ted4leaders

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

Blog In Audio:

Greetings,

As leaders, we must never see ourselves as better than, or substitutes for, every believer in being a child of God. The sons and daughters of God are intimately connected to God in all that they are and in all that they will be and do in life. When Jesus was among us in human form, He took on the role of a servant to show us all that each and every person is called to know God as their Father as part of a royal priesthood of life.

In the Old Covenant, the Levites served in the priesthood. The Levites were one tribe that stood with Moses in repentance for the sin of the golden calf while Moses was on the mountain in the presence of God. Their action invoked God in His mercy to accept them as a tribe being a substitute for the firstborn of every Israelite family. God’s desire was that every family should serve Him, but the action of the Levites granted the people of God a substitute until the perfect gift of Christ could come. The Old Covenant form is not the form of the New Covenant. A living body of sons and daughters of God is the true temple of the Holy Spirit.

Exodus 32:25 Now when Moses saw that the people were unrestrained (for Aaron had not restrained them, to their shame among their enemies), 26 then Moses stood in the entrance of the camp, and said, “Whoever is on the LORD’s side—come to me!” And all the sons of Levi gathered themselves together to him.

Numbers 3:41 And you shall take the Levites for Me—I am the LORD—instead of all the firstborn among the children of Israel, and the livestock of the Levites instead of all the firstborn among the livestock of the children of Israel.

The Levites served a physical structure with physical ceremonies because the people didn’t desire to be those who were kings and priests to their God as a way of life. God has always desired for His children to be joined to Him in heaven as priests who receive the blessings of heaven into their lives for the sake of others. He has always desired for His children to be kings, bringing the influence of the glory of God’s kingdom to their world. God has not called us to serve physical structures or physical ceremonies. He has called us to be a part of a spiritual house that is the habitation of His Spirit.

1 Peter 2:4 Coming to Him as to a living stone, rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God and precious, 5 you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

When one group of people become priests to God for sake of other people, the best they can bring to them is law. Law can only enslave us, but only grace can transform our lives. Law is a written code of boundaries, while grace is the manifest presence of Christ in each one that transforms them to be a testimony of the life and glory of God.

Hebrews 7:11 Therefore, if perfection were through the Levitical priesthood (for under it the people received the law), what further need was there that another priest should rise according to the order of Melchizedek, and not be called according to the order of Aaron? 12 For the priesthood being changed, of necessity there is also a change of the law. 13 For He of whom these things are spoken belongs to another tribe, from which no man has officiated at the altar.

14 For it is evident that our Lord arose from Judah, of which tribe Moses spoke nothing concerning priesthood. 15 And it is yet far more evident if, in the likeness of Melchizedek, there arises another priest 16 who has come, not according to the law of a fleshly commandment, but according to the power of an endless life. 17 For He testifies: “You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.” 18 For on the one hand there is an annulling of the former commandment because of its weakness and unprofitableness, 19 for the law made nothing perfect; on the other hand, there is the bringing in of a better hope, through which we draw near to God.

Each and every believer in Christ is a child of God who is called to draw near to God. Our role as leaders is not to be priests on behalf of God’s children. We are to be examples that inspire them to also come to the eternal Priest of their faith that they too might be priests unto their God. Their lives, their families, and everything about their lives is to a testimony of being a spiritual house that offers spiritual sacrifices of life that reveal the life-giving goodness of God.

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,

I have been addressing seven things that are essential for leaders to lead and for believers to believe, embrace, and be empowered to reign in life. Our lives are hidden in Christ and our lives are revealed in Christ. We were born to be loved by God and to be empowered by His grace to influence our world for the glory of His name. The foundation of this is found in living by the empowerment of God’s grace found in Jesus Christ. He is the One who gives us internal desires. He is the one who inspires the actions of our lives by an internal empowerment in our hearts of a love for God. The external evidence of our lives is revealed by the daily words of God in our hearts and the life-transformations that constantly reveal a new and living testimony that our world can see. We can give life to our world as sent ones of the authority of life. We are clothed in the clothing of Christ’s resurrection life and we each do our part in the works created for us in Christ. The eternal judgment of God’s mercy continues to make us a part of a family of life with communion with God as our Father and with one another as His sons and daughters. These six things are known as repentance from dead works, faith towards God, a way of life that comes by submersions, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and God’s eternal judgment. These six things are listed in Hebrew’s chapter 6 with the hope of moving on to perfection, the seventh thing found in the foundation of Christ in our lives.

Hebrews 6:1 Therefore, leaving the discussion of the elementary principles of Christ, let us go on to ⁷perfection, not laying again the foundation of ¹repentance from dead works and of ²faith toward God, 2 of the ³doctrine of baptisms, of ⁴laying on of hands, of ⁵resurrection of the dead, and of ⁶eternal judgment.

What is perfection? Is perfection what happens in our lives? Or is perfection what progressively happens in the lives of others because of us? Our destiny in Christ is part of an eternal reality. It is part of a multigenerational plan. Our lives are given to us that our children and our children’s children might know God in a greater way than we do. There reality is the fruit of our sowing. Our ultimate reaping is in their further sowing. The cloud of witness is the increasing reality of the living, in heaven and upon the earth.

Hebrews 12:22 But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels, 23 to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are registered in heaven, to God the Judge of all, to the spirits of just men made perfect, 24 to Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaks better things than that of Abel.

God’s place of influence in the earth and in heaven is Mount Zion. What was formerly possessed by an enemy that sought to trample upon the visions and dreams of our hearts has been cast down. Zion is our corporate connection to God in heaven and upon the earth for the future of our world. A former stronghold of death has become the place of God eternal residence – a place of knowing Christ in us and us in Him. We are above the principalities, powers, thrones, dominions, and names of this world. Our connection to God and to one another is seen though the giving our lives for God’s glory in the destiny of humanity. This is the power of prayer. It is the fruit of an awe of God, the deepest of love found in an awe of who God is. It is a willingness to put God first in our lives for the sake of Him being first in the lives of our children and our children’s children. It is giving God our very best for the sake of Him making even the least the best in our lives and in the lives of our posterity. By this, the earth will increasingly be filled with the glory of God. This was the seed sown by Abel, when he gave to God the first and He gave to God the best. His awe inspired love for God guaranteed the future of humanity. His assassination in the earth could not destroy his inheritance in heaven, nor in the earth. His blood upon the soil of the earth cried out for the once for all shed blood of Jesus Christ that would redeem the future of the family of God in the earth. I believe this is the testimony of perfection.

I pray today that the awe-inspiring Spirit of the fear of the Lord would empower us all to give our lives for the generations of God’s glory. To live our lives in a face-to-face relationship with God will empower us to receive the increasing rewards gained for us by the mercy of God. God’s love is not just a victory for our lives. It is the victory for the destiny of our family name. May we be inspired to give God our first in everything and may our hearts be gripped to give Him the best. May we eat with Him and drink with Him in the feast called ‘our life’. By this our mark in heaven and our mark in this world will be a crown that we can cast before the One who loves us. All things are summed up in Christ that all things might be presented to the Father for it was His plan to partner with the family of mankind.  

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 with the empowerments of grace found in the foundation of Christ. I believe these things are essential for leaders to lead and for believers in Christ to believe, embrace, and be empowered to reign in life.

We must embrace a foundation of repentance unto life. As we receive the desires of God in our hearts, we find freedom from our old desires of the flesh. We are alive to God because we are loved by the One who gives us life.

Because we know His love, we now live a life of faith toward Him in all things. It is demonstrated in the works of our lives. The actions of our lives are a testimony of our identification in Him. We love Him and we trust Him; therefore, the life we live we live for Him in all things.

Our way of life is changing because our teacher is Holy Spirit. He doesn’t merely teach us by informing us as to what to do in life. He teaches us by transforming us as we are submerged in His anointing that transforms us from within. He teaches us by giving us our true testimony in Christ.

Our Father is Light, and we are growing in being the substance of His light to our world. His life-giving authority is flowing through us as we lay hands upon our world to bring light to darkness, healing to sickness, hope to hopelessness, and life to all manner of death.

Each of us are a unique part of the fellowship revealing the resurrection life of Christ. We each contribute to revealing the resurrection power of Christ to one another and to our world. We were created in Christ to be clothed in Christ with the power of His Might. We each do our share as we are sent to reveal Him to our world.

Today I want to address a sixth aspect found in the foundation of Christ. This is the grace of eternal judgment.

Hebrews 6:1 Therefore, leaving the discussion of the elementary principles of Christ, let us go on to ⁷perfection, not laying again the foundation of ¹repentance from dead works and of ²faith toward God, 2 of the ³doctrine of baptisms, of ⁴laying on of hands, of ⁵resurrection of the dead, and of ⁶eternal judgment.

God is our friend and He loved us so much, He sent His only begotten Son to reconcile us to Him. We were bound to the judgments of law and death. We chose to be independent from God our Father and our family tree became a tree of the knowledge of good and evil. There is good and there is evil, but our judgment of them is bound to deception, misinterpretation, and rebellion due to our self-seeking desires. The tree of the knowledge of good and evil is filled with a fear of death and thus many judgments of death come upon us. God does not give us a judgment of death. The judgments of death are the result of not choosing an intimate relationship with God in life. The judgment that God offers us is an eternal judgment based upon His love.

A connection to, and a dependance upon, God will always lead to life. The eternal judgment that God gave to the world through Jesus Christ was MERCY! His death upon the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (the cross), justified all men to live because in Christ we all died. Because we died in Christ, we also find our life in Christ as members of His body by the power of His love. We are in communion with Him for eternal life with Him and with one another as the community of Christ.  

Romans 5:8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 9 Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. 10 For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.

By Jesus we can receive the eternal judgment of mercy that justifies us to live. Because His mercy has justified us to live, His grace can now empower us to receive God’s salvation for eternity. The eternal judgment of God in Christ is – ‘Mercy, Eternal life for all who believe!’ This is a testimony of the Holy Spirit working by the Spirit of Knowing (intimacy) in our lives.

God has made an eternal judgment of mercy that triumphs over every other judgment. All we need to do is boldly come to His throne of grace to receive it. When we willingly receive His judgment of mercy, we are able to find His grace that transforms our lives by the power of His love. This is a power of communion with Him and with one another as the bread of the body of Christ. This is part of our foundation in Christ that sends us forward in the process of maturity as sons and daughters of God at all times.

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 foundation of our lives is in Christ. Our foundation is not in ourselves, but in Jesus and in being a member of His life-giving body in this world. The empowerment of who we are in Christ is given to us by the seven-fold working of God’s grace. We have been granted a gift of repentance unto life. We are not dead, but alive in Christ and our desires are being changed by God’s love working in us as the Spirit of the Lord. We have been granted a wisdom that comes by the Holy Spirit. This wisdom empowers the actions of our lives to be ones of faith as members of Christ. Holy Spirit is our teacher, and He teaches us by submerging us in His testimony to be continually changed in heavenly ways, inside and out. We are sons and daughters of light and we have been given the authority of being the life-giving hands of Christ to our world.

Another foundation in our lives it that of the Resurrection of the Dead. We have been granted repentance unto life by the Spirit of the Lord, but the Spirit of Might has granted us a place in the fellowship of Christ with a testimony of His resurrection life. We don’t just do works of faith toward who God is, we also discover who we are in Christ to walk in the good works that contribute to the fellowship of the resurrection life of Christ in our midst. The key to fellowship is Christ in our midst. This is the fellowship that the first-fruit church continued in as a testimony of the resurrection life of Christ (Acts 2:42). Our fellowship is a testimony of the resurrection life of Christ in who we are and in our testimony together.

Matthew 18:20  “For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them.”

1 Corinthians 1:9  God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

God has given a grace for a union of close joining relationships that raise up His body. The supply of life to one another is a portion of God’s resurrection life that He has given to each of us for one another. This is the fellowship of the Holy Spirit. This fellowship causes each of us to bring a contribution to others that will empower the body and its parts to come to life within its effective sphere of operation. We are each given a ‘measure’ of the resurrection life of Christ as a testimony of Him.

Ephesians 4:7 But to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ’s gift.

Ephesians 4:16  Under His direction, the whole body is fitted together perfectly. As each part does its own special work, it helps the other parts grow, so that the whole body is healthy and growing and full of love.

We must learn to be ourselves and to carry our load in the fellowship of Christ. This is in the testimony of the motivational giftings of our lives, our ministry in Christ, and our part in the power of His Spirit.

Ephesians 2:10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.

As a part of the fellowship, Christ makes a confession of who we are before God our Father and before angels (sent ones), speaking of a “sending forth” by the power of His might for works of righteousness.

Philippians 3:8 But indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith; 10 that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, 11  if, by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.

Fellowship with Him and one another will cause us to walk in the light (1 Jn. 1:1-7). Fellowship in Him ends the works of the flesh and commences the works of the Spirit! Our fellowship will enable us to do works of righteousness as we each contribute to the stature of Christ.

Revelation 3:5 “He who overcomes shall be clothed in white garments, and I will not blot out his name from the Book of Life; but I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels.”

Food For Thought,

Ted J. Hanson

Continue reading →

Blog In Audio:

Greetings,

God’s grace enables and empowers us to be transformed in our hearts and minds to be seen in this world as sons and daughters of God. I have been addressing seven things for leaders to lead and for believers to live. Those seven things are testimonies of God’s grace working in our lives. God’s grace is the manifest presence of Holy Spirit working in and through us.

Holy Spirit is the Spirit of the Lord that gives us God’s desires in our hearts. Those desires are the fruit of being loved by God. We have been granted repentance unto life and we are not bound to dead works because every dead area of our hearts is being made living by the desire of heaven. That desire is a gift of the Spirit of the Lord working in us.

Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Wisdom that grants us an empowerment of God’s love to demonstrate our love for God by works that speak of our faith towards Him. Our faith is not merely towards what God can do; our faith is towards who God is. He is love and life and no manner of death can prevail in our lives. Together we are members of His body of life with works that testify that we are the body of Christ.

Holy Spirit is increasingly giving us a testimony of heaven by the Spirit of Understanding working in and through our lives. We have God’s daily words in our hearts and minds. It is the hidden manna (an internal mystery of ‘what is it?’), giving us an internal transformation that spills over in a supernatural testimony of change in our lives. We live each day with an increasing identity of our peace with God in Christ. We are one with Him and our connection to Him is revealing His testimony of heaven in our lives in supernatural ways.

Today I present that another foundation of our lives in Christ is the Spirit of Counsel and our ability to bring God’s influence of light to our world. We have a ministry of laying on of hands. Our authority is a power to give life to our world. We bring healing to sickness, hope to hopelessness, fullness to emptiness, light to darkness, and life to death in every place we walk in life. We are light to our world because our Father is Light. We are not merely reflections of His light; we are the substance of His light. Every good and perfect gift comes from Him and as His sons and daughters we are sent in His authority to bring the influence of His good and prefect gifts to our world.

Mark 16:17 And these signs will follow those who believe: In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues; 18 they will take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.”

Our Heavenly Father delights in us as His children. We have been given the ministry of being His life-giving hands to our world. It is not merely knowing some teaching concerning the laying on of hands, it is the laying of our hands upon our world and seeing the fruit of God’s Spirit of Counsel at work. The counsel of the world is a counsel of instruction and information, but the Counsel of God is the substance of true authority that brings life to the world. It doesn’t merely instruct us in what to do, it empowers us in who to be. We become expressions of life as our Father is Life. We become expressions of light as our Father is Light.

The world often defines authority by what they can get from someone else. They measure it by a power that defines the importance of who they are. The kingdom of heaven defines authority by what we can give to someone else. We have already found our importance in Christ as sons and daughters of our Father in heaven and we are anointed to give the substance of the life of heaven to our world. Our hands, the external extension of our lives, are instruments to give life to our world. It is not about what we can get but what we have been given to give to our world. This is not a truth just for those who have physical hands, but for everyone in Christ to be givers of life to their world.  A leader must lead in the laying on of hands and all believes must live to lay hands upon their world to bring life to all that is within their God-given sphere of influence in life.

The way of life of the apostles of the first-fruit church of the first century was that of bringing life to the world in life-giving ways. The foundation of the church had a ‘sent authority’ within it that was the way of the apostles. I believe that keeping in the apostle’s doctrine was fulfilled by embracing the lifestyle of being sent ones to the world with the life-giving authority of Christ. The word apostle means, sent one. All believers in Christ are to be ‘sent ones’ to their world with the authority of the Spirit of Counsel in Christ. We can expect to lay hands upon our world and see the fruit of life in supernatural ways.

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,

I have been addressing seven essential truths found in the foundation of Christ that a leader must lead, and believers must believe. I have presented the first two. As leaders we must lead others in embracing a lifestyle of repentance from dead works. This is repentance unto life. It is a gift of God’s grace working in our lives. The dead places in our hearts become empowered by the life of God and the desires of our hearts change. We know God’s love and our hearts and minds are changed by the Spirit of the Lord.

A second thing that leaders must lead, and believers must believe is a lifestyle of faith toward God. This is not faith towards the promises of God. It is faith toward God as the Promiser. The evidence of our faith is seen in works of love towards God that demonstrate our belief in Him. We believe Him, and we respond to His words of love in our lives. We live our lives as members of the body of Christ with no fear of death. God’s perfect love has cast out our fears and our lives are filled with works that testify of our identity in Christ’s body.

Today I want to address our need to embrace, and lead others in a lifestyle of being submerged in the Holy Spirit. Being submerged in Christ changes our lives and we become a testimony of that change, both inside and out. We live on daily words of His life and outward testimonies that reveal that our character, nature, way, power, and authority are being made new in Christ.

The writer of the book of Hebrews describes this truth as the doctrine of baptisms. It is not the doctrine about baptisms. It is the doctrine of baptisms. It is not what we believe about baptisms, but rather what happens when we are submerged in Christ’s anointing.

If we translate the word ‘doctrine’ we would say that it is ‘teaching’ or simply, ‘our way of life’. Holy Spirit teaches us by transforming our lives. The transformation that comes by the work of Holy Spirit in our lives causes the testimony of Christ within us to become an outward testimony of our lives. This is not a one-time experience in our lives. It is a testimony of baptisms, a testimony of many submersions in the anointing of Holy Spirit.

The word baptism means to be “submerged” or completely “immersed” in something. The doctrine of baptisms is the transformational teaching that comes into our lives when we are “submerged” or “immersed” into the anointing of the Holy Spirit and His grace of the Spirit of Understanding. How are we submerged in that anointing? We are submerged in that anointing when we live a lifestyle of responding to the One within us in outward ways. We become submerged as we respond to Holy Spirit and what is within us overflows from our hearts.

Holy Spirit takes what is of Jesus and the Father and reveals it to us (Jn. 16:14). He doesn’t reveal His teaching to us as ‘information’. He doesn’t come to ‘inform’ us of anything. He comes to change our lives! He comes to ‘transform’ us. He comes as the Spirit of Understanding to open up the eyes of our hearts to know the hope of Christ’s calling and the riches of His inheritance in us (Eph. 1:18). That is the kind of teacher He is! He is the facilitator of the covenant of grace. Grace is the power of the Holy Spirit’s presence that changes our lives! The Holy Spirit is the only teacher of the New Covenant.

1 Jn. 2:20 But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you know all things.

1 Jn. 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 way of life that comes by submersions speaks of the ability for the power of God inside of us to be visibly known in our lives. This happens when we willingly respond to the presence of Holy Spirit in us by giving expression to release what is within us out. The belief in our hearts becomes the outward testimony of our lives in supernatural and miraculous ways. The outward ways of our lives are changed by internal ways of God in our hearts. When we give expression to the daily internal words of God in our lives, the external testimony of our lives becomes a testimony of our new name in 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 to address seven things a leader must lead in – seven things a believer must live in. The first thing was a matter of repentance unto life that frees us from being bound to dead works. The dead places in our hearts are continually transformed by God’s life as the grace of the Spirit of the Lord gives us God’s desires in our hearts. This is a daily process and part of our journey in life. We are continually renewed in the desires of our hearts as God changes us from within.  

The second thing that a leader must lead in, and a believer must live in, is a matter of faith towards God. True faith is towards a person, not toward a promise. Because we know the love of God, we love Him. We know that our future is secure, and we have no fear of any form of death, not even the physical death of our lives. The works that we do in life demonstrate our faith towards who God is.

The act of water baptism is a testimony of a work that declares our identification in the person Jesus Christ as a member of the body of Christ. A second aspect in the foundation of the body of Christ is to live a life of faith towards the One we identify in.

2 Corinthians 5:14-15 For the love of Christ compels us, because we judge thus: that if One died for all, then all died; 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.

Galatians 2:20 I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.

Colossians 3:3-11 For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory. Therefore put to death your members which are on the earth: fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. Because of these things the wrath of God is coming upon the sons of disobedience, in which you yourselves once walked when you lived in them. But now you yourselves are to put off all these: anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy language out of your mouth. Do not lie to one another, since you have put off the old man with his deeds, and have put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him, where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcised nor uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave nor free, but Christ is all and in all.

Faith Towards God is demonstrated in works of faith that testify of our connection to God. Water baptism is such a work. It is an outward testimony of our internal connection to God in Christ. We are baptized unto a person, who is a personal leader. Baptism is an act of faith that identifies us in a living relationship with a real person. Being baptized in the name of Jesus means being baptized in the name of God’s fullness. That is to be baptized into the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit (Mt. 28:19).

Water baptism is a first work of faith and is to be one act among countless acts of our faith toward God. Water baptism reveals the truth of every act of faith we do in Christ. Water baptism testifies to the fact that we died in Christ, were buried in Christ, and have risen to a new life in Him (Rom. 6:4). That new life has no fear of death, since water baptism is an act that testifies of the once-for-all death of Christ. By this act of faith we can know that every action we take of faith toward God has no fear of death in it. Not even the second death, the final eternal death, has any power over us (Rev. 2:11).

A lifestyle of faith marks us as being a part of the Body of Christ. Water baptism is the act of the Christian faith that marks us as part of the Body of Christ, the circumcision of our hearts toward God.

We have faith toward God by the Spirit of Wisdom at work in our lives. Faith toward God is faith filled and fear empty. Faith toward God is not the fear of circumstances.

Every work we do should testify of our connection to Jesus Christ as a member of His body here upon the earth. The works we do we do by faith in Him. Whatever we do testifies that we are members of the body of Christ. We are loved by God, and we love God. Our love for God is testified in the works of our lives.

As the writer of the book of Hebrews wrote, faith towards God is an empowerment of the Spirit of God in our lives. The Spirit of wisdom empowers us to do works that testify of our love for God because we know we are loved by Him. It is part of the grace of God working in our lives. We have no fear of death because the perfect love of God in Christ frees us from yielding to any fear of dying. Leaders lead by example in this, and leaders lead others to embrace faith towards God in their hearts so the works of their lives will demonstrate their faith in the person Jesus 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