ted4leaders

Blog In Audio:

Greetings,

God wants us to live in the perpetual testimony of a 100-year plan. He wants us to live as blessings that multiply those blessings to a second generation. Those multiplying the blessing of God empower a third generation to possess the gates of their enemies. Gates are forces of power in the world. Gates are portals the release what is behind the walls they guard to the world. The force behind a gate is seen in the power of the one who advances from behind the gates. To possess the gate is to hold the power that is released from the gate. The power that comes from the gate is seen in life and also by powers of death. When we believe God, we act upon God’s ways and God’s ways create a power within our hearts that is a force of life to our world. The imaginations of our hearts empower us to create a world that is different than the influences of death in times past. This is the testimony of the inheritance of Christ in a third generation and it becomes an authority of influence in a fourth generation. That influence establishes new first things, new principles that carry on to the generations to come.

Our beliets and actions are not connected to the knowledge we know. They are connected to who we believe. Who we believe determines who possesses the gates. Who possesses the place of heaven in the earth? Who possesses the high places in the earth? Whoever possesses the gates, possesses the places of influence. God’s covenant promise to us is that our descendants should possess the gates of their enemies. This is part of God’s inheritance in the earth.

When inheritances are given, they remain in the earth. These are the things that create places for the coming generations to stand. We stand in the inheritances given by those before us and we walk forward to expand those inheritances to the generations beyond us. God’s covenant promise to men is that wherever the soles of their feet walk it will become the possession of their inheritance. Money is not for spending; money is meant to change the world. Wealth isn’t given to merely gratify the pleasures of a generation. Wealth of any kind is meant to influence the world. It is not the destiny of any generation to spend the inheritances given from the previous generations upon themselves. Inheritance is meant to influence the generations of men. The riches of inheritance far exceed the value of mere things and those valuable things are a power of influence in the world.

Jesus came to this world as a man so that through Him all the families of the earth could be blessed. Going to heaven is a fringe benefit of believing in Jesus, but bringing heaven to the world in which we live is a part of our destiny. We are called to advance the kingdom of God in the earth. We are called to bring the kingdoms of this world into the kingdom of the Son of the Father’s love. We must receive the inheritances given to us by God to pass them on to the generations that follow our lives in this earth.

God’s promise to Abraham was not a promise to a man. It was a promise to his house. The good news given to Abraham was that he could trust in the Promiser. He could trust in the one who gave a promise, and He could change the world through the house of Abraham. The strength of the world is that they think they are the house, but they are not the house. The weakness of the church is they don’t know they are the house, therefore, they long to go to God’s house in some place in the sky. All God has ever wanted is to tabernacle with men. All He wanted to do was to move into the neighborhood of humanity and satisfy the human heart.

We have been blessed with every spiritual blessing from God in heavenly places, but we must first believe that we have been blessed in order for us to receive the blessing of those blessings here upon the earth. When we receive those blessings, we live to be a testimony of that blessing to our world.

When I have lived my life and run my race, I want it to be said that I believed therefore I acted. I acted therefore I dreamed. I dreamed therefore my children and my children’s children were born with vision. My family was born with vision therefore many families of the earth were blessed. This is a testimony of inheritance and the reality of a 100-year plan. This is the kind of leaders we should be in the Church.

It is only through living as inheritors and givers of inheritance that we can see the hearts of the fathers turn towards the children and the hearts of the children turned toward the fathers. This is the testimony of inheritance and a 100-year plan. By this the curses of futility are broken, and the blessings of heaven invade the earth.

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,

Inheritances from God come by revelation. God has blessed us in heaven with every spiritual blessing in Christ (Eph. 1:3). Those blessings are only ours when we come to see what they really are. When we see them, we can receive them. When we see the blessings of God, we can also believe that God is giving them to us. God wants us to receive His blessings from heaven so that we can become the riches of His inheritance in the earth (Eph. 1:18).

The blessings of God come from God. God is not a performer of works. He is a being, and He wants to bless us by who He is. What we believe is the image that we will present to the world we live in. What we believe is not really based on the knowledge we believe, but in the person we believe. Who we believe determines what we believe, and beliefs determine who possesses the gates. Gates are places of influence. They are what determine the future of the world. Whoever possesses the places of influence possesses the future of the world. Whoever possesses the gates possesses the future.

The future of the world is determined from heaven, but the question is, “Where is heaven?” Much of the Church believes that the future is determined by heaven, but their focus of heaven is a place that is far off or far away. I believe that we go to heaven when we die. It is a great promise and reward when our race has been run in this life, but our race is the journey of destiny and not merely the reward that we will receive in heaven. Jesus didn’t instruct us to pray that we would one day go to heaven. He told us to pray that the kingdom and the will of heaven would be done in the world in which we live. He told us to look to our source of inheritance while we are here upon the earth not as a hope of God’s power for escape. He didn’t instruct us to pray to a God who is powerful. He told us to pray to our heavenly Father who is holy. A father is a source of blessing. A father is a source of inheritance. This is not commonly understood in the fatherless societies of the world today, but a father is the source of a family name, and a family name is a source of inheritance. A family name carries the power of a family’s destiny that carries through the dynasty of a family name. Having a father in heaven guarantees heavenly blessings in any world in which we live.

As leaders in the body of Christ we are not called to tasks of Christian ministry. We are called to inherit the blessings of God our Father and to expand them as His inheritance in the earth. The secrets given to us by God are the substance of inheritance that belongs to our children and to our children’s children. This is the power of God’s increasing kingdom in the earth. 

The blessings of God in our lives are about us becoming sons and daughters of God for His life-giving purposes in our lives. It is not about us being blessed but about us becoming God’s blessings of life. There are four things that comprise the basic substance of humanity and mankind’s facilitation of spiritual forces of either good or evil. They are the issues of belief, action, imagination, and influence. These four things hold the power to bring about change in the earth. This is not a grace for mere blessings in our lives, but the very keys to unlock the destiny of our lives as those who rule in Christ. It all starts with the issue of belief in our lives. Who we believe determines what we believe and only believing God can empower us to become the blessing that He has called for us to be.

Who you believe is whom you will be like. Who you believe determines what you believe. It is not what you believe that determines whom you believe, but whom you believe that determines what you believe. What you believe is the image that you will present to others, but it is all rooted in whom you believe. I believe that whom you believe determines who possesses the gates in your life. Who you believe determines who possesses the gates in the earth, because possessing the gates has to do with what you believe. Gates are places of influence. Gates are the power of true inheritance in the earth.

John 8:31, 32  Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, “If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”

In these verses we see that Jesus was talking to Jews who believed Him. He was not talking to those who did not believe Him. He told those who believed Him that if they were to abide in the words that God speaks personally to them, they would know truth that would bring a power of freedom. The word translated as “word” in this Scripture is the Greek word “rhema”. It is not the word “logos”. Rhema is a personal expression given directly to someone.  The secret to knowing truth is not in something that God has already said. It isn’t in believing something that God has said in the past. It is found in believing God. True belief in the person God would enable men to receive truth from God. It would enable them to receive a substance of inheritance from the one who gives inheritance, but the secret would be a close relationship with God where inheritance could be received. That relationship would be a relationship of sons to a Father that would empower them to be fathers to sons.

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,

Today I am continuing to address God’s desire for a 100-year plan in our lives. 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:

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.”

Some translations read that God would “greatly bless” Abraham. The Hebrew word for blessing here is a double use of the same word. It implies that in blessing God would bless him. It implies blessing beyond his own life. God was empowering Abraham to be a blessing and to live for the sake of blessing others beyond his life. This is the anointing of a father’s grace. It is an anointing to bring inherited favor to the generations beyond one’s own existence.

The same significance exists with the word “multiply”. Some translations read that God was going to “greatly multiply” Abraham. The Hebrew word for multiply is also a double use of the same word. God was not only empowering Abraham to multiply, but to release an anointing and action of multiplication to those beyond himself. Abraham would be empowered to do actions of faith that would propagate actions of increase in the generations beyond his life. These are the actions of a father for the sake of all that is to come.

God told Abraham that his descendants would “possess the gate of their enemies”. This is not a measure that would be seen directly in Abraham’s life, but in the lives of his children and his children’s children. This was an anointing of the power of life-giving imagination. It was a grace that would carry beyond the vision of Abraham’s life into the generations beyond. It meant Abraham had to live with more than a vision for his life. He had to live with a dream that would extend beyond his life. Gates are places of influence. The gates of the enemy are the influences of the enemy in our lives. God was revealing to Abraham that the present conditions of his world would be changed through his generations tomorrow. It was part of an increasing inheritance and the power of a multi-generational plan.

God also told Abraham that “in his Seed all of the nations of the earth” would be blessed. This is the ultimate testimony of influence. God was prophetically declaring the Seed of Christ that would be shadowed in the nation of Israel, but fully revealed through supernatural Seed of Jesus Christ and the conception of the Body of Christ.

I have written in previous blogs in regard to four levels of spiritual warfare. Those levels are the elements of belief, action, imagination, and influence. Beliefs inspire actions and actions propagate imaginations of the heart. The imaginations of the heart determine the influences of our lives. When we receive a belief, we activate actions of that belief. A belief received is most often the testimony of an old belief lost and a new belief taking hold. A life-giving belief will dispossess a death producing one. Life-giving beliefs then inspire life-giving actions. When we act upon our beliefs, we inspire the imaginations of our hearts towards further influence of that belief. It all begins with a belief, and it culminates with an influence on others in the world. As I stated last week, God wants to reveal to us the secret things that belong to Him so those things can become influencing inheritances in the world to and through our children and to our children’s children.

When God reveals His secrets to men His secrets become a revelation to men. A revelation is a secret that existed but has now become known to those who discover it. Revelations are simply disclosed secrets. The purpose of every revelation from God is to invite us to have an encounter with God so we will be transformed by God and become a testimony of that revelation from God. A revelation from God brings a blessing of God into our lives. When we receive a revelation from God we are called to act according to that revelation. It is impossible to act upon a revelation from God without God’s transforming power at work in the actions of our will. Anything less than faith will only result in dead actions of vane works. They may mimic truth, but they will never propagate real truth. Revelation from God is given to release spiritual inheritances into the earth.

Inheritances are cultural and not structural. They are living and not preserving in nature; therefore inheritances are meant to expand in the generations of men. Inheritances are a substance that can be received by the children of a passing generation. One generation gives the substance of its beliefs to the next generation and those beliefs are expanded through actions, imagination, and influence on the generations that follow. Inheritances are a substance of value to be expanded to greater value in the earth. An inheritance is not meant to be spent by the next generation, but to be used to increase the influence of a family to the generations beyond their day. Inheritances are measures of power given to expand the influence of God-given destiny in the earth. When inheritances are received, they are supposed to be cultivated, propagated, and released to expand in the earth. They are the testimony of a family name. Inheritance is a measure of destiny given to a family name. Destiny received is a substance to be passed to and through the dynasty of a family name that brings blessing to the world in a multi-generational way. The Church bears the name of Christ and God wants to give inheritances that can release a destiny of His great grace to the 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,

Today I feel prompted to begin posting on a subject that I addressed in 2012. I have also written on this in my book, Generational Leadership. I am addressing the need for a 100-year plan in the church. I am not talking about our ability to live for 100 years, but rather our ability to transition inheritance to the generations beyond our lives. God is a multi-generational God. He is the God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Israel. He is the God of Paul, Timothy, faithful men, and others also (2Tim. 2:1, 2). As leaders we must lead in a way that the God given vision and the God given letter entrusted to us becomes a spiritual reality in increasing measures beyond our lives. Our leadership must not be for our lifetime, but for the generations of our lifetime. The generations of our lifetime will lead to the generations of the lifetimes to come. I believe that there should be three and four generations revealing the glory of God at all times.

So much of the church is longing for the day of Jesus’ return, but I believe that our aim in life must be for His continual return. Jesus’ is revealing Himself as the One who stands in the midst of His Church at all times (Rev. 1). His prophetic testimony is a testimony of life that continues to mature and advance in the generations of men. We are the bride of Christ and the Holy Spirit lives within us. The cry of the bride and the cry of the Holy Spirit are for Jesus to come (Rev. 22:17). This is not just an event in the coming future, but a continual reality of Christ’s manifest presence in the advancing generations of men. We are living in an administration that is suitable for the summing up of all things in Christ and there is a continual increase of glory to the fullness of the summing up of all things in Him (Eph. 1:10).

There is a difference between being a successful person and a significant one. One can be successful in life and only accomplish things that can be measured in his or her life, but true significance is to make an impact upon others. When we equip others, we find that the testimony of all that God has given to us becomes a testimony in the generations of tomorrow. I believe that the heart of leadership in the church must be the heart of a father. Fathers live to raise up sons (men and women) that can carry the vision of today as a dream for tomorrow. A father seeks to put responsibility in the hands of the next generation. A father takes the secrets that he has received from God and gives them as an inheritance to his children and his children’s children.

Deuteronomy 29:29 “The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but those things which are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.”

The true measure of God’s law is a testimony of His law of love working in and through our lives to others. This is an attribute of our heavenly Father. It is not merely the attribute of a god, but one of a loving Father. Abraham is known as the father of faith. God’s promise to Abraham was a multi-generational promise. That promise was not a promise of a sovereign God, but of a loving Father. When we read the covenant promise given to Abraham, we find that it is a multi-generational plan. I call this a 100-year plan. God made a covenant promise to the human race through the SEED of Abraham. That covenant promise was one of blessing, multiplying, possessing, and influence in 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

These four things are the ingredients to a 100-year plan. I will be addressing these things and what it means to have a 100-year plan in my blogs for next few weeks. What secrets are you called to release as an inheritance in the earth? What secrets have and are you receiving from the generations of the past? The revealed secrets of God are the blessings to men. The blessings of God are supposed to be expanded in the generations of men. All that God gives is meant to change the world to become a testimony of the increasing inheritance of God as our heavenly Father. We are His multigenerational family to walk in His life-giving authority in this 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,

This is a further look at the topic of communion, in light of the fact that Easter is this coming Sunday. I am taking this from my book The Seven Eyes of Grace, Chapter 6. This is part of the audiobook:

It is for the sake of the living testimony of the Body of Christ that we seek to find our divine placement in the house of God. We are the temple of His Holy Spirit and together we express the fullness of His habitation. He is the High Priest over the house of God, and we are the house of God. This is why we seek to come together. This is why we seek to build one another up in the faith. We live to stir one another up to love and good works as members of the Body of Christ.

Heb. 10:21 …and having a High Priest over the house of God, 22 let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. 23 Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful. 24 And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, 25 not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.

The very essence of true communion is to draw near with a true heart. It is to seek to come together, knowing that our bodies are living sacrifices one for another (Rom.12:1). We don’t just hold fast to the confession of our hope for ourselves, we hold fast for the sake of one another. Our aim is to consider one another, and our goal is to stir one another up to love and good works. Our communion is to love God and to love one another. The more we see of His coming, the more we come together to give one another the life of His presence. Our lifeblood is found in exhorting one another. We love God and we love people! When we choose to live together by the life of His Spirit, we confirm that we no longer live according to the flesh. We seek to live according to the Spirit. The cup is a sharing of His blood and Spirit. The bread is a sharing of His Body.

1 Cor. 10:16 The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ? 17 For we, being many, are one bread and one body; for we all partake of that one bread. 18 Observe Israel after the flesh: Are not those who eat of the sacrifices partakers of the altar?

The bread of Christ is not the bread upon the communion table. It is the bread of the communion table, called the Body of Christ. “The bread which we break is the communion of the Body of Christ!” We are the “one bread” that Jesus put into reality through the mercy given by His death and the grace given by His resurrection. We must live for one another and not for the life of our own flesh. When we fellowship darkness, we defile the table of the Lord. We do so because we are members of one another. If we seek darkness, we also seek to defile the bread of Christ. We are not properly discerning the Body of Christ.

1 Cor. 10:21 You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons; you cannot partake of the Lord’s table and of the table of demons.

The “cup of blessing” mentioned in 1 Corinthians, Chapter 10 is the life of God’s Spirit among us as believers. The blood covenant that Christ made at Calvary enables all human beings to come into a personal relationship with God by His Spirit. True communion is to drink of the cup of God’s Spirit as members of a new flesh known as the Body of Christ. In Christ we have the life of His Spirit within us, and our bodies are members of His Body that we might serve one another with a living sacrifice of life (Rom.12:1). This was made possible through the blood sacrifice of Jesus Christ. The wages of sin is death and Jesus paid the wage of our sin that we might find life in Him. The life of the flesh is in the blood (Lev. 17:11), and Jesus poured out the life of His sinless flesh to become atonement for the sins of our sinful flesh. His sacrifice has opened a door for us to commune with God and one another through the “cup of blessing” as living members of the Body of Christ. Our cup of blessing is the cup of Praise. It is the cup of His resurrection life made possible by His partaking of the cup of Redemption on our behalf. He died for us that we might live in Him! Because we are members of the Body of Christ, we must seek to drink the cup of the Spirit, the cup of blessing, that we might fulfill the desires of God’s will and not the desires of our flesh. The cup of the Lord is the life of God’s Spirit that edifies one another (1 Cor. 10:23, 24).

We live for God and one another and to fulfill God’s purposes in the earth. We are the Body of Christ. We must be seekers of God and not seekers of self. If we live self-seeking lives, we despise our place as a member of the Body of Christ and we provoke the Lord to jealousy. There is one Body and one Spirit, and we are partakers of and contributors to both.

1 Cor. 12:13 For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body— whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free—and have all been made to drink into one Spirit.

2 Cor. 13:14 The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen.

Food For Thought,

Ted J. Hanson  

Available in Audiobook: Nook, Storytel, Chirp, Audiobooks, Kobo, Scribd, Google Play, and more. Soon to be on Amazon Audible.

Print and E-book on Amazon

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,

Today, I again continue on the topic of communion, in light of the fact that Easter is coming soon. I am taking this from my book The Seven Eyes of Grace, Chapter 6. This is part of the audiobook:

That which was “shadow” in the Old Covenant, has now become “complete”! Passover has been made “complete” in Christ. The writer of Hebrews reveals this clearly.

Heb. 10:5 Therefore, when He came into the world, He said: “Sacrifice and offering You did not desire, but a body You have prepared for Me. 6 In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin you had no pleasure. 7 Then I said, ‘Behold, I have come—in the volume of the book it is written of Me—to do Your will, O God.’ “

Jesus didn’t come to invoke more sacrifices. He didn’t come to exchange the ritual of the Old Covenant for a ritual of New Covenant ceremony. He came to establish the Body of Christ upon the earth. Jesus became the completion of the Passover meal in order to establish the true bread of the Body of Christ and the true life of the cup of Praise in human form! We have been sanctified to God, not for further ceremonies and sacrifices, but to be the Body of Christ.

Heb. 10:8 Previously saying, “Sacrifice and offering, burnt offerings, and offerings for sin You did not desire, nor had pleasure in them” (which are offered according to the law), 9 then He said, “Behold, I have come to do Your will, O God.” He takes away the first that He may establish the second. 10 By that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

The obedience of Jesus to His Father fulfilled all of the requirements concealed in the Passover meal. He was the Lamb slain for our deliverance from sin. He was the fulfillment of the bread of Adam to give us the bread of Christ. His life was given for the bitter herbs of slavery and suffering in the bondage of sin. He identified with us that we might identify with Him. Jesus shed tears of sorrow for the captivity of all men, as was portrayed in the green herbs dipped in salt water. He exchanged the mortar of the kingdoms of men for the relationship of the kingdom of God, as seen in the “charoset” set at the table to represent the mortar used by Israel to build the palaces and pyramids of Egypt. He was born as the cup of Thanksgiving, lived as the cup of Telling, died as the cup of Redemption, and forever lives as the cup of Praise for all who receive Him in the power of His resurrection. All of these He drank in the “common bowl” of human flesh! He completed Passover and is seated at the right hand of God offering us the bread and wine of true communion!

Heb. 10:12 But this Man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God, 13 from that time waiting till His enemies are made His footstool. 14 For by one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified. 15 And the Holy Spirit also witnesses to us; for after He had said before, 16 “This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, says the Lord: I will put My laws into their hearts, and in their minds I will write them,” 17 then He adds, “Their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.”

The testimony of the communion that Jesus offers us is a change in our lives together as the Body of Christ. We have experienced His resurrection life in that we love God with all of our hearts, souls, and strength. We have partaken of the life of His living bread, in that we love one another as we love ourselves (His city). We are free from condemnation and shame (Rom. 8:1)! We must judge no one according to the flesh (2 Cor. 5:14-16)!

Heb. 10:18 Now where there is remission of these, there is no longer an offering for sin. 19 Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus, 20 by a new and living way which He consecrated for us, through the veil, that is, His flesh…

The veil that Jesus rent was not merely the shadow veil of an earthly temple. It was the skin of the real temple! It was the opening up of the Body of Christ for all to come in! It is a holy of holy place! It is a corporate place! It is filled with many members. It is filled with broken pieces of living bread. When those pieces come together, there is a fullness of the bread of the Body of Christ! We are bread with feet! It is our responsibility to come together to drink the cup of Praise. In doing this, we proclaim the death of Christ and the life of Christ! We enforce His victory and subdue His enemies beneath the feet of the Body of Christ!

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,

Today I am going to continue on the topic of communion, in light of the fact that Easter is coming soon. I am taking this from my book The Seven Eyes of Grace, Chapter 6. This is part of the audiobook:

The elements of the New Covenant communion table are revealed in verses 19 and 20 of Luke, Chapter 22. He told them to do this in remembrance of Him. It was not the cup of verse 17 that he told them to drink. It was the cup of verse 20. The cup of verse 17 was the cup of Redemption that Jesus drank for all men when He shed His blood. The fourth cup of verse 20 was the cup of Praise. It represents the life of the Spirit! It is the cup of Resurrection. It is not the death of Jesus Christ that guarantees our resurrection. It is the resurrection of Christ that guarantees our resurrection! It is the partaking of life that guarantees the fullness of life! The death of Jesus gave all men the right to drink of the cup of resurrection through faith in Him. When we receive the life of the Holy Spirit, we are guaranteed the full resurrection! It is the cup that Jesus drinks new with us in the kingdom of His Father. It is not a cup to be drunk in heaven. The fourth cup was the cup of Praise, a cup to be drunk upon the earth. It is the testimony of His resurrection life that guarantees the fullness of the resurrection to come. It guarantees the resurrection of heaven, because the members of the living Body of Christ are drinking the cup of resurrection of heaven upon the earth.

Lk. 22:17 Then He took the cup, and gave thanks, and said, “Take this and divide it among yourselves; 18 for I say to you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.” 19 And He took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “This is My body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of Me.” 20 Likewise He also took the cup after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood, which is shed for you.”

The cup of Christ’s blood for the New Covenant believer is not the third cup. It is the fourth cup! By drinking of the cup of Praise (Resurrection) with God by His Spirit, we proclaim that Jesus Christ has drunk the third cup of Redemption for all of mankind! The communion table of the New Covenant is not set with the third cup of Redemption. It is set with the cup of Praise. When we drink of His resurrection life together as living members of the Body of Christ, we truly experience the communion table of the New Covenant. We do this in remembrance of Him! Communion is not coming together to drink the third cup of the Passover again. It is coming to drink the cup that followed the supper. It is the cup that was meant to be drunk after the lamb had been eaten. It is not the shadow cup of Praise, but the real cup of Praise! We are called to receive one another as the living members of the Body of Christ and then drink the cup of His resurrection together as the Body of Christ! The true Lamb of God is to be received (eaten) for the death of all mankind and true life (the cup of the Spirit) is to be received by all men.

I believe the true communion was sharing in the bread of the Body of Christ and the cup of the Spirit. There was a furtherance to intimacy with a deeper understanding of God and one another. It wasn’t the elements of bread and wine that made for a communion service. It was a receiving of the Holy Spirit and the Body of Christ!

I want to propose that the “breaking of bread” of the early church was not meant to be a ritual of bread and wine. It was meant to be the daily celebration of the gathering together of the Body of Christ. It can include the elements of food, but in its greater reality it reveals the food of the Body of Christ and the life of the resurrection Spirit in the Body of Christ. It is a celebration of human brethren living together according to the Spirit of Christ. It is void of judgments according to the flesh. It is a testimony of a love for God as their Father and a love for one another as members of God’s city; His community of sons and daughters in His kingdom.

2 Cor. 5:14 For the love of Christ constrains us, because we judge thus: that if One died for all, then all died; 15 and He died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again. 16 Therefore, from now on, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him thus no longer. 17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. 18 Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, 19 that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation. 20 Therefore we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God. 21 For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

Food For Thought,

Ted J. Hanson

Taken from my book The Seven Eyes of Grace: Empowered to Live: Chapter 6 – The Spirit of Knowing.

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 light of the arrival of Easter in a few weeks, I have decided to post a series on Communion – taken from my book: The Seven Eyes of Grace, Chapter 6.

To find the beginning of the communion meal, we have to understand the completion of the Passover meal of the Old Covenant. It was the fulfillment of the bread and wine of the Old Covenant that made the way for us to partake of the true bread and wine of the New Covenant.

Lk. 22:15 Then He said to them,“With fervent desire I have desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer; 16 for I say to you, I will no longer eat of it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.” 17 Then He took the cup, and gave thanks, and said, “Take this and divide it among yourselves; 18 for I say to you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.” 19 And He took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “This is My body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of Me.” 20 Likewise He also took the cup after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood, which is shed for you.”

The setting of the communion table was one of friendship, fellowship, and life! Jesus and His disciples were not just eating a meal. They had come together to partake of a spiritual fulfillment. This particular meal was to testify of the fulfillment of the Passover meal, once for all. It marked the crucifixion of Christ to become the Lamb slain for all the sins of the world. It also marked the beginning of the increase of the Body of Christ. It was the fulfillment of the testimony of God’s life for the entire world! The disciples didn’t know this, but Jesus was well aware of the significance of this time together. The bread at the table was not just any bread. It was the unleavened bread of the Passover meal. It was like every portion of bread made for every Passover meal to that date in time. It was made in the same way, and it looked the same as every previous illustration. However, Jesus saw this bread in its reality. He took it, blessed it, broke it, and gave it to the disciples. As He did, He said some profound words: “Take, eat; this is My body.” The bread before them was a shadow of the true Body who stood in their midst. The bread of the Passover meal was only a shadow, but the Man standing in their midst was the real thing! He was the Man of heaven who cast a shadow into the past to reveal that He was the Lamb slain from the foundations of the world (Rev. 13:8). I believe Jesus’ statement was an invitation. I believe Jesus was saying: “Do you know what this bread really is? It has been sitting at this meal hundreds of times! Did you know that it is not just bread baked with a particular recipe? It is bread that has specifically and precisely represented Me. It is a shadow on the ground of My reality in heaven, but I have good news for you! Here I am! This bread is My body, but here I stand in bodily form. Receive My gift, take Me into your heart, become part of Me. Let’s transition the bread from picture form to flesh and bone reality! Come, be a part of My living Body.” This was the meal that Jesus fervently longed for. This was the final meal of the shadow and the beginning of reality for the Bread of Life sent down from heaven! The completion of this meal would be the suffering of Christ and it would lead to full communion of the Body of Christ.

Jesus took the cup. It was likely the third cup of the Passover celebration. It was the cup of Redemption and Blessing. It was the type and shadow of His shed blood for the redemption of all men. It represented the life of the flesh, as the life of the flesh is in the blood (Lev. 17:11). Jesus was ready to give the fullness of His sinless life for the fullness of the sinful flesh of the world. The qualifier of this transaction was not the goodness of mankind. It was the goodness and love of the Man Jesus Christ. He took the cup, gave thanks, and gave it to his disciples saying, “Drink from it, all of you” (Mt. 26:27). Luke’s account says that Jesus told them to “divide it among themselves”. This was the once for all cup of Redemption for all men. Jesus revealed that this cup was not the wine that they supposed. The cup of Redemption was the shed blood of Jesus Christ. In His death, all men can find the fulfillment of their death. It was the completion of the wages of sin, for the wage of sin is death (Rom. 6:23). Jesus drank the fullness of that cup by shedding His blood upon the cross. This Passover meal was the final meal of its kind. It was the last of the shadow meals. Jesus became the real deal when He was wounded for our transgressions and bruised for our iniquities. He became our Peace through His death upon the cross. The stripes upon His back attained healing for each and every member of the Body of Christ (Isa. 53:5). Jesus told them all to drink this cup. He was saying, “I am about to complete this cup, once for all. It is for you, Judas! It’s for you Peter! It’s for all of you guys who will wrestle with being faithful to Me! It is a demonstration of My faithfulness to you. I am going to complete this. I have identified with you in your meal, now I am going to make a way for you to identify with Me in My meal. The next time we drink this cup, it will be fulfilled in the kingdom of God (Lk. 22:18). We will never again drink it like this. The next time we drink it, it will be new in the kingdom of My Father (Mt. 26:29). I am making a way for you to drink the true cup of Praise (the completion of the earthly cups of the Passover meal). I am making a way for us to drink the cup of the Spirit together. I am going to willingly drink the cup of Redemption by My shed blood for you, so that we can drink the cup of Resurrection Life together. It will be the cup of Praise. When you drink the cup of Resurrection, I will drink it with you. By drinking the cup of Resurrection, you will proclaim My death. By partaking of the Bread of the Body of Christ and drinking the cup of the Holy Spirit’s life among you, you will release the authority of My fulfillment of the flesh for you. You will live together as the Body of Christ, not the flesh of Adam. You will be in Me and in the Father and the Father in you and Me in you!”

Food For Thought,

Ted J. Hanson

Taken from my book The Seven Eyes of Grace: Empowered to Live: Chapter 6 – The Spirit of Knowing.

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 history of the church we have created a division between those who serve in religious service and those who don’t. We have distinguished these to be that of clergy and laity. The form that we have created is a form that is patterned after the Old Covenant service that was prescribed in the Tabernacle of Moses and later carried on though the Temple system of the Old Covenant generations. As I wrote last week, God never desired a single tribe to serve God as priests. The Levites only served as the priesthood because God in His mercy granted them to be a substitute for the firstborn of every tribe of Israel. There service in the ministry sanctified by God brought sanctification to all the families of Israel.

God’s desire has always been that all of His people would be a royal priesthood before Him. His family is a family of kings and priests. It could be interpreted that His family is a family of priestly kings and kingly priests. They are to stand before God as a holy people and they are to rule in this earth as a testimony of the power of Christ. This is God’s heart for all people. All of His people are part of a chosen generation, a royal priesthood to be a holy people who are reveal the testimony of His praise as His family who all know the love of God by His eternal judgment of mercy that grants them eternal life in Christ.

1 Peter 2:9 But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; 10 who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy.

God’s way is leaders who serve the purpose of corporate body expressions of the church, but the work of ministry is done by every believer in a church community. The five-fold ministry is given by God to equip the believers for the work of ministry. That work is to bring the influence of God into the world. It is a ministry of life-giving love that brings about life-changing power to the world. Those who serve in the responsibility of leadership accept a role of servants, but they are not a substitute for each believer’s responsibility as sons and daughters of God. A leader’s role is not a hierarchal position of superiority. They are not a gift given to be served, but to serve.

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.

There is never to be a division between those who are priests and those who are not. Everyone in the family of God is a priest. There is not division between those who are kings and those who are not. Every son or daughter of God has been appointed by God to reign in their world by the power of God’s grace. Jesus is the High Priest of our faith, and He has made a way for our destiny as sons and daughters of God to be restored.

Revelation 1:5-6 To Him who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood, 6 and has made us kings and priests to His God and Father, to Him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.

Our position as kings and priests to God is a matter of relationship and love. It was the love of God through Jesus that restored us to our proper role as the family of God in the earth. Anything that separates us from one another by a means of position or rank is less than God’s will for us as His children.

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