‘Alert and Oriented’ Times What?

Para-rescue jumpers, the brave men who treat injured seamen offshore, have a method for evaluating an individual’s level of consciousness.  It starts at level four, ‘alert and oriented times four,’ which is most of us, most the time: we know who we are, where we are, what time it is, and what’s happening.  It goes down from here.  ‘Alert and oriented times zero’ is a person who has lost all levels of consciousness, right down to their identity.  They don’t know who they are, where they are or why they’re here; they only know they’re in excruciating pain.  This, to me, describes much of humanity in the world today, and many of us who claim allegiance to the King of Kings, many within the Body and the Bride.  We’ve forgotten who we are {Sons and Daughters of a mighty King}, where we are {in a world at War}, and why we’re here {to fight, faithfully and fiercely, for the hearts of those around us}.

So, let’s pause for a ‘reality check’ or two, in light of what we’ve seen from 1 Corinthians 16:13-14 the past couple of weeks ...just to see what we’re ‘alert and oriented times.’  The first thing which comes roaring to the forefront of our hearts and lives is there’s a Battle raging this very moment… a vast Cosmic Conflict in the world in which we live.  And we, unaware though we may be, are in it none-the-less.  The question is not ‘will we step into the fray,’ because we’re in it already, whether we like it or not {and have been since the moment we first drew breath}.  The question is whether we will choose to fight in such a way that glory is won in the Cause of Christ.

The next divine reality we come to grips with is: the victory we long for in Time has already been won for Eternity.  Jesus spoke to His Disciples in John 16:33 on the eve of His Crucifixion and said, “I have told you these things, so that in Me you may have peace.  In this world you will have trouble, tribulation....”  “May have ...will have,” see the difference?  There are two places you can choose to ‘abide:’ in Christ or in the Kosmos, in the Word or in the world.  Jesus said, “Here in Satanic Central you have affliction and oppression of every kind.”  The question I want to ask most Christians, even myself on occasion, is: What do you expect as a son of God {Gal. 3:26} behind the lines in enemy territory?  You’re a Child of God in the devil’s world.  What version of reality are you living in: the True one or The Matrix?

“But take heart, take courage!”  There it is again, vital to the Conflict.  “I have overcome the world.”  Tharseo is a word which means- ‘have courage in the face of danger,’ and danger is precisely what we face.  What He’s saying to you and I through this passage is, “All the pain, all the pressure, all the conflict, chaos, and confusion of the Kosmos I have defeated.  Everything you’ve been through, everything you’ve experienced, everything you’ve suffered {at the hands of others or from your own bad decisions} I have suffered a thousand times more.  I’ve been there... and I’ve beaten it all!  In Me you have nothing to fear but fear itself.”

The third thing we see is that the only thing which can rob us {like the Exodus generation} from entering into the peace of God and the Triumph of His Son is a lack of faith, an unwillingness to trust.  The writer to the Hebrews spoke of the Jews who were delivered from slavery in Egypt saying, “the Message they heard was of no value to them, [Why?] because those who heard did not combine it with faith” {4:2b}.  They heard it ...they just didn’t believe it.  Sounds eerily familiar, doesn’t it?  It’s a perfect picture of those who refuse to believe God knows exactly what He’s doing, those who think they’ll be better served by their will than by His.  It’s a common mistake— of epic proportions.

And finally… we must understand, and I mean implicitly, down to the core of our very being, that ‘life in the Word,’ and ‘in the world,’ is about relationships.  It is relational to an infinite degree: first with God, then with man; first with the Father through faith in the Son, then working its way out to everyone around us.  For we were created in the “image” of perfect beauty, eternal intimacy, and relentless relationship— the Triune 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.

Be Courageous In the Conflict.

From the Apostle’s third battlefield directive in 1 Corinthians 16:13-14, the command to “act like men,” to “be men of courage,” to “be courageous” in the Conflict, we can discern a Path which will lead us there, a Path to Manhood or Womanhood as the Children of God.  The Path looks like this:

[1] Compliance in the Word {submission to divine authority}.  When the Word speaks, we listen; when listening, we believe; once believed, we act.

[2] Character of Christ {the Word at work}.  The wisdom, counsel, commands …they all belong to God; obedience belongs to us, and we have to own what’s ours.

[3] Conviction in Life {knowing what you believe... and believing what you know}.

[4] Commitment to the Cause {staying true to what you’ve trusted}.  This is critical.  Because if we don’t believe it enough to live it, it’s worthless.  In fact, it’s worse than that: it becomes our curse.

[5] Courage in the Conflict {unafraid to face reality}.  Ohhh, how the world needs this now.  Men, I would suggest we are here to do just this: face reality and deal with it, as it is and not as we want it to be.

The fourth phrase Paul uses from his warfare terminology is “be strong,” or lit., ‘keep increasing in strength, in resolve.’  How?  In the Lord’s might and by His power.  Ephesians 6:10 says, “be strong in the Lord and in His mighty power.”  Paul states the reason he bows his knees before the Father on behalf of the Ephesians is so that “out of His glorious riches [His limitless resources] He would strengthen” them “with power through His Spirit in” their “the inner being” {3:16}.  Guess what the word for “strengthen” is there?  Krataioo = same term.  As you receive it from the Source, as you draw on the resources of the Spirit {Eph. 3:16; 6:10}, keep growing in the “grace and knowledge of” your “Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” {2 Pet. 3:18}.  And don’t ever let up.  Let God give you the stamina to press onward and upward and to finish the Fight, to run your race with endurance {Phi. 3:12-14; 2 Tim. 4:7-8}.

These are the orders of a superior officer to the soldiers under his command.  He began this passage with two commands in the active voice, followed by one in the middle voice {the voice of personal benefit}, and one in the passive voice {the receiving of divine strength}.  They’re designated in this order because when we make the decisions to ‘live alert’ and to ‘hold our ground’ against the onslaught of evil we find the courage to ‘play the man,’ to be the men we were born to be.  And it is in this arena of courageous desire for Christ that His strength is fully realized in our souls, and fully released into the lives of others.

Let me paraphrase this for you.  “As a sentinel in the Spirit, be ever on guard, ever-alert, ever-vigilant.  When under attack, stand fast in the Faith and yield not an inch!  In time of battle, play the Hero!  You’re fully equipped and carefully trained, now receive Christ’s strength and fight for your King!” {RR Exp}.

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.

‘First Things’ First— Part I.

In a section of Scripture where the apostle Paul is commending his fellow-warriors to the Saints in Corinth he lays out five commands for this Body of Believers: “Be on the alert, stand firm in the Faith, act like men, be strong,” and “let all that you do be done in love” {1 Cor. 16:13-14 NAS}.  What we have before us are four pillars on one foundation.  Each of these first four comes from the realm of warfare in ancient Greece, from the arena where Conflict is engaged in for Freedom and for Life.

        I.   “Be on the alert... on your guard,” be vigilant, stay awake in the Battle.  This is a call to spiritual vigilance, to an aggressive attitude in seeking the triumph of Truth and the glory of Grace.  The word gregoreo shows us the opposite of being asleep.  Be awake and aware to reality at all times, and to the danger that the enemy poses, be alert to his movements and machinations.  Because I can promise you, he’s alert to yours.  Most of us live our lives, and most of the people you know as well, as if they’re sleepwalking through life.  If you’re a Disciple of the King, a Follower of Christ in the Kosmos, what you’re sleepwalking through, in reality, is a minefield.  This is why it is so essential, so crucial, to stay in tune with the power for the Plan!

      II.    “Stand firm in the Faith.”  This comes from a root which means to ‘stand firm in the heat of battle, persevere in conflict, keep your footing no matter what.’  It was a term used of a soldier who, when the shock of battle hits with the enemy surging all around him, stands fast!  He holds his ground despite the fury and desperation of his opponent’s onslaught.  Let me ask you this: If you panic under pressure, if you fall apart in a firefight, can you hold your ground, can you stand fast and win the victory …or are you headed for the casualty count?

    III.   “Act like men.”  The NIV has “be men of courage,” the RSV “be courageous.”  The principle is clear: Courage is not born in a vacuum; courage is not manufactured out of thin air.  Courage comes only when we’ve faced the fire and not flinched, over and over again in our lives.  The verb andrizo means- ‘make a man of, or show oneself a man.’  Within this word the ideas of courage and of manliness are one and the same.

The Path to Manhood begins with character, and character comes about through our applying the Word to Life in the world... consistently, not conveniently.  Character leads to a life of conviction, not opinion.  Opinions come and go, they’re here today and gone tomorrow: a conviction is something you’ll die for.  And we live our lives based on conviction.  ‘It’s not what you think, it’s what you know and can never forget!’  Conviction based on absolutes means commitment, commitment to a Cause greater than self: the plan and purpose of Abba for me personally.

A man without a Mission is a man headed for destruction.  And this you can bank on.  A man needs a mission, something transcendent to give his life meaning and purpose and definition.  This is why we were created to begin with, so that our lives could be hooked up to a higher purpose, connected intimately to our Creator.  This is why we’re here.  When your character has been forged in the fire of adversity, when your life is one of conviction built on the absolutes of the Word, when those absolutes lead us into uncompromising commitment, you will find the courage to face what you have never faced before.  So understand this as a parting shot: Confidence in the purpose of God leads to courage before our fellow man.

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.

Forged In the Father’s Image.

In Revelation 16:15 the King over all Kings and Lord of all Lords say’s, “Behold, I come like a thief.  Blessed is he who stays awake…,” blessed is the one who keeps his eyes open at all times.  Our Lord is describing for us as His Followers a spirit of vigilance and vision, an attentive awareness to this moment in Life.  Paul wrote along these same lines in Romans 13:11-12 and said, “Do this, understanding the present Time.  The hour has come for you to wake from your slumber [‘For the men and women of God to be stirred from their spiritual lethargy.’  We could define this as apathy, indifference, and complacency: our insensitivity to the things of the Spirit.], because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed [What he’s saying is, ‘There is not a moment to waste.  The Parousia of Christ is right around the corner.’].  The night is nearly over; the Day is almost here [‘Day’ of victory for the Royal Battalion and evaluation at the Throne of God].  So let us put aside the deeds of darkness and put on the Armor of Light.”

The “Armor of Light” which was designed for us to shine the glory and grace of the Lord Jesus Christ into a world grown dark with the shadow of the Enemy is our role {designated by God} as Men and Women.  It is our Biblical Masculinity, and for the ladies, their God-given Femininity.  Each has a part, each has a place, each has a unique and wonderful role to play in the Divine Drama of human history.  We understand this is more than just Act II, Scene I of some high school play; this is real life in real Time in a real Conflict with real casualties.  All you have to do is take a look around you at the state of marriages and families and churches and relationships in the world today to see that something has gone horribly wrong.

What does it take to make a man or woman— forged in the Father’s image ...which is Jesus— and what might this person look like to the world around them?  This is a serious, and seriously relevant, question in a society full of little boys and girls in ‘big people bodies.’  The New Testament term most closely connected with Abba’s adoption of us as His chosen Sons and Daughters is huios, a word expressing privilege and position in the family, a word expressing ‘sonship,’ identity, and maturity {Rom. 8:14}.  I.e., Abba sees us now as full grown Sons and Daughters.  The last thing Jesus wants is to be dragging a ten-mile train of four year olds kicking and screaming into Eternity!  The time to mature into, and walk faithfully in, our Sonship… is now.

Allow me to state what is to most of us the ‘obvious:’ it’s entirely possible your father may have failed {maybe terribly} to instruct you, to guide you, to lead you down this Path.  After all, no father on Earth is perfect.  Your human father may not have even been around; he may have cut and run like so many others.  When you were a child, or in the midst of that vast nether-world, those years Pete Townsend and Roger Daltry called the “teenage waste-land.”  As horrible, as hurtful as that was, it doesn’t have to define who you are now.  Because I can tell you it hasn’t stopped your heavenly Father from loving you as you are, from providing for you where you are, and from protecting you until you’re in a position such as this: where, having realized you were helpless and hopeless to scale the peaks of life alone, you can discover what He wants you to be.  And all Abba has in store for those who follow Him.

This is critical, because we need the intervention of someone who can teach us, someone who can train us in how to be— like King David of old— men and women “after” Abba’s “own heart.”  We know this, from the heartbreakingly sad state of our horribly failed social experiment over the past 50 years: A woman can never teach a boy how to be a man.  Femininity can never bestow masculinity …much less Biblical masculinity.  And vice-versa.  What the Body of Christ needs at this stage in the Game, and the world at large, is good Kings and Queens, a passionate People of God willing to share their lives, their strength, and the years of collective wisdom, in the Cause of their King and for the blessing of His Body.  The man or woman who trains you, teaches you, disciples you into manhood or womanhood, must be one who has been there and who knows how to take you there.  Thus, in the end, the greatest example we can look to is the Lord Jesus Christ, the King over all Kings, the most magnificently Tender-Warrior to ever walk the Earth.

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.

Our Ultimate Identity.

There’s a renewed focus on ‘race’ in our society today, on the nightly news and in the national discourse, and it is not a good one.  There’s ample hysteria to go around, regardless of which side of the divide you happen to fall on politically or philosophically.  One interesting alignment which has occurred in light of many, many abusive instances in recent years is Libertarians— freedom-lovers, such as myself— and Liberals— traditionally, lovers of more government and bigger government— have found themselves in agreement that the militarization of the American police force does not bode well for the future of our Republic.

Aside from the political, the philosophical, and even the literally racial {what color your particular skin happens to be}, I’d like to offer the spiritual, i.e., an eternal perspective.  As a nation, we tend to look at issues of race, color, class and culture from a political perspective and laugh {or cry, as the case may be}, but what should be happening in the Church of the Living God?  What should happen in the realm of the Spirit?  Should it look any different?  Are we operating from a different paradigm, or just couching our arrogant attitudes and racist reactions toward each other, in ‘spiritual terms’?  And if you think by ‘racist’ I’m referring only or exclusively to a ‘white vs. black mentality,’ then: [1] you don’t understand how my mind works at all; and [2] you have no idea what the word ‘racist’ means.  ‘Racism’ is “prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism against someone of a different race based on” the belief that said race is “inferior or superior” to your race or other races.

In certain circles of the Church today you still have to be ‘white to be right,’ or ‘black enough to fit in,’ you might have to speak Spanish or have an interpreter to attract new members.  Among the Asians you have to be Korean, Chinese, Filipino to attend here.  The culture of race, the culture of class, the culture of denominationalism and internecine warfare— charismatic vs. non- charismatic, Evangelical vs. Independent, Protestant vs. Catholic, traditional vs. cutting edge— demands conformity …or else!  And not a single one of these distinctions exists in the Bride of Jesus, the Body into which we were “baptized.”

“You are all Sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus,” wrote Paul in Galatians 3, “for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with” Him.  “There is neither Jew nor Greek [racial distinctions], slave nor free [social distinctions], male nor female [sexual distinctions],” and in Colossians 3:11 the Apostle adds, “circumcised [Jew] or uncircumcised [Gentile = religious distinctions], barbarian, Scythian [the most barbarous of barbarians = cultural distinctions], slave or free [economic distinctions], but Messiah is all, and is in all....  For you are all one in Christ Jesus.  If you belong to Christ [and you do], then you are Abraham’s Seed, and heirs [of Eternal Life and the Kingdom to come] according to the Promise” {Gal. 3:26-29}.  You getting the picture here?  The ground is unbelievably level at the foot of the Cross.

Your primary identification is not of race or class or sex or religion; it’s not how much money you make or don’t make, or who you think you are because the world applauds you or the world despises you.  Your primary color as a Child of God is neither black nor white nor yellow nor brown.  Your only identifying color now is red— blood red— for you have been immersed in the blood of the crucified King, cleansed of all your sin, and purified by His presence within you!  There are no racial, cultural, or socio-economic identifiers any longer: you are eternally identified with the King and His Commission.  Jesus is your ultimate identity.

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