A Community of Christ’s Followers.

Charles Spurgeon once said, “I believe a very large majority of churchgoers are merely unthinking, slumbering worshipers of an unknown God.”  This was in the middle of the 19^th century.  Can you imagine what he might say to us today?  I often wonder about believers who have to have a ‘label’ just to live.  “We’re a doctrinal church, we’re a Baptist church, we’re Anglican or Methodist, charismatic or Pentecostal,” even the ever-elusive ‘independent.’  What is that?  What happened to simply being the Church in all of this: a Body of Believers gathered out of love for the Lord and a deep desire to walk as One in Him?  Seems to have gotten shuffled somewhere off to the side; maybe it’s no longer even a part of our motivation.  We seem to have gotten more and more focused on how we worship verses what the Word says, how we ‘do church,’ on our version of spirituality or our brand of Christianity, rather than loyalty to Jesus Christ alone.  There’s a major problem with this mentality, don’t you think?

Whether you realize it or not, whether you agreed with it at the time or not, we shed our label{s} at HJC years ago.  And we’re not interested in picking up any more.  We’re not looking to be a _____ church of any kind, but rather to exist in the time we have left to us as a Community of Christ’s Followers deeply committed to living by faith in the power of the Risen Jesus, being known by the Love that flows from Him to us, offering hope through Him to the hurting among us and healing by His Spirit to the broken of this world.

On a personal level, I refuse to be bound by religious labels of any kind, and I choose to live my life in the full glory of G.R.A.C.E {God’s Riches, God’s Resources, God’s Righteousness At Christ’s Expense}.  My challenge is for each of you to do the same, and to follow not in my footsteps but in the footsteps of the Master— the one Man among us who could not be manipulated by the masses.  Do you want the Jesus who leads us to Freedom and Life, or the Capitalist Christ of comfort and complacency: the god who’s only interested in giving you what you want and not what you truly need?  He’s a false god, this Jesus of our own making, but you can certainly worship him if you choose.  They’re both out there, you know, just waiting to be wanted: the Living Christ ablaze with the glory of God and the 21^st century ‘savior’ of free-market spirituality.  The one who tells us, “Just pick and choose what you want from the Path of Life, feel free to throw out anything which displeases or disinterests you.”  So, who’s it going to be: the Jesus of Reality and of His-Story or the Jesus of our own vain imaginations?  The beauty of it is: only you can decide.

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