Greetings,
Life is about relationships and relationships are about life. It takes relationships to produce life and life is intended to inspire relationships. Since this is the true, being a leader of others is more about leading them in the way of relationships than it is about leading them into works of ministry. Jesus demonstrated a relationship with God as His Father and then He demonstrated that by giving His life to and for those God had given Him. It was through a relationship with God and humanity that He destroyed the works of the devil. The works of God are a matter of relationship.
As a leader in the body of Christ my number one responsibility is to maintain a healthy relationship with God and with those God has joined me to in life. My relationship with my wife, my children, my grandchildren, and my friends are to be a testimony of the kingdom of God. The kingdom of God is not a matter of doing things or not doing things. The kingdom of God is not a matter of eating or drinking certain things or not eating or drinking other things. The kingdom of God is a matter of relationship with God in my heart. God doesn’t need anything from me. He gives me life, breath and all things. To be able to receive what He gives I must choose to be in a relationship with Him. Without a relationship with Him, I cannot receive what He wants to give. His gifts of life, breath, and all things are a matter of His love for me. This is a matter of relationship. Life is about relationships and relationships are about life.
The most important thing in any community of God is relationship. It is relationship that creates a community. The good news that God preached to Abraham was a matter of relationship. The kingdom of God is a testimony of the good news of God to mankind and that good news is a matter of relationship with God and one another. That good news is often termed as being the “gospel”, but the word “gospel” is a word that was religiously created to encompass a simple phrase, “good news”. Unfortunately, when we use the word “gospel” rather than “good news” we can often disguise “bad news” in the cloak of “gospel” and dupe the world in to believing something less than the “good news” of Jesus Christ. The “good news” is not that Jesus died so that we would go to heaven when we die. The “good news” is that Jesus reconciled all men to know God and Jesus whom God sent. This is eternal life (Jn. 17:3). It is now and forever! It is the place where heaven comes to our realities of the earth and where the life beyond this world is an increasing testimony of that heavenly reality. It is the place of forever knowing God! It is a matter of relationship! We have been given really good news in Jesus. He is the door to the eternal reality of the blessings of heaven in our lives and the true blessing is to know God our Father and Jesus Christ His Son. This is the foundation for eternal life in all things.
John 17:3 This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.
The good news of Christ is good news of an eternal relationship with God who is life. The testimony of heaven in our lives is a testimony of life and it will bring life to every relationship in our lives. The result will be the glory of God expanding in our world. Jesus was the Seed promised through the faith of Abraham and that Seed was the source of heaven to this world in which we live.
Galatians 3:8 The Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, “ALL THE NATIONS WILL BE BLESSED IN YOU.”
What was the gospel preached to Abraham? As I have already stated, the word gospel means “good news”. The good news is that an eternal Adam gave His life so that all can find themselves in the family of blessing! The good news is that Jesus Christ reconciled men to God while they were yet sinners so the blessings of heaven could flood the worlds of men. The message of heaven is one of transforming the world, but that transformation comes by way of relationship with God and with one another. It includes life beyond this world, but it brings the life of heaven to the world in increasing measures. This is the foundation for a one hundred year plan that affects the lives of our children and our children’s children in this world.
Food For Thought,
Ted J. Hanson
