Blog In Audio:
Greetings,
As leaders, we are called to lead others into a life of embracing being sons and daughters of God. God wants to change the substance of humanity to become the testimony of their heavenly Father. He gives life so we can become expressions of life that partner with Him to bring life in all that we are and do. We are not merely men and women in this world. We are sons and daughters of God our Father. Christ in us is empowering us to live our lives as new creations. Being born again, is being born again! We were all born of a natural mother, but God invites us all to be born of a heavenly Father. It is as miraculous and a virgin giving birth to a child that is both a son of man and a son of God! This is the testimony of Christ in us!
2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.
As leaders, we set an example of being new creations in Christ. For this reason, we must be content with whatever boundary and sphere of influence God gives us in this world. We are called to be life and to bring life to our world. We must seek to be at peace with those in our territory and we must live to see unity in our connections with others. Our role as leaders is to plant, to water, to tend, to build and to labor in some way for the purpose of a harvest of life in those we lead. We are not called to make things grow in people’s lives. We are called to serve others in making connections to the One who makes all things grow in life. The attachment of every human life is an attachment to God as their Father. This is their connection to life. It is their true connection to their identity, testimony, and purpose in in this world.
1 Corinthians 3:1 And I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual people but as to carnal, as to babes in Christ. 2 I fed you with milk and not with solid food; for until now you were not able to receive it, and even now you are still not able; 3 for you are still carnal. For where there are envy, strife, and divisions among you, are you not carnal and behaving like mere men? 4 For when one says, “I am of Paul,” and another, “I am of Apollos,” are you not carnal? 5 Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers through whom you believed, as the Lord gave to each one? 6 I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase. 7 So then neither he who plants is anything, nor he who waters, but God who gives the increase. 8 Now he who plants and he who waters are one, and each one will receive his own reward according to his own labor.
Leaders are responsible to labor for the sake of those they lead, as we are all responsible to labor for a harvest of God’s kingdom to come and will to be done in our lives. That labor is a partnership with the Holy Spirit to see the reward of heavenly things in earthly realities. Heavenly realities are like gold; they exhibit the character, nature, way, power, and authority of God as the giver of life. They are like silver; they express the redemptive power of God’s love as an expression of true life. They are like precious stones; they reveal many diverse and precious testimonies of God in His eternal purposes in our lives. These are eternal building materials that influence the earth with heavenly things in a generational way.
1 Corinthians 3:9 For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, you are God’s building. 10 According to the grace of God which was given to me, as a wise master builder I have laid the foundation, and another builds on it. But let each one take heed how he builds on it. 11 For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. 12 Now if anyone builds on this foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, 13 each one’s work will become clear; for the Day will declare it, because it will be revealed by fire; and the fire will test each one’s work, of what sort it is. 14 If anyone’s work which he has built on it endures, he will receive a reward. 15 If anyone’s work is burned, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire. 16 Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? 17 If anyone defiles the temple of God, God will destroy him. For the temple of God is holy, which temple you are.
Wood is a work that lasts more than one lifetime. It can be a testimony of human success. Apart from God this is the aim of natural inheritance. Hay symbolizes a work that lasts a lifetime. It is indicative of living to be of some natural importance in this world. Straw is symbolic of those who live for the comfort of each day. These are natural building materials for natural minded people. We are called to be sons and daughters of God for greater things. What greater purpose is there than to be people of God’s presence in this world?
Food For Thought,
Ted J. Hanson
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