ted4leaders

Blog In Audio:

Greetings,

As leaders, we don’t teach people to hear God’s voice; we teach people to recognize God’s voice and respond to Him when He speaks. God doesn’t just give us instructions to obey—He gives us desires that direct our steps in life. This is the fruit of a personal connection that comes from trusting Him in all things. Eternal life is the testimony of a relationship with God. Eternal life is not some day in the future—eternal life is today! Eternal life is knowing God our Father and knowing Jesus, God’s Son (John 17:3). This is the fruit of daily fellowship with Holy Spirit in our lives.

Psalms 37:3 Trust in the LORD, and do good; dwell in the land, and feed on His faithfulness. 4 Delight yourself also in the LORD, and He shall give you the desires of your heart. 5 Commit your way to the LORD, trust also in Him, and He shall bring it to pass.

When we live in an intimate relationship with God, He gives us desires. Those desires become the desires of our hearts. God wants us to be led by His Spirit. When we pursue a connection in our hearts to Him, Holy Spirit gives us His desires, wisdom, understanding, counsel, might, knowledge, and an awe of God that directs the steps of our lives into the path of God’s purposes. We don’t hear God merely to know what to do; we hear God to know Him.

Luke 6:47 “Whoever comes to Me, and hears My sayings and does them, I will show you whom he is like: 48 He is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock. And when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently against that house, and could not shake it, for it was founded on the rock. 49 But he who heard and did nothing is like a man who built a house on the earth without a foundation, against which the stream beat vehemently; and immediately it fell. And the ruin of that house was great.”

In this story, both builders heard God, but only one heard and responded to His voice. Only one pursued an intimate relationship with God. Only one knew the importance of a connection with the Rock. Hearing God is easy, but so is hearing many other voices. God’s voice is the voice of the Rock—His voice is the voice of eternal life that leads to life in every aspect of our lives.

As I have considered the Rock of Christ, some attributes have impressed my spirit. What are the attributes of the Rock? As I reflect on this, the following attributes come to mind: steadfast, anchored, trustworthy, enduring, immovable, dependable, treasure house, hidden truth, faithful, solid, strong, unshakeable, foundational, generational, refuge, shelter, stronghold (of love), and eternal salvation. These attributes can really be summed up as a testimony of being joined to God in His unshakeable love. He is love, and He cannot be shaken in His love for us. His voice in our lives is the voice of love—not the voice of mere affectionate love, but the voice of sacrificial love. His love is a giving love, and it transforms our lives to be sacrificial in our love for Him and others.

Responding to hearing God is what joins us to the Rock of Christ. It’s a relationship—a dance with the Spirit of God, with Holy Spirit as the lead partner in our lives. This is the true strength of our foundation and will lead to increasing life in both our earthly and heavenly journeys. Our response to God’s voice in our lives empowers us to find Him in an ever-increasing intimacy. Hearing God’s voice and responding to Him empowers us to grow in knowing His wonderful love.

Hearing God is not merely about knowing what to do, and our response to God in our lives is not merely about the things we do. It is about the substance of our lives. Hearing God is a matter of knowing God. Knowing God is more important than knowing what to do, because knowing God is what transforms our lives to become as He is—in character, nature, way, power, and authority.

Food For Thought,

Ted J. Hanson

Donations can be made at the link on the home site of: www.ted4leaders.com www.ted4you.com or www.houseofbreadministry.org. Checks can be made payable to House of Bread Ministry and sent to: House of Bread Ministry, 3210 Meridian St., Bellingham, WA 98225 To avoid us paying a transaction fee from your donation, you can also set up a payment or an automatic payment from your bank to House of Bread Ministry. Just set it up as a ‘bill pay’ through your online bank account and your bank will mail a check to House of Bread Ministry. We will record your payment as a donation to House of Bread Ministry (E.I.N. 91-2009037) and we will send you a contribution receipt at the close of the year. Our Ministry Information Is: House of Bread Ministry 3210 Meridian St. Bellingham, WA 98225-1728

Blog In Audio:

Greetings,

The ministry of leadership is not about the accuracy of words or supernatural gifting. Being a leader is not merely about leadership skills or even the anointing of ministry. It’s about the accuracy of character. I’m not just referring to our personal character; I’m referring to the character we reveal to and in others. That character is the character of Christ. More accurately, it is about revealing the person of Jesus and seeing the hearts of those a leader leads connect to God in Christ. Even as the spirit of prophecy is the testimony of Jesus, the ministry of leadership should also be a testimony of Jesus.

Revelation 19:10 And I fell at his feet to worship him. But he said to me, “See that you do not do that! I am your fellow servant, and of your brethren who have the testimony of Jesus. Worship God! For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.”

A true prophet is not someone who just gives accurate words. A true prophet reveals the right person. That person is Jesus. A true prophet speaks the words of God by the Spirit of God’s powerful love, and it connects people to God. A New Covenant prophet doesn’t give words of information; they activate the words of God in the hearts of those they minister to. In this, each one hears God in their hearts and not in the heads.

A New Covenant leader carries these same qualities in leadership. A New Covenant leader is not a leader that guides or leads others by the skill of leadership. They lead in a way that those they lead respond to Holy Spirit in the same way that they as a leaders do.

What makes someone a false prophet? Perhaps the same thing can make someone a false leaders. What makes someone a true prophet? Perhaps the same thing can make someone a true leader.

During the children of Israel’s journey in the wilderness, the Moabite King Balak hired a prophet named Balaam to curse the children of Israel. The prophet Balaam was not a false prophet because he spoke inaccurate words. It was because he had false motives. Balaam was willing to prophecy words against the children of Israel for personal gain. He spoke true words. He declared that God was not a man, that He should lie, nor a son of man, that He should repent. Has He said, and will He not do? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good? (Num. 23:19). He spoke words in regard to the one-day birth of Jesus as the King of kings.

Numbers 24:17 “I see Him, but not now; I behold Him, but not near; a Star shall come out of Jacob; a Scepter shall rise out of Israel, and batter the brow of Moab, and destroy all the sons of tumult.”

Numbers 24:7 He shall pour water from his buckets, and his seed shall be in many waters. “His king shall be higher than Agag, and his kingdom shall be exalted. 8 “God brings him out of Egypt; He has strength like a wild ox; He shall consume the nations, his enemies; He shall break their bones and pierce them with his arrows. 9 ‘He bows down, he lies down as a lion; and as a lion, who shall rouse him?’ “Blessed is he who blesses you, and cursed is he who curses you.”

If we measured Balaam by the accuracy of his words we would call him a true prophet. His error was not his words; it was his willingness to use His gift for personal gain. He didn’t seek to connect others to the will of God. He spoke several very accurate words, but he fell to a deception of teaching Balak to tempt the Israelites to bring foreign gods into their midst through relationships with the daughters of Moab.

New Covenant leadership is not about connecting others to leaders or even ministries. Leadership is not about accurate teachings.  It is about connecting people to God in Christ. It is about connecting them to God their Father. Jesus told Peter that the keys of the kingdom are given to those who hear the voice of the Father, not the voice of leadership. Leaders are to be expressions of the Father’s will, and they must lead in a way that those they lead grow in a personal relationship with God in all things. Just as the spirt of prophecy is the testimony of Jesus, the spirit of leadership should testify of Jesus.

Food For Thought,

Ted J. Hanson

Donations can be made at the link on the home site of: www.ted4leaders.com www.ted4you.com or www.houseofbreadministry.org. Checks can be made payable to House of Bread Ministry and sent to: House of Bread Ministry, 3210 Meridian St., Bellingham, WA 98225 To avoid us paying a transaction fee from your donation, you can also set up a payment or an automatic payment from your bank to House of Bread Ministry. Just set it up as a ‘bill pay’ through your online bank account and your bank will mail a check to House of Bread Ministry. We will record your payment as a donation to House of Bread Ministry (E.I.N. 91-2009037) and we will send you a contribution receipt at the close of the year. Our Ministry Information Is: House of Bread Ministry 3210 Meridian St. Bellingham, WA 98225-1728

Blog In Audio:

Greetings,

As leaders we set an example to others in the character, nature, and way of Christ. Our heavenly Father doesn’t need anything. He is a giver of life! As sons and daughters of God we are to grow in maturity in becoming like Him in our character, nature, way, power, and authority. We don’t live to get; we live to give! We lead God’s children to become faithful sons and daughters of God who give life to their world. God demonstrated His nature by becoming one of us in the form of the Word made flesh. As we celebrate the birth of Christ, we set our minds on what God considers to be most important in our lives.

Philippians 2:3 Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself. 4 Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others.

We were born into this world to bring life to our world. We are to give life as fathers, mothers, sons, daughters, friends, neighbors, leaders, and servants of God. Jesus didn’t come to get; He came to give life. This should be the focus of every believer in Christ. As examples, leaders must excel in this testimony.

Philippians 2:5 Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, 6 who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, 7 but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. 9 Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, 10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, 11 and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

The road to maturity as a son or daughter of God is to be a giver of life to others in all things. We are sons and daughters of God, but we eagerly and willingly choose to be servants of others as a bondservant of our Lord. We don’t need to struggle, wrestle, or strive to be someone of importance. We simply give our lives to give life to others in our world. That life is a life of knowing the love of God and expressing the testimony of our Father’s powerful love by the working of Holy Spirit in and through our lives.

Jesus came as God’s gift to the world so that each of us could live to be a gift of God’s love to our world. Holy Spirit anoints us to give our lives in supernatural ways in both the fruit and the charisma of Christ. It is for God’s powerful love that we live!

Food For Thought,

Ted J. Hanson

Donations can be made at the link on the home site of:

www.ted4leaders.com

www.ted4you.com or

www.houseofbreadministry.org.

Checks can be made payable to House of Bread Ministry and sent to:

House of Bread Ministry, 3210 Meridian St., Bellingham, WA 98225

To avoid us paying a transaction fee from your donation, you can also set up a payment or an automatic payment from your bank to House of Bread Ministry. Just set it up as a ‘bill pay’ through your online bank account and your bank will mail a check to House of Bread Ministry. We will record your payment as a donation to House of Bread Ministry (E.I.N. 91-2009037) and we will send you a contribution receipt at the close of the year.

Our Ministry Information Is:
House of Bread Ministry
3210 Meridian St.
Bellingham, WA 98225-1728

Blog In Audio:

Greetings,

As leaders we lead others in reigning in life. Reining in life involves a partnership with God in all things. That partnership is recognizing that we live, move, and have our being in God at all times. In Him we find our identity, testimony, and purpose. Our partnership with Him is a partnership with His presence, His promises, and His purpose for His kingdom and will in everything. It is a partnership that even allows God to take what any enemy intends for evil in our lives and turn it to the good of His purpose. It is a testimony of the power of God’s grace working in our lives. His grace is His manifest presence in our lives that reveals the working of His powerful love on our behalf. We reign in life through a personal connection with Jesus Christ by the abiding presence of Holy Spirit in our lives.

Romans 5:17 For if by the one man’s offense death reigned through the one, much more those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.

Romans 5:19 For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one Man’s obedience many will be made righteous.

Romans 5:21 …so that as sin reigned in death, even so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

To reign in life, we need an appearing of Jesus Christ. Every appearing of Jesus in our lives brings about a testimony of His salvation. He appears in our lives as a life-giving Spirit. His first coming was as the Son of God/Son of man to put an end to our disconnection from God in the family tree of death. He died once for us all that we can all die in Him and find our life in Him for this world and for all that is to come. His judgment for us was one of mercy and it opened the door to eternal life for all who believe. The judgment of Jesus upon our cross was one of the Father’s love for His children.

Hebrews 9:26b …but now, once at the end of the ages, He has appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. 27 And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment, 28 so Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many. To those who eagerly wait for Him He will appear a second time, apart from sin, for salvation.

The first coming and a continual second appearing of Jesus in our lives is the hope of salvation for us all. It is all about knowing Christ in His appearing in our lives though an experience of being born-again, growing in knowing His presence in this life, meeting Him in His presence when we die, and celebrating with Him in His presence in the summing up of all things as He delivers the kingdom to God the Father with the full testimony of the victory of life.

1 Corinthians 15:24 Then comes the end, when He delivers the kingdom to God the Father, when He puts an end to all rule and all authority and power. 25 For He must reign till He has put all enemies under His feet. 26 The last enemy that will be destroyed is death.

These verses are the only verses in the entire New Testament where “the end” is written in the context of the summing up of all things in Christ. Every other reference to “the end” in the New Testament refers to the end of the Old Covenant age in the first century. That end also offers an end to our old life in every age of man. The end of the Old Covenant age in the first century can  apply by principle to the end of every age, but only once is the end spoken of as the end of all ages!

As leaders we lead others to live their lives for the glory of God is every season, every aspect, and to every end in their lives. This includes the final day of promotion to immortality and glory of every believer in Christ. Our last day in the flesh was the open door to our first day as sons and daughters of Light. We are of the day and not the night! We are the light of day, the light of life to our world. To reign in life is to be light to the world.

Psalms 110:1 The LORD said to my Lord, “Sit at My right hand, till I make Your enemies Your footstool.” 2 The LORD shall send the rod of Your strength out of Zion. Rule in the midst of Your enemies!

We lead people to become lights to their world; we don’t lead them as the light on their behalf. We shine to inspire them to shine also. We are not called to take people by the hand and lead them. We are called to inspire them to be led by the Spirit of God in all things.

James 1:17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.

Children of God are like the stars. I believe they are the perfect gifts of God to the world. They are light as God is light. God’s light is the light of life. We are called to know God from within. It is by knowing God within that we can shine with the light of Christ from within. We are not reflections of the light of God in Christ. We are the light of God in Christ. This is the testimony of being sons and daughters of God. Leaders lead as sons and daughters of God so that those they lead may also shine as sons and daughters of God to the darkness of their world.

Food For Thought,

Ted J. Hanson

Donations can be made at the link on the home site of:

www.ted4leaders.com

www.ted4you.com or

www.houseofbreadministry.org.

Checks can be made payable to House of Bread Ministry and sent to:

House of Bread Ministry, 3210 Meridian St., Bellingham, WA 98225

To avoid us paying a transaction fee from your donation, you can also set up a payment or an automatic payment from your bank to House of Bread Ministry. Just set it up as a ‘bill pay’ through your online bank account and your bank will mail a check to House of Bread Ministry. We will record your payment as a donation to House of Bread Ministry (E.I.N. 91-2009037) and we will send you a contribution receipt at the close of the year.

Our Ministry Information Is:
House of Bread Ministry
3210 Meridian St.
Bellingham, WA 98225-1728

Blog In Audio:

Greetings,

As we come to the close of another year, we face the beginning of a new year. As leaders, we look to each new season with the eyes of leadership. We don’t look forward to seeing what we can see to simply know something we didn’t know before. We listen to the voice of God in our hearts to hear what He is saying for the sake of the season that He calls us to lead others into. Leadership is a responsibility not an identity. God calls, anoints, and appoints leaders for the sake of others. Leadership is not a gift unto oneself. Leadership is for the sake of those we lead.

Jeremiah 31:31 “Behold, the days are coming, says the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah— 32 not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, though I was a husband to them, says the LORD. 33 But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. 34 No more shall every man teach his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ for they all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the LORD. For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.”

Hearing God for the sake of others is an Old Covenant form of leadership. Hearing God to inspire everyone to hear God also is a New Covenant expression of leadership. Hearing God is not merely about knowing what to do. It’s about knowing God. This is the objective for each believer, even of the least. Hearing God for each new season of our lives is about being transformed in our hearts and minds to become an expression of Him to our world in some way. Surely God has specific things He desires to communicate with our world in every new season. Those specific things are not disconnected from the general themes of His heart for mankind in the progressive river of His life-giving grace. God’s presence will reveal to us His promises for each new measure of His purpose in and through our lives to our world. 

As leaders, we don’t take people by the hand to lead them. We hear God and then we inspire those we lead to hear God also. We live in and from the presence of God in our lives to hear Him that we might turn to see Him. We turn to see Him that we might be changed by Him to lead others forward into the place of being changed by God’s grace for His glory in all things. Hearing God should lead to an encounter with God that transforms our hearts and minds in some way. Leaders are the first to be transformed to inspire those they lead to experience a life-transforming encounter with God on their own.

As leaders, we don’t simply seek revelations from God for what we believe to give inspiring words of Scripture. A word without a transformation in our lives makes us a runner with some form of information. Without a transformation in our own hearts and minds we are no different than the letter of the word. We give what we believe to be messages, but the fruit is death. Only the Spirit gives life. The letter of the word can only bring death. It is only by becoming a message that we can be messengers of God.

Leaders are not simply messengers unto the people. Leaders lead others into becoming a message to their world.

2 Corinthians 3:2 You are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read by all men; 3 clearly you are an epistle of Christ, ministered by us, written not with ink but by the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of flesh, that is, of the heart.

What God determines to be written in the heart of His children is written in the hearts of those who lead. The first to respond to the voice of God must be those who lead. The first to yield to the working of Holy Spirit within their hearts and minds are leaders. What God is saying to us, He is saying to us all in specific ways in each one’s heart.

As we face the continuing and unfolding seasons of God’s will, let us seek God’s presence to hear His promise that we might walk in His purpose in all things.

Food For Thought,

Ted J. Hanson

Donations can be made at the link on the home site of:

www.ted4leaders.com

www.ted4you.com or

www.houseofbreadministry.org.

Checks can be made payable to House of Bread Ministry and sent to:

House of Bread Ministry, 3210 Meridian St., Bellingham, WA 98225

To avoid us paying a transaction fee from your donation, you can also set up a payment or an automatic payment from your bank to House of Bread Ministry. Just set it up as a ‘bill pay’ through your online bank account and your bank will mail a check to House of Bread Ministry. We will record your payment as a donation to House of Bread Ministry (E.I.N. 91-2009037) and we will send you a contribution receipt at the close of the year.

Our Ministry Information Is:
House of Bread Ministry
3210 Meridian St.
Bellingham, WA 98225-1728

Blog In Audio:

Greetings,

In the early 1500’s there was a Reformation in the Church. The grace of the Spirit of the Lord and a revelation of justification by faith was released into the earth. Martin Luther took a stand for reformation in the church with the posting of his thesis on October 31, 1517. I believe that reformation laid hold of in 1517 was not merely a reformation of that day. I believe that it opened the door to the increasing reformation in the church. The church is the gate of heaven in the earth, and it is through the church that the influencing power of true revolution and reformation is released into the earth. “The just live by faith” is still a resounding testimony in the nations. We can all experience the increasing fruit and testimony of the desire of the nations. We have been granted the power of repentance unto life and a testimony of repentance from dead works in Christ.

When God releases a revelation of grace, that revelation grows in the successive generations. Lightning strikes and a testimony of thunder is heard. Thunder is heard and it causes the established earth of the past to quake and the earth experiences change. That change becomes an increasing sound in the earth that others can find with further and deeper understanding in the future. I believe that the grace of repentance unto life, a justification by faith, can be understood today in an even greater measure than in the foundation given though the reformation of Martin Luther.

The teachings of Martin Luther are often summarized in what is called the Five Solas that set the foundation for the doctrine of the just live by faith. I want to address one of those today. This is Sola Scritura (Scripture Alone). This is defined as: The Bible is the sole, ultimate authority for faith and practice. No pope, tradition, or council stands above it. Martin Luther taught this belief as a reaction to the ways of the universal church (the Catholic church) that had added many traditions and placed many conditions upon the church that created a structure of hierarchal authority. Martin Luther sought to simplify the understanding of God and the foundations for true faith. The church had become a system of clergy and laity. The clergy were those educated in the understanding of the things of God and the laity were the uneducated, unlearned, and dependent masses that were vulnerable to complications placed upon them by a few that found their pride and identify in religious superiority. That clergy/laity system had created a gospel of fear and control, and the grace of the Spirit of the Lord was inspiring Martin Luther and others to know the freedom of knowing the love of God.

I embrace the need for Scripture Alone to understand God’s voice. Unfortunately, this foundation has led to some interpretation that the rule of faith is the Scripture. I believe that the rule of faith is the voice of God to our hearts. Faith comes by hearing God’s voice within us.  I believe that the Scripture is essential to our understanding of the voice of God to our hearts. I don’t believe that the Scripture is the ultimate authority for faith and practice. Surely no pope, tradition, or council stands above the authority of the Scripture as a witness to the voice of God, but the Scripture is not our rule of faith. Holy Spirit is the voice of God in our hearts that empowers each of us to be obedient to the faith.

John 5:39 You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me. 40 But you are not willing to come to Me that you may have life.

Jesus told the Pharisees that the Scriptures were a witness to Him. The voice that gives us faith is the voice of Holy Spirit to our hearts. Holy Spirit is the testimony of Jesus within us and to us. The fruit of hearing God is faith. The rule of our faith comes by hearing God. Our obedience is to Him, not merely His written word. This is obedience to God’s personal word spoken to each person’s heart. The Scripture is a witness to the voice of God, but Holy Spirit is our teacher.

1 John 2:27 But the anointing which you have received from Him abides in you, and you do not need that anyone teach you; but as the same anointing teaches you concerning all things, and is true, and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you will abide in Him.

The study of Scripture is most important to know the character, nature, way, power, and authority of God to properly discern that we are hearing Holy Spirit and hearing Holy Spirit correctly in our lives. Without an understanding of the principles, patterns, and values found in Scripture we are vulnerable to misinterpret God’s voice to our hearts or even fall for a deceiving voice that we believe to be the words of God. Without Scripture we are not able to be taught by God in a way that brings stability to our understanding of God’s voice to us. For the just to live by faith, we cannot depend upon any controlling authority of a pope, tradition or some other external council. The authority to understanding God’s voice to us is found in Scripture but the Scripture is not our teacher. It is a witness to the voice of our teacher. Our teacher is Holy Spirit and by His authority we are justified by faith. We can know God’s love, and we are granted life within by Christ in us. This brings change to our lives by a change in the desires of our hearts. True repentance is not a discipline of our flesh. It is a transformation of our hearts and minds that comes by a work of the Spirit of the Lord within us.

Food For Thought,

Ted J. Hanson

Donations can be made at the link on the home site of:

www.ted4leaders.com

www.ted4you.com or

www.houseofbreadministry.org.

Checks can be made payable to House of Bread Ministry and sent to:

House of Bread Ministry, 3210 Meridian St., Bellingham, WA 98225

To avoid us paying a transaction fee from your donation, you can also set up a payment or an automatic payment from your bank to House of Bread Ministry. Just set it up as a ‘bill pay’ through your online bank account and your bank will mail a check to House of Bread Ministry. We will record your payment as a donation to House of Bread Ministry (E.I.N. 91-2009037) and we will send you a contribution receipt at the close of the year.

Our Ministry Information Is:
House of Bread Ministry
3210 Meridian St.
Bellingham, WA 98225-1728

Blog In Audio:

Greetings,

Leaders lead others to be a blessing to their world. Five-fold ministers are given as gifts to the body of Christ to equip believers for the work of ministry.

Ephesians 4:11 And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, 12 for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ…

What is the work of ministry? I believe the work of ministry is seen in actions that demonstrate God’s love for one another. Those actions are inspired and empowered by the supernatural power of God’s love. When we become a testimony of God’s love we give God’s life to others. It’s not a matter of ministry. It’s a matter of love that is willing and able to minister.

We are a dwelling place of God by His Spirit to bring the life of His Spirit to our world. Our world is a matter of relationships. Who we find in our world are candidates for the life that we give to our world. When Christ lives in us, the life of Christ gives the blessings of heaven to our world. Leaders demonstrate this in their own lives, but they ultimately lead others into a way of life that demonstrates God’s life-giving love to others through the service and works of their lives. Leaders don’t lead people to simply know the love of God. They lead them to become a testimony of God’s love to others. Leaders lead people to live for the wellbeing of others.

1 Corinthians 10:23 All things are lawful for me, but not all things are helpful; all things are lawful for me, but not all things edify. 24 Let no one seek his own, but each one the other’s well-being.

To live for the wellbeing of others is the evidence of being a dwelling place of God by His Spirit. This is in the very foundation of the gospel that was preached to Abraham. A former Chaldean who lived in a culture of self-seeking people became a father of faith through an encounter with God the Father; the One who gives life, breath, and all things.

Galatians 3:5 Therefore He who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you, does He do it by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?— 6 just as Abraham “believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.” 7 Therefore know that only those who are of faith are sons of Abraham. 8 And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel to Abraham beforehand, saying, “In you all the nations shall be blessed.” 9 So then those who are of faith are blessed with believing Abraham.

The word gospel means good news. What was the good news that was preached to Abraham? It was news that would bring God’s blessing to all the nations of the world.

Genesis 22:17, 18 “…blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply your descendants as the stars of the heaven and as the sand which is on the seashore; and your descendants shall possess the gate of their enemies. In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice.”

God’s words to Abraham had four levels of ingredients. Those levels are generational in their nature. They are the ingredients of a 100-year plan:

1)  In blessing I will bless you

2)  In multiplying I will multiply

3)  Your descendants shall possess the gate of their enemies

4)  In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed

Leaders lead others to be a blessing to their world. In being a blessing, God will bless us as leaders to be a blessing to those we lead. God also blesses those we lead to be a blessing to others in their world. It is not merely a matter of being blessed by God. God blesses us to be a blessing to our world. When we live to be a blessing, we also live to empower others to be a blessings. This is a testimony of multiplication. It is not a matter of adding others to our cause in life, but to release others to be a measure of blessing to their world as we are. When we live to multiply, God blesses us to multiply. The fruit of this is seen in life-giving change that comes to our world through our children and our children’s children. The goal is that the nations will know the blessing of knowing God and the blessing of being a testimony of God’s blessing to their world. This is good news and leaders lead for this glory.

Food For Thought,

Ted J. Hanson

Donations can be made at the link on the home site of:

www.ted4leaders.com

www.ted4you.com or

www.houseofbreadministry.org.

Checks can be made payable to House of Bread Ministry and sent to:

House of Bread Ministry, 3210 Meridian St., Bellingham, WA 98225

To avoid us paying a transaction fee from your donation, you can also set up a payment or an automatic payment from your bank to House of Bread Ministry. Just set it up as a ‘bill pay’ through your online bank account and your bank will mail a check to House of Bread Ministry. We will record your payment as a donation to House of Bread Ministry (E.I.N. 91-2009037) and we will send you a contribution receipt at the close of the year.

Our Ministry Information Is:
House of Bread Ministry
3210 Meridian St.
Bellingham, WA 98225-1728