesus Christ.

V. Abba’s power and ability are channeled through our availability.

Amen and amen!

HJC	Ric Webb  |  Shepherd Heart’s Journey Community 9621 Tall Timber Blvd. |  Little Rock, AR 72204 t +1.501.455.0296
hjcommunity.org
Heart’s Journey – Live Generously and Love Graciously

Nobility Inspires Nobility.

2 Corinthians 9:2— “For I know your eagerness to help, and I have been boasting about it to the Macedonians, telling them that since last year you in Achaia [Roman name for the Southern province of Greece] were ready to give; and your enthusiasm has stirred most of them to action.”

Using what you know to be true— true whether by faith or by experience— in order to teach, to illustrate and illumine, to motivate and to move, is absolutely consistent with Scripture.  And with grace.  See, there’s a certain knowledge Paul possesses concerning those he’s apprenticed in the past.  And he uses this knowledge of the past as a challenge in the present.  Here’s the lesson.  When you have the facts about someone, or something, or someplace— especially when those facts are based on experiential reality {‘been there, done that!’}— it’s not difficult to draw an accurate conclusion.  And yet drawing accurate conclusions cuts against the grain of post-modernism.  It cuts right to the quick of a society in which ‘Truth’ is a relative concept and all things are considered equally valid... no matter how misinformed or malicious they turn out to be.  In a world in which lying is looked up to and evil is celebrated, in which falsehood and fools pose as surrogates for thinking, “telling the Truth” in the words of Orwell “is a revolutionary act!”  This is how the Children of God carry out their Revolution in a time of universal deceit!  In the heart, in the mind, in the soul and in the spirit: where Jesus dwells and the Kingdom is alive and well.

Here’s the heart of what I’m getting to.  Objective people draw the proper conclusions— meaning the right ones, the accurate ones, the ones grounded in fact and aligned with the ultimate Reality, which is God.  Subjective people draw the conclusions they want to draw, often predetermined in order to please themselves.  Subjectivity, at its root, is arrogance.  And arrogant people will destroy a Family of Faith, if given half a chance!  So, get this.  The self-centred and self-consumed are a detriment and danger to the Body of Christ at large and to Communities of Faith in particular.  On the other side of the equation: Nobility encourages nobility.  To live generously and love graciously inspires others to do the same.

When he says to the Achaians, “your enthusiasm has stirred most of” the Macedonians “to action,” he uses two terms which I want you to see.  The first is the noun zelos = ‘your zeal, your ardor, your intensity, Corinthians;’ the second, erethizo, means- ‘arouse, provoke, stimulate and stir up.’  Many people will never be prepared to give graciously or to live generously, because they’ll never have enough passion for Jesus to do so!  Get this and believe it.  The Word precedes the will.  When your hunger for the Living Word is high, no gift is too great and no service too low.  But when all you love is self, everything seems an unbearable burden.  Men and women of grace respond to divinely designated opportunities to give, to serve, to engage, precisely because their hearts and lives are balanced, beautifully, by mercy on one hand and Truth on the other.

Sin, arrogance, and selfishness in the Body of Christ will hinder the embrace of eternal opportunities.  And this, my friends, you can bank on.  The stance of your heart— your mindset in any given moment— is vital!  It might be the difference between Life and death.  Literally ...or spiritually.  Maybe even, in the case of a cynical, unbelieving, commitment-phobic cosmos, eternally.

HJC	Ric Webb  |  Shepherd Heart’s Journey Community 9621 Tall Timber Blvd. |  Little Rock, AR 72204 t +1.501.455.0296
hjcommunity.org
Heart’s Journey – Live Generously and Love Graciously

Graciousness, Generosity, and the Character of the King.

In 2 Corinthians 8-9, Paul is asking the Churches of Achaia in general, and the Corinthians in particular, to live up to his boasting about them by doing what?  By giving generously in grace!  What I’m about to tell you is true whether we like it... and true whether we don’t.  Generosity and graciousness are two ways in which our love for Jesus Christ, the ‘God of all grace’ {1 Pet. 5:10a}, is demonstrated socially, meaning outwardly.  And not only demonstrated, but practiced, as we literally help the hurting and allow ourselves to become, in those moments, an instrument of Abba’s grace!

Scripture abounds with the blessings which accrue to those who make themselves a blessing to others.  Not the least of which is the favor of our Father’s eyes smiling down upon us.  Read vv. 16-28 from Psalm 37, a beautiful oratio of David on the heart of the Righteous and the hand of the Lord protecting them.  In this one section of this one Psalm David refers to the Sons and Daughters of God as “the Righteous” four times, “the blameless” once, “the Just” once as well, and “His Faithful Ones” as a finale.  Listen to me closely.  You are all these things ‘in the Beloved’ {Eph. 1:6}, in the holy and healing Son of God!  “For He chose us in Him,” wrote Paul in Ephesians 1:4, “before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in His sight.  In love He predestined us to be adopted as His Sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with His pleasure and will— to the praise of His glorious grace, which He has freely given us in the One He loves” {vv. 5-6}, in “the Beloved” {NAS}.

Let me give you a little hint here.  Graciousness and generosity reflect the character of our King.  And as we follow in His footsteps, they come to reflect more and more our character as well!  You cannot claim the title ‘Follower of Jesus, Lover of God,’ a ‘spiritual’ individual, without sooner or later becoming a more gracious human being, more generous with your money.  These are simply facts of life in the Kingdom of Grace.  If you don’t live under the Banner of Grace, if you don’t savor each breath as a gift of His grace, if you don’t love the grace which has poured out upon us blessing after blessing which we could not earn and do not deserve, then you can go on nursing a bitter soul and a miserly spirit.  When you decide to rid yourself of these petty evils, Grace will be there waiting for you!

Solomon said, “A generous man will himself be blessed, for he shares his food with the poor” {Prov. 22:9}.  And David, once again, in Psalm 112:5, “Good will come to him who is generous and lends freely, who conducts his affairs with justice.”  By these— our generosity and graciousness in giving to others, especially in the Cause of Christ— each and every one of us is challenged to live out our love for our Lord.  One of the ways in which genuine love for Abba can be proven is by generosity and graciousness in giving.

The Apostle makes it crystal clear in this passage, in four separate places, giving to people in need is “service to the Saints” {8:4 and 9:1, 12-13}.  There it is.  Graciousness with others and generosity in giving are critical components of our priesthood {1 Pet. 2:4-9}.  We are, each and every one of us, royal priests.  Peter calls those of us in this present Age “a holy priesthood,” who execute the office of our priesthood by “offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.”  Once again he says, “you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation” {1 Peter 2:5 and 9a}.  And so we are.  May we live, and may we give, with the nobility expected of us.

HJC	Ric Webb  |  Shepherd Heart’s Journey Community 9621 Tall Timber Blvd. |  Little Rock, AR 72204 t +1.501.455.0296
hjcommunity.org
Heart’s Journey – Live Generously and Love Graciously

This Service to the Saints— Part II.

John Wesley {1703-91} is famously quoted as saying,

“‘The Gospel of Christ knows of no religion but social; no holiness but social holiness’” {Works, Vol. 12, ‘Hymns and Sacred Poems,’ Preface}.  The Wesley Study Bible says, in its commentary on this, spirituality “cannot be limited to an individual, private, inward piety if it is true Christianity.  God gifts each believer to serve the Body; through God’s grace believers are empowered to love and act hospitably toward one another.  For Wesley, holiness is evidenced through acts of mercy, especially toward the poor and needy.  Christians should exhibit the kind of Community seen in the ‘Acts’ Church.  ...In addition to this understanding of social religion as sharing and meeting material needs, Wesley also maintained that Christians need mutual accountability to spur them onto holiness.  He was highly suspect of the individual pursuit of holiness” apart from a Community of Christ’s Followers.  {Italics Mine}

We live in a world at War: which means you live in a world at War.  My observation as a shepherd of souls over the past twenty years is many believers— not necessarily most, but a significant number none-the-less— never depend on Abba long enough, nor pursue Him passionately enough, to fight through the initial ‘push-back’ they get from the enemy.  And inevitably, they turn around and go right back to whatever wasn’t working before they began to look to God!  If they would but stick with the Plan, and cling tightly to the Planner, they would discover in Him the strength they were lacking.  Unfortunately, they don’t stick with the Plan, or the Master-Planner, long enough to learn how to serve others... selflessly, sacrificially, faithfully.  Yet this is precisely the purpose for which we were saved— our lives put to labor in a Cause worthy of eternal glory.

Thus, the final meaning which Paul is expressing by his use of the word “service” is the same one toward which Peter is moving in the last part of 1 Peter 4:11.  “So that in all things [‘in the exercise of every gift and in the serving of every Saint’] God may be praised [‘glorified’ {NAS}] through Jesus Christ.”  This gives us the goal of all ‘saintly service.’  It also reminds us of Matthew 5:16 where our Lord said, “Your good deeds” {plural, by the way, ‘collectively, communally’} are to “glorify your [plural again = ‘you all’s’] Father in Heaven.”  Think about it.  If that’s not the goal, then it’s not His glory!  ‘Hmmm, whose is it?,’ you say.  Well, I’m glad you asked.  It’s ours.  “To Him be the glory and the power [the ‘dominion’ over all!] for ever and ever.  Amen.”  Amen, indeed.

HJC	Ric Webb  |  Shepherd Heart’s Journey Community 9621 Tall Timber Blvd. |  Little Rock, AR 72204 t +1.501.455.0296
hjcommunity.org
Heart’s Journey – Live Generously and Love Graciously