Two Thoughts For The New Year.

 I.  Change is inevitable.  The world is in a constant state of flux.  There are only two things which never change in a fallen world: the nature of Abba, and the nature of evil.  Everything else around us— nature, technology, cultures, societies, art, music, film, language— changes.  Everything.  People, relationships, marriages, families, communities of faith, for good or for ill, for better or for worse, they will change.  Change is inevitable.

II. Change is possible.  Spiritual transformation, a renewal of the human heart molded and shaped by the Master’s hands is not only highly possible, it is highly probable.  It is the inevitable goal of God’s Spirit at work within us: the end result of walking in Light of Jesus’ Love and drawing deeply on divine strength to combat what we know we cannot!

Why is this point so important?  Because most people don’t believe change is even possible.  They resign themselves, with an almost fatalistic sense of resignation, to the fact that whatever this is will always be this way.  And if you don’t believe something is even possible, what are the chances you’re ever going to see it materialize?  Your world-view is going to be reinforced, probably by people who refuse to change because, like you, they don’t believe it’s possible.  Or they just don’t want to.  To believe that personal change is impossible, or that ‘people don’t really change,’ is to ignore the power of God working its wonders in life after life after life.  It ignores the fact that your God is greater than all your hurts, heartaches, and hang-ups!

So here it is.  This is going to be my mantra for 2015.  If you want a different outcome, embrace a different path!  Which is simply my way of saying, “Stop doing the same things over and over and over expecting a different result.”  Change is possible, it’s probable, even inevitable... but not by thinking the same thoughts, speaking the same lies, and doing the same deeds that got us in this mess to begin with.

Don’t like the people around you?  Stop hanging out with them.  It’s not a ‘shotgun friendship,’ is it?  This may not be something you want to grasp, or are even ready to, but it’s not a complicated concept.

Burdened with responsibilities which aren’t yours to bear?  Start saying, “No” ...graciously.  To maintain your focus on Jesus’ Commission and Commands, you’re going to have to learn how to say, “No.”  And mean it.

Hate your job?  Many post-moderns in America do.  Ask Abba for another one, a different one.  Then start looking for openings, start dropping resumes, and start dreaming of what it is you really want to do.  Most people of working age in the US have come to value security over happiness with regard to their vocation {“comes from the same root as ‘voice,’ denoting the hearing of a divine call,” a way to put your ‘gifts’ into practice for God’s glory!}.  The Bible, however, is a sixty-six book narrative of faith-filled risk takers— Hebrews 11:32-40.  In light of the Letter of Hebrews, specifically, the Hall of Faith in Hebrews 11, show me where it tells the Sons and Daughters of the One True God to value security over liberty, security over joy in Jesus Christ, security over walking in step with the Spirit and sharing His Love with the broken.

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 – where the Word and the Spirit are one.

A Love Unlike Any Other.

At the very end of Hebrews 12 the author tells us in a quote from Deuteronomy 4:24, that “‘Our God is a consuming fire’” {12:29}.  The immediate context says, “Therefore,” or since God will soon remove “what can be shaken”— that is, the realm of visible and temporal Creation— “so that what cannot be shaken”— meaning the spiritual, the invisible and Eternal— “may remain,” in light of this, “since we are receiving a Kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us be thankful....”  Echo means- ‘have and hold,’ lit. ‘in one’s hands, keep fast, preserve secure, possess as one’s property.’  “Let us have and hold on to charis, to grace,” is what it says, “let us keep it constantly in our hands, securely in our hearts, let us possess it as our birthright... every moment!”  You see how grace and gratitude are so interwoven Biblically that they’re used almost interchangeably by the Holy Spirit?  To be in possession of grace, to have and to hold it securely, is to maintain an attitude of constant gratitude, appreciation, thankfulness, a spirit of generosity and genuineness.

“And so worship God [Or lit., ‘by means of grace we may worship Abba’] acceptably with reverence and awe, for our ‘God is a consuming fire,’” v. 29.  Note how indispensable a ‘spirit of grace’ is to our acceptable worship of Abba.  Grace protects us, and those around us, from arrogance {‘I deserve....’}, from elitism {‘At least we’re not like....’}, and from a self-centred, self-directed spirituality {The ‘me, my and mine’ mentality!}.

So, Hebrews says, “Our God is a consuming fire.”  The apostle John wrote, then repeated, so there would be no mistaking this by you and I, that “God is love” {1 Jn. 4:8b and 16b}.  I think it’s entirely reasonable to conclude: The love of God, the love which God is, the love emanating from the centre of His being, is a consuming fire.  And to be ravished by it is to be radically and irreversibly altered.  No one, having been submersed in and surrounded by His flame, can ever be the same!  Follow me here.

Is is possible the love of our Lord is so unlike the trite phrases we use to describe what we ‘like’ and what we don’t, “I lovvvve _____ ,” this, that, whatever; is it possible His love is so utterly beyond us, so unlike anything we have ever experienced that the deepest, most profound connection between two human beings is merely the palest of comparisons?  Is it possible His Love is so powerful in motion, so pure in motive, so holy in Spirit and so healing to our souls, that the reality of its radical nature and the rhetoric we use to try and define it are universes apart?  And that there is no way, until we stand in Love’s Presence, we will fully understand what we so long to convey?  God’s love is a consuming fire.  While it welcomes the world into its flames, it will brook no bystanders content to warm their hands by its heat!  You are in the Flame or you are out, by our own choice, but no one will be left standing on the sides.  No one.

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 – where the Word and the Spirit are one.

By the Fire of His Love.

A few weeks back, on one of these rather cool wintry nights, I was sitting on my back porch, looking out at the night sky and thinking about what craziness, what chaos, what madness had engulfed so many lives in the past year— from Ukraine to Iraq, Kurdistan to Kansas, and Nigeria to NYC, in churches, countries, communities, in families, marriages, right down to the core of our most selfish selves.  Without a conscious decision to move in this direction, I simply lifted my hands to the stars and from my lips came these words, “Come, Lord Jesus, come quickly.  Come with vengeance, come with fire, bring Your Kingdom down upon the nations of this Earth, upon the wickedness of evil men infected with greed and the lust for more.  Come, purify us by the fire of Your love!”  And this was the phrase which rang out like a shot in the night.  By the fire of Your Love.

Much will be destroyed in this holy fire; and much will be cleansed, for how could it not?  But those who belong to His Kingdom, a “Kingdom which cannot be shaken” {Heb. 12:28a}, will be purified... by the fire of His love.  I say this, not with the least amount of arrogance {‘Us vs. Them’}, but in the most earnest zeal and deepest desperation my heart can muster.

For I see, apart from the Return of the King to claim us as His Own, to strike down the nations with a rod of iron {including Israel}, to tread the winepress of Abba’s wrath and set right all the enemy has set wrong, no Hope on the horizon.  Things may improve in fits and starts, here and there, but there will be no peace for the souls of men, no Triumphant March toward human progress, no joy which cannot be shaken nor Life which cannot be taken, until Jesus takes up rulership of this Earth as King of all Kings and Lord of all Lords!  Then and only then will His-Story reach its climax; then and only then will we become what we were destined to be from the Beginning— true Sons and Daughters of the Living God.

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 – where the Word and the Spirit are one.

Taking Hold of What Is Truly Life.

In 1 Timothy 6:18, Paul answers for the Ephesian Brotherhood the question, following on the heels of renouncing their arrogance, their foolish faith in wealth, and putting their hope in Abba, ‘What’s left for us to do?’  Now that he’s told them, and us— ordered us, in fact— what not to do, he says, “Command them to do good.”  Use your “wealth” to “do good” for others.  This is the first and foremost thing.  You seeing this?  Use the resources of God, the riches of Jesus’ grace, to do good for other people, especially of the Family of Faith.

Next, “to be rich in good deeds.”  Let your life shine forth the very Light of the World, let the Master’s mercy reign in the “good deeds” you do.  Remember the Mission of the Messiah in Isaiah 61:1?  “The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is upon Me, because the LORD has anointed Me to preach Good News to the poor, the afflicted,” those unable to remove themselves from the place they’re currently in.  Jesus spent an enormous amount of time with social outcasts, with the purposely marginalized, with prostitutes and porn-stars, lepers and the AIDS-infected, with women no one would speak to and children no one cared to.  So, here’s the question.  How can we announce, in word and deed, the Glorious News of Grace to these this New Year?  Scripture tells us, “Whoever is kind to the needy honors God” {Prov. 14:31}.

Isaiah also wrote of the Messiah saying, “He has sent Me to bind up the brokenhearted,” to have a hand in their healing, “to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners,” for those too blind to see just how bad off they really are.  It’s true some people in our technologically advanced society are still blind physically.  But many, many more are still blind emotionally and spiritually.  What are you going to do about it?  Help keep them in their “darkness” or lead them to the Light?

“And” the practical outworking of this ‘good deed doing’ is being “generous and willing to share.”  To “be generous” means to give freely of anything we may have.  “Willing to share” is beyond “generous,” it speaks to our willingness to sit down at a meal with, to suffer alongside of, the poor, and bring them into friendship with us, with our families, and with our Community.

V. 19, “In this way”— through ‘doing good, being generous, and sharing our hearts and lives’— “they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the Coming Age, so that [This is the purpose, the point he’s driving at:] they may take hold of the Life that is truly Life.”  He’s not talking about the Life of Eternity we receive when we trust Jesus with all we are, he’s talking about the Life of inner abundance Jesus spoke of in John 10:10, a Life of joy built on generosity.  Think about it.  Paul’s saying we experience the Life of God flowing through us not by what we keep but by what we give away, not by what we hoard up for some mystical rainy day but by using the riches God’s given us for His glory— that His name may go forth to the ends of the Earth, that His Word may be praised, His glory seen and His honor lifted high!

Every time we could give in the Cause of our King, and we don’t, it lessens the wealth laid up for us in the Age to Come; and every time we give, letting the Holy Spirit have His way with us, it increases exponentially the riches laid up for us when this ‘present world’ fades into dust.  At one point in their Journey together Peter say’s to Jesus, “We have left all we had to follow you!”  Jesus just sort of stops him in mid-sentence and says, “I tell you the truth….  No one who has left home or wife or brothers or parents or children for the sake of the Kingdom of God will fail to receive many times as much in this Age and, in the Age to Come, Eternal Life” {Lk. 18:28-30}.

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 – where the Word and the Spirit are one.

A Word For The Present World.

Paul lays down the Law of the Spirit for his younger protege in 1 Timothy 6:17, saying “Command those who are rich in this present world.”  Meaning order them Timothy, make it a spiritual imperative for the luxuriantly wealthy of Ephesus, and the moderately middle-class of America, to radically restructure their lives as they do what Jesus did and seek what Jesus sought.  “Command them, order them” over and over again, as many times as it takes.  To do what?

One, “not to be arrogant.”  The word means to be ‘high-minded, proud and haughty;’ the attitude of the rich hasn’t changed in 2000 years, has it?  Here’s a little lesson we can take from this.  Don’t think of yourself as better than someone else because you’ve got more money than they do.  At this particular moment, you just happen to be a step or two above them on the ladder of success, clawing your way up the corporate hierarchy.  How self-important.  My advice to all of us ‘professionals’— men and women— is to not take ourselves too seriously.  If you can learn to laugh at yourself with a sense of self-effacing humor, you’ll be much easier to be around.  Nothing in this fallen world gives us the right to look down on one made in the image of God… least of all something as transient as wealth.  Cause I can promise you, you won’t be taking it with you.  That part I can guarantee.

Secondly, “command” them not “to put their hope in wealth,” not to rest their sense of security in life or assurance for the future on the things of this world, of which “wealth” is at the top of the list!  Ploutos means ‘riches, wealth, an abundance of external possessions,’ i.e., material things.  So, let me ask you a question: Why do we feel like it’s okay to have so much when so many have so little?  Where did this ‘entitlement mentality’ come from, this ‘materialist mindset’?  I don’t mean the rest of the nation, I mean those of us here in our Community, those of us claiming membership in the Family of Faith, those of us reading these words this very moment?  What gives us the right to skip over those areas where Jesus talked about feeding the poor, clothing those without, helping the homeless, providing for a brother or sister in need even if I have to sell something to do it?  You want Scripture to back it up?  Matthew 25:31-46; Luke 6:24-36; Acts 2:42-47 and 4:32-35; James 2:14-17 and 1 John 3:16-20.

Paul’s qualifier on “wealth” is: “which is so uncertain.”  Don’t rest your hope on something as temporal and transient, as ‘here one minute and gone the next,’ on anything as “uncertain” as material wealth.  You might be a Superstar one minute and scrounging for supper the next, a Legend in your own mind one day and broke as a politician’s conscience the day after!  And you have no idea when the crash is going to come.  “Put” your “hope in God…  who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment.”  Life is meant to be lived, not worshipped.  We enjoy the lavish gifts of a gracious God, we don’t cling to them with every ounce of strength as if they were life itself!  Life, worth, value, courage, conscience, and commitment come from who you are, not what you own!

So, do you own what you own or does what you own, own you?  Better figure it out if you want to walk with God.

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 – where the Word and the Spirit are one.

Cultivating the Character of the King.

Look down the long halls of History and you’ll see arrogance has been the Achilles heel of every bad King or Queen to ever sit on a throne.  Now, in complete contrast to this, look back to the history of Israel and the life of its chief legislator.  Moses was one of the greatest men, greatest leaders, greatest generals, greatest geniuses, to ever walk the Earth.  He wasn’t just a good King, he was a great one.  This is the divine commentary on him: “Now Moses was a very humble man, more humble than anyone else on the face of the Earth” {Num. 12:3}.  “The face of the Earth”?  Wow.  What about King David?  There were numerous times when David could have seized the throne from Saul, two when he could’ve killed him himself, and it would’ve been within his rights to do so.  But he doesn’t.  He waits on the timing of God!  He humbles himself.

This is the picture of a noble heart, of the Kings and Queens made in the image of their mighty God choosing humility over arrogance, others overs self, in the very circumstances we find it hardest to do so.  The Truth is we either choose to live with humility of heart, choose it for ourselves as a way of life in a self-absorbed world or ...our Father will arrange to have it chosen for us.  I’m not going to speak for you, but I’d much rather humble myself so that Abba may one day exalt me; rather than the other way around.  I think anyone with even an ounce of wisdom would!

Every time in your life you make a choice {and it’s always a choice} to put others before self, to serve rather than be served, to humble yourself and let Abba do the exalting, to keep your mouth shut rather than ‘fight to be right,’ you cultivate the character of the King.  Your character evolves... and you move one step closer to becoming the man or woman you were meant to be, to the image Jesus had in mind when He breathed into you His Life!

Consider how compasses operate, and how a slight change of one or two degrees can navigate you to a radically different place.  This is the illustration Dr. Greitens used when he spoke to those of us present at Harding University of the importance of allowing our character to evolve in the moment by being willing to do the hard thing right in front of us.  Small or large, to do the hard thing now forges character; it shapes who we are; and it leads to perseverance.  And if there is one thing you will need in a fallen world, in this world in this New Year, it’s perseverance— the ability to endure.  May Abba bestow it abundantly upon His Children!

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 – where the Word and the Spirit are one.

Another Side to the Story.

We’re a mere four days away from the Day when, as His faithful Followers, we will celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ our King.  The Scriptural account reads like this: “And the angel said to” the shepherds in the field, “Do not be afraid; for behold, I bring you Good News of great joy which will be for all the people.  For today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord” {Lk. 2:10-11}.  This single sentence defines for us the Mission and Ministry of the Messiah: the Greek Soter = ‘Savior,’ Christos = Anointed One {fully man}, and Kurios = Sovereign Lord and Master {entirely God}, all wrapped up in one.  He is the “Savior” of man and Anointed One of God, the long-awaited Messiah of Israel.  He also happens to be very God of very God: undeniable Deity and sinless humanity welded as One forevermore.  What incredible news that is, wonderful, soul-saving— and to the nations of this Earth— kingdom-crushing News.

But there is another side to the Story.  The birth of Jesus was so much more than just a picturesque event in a quaint little town, witnessed and watched by a motley assortment of Temple animals, faithful shepherds, and magi from afar.  That much you already know.  What you may not know is what unfolded according to Revelation 12:1-7: this was the moment of the Great Invasion, of Eternity into Time, of Creator into the realm of Creation, our God choosing to take upon Himself the mantle of human weakness {a physical body} and defeat Satan on his own turf.  As author Phillip Yancey has said, it was “a daring raid by the Ruler of the forces of good into the Universe’s seat of evil.”  This is no ‘silent night’ for the enemies of God; this is D-Day times infinite.

The angels appearing this night were the angelic Armies {the ‘Hosts of Heaven’} passing in review as their King, Creator, and Commander lay crying in the fodder— Luke 2:13-14.  The apostle John tells us, “the Son of God appeared for this purpose [‘this’ sole and solitary ‘purpose’]: to destroy the works of the devil” {1 Jn. 3:8b}.  I.e., to go to War for those He loved {4:19}, to battle for the hearts of men {Isa. 61:1} and to offer us the Gift of Life— both eternal and abundant {1 Jn. 3:1-2}.

My prayer, as the shepherd of a flock I deeply, deeply love, is that this be ever present in our minds as we live out our days in a World long at War.  One half of our lives is the physical, the temporal, and the visible; the other half, which the Word enjoins us to accept as the real half, the weighty half, the most crucial component of reality, is the spiritual, the Eternal, the invisible.  We must choose to live every moment with one foot in each, simultaneously in both the temporal and the eternal, with the latter dominating the former.  And we must rivet the eyes of our hearts on the glorious Person of the Lord Jesus Christ.  For the Mission He came to accomplish, my Brothers-in-Arms, is a done deal: “It is finished” forevermore! {Jn. 19:10}.  The Battle has been won and the Ultimate Victory {His Cross, Resurrection, and Ascension} already achieved.  Don’t ever forget this.  We are what He is— Victorious!  If you will choose to ‘wage war’ from that position, neither you nor your life will ever be the same.

May the blessing of His grace, the peace of His presence, and the power of His Life rest upon you, your family, and your ministry to a fallen world full of broken people.  The year which lies before us is full of promise and of hope for those who live in the Light of Jesus’ Love.  May we embrace it, and all its opportunity, like we embrace our Lord …with the passion and hunger of a long-awaited Lover.  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 – where the Word and the Spirit are one.