ted4leaders

Greetings;

As leaders in the Body of Christ we must lead with the full armor of God. I believe that armor is the fullness of the testimony of the Holy Spirit in our lives. It is the testimony of being led by one Spirit, one faith, one submersion, one God and Father of all, one God above all, one God through all, and one God in all. It is the testimony of the seven-fold Holy Spirit of God at work in our lives.

I have written on this subject before in my Monday writings, but feel that I must again post this truth for the sake our understanding as leaders in the Body of Christ. As leaders we must lead in standing in the clothing of grace. Standing is a biblical stature for receiving the inheritance of the earth. We are not standing in the earth defending ourselves from the enemy. The enemy is defending himself against us because we are dispossessing every power of death by the power of God’s grace. The apostle Paul addressed the subject of standing in the sixth chapter of the book of Ephesians.

Ephesians 6:10-13 Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might.  Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.

The full armor of God is the full clothing of His grace. The purpose of that armor is to empower us to invade the earth with life! We are transforming darkness to light, sickness to healing, bondage to freedom, and death to life in every form it is found. That armor of God’s grace is revealed throughout Scripture in many ways. The apostle Paul revealed it in the fourth chapter of Ephesians as ¹⁾ one Lord, ²⁾ one Faith, ³⁾ one Submersion, ⁴⁾ one God and Father, ⁵⁾ one God above all, ⁶⁾ one God through all, and ⁷⁾ one God in all (Eph. 4:4-6).  The apostle Peter revealed these same things through the attributes of a spiritual house with a testimony of being:  ¹⁾ a chosen generation; ²⁾ a royal priesthood; ³⁾ a holy nation; ⁴⁾ God’s own special people; ⁵⁾ God’s people of praise – once darkness, but now light; ⁶⁾ the people of God; and ⁷⁾ the people who have obtained mercy and now reign in life (1 Pet. 2:9,10).

Being clothed in the grace of God empowers us to dispossess the enemy in the land of our inheritance. It is the power of the Spirit of the Lord, the Spirit of Wisdom, the Spirit of Understanding, the Spirit of Counsel, the Spirit of Might, the Spirit of Knowing, and the Spirit of the Fear of the Lord (Isa. 11:1,2). This is the power of the grace of God at work in our lives. It is the clothing of the manifest presence of God that dispossesses the enemy. The armor of God is the testimony that reveals God rests in our lives. Our standing is not a standing of defense, it is a standing of occupation and inheritance. As is written in the synthesis of Scripture, standing is a position of inheritance. The whole armor of God is a testimony of the fullness of God in bodily form (Eph. 1:22, 23). It is the empowerment of the sevenfold Holy Spirit of God in our lives.

Ephesians 6:14-18 Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one.  And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God; praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints— 

The armor of grace is the testimony of God’s love in our lives. We know one Lord, one desire of heart that empowers us to be the generations of His testimony. He picked us! He loves us! Our future testimony and posterity is made known by the truth of His love. A revelation of His love is giving us a new ‘want to’ for the empowerment of our commitment to God in Christ. We can boldly come and say, ‘here I am’. We are the little ‘i ams’ in the big ‘I AM’ of Christ. We have been granted repentance unto life that frees us from every dead work of the flesh. We are alive in Christ!

We live from our hearts with works that speak of our faith toward God. Our wisdom is not found in the strength of our own works, but in the empowerment of works that testify of our love for God and witness to our faith toward God in all things. It is through a right relationship with and a dependency upon God that we live from our hearts with faith toward God. It is the grace of the Spirit of Wisdom that reveals our royal and priestly roles in life.

Something is dripping off of our feet and it reveals our heavenly position in Christ. We were once submerged in the bitterness of life, but now there is a response to God from our hearts that overflows with a testimony of His Holy Spirit. We are submerged in the grace of His Understanding. We were once of the ungodly nations of the world, but now we are a holy nation before our God. We stand under His submersions with a grace of the Spirit of Understanding to bring His life to the world. The testimony of His house in heaven is the reality of peace that we bring to the world in which we live.

We are not alone, but each stand as lights and the fire of life to create a shield of faith empowered by the Counsel of His light. The Father of lights is revealing us to be His children of light. We are light to the darkness, healing to all sickness, and life to death in this world. The Spirit of Counsel reveals that we are ministers of fire (Ps. 104:4) and the little fiery darts of the enemy pale week in the flame of His presence upon us. We are His special people, each carrying the grace of His life-giving hands of blessing as we walk in submission to Him and one another as the body of Christ.

We wear the helmet of His salvation. There is no god above us for He is the God above all in our lives. He is our salvation in every situation for we are fully awake in Him. The apathy of flesh has been overwhelmed by the passion of His Might. The grace of the Spirit of Might is making us alive to Him in all things and we contribute to the cause of Christ as His people of praise in the earth. We wear the grace of the Spirit of Might to reveal that He is the God above all gods and that we have fellowship with Him and one another in the power of His resurrection life!

Something is flowing through us that is a weapon of life. The life-giving words of God flow as a piercing weapon of love to the hearts of men. We release the sharp quickening edges of sacrificial love as our lives confess a love for God and for men. The judgments we make are not judgments of the flesh. They are judgments for the poor from the equity of our lives. We make decisions for others based upon who we are in Christ, not what they deserve in the flesh. We are the people of God who walk as the community of God to bring the communion of God to all men. The word in our mouths is a word of His love, a judgment of eternal life for all who believe in Him. We are the people of God and we wear the grace of the Spirit of Knowing, intimacy with God and men through Christ’s eternal judgment of love for all people.

Our decrees are those of the life of the Spirit and not those of defeat. Our destiny is not Nirvana, dust, or the grave. We reign on a throne in Christ and we manifest the glory that He sups and dines with us and we with Him. There is one God in us, in our children, and in our children’s children and He will empower us to reign with Him in life. We wear the grace of the Spirit of the Fear of the Lord, praying always in the Spirit with an awe of His presence and glory in all things. We are the essence of the prayer of God to bring forth the full harvest of His destiny in the earth. We have obtained mercy and now we reign in Christ!

God’s grace is not His favor without change. God’s grace is His change made known in our lives that testifies of His favor. We are clothed in the power of God’s grace and we are dispossessing the enemy of Christ’s inheritance in the earth. Where the soles of our feet walk it is becoming the inheritance of God in the earth. His enemies are being made His footstool because His presence rests in and upon our lives as the children of God.

Let us be leaders in the Body of Christ who stand as ambassadors of His name and His kingdom in this world. No matter what circumstance we find ourselves in, let us set examples of members of His body empowered by His grace. We are the family of God brought near by the peace of God in Christ. We are a family of faith, because we are a family of love. Let us be faithful in the hope of His calling, being the riches of His inheritance, and releasing the demonstration of His power from our place of authority in Christ. We are above and not below; we are joined to the Head and are not of the tail. The earth is the Lords and it will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of God. The evidence of Last Adam will outweigh the evidence of first Adam among the human race.

Food For Thought,

Ted J. Hanson

Greetings;

The New Covenant is not about what to do or how to act. It is about who we are in Christ. However, who we are can be revealed in what we do and how we act. I believe that the apostle Paul was a man with great understanding of grace. He was formerly a man of Law who was transformed to be a man of grace. Surely he understood the Law, but he was not afraid to confront those who were bound to the Law to embrace a salvation and a testimony that can only come by God’s manifest presence in the human heart through the power of God’s grace. Paul presented principles of grace more than concepts of Law. Unless we make that leap in our thinking our understanding of Paul’s writings can be twisted to say something that he never said. Just as Paul used husbands and wives to present a truth of Christ and the Church, he used family and everyday practical realities to reveal a truth of God’s grace and the power of faith.

Ephesians 6:1-3 Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right.  “Honor your father and mother,” which is the first commandment with promise: “that it may be well with you and you may live long on the earth.”

As a child of God I look for those who are my parents and mentors in the way of life. As a child of God I look to extend and expand the inheritance of my parents. I look to make the days of the family name long in the earth. As members of Christ’s Church we must show honor to parents. And as parents and leaders in the Body of Christ we must never provoke church members to wrath. We must not see our knowledge as greater than the successive generation, but only as a tool to serve them in becoming a testimony of what we could only begin in our own lifetimes. We must not frustrate those we lead by trying to control their lives. We must inspire them to hear God’s voice within their hearts so they too can walk in the path of destiny set out for them by God in life.

Ephesians 6:4 And you, fathers, do not provoke your children to wrath, but bring them up in the training and admonition of the Lord.

The objective of fathers is to raise up sons who too become fathers. The dream of the old must become the vision of the young and the vision of the young must further inspire the old to dream. I am finding this to be true in my own life as a father to my own children and a spiritual father in the Body of Christ. These things are not the rules of the kingdom, but merely the testimonies of true kingdom life in Christ. It is not a matter of law, but a testimony of true grace.

As those who are involved in the task of ministering to others, we often get caught in the duty of service. Being in charge of something doesn’t free us from the responsibility of representing others in life. To have authority we must first be under authority. We must also understand that what has been entrusted to us is meant to produce life in those who are under our authority. Whether it is in a secular job in the workplace or in serving practical duties in the church, we all serve others in our task of life.

Ephesians 6:5-8 Bondservants, be obedient to those who are your masters according to the flesh, with fear and trembling, in sincerity of heart, as to Christ; not with eye service, as men-pleasers, but as bondservants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart, with goodwill doing service, as to the Lord, and not to men, knowing that whatever good anyone does, he will receive the same from the Lord, whether he is a slave or free.

We don’t serve others to get ahead in life. We serve others because it is our nature to love God and people. We serve because we love. This is not a thing of being noticed, but it is the character of the family of God. Someone is always going to have a greater mastery in some area of life and we must serve who he or she is to be who we are meant to be. This includes the concept of employers and employees and leadership and membership in the Church. Being a master is not a matter of being better that those who serve their area of mastery, it is a matter of accepting the responsibility of tasks given in life. Being a servant doesn’t make us less than masters; it is simply a fuller expression of all that needs to be done in a corporate sphere of influence.

Ephesians 6:9 And you, masters, do the same things to them, giving up threatening, knowing that your own Master also is in heaven, and there is no partiality with Him.

My challenge to us all is that we embrace the culture of family in the Church. Let us all embrace the testimony of being God’s family of love in all that we are and do. What we do and how we act will reflect who we are. If we are the family of God, we should be like God in His character, nature, way, power, and authority in all that we do. This is not a matter of principles, rules, or any expression of law. It is a testimony of the grace of God at work in our hearts. We are the family of God!

Food For Thought,

Ted J. Hanson

Greetings;

Last week I addressed leadership from the view of the basic family elements of a husband and a wife. Even for the family, the masculine and feminine expressions of the likeness and the image of God are expressed through the two basic elements of a husband and a wife. A husband and a wife each present the attribute of being children of God, sons in the aspect of inheritance.

Galatians 3:26-29 For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 

Sons of God are revealed through that which is both masculine and feminine. Just as all are sons, all are also members of the bride of Christ. These are the elements of family. Family is made of children, who become adults that embrace a relationship of family beyond their beginning to be fruitful, multiply, fill, subdue, and exercise dominion in the earth for the Father’s glory. A husband becomes a father and a wife becomes a mother to reveal the divine nature of God in all things. This is why the enemy attacks the family and seeks to twist it, distort it, pervert it, corrupt it, and destroy it. Family is God’s means of manifesting His true character of love in the earth. Leadership and membership in the church should be a testimony of the attributes God’s family that reveals a revelation of the love of God’s family in the earth.

Ephesians 5:25-27 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her, so that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, that He might present to Himself the church in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that she would be holy and blameless.

It is important to understand that the submission is of a wife to a husband, not women to men. In every case, a wife’s submission is to her own source of life. Her submission is to the one who loves and gives love to her. It is to the one who sanctifies her with washing through life-giving words. Her subjection is to the one who presents her alongside of him as a glorious church. God joins a man and a woman for a corporate purpose and destiny. Within the church there is both a masculine and a feminine dynamic of life. Leadership is a masculine expression of Christ’s rule and membership is a feminine expression of Christ’s rule. These are not bound to men and women, but are expressed in both men and women to reveal a mystery that is best depicted in the covenant of marriage of a man and a woman. Like the man and the woman in marriage, God makes them one flesh for His purposes. God also joins church members to church leaders. He does not join all leaders from everywhere to church members, nor does he join all members to all church leaders. God joins members to leaders and leaders to members so that His glorious church can be made manifest. So, what does New Covenant submission look like?

The members are to submit to their ‘own leaders’– ‘as to the Lord’. These are the leaders who love them and give their lives to them. This allows their submission to become an activation of faith. Church members love their leaders, because their leaders first love them.

The members are to submit to their own leaders as unto the Lord. Our submission to the Lord is a direct connection to God as our Father. He has even given us His Holy Spirit who causes our hearts to cry out ‘Abba, Father’. Church members are to submit to their own leaders by being activated to know God their Father as the source of their own identity.

The members are to be subject to their own leaders as those who cause them to come alongside them and serve with them in the corporate testimony of Christ and His glorious church. They are not controlled, but rather released to their full testimony of destiny in Christ.

The testimony of New Covenant will be for the leaders to have a threefold attitude toward every member joined to them. The leaders must confess from their hearts their desire to help others become who they are in Christ. They must live for them, and understand that the members of the body live for them as well. Leaders and church members must seek the communion of one another in Christ. Leaders must decide to bring church members alongside them to live with them for the future generations of the church. New Covenant church members must have an attitude that professes to their God-given leadership that they will live from their hearts for them. They see themselves as one body with them and trust the God and Father of them all. New Covenant church members understand that their purpose is divinely joined to the leadership that God has given to them in Christ.

In doing these things, the life-protecting and life-giving image and likeness of God will be revealed in the earth. This is the testimony of the blessed body of Christ and the true manifestation of the children of God. May we all grow in this grace and may the church become the glorious testimony of Christ!

Ephesians 5:30-33 For we are members of His body, of His flesh and of His bones. “For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church. Nevertheless let each one of you in particular so love his own wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband.

Food For Thought,

Ted J. Hanson

Greetings,

Christ in humanity is a true expression of family. This is the testimony of the true church. The church, the body of Christ, is a testimony of God’s family. I believe that leadership in the church is really a role of family. It is an expression of dads, moms, brothers, sisters, husbands, and wives revealing the fruit of love through manifold expressions of family. It is not an organized structure, a socialistic or capitalistic society, an expression of business, or some purposed ministry. It is a family that can be seen in various forms of structure, expressed in socialistic and capitalistic ways, purpose driven through kingdom business ventures, and revealed in various expressions of ministry. The apostle Paul wrote that Jesus and the Church is really a testimony of a husband and a wife. That husband is the masculine expression of Christ’s family and that wife is the feminine expression. These two attributes together reveal the nucleus of family. Paul began by revealing three things that a wife is must do concerning submission to her husband.

Ephesians 5:22-24 Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. For the husband is head of the wife, as also Christ is head of the church; and He is the Savior of the body. Therefore, just as the church is subject to Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything.

In these verses the wife is to submit to her husband as the church does to Christ. She is to submit to him in everything. Under the paradigm of the curse of the fall this is a recipe for disaster. The curse of the fall left the wife bound to a condition of worry and pain, a desire for her husband, and a situation where the husband rules over the wife. Under the paradigm of the fall these words are words of a curse and not words of blessing.

Genesis 3:16 To the woman He said: “ I will greatly multiply your sorrow and your conception; In pain you shall bring forth children;

Your desire shall be for your husband,

And he shall rule over you.”

Whereas the curse left the wife with a temptation to fear death, a suppressed identity, and bondage under dominant control, the blessings of Christ have brought an activation of life, a facilitation of life, and a release of life to the church in her fullness. This is the life given to the bride of Christ through the headship of Christ. This is the life of the body revealed as the feminine expression of mankind in Christ. The masculine expression is seen as that which activates life, facilitates life, and releases life in the full expression of the family of God.

Ephesians 5:25-29 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her, that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word, that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish. So husbands ought to love their own wives as their own bodies; he who loves his wife loves himself. For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as the Lord does the church. 

Godly leadership in the church must not dominate or control. It must seek to activate, facilitate, and release the members of the church to the true testimony of Christ’s life within them. The masculine expression of God is that of protecting life, while the feminine expression of God is that of being a life-giver. The verses in Ephesians reveal that there are three aspects to protecting life. The husband is to:

Love as Christ and give himself for her

Sanctify and cleanse her with washing by the word

Present her to himself a glorious church

These are the very things that Jesus did for us. Husbands must do this for their wives, and the leadership aspect of Christ’s government must do the same for the church. To love and to give as Christ, is to provide and supply the needed resources for life. We love Jesus, because He first loved us. Church members will love leaders, because leaders first love them. New Covenant leadership seeks to provide each member with whatever is needed to bring them to faith in Christ. They do not rule them through natural tactics that promote fear that leads to bondage. They seek to activate each member to the faith of life and function in Him.

Leaders must sanctify and cleanse church members with washing by the word. This is the ‘rhema’ (GSRN 4487) word. These are God’s words from their mouths. This is not the letter of the Law, but Spirit-words of life! This sanctification is one of protection and shelter in the Spirit. Leaders must seek to facilitate the identity of each church member. They seek to help each member find their identity in the Father of lights. Only by this can they be the true light of Christ in the church. New Covenant leadership doesn’t seek to force church members to find their identity in them, they facilitate members to find their identity in Christ.

Leaders must seek to present church members ‘along side’ them as a glorious church. This is a leadership role of propagating and expanding the destiny of the church. This is the ‘release’ of every member to his or her role in ministry. New Covenant leaders don’t seek to control church members. They seek to release them for the purpose of Christ’s kingdom in the earth. The Greek word for ‘present’ in Eph. 5:27 is the GSRN 3936: “paristemi, par-is´-tay-mee, or prolonged paristano, par-is-tan´-o; from GSRN 3844 and GSRN 2476; to stand beside, i.e. (transitively) to exhibit, proffer, (specially), recommend, (figuratively) substantiate; or (intransitively) to be at hand (or ready), aid”. As you can see, this is everything but dominant control!

In order to lead in this way, every member of every leadership team must be empowered by God’s Spirit of Might. They must seek to love God and people more than ministry. Prickly things cannot distract them. Obstacles, obstructions, circumstances, challenges, or other desires cannot deter them from leading with a love for God and for His people. New Covenant leaders must be empowered by the Spirit of Knowing. They must increasingly know the communion of the Spirit and of the saints. New Covenant leaders must also seek to be led by God’s Spirit. They cannot be circumstantially ruled. The Spirit of the Fear of the Lord must empower them to have an awe of God and His plan for every member entrusted to their leadership.

Food For Thought,

Ted J. Hanson

Greetings,

As leaders in the body of Christ we set an example of people who walk in the light. This is not an example of people with a religious heart or attitude. It is simply allowing things in our life that need to be changed, to be changed. God doesn’t look to expose people’s sins for the sake of revealing sin. He wants the weak areas our lives to be made strong by the power of His grace at work in our lives.

Ephesians 5:8-10 For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light (for the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness, righteousness, and truth), finding out what is acceptable to the Lord. 

These verses in the New King James Version reveals that the fruit of the Spirit is in whatever is good, righteous, or true. Other versions state this as the fruit of light. In either case, the evidence is seen in the fruit, not pretend doing. Sometimes the lines between good and evil, righteous and unrighteous, true and false get blurred. A good indicator that we are walking in the path of life is the evidence of the fruit of life. We cannot do fruit, fruit is something that happens when we live in the place where fruit grows. Fruit is something that gives life-energy to someone else and releases seeds for a future generation of life. Fruit is not a self-gratifying thing; it is a life-giving thing to others beyond your own life.

Galatians 5:22, 23 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. 

As leaders we must set an example of walking in the light. We will manifest love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. These are not things that we teach others to do. These are things that manifest when we are simply walking in the light. When these things don’t manifest there is something that is not good, not righteous, or not true in our lives. It might even sound scripturally true, but if the fruit of the Spirit is not there it is not the right Spirit.

The cure to being free from any darkness in our lives is to simply embrace fellowship with light. The light simply transforms the darkness in us to light when we walk in the light. This is an issue of transparency, vulnerability, and a willingness to change. There is no condemnation for our darkness. There is simply a cure. That cure is to embrace the light.

Ephesians 5:11-13 and have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them. For it is shameful even to speak of those things which are done by them in secret. But all things that are exposed are made manifest by the light, for whatever makes manifest is light. 

Leaders set an example to others as to how we can embrace the light. We must live our lives awake to God and awake to the things that bring life to others.

Ephesians 5:14 Therefore He says: “Awake, you who sleep, arise from the dead, and Christ will give you light.”

Living is about being awake to God and awake for the sake of others. We are the light of God in Christ and Christ within our hearts is the light of our souls. It is time that we shine for the sake of the world.

Ephesians 5:15-21 See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is. And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord, giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting to one another in the fear of God.

We must live our lives aware of what is going on in and around us. We seek to live, not live to die. True life is found in our fellowship with God and with one another. It is not in religious efforts, but the sound of life that come out of hearts and affects others around us. Being filled with the Spirit is likened unto being drunk with wine. It must be intended to cause our souls to come alive in a bold and outwardly expressed way? Speaking to one another in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs is not some religious form of music. It is simply living with happy, celebratory, life-giving sounds, testimonies and expressions that touch the live of others. We are to live in relationship with one another in a life-giving way.

To all of you leaders I want to encourage you to be filled with the life of God in a way that the expressions of your life bring life to others. You are those who inspire others to know how much God loves them. You don’t just inspire them to love God, you create an atmosphere where they get a revelation of God’s love in their lives. When they know how much He loves them they cannot help but love Him. Let’s be leaders of life, not religious rules of law!

Food For Thought,

Ted J. Hanson

Greetings,

As leaders, we are not just leading people to the destination of heaven. We are leading people in a heavenly destiny. Is there a difference between a salvation that one-day grants us access to heaven and a salvation that brings the influence of heaven into our daily lives for the sake of the world? Is the inheritance of the kingdom of Christ and God the same as the mercy of God that grants us access to heaven when we die? I am proposing that perhaps there is a difference between these two things. Most everyone who is destined for heaven has entered into the foolish actions of fornication, uncleanness, covetousness, filthiness, foolish talking or something of that sort (Eph. 5:3-7). These actions don’t disqualify us from going to heaven, because right actions never qualified us to get into heaven in the first place. It was the mercy of God through the once for all sacrifice of Jesus Christ that qualified all of mankind to be able to go to heaven when they die. I am not saying that all will, but I am saying that all are qualified through the one action of Jesus.

2 Corinthians 5:14 -16For 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. 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. 

Romans 5: 8-10 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. 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.

In these Scripture texts we see that reconciliation to God is not an action of men, but an action that God did through His Son, Jesus Christ. He reconciled us before we believed. It is the death of Jesus that reconciled us, but the life of Christ that ultimately saves us. What is that salvation? These verses also indicate that salvation is meant to empower us to live for Jesus Christ. It is to live for the inheritance of Christ in the earth. It is given to us so that we can reign in life and bring life to others.

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

We were born for a purpose and a destiny. That purpose and destiny is to bring life to the world. Jesus said that if we come to Him and drink, rivers of life-giving water would flow through us to the world (Jn. 7:37-39). I believe that that water is an expression of heaven’s grace to the world in which we live. Perhaps the gift to go to heaven is an act of God’s mercy, but the gift to bring heaven to the earth is an empowerment of God’s grace?

Ephesians 5:5, 6 For this you know, that no fornicator, unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. 

We cannot live like the world and bring the influence of heaven to the world. Life is not about what we want, it is about being a part of the hope of the calling of Christ, being an expression of His inheritance, and living as a demonstration of His power to the world in which we live (Eph. 1:18-20). It is not about what we get when we die, it is about realizing that we have already died and now it is a matter of what do we bring to fulfill our part of His calling, our role in expanding the inheritance of God in the earth, and how do we demonstrate His power to the world we live in that has a lasting effect upon the generations that follow. We cannot live like those who do not know God and do this. It is part of our new character, nature, way, power, and authority in Christ.

We must live a ministers of reconciliation and as leaders we must demonstrate this to those we lead. We are new creations to empower those yet in the world to know the testimony of being reconciled to God. They are already reconciled, but they are not living in the inheritance of the kingdom of Christ and God. Their disobedience is an ignorance of the reconciliation that has been given to them in Christ. Their disobedience is in their refusal to see and embrace the love of God that has been given through the once for all sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Any wrath of God upon them is simply because they have not embraced the love of God that is intended to be a demonstration in and upon their lives in this world.

2 Corinthians 5:17-21 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, 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. Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God. For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

I believe that our purpose and destiny is to live as ambassadors of Christ in this world. We are bringing the influence of heaven to the barren places of this world. It is not just a matter of God’s pardoning mercy in our lives; it is a matter of His empowering grace!

Food For Thought,

Ted J. Hanson

Greetings,

As leaders we set an example for others in putting off the old conduct of our old man. We do this by putting on the testimony of Christ. We allow Christ within us to be the source of life to our souls.  We live each day to receive the renewal that comes to our minds by Christ’s Spirit within us. We are receiving a new way of thinking inspired by our spirits made alive by Christ’s Spirit within our hearts. We are constantly and progressively becoming new men and women in Christ. Our character, nature, way, power, and authority are becoming that that speaks truth to others with passionate love. This is not speaking law; it is releasing life-giving words to others through the expressions of who we are. When we go through the challenges of life we don’t let the challenges of life determine who we are. Christ in us determines who we are. When we are angry, we never let our day end in anger. We don’t hold on to anything that would be a root of bitterness in our hearts. We are becoming by nature what God already saw us to be. It is affecting our attitudes, our actions, our conversations, our efforts, and our expressions and influence upon others in life.

Ephesians 4:20-32  But you have not so learned Christ, if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught by Him, as the truth is in Jesus: that you put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness. Therefore, putting away lying, “Let each one of you speak truth with his neighbor,” for we are members of one another. “Be angry, and do not sin”: do not let the sun go down on your wrath, nor give place to the devil. Let him who stole steal no longer, but rather let him labor, working with his hands what is good, that he may have something to give him who has need. Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but what is good for necessary edification, that it may impart grace to the hearers. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice. And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you.

These things are not disciplines of the flesh. They are transformations in our flesh brought about by the power of God’s grace at work in our lives. We are being changed from glory to glory and that change is activating our purpose and destiny to others.

The more we know God, the more we become like Him. We are His children and He is our Father. This is why our view of God is so important. Whatever we see God to be is what we will become to others. If we see God to be a master, we will become a master of others. If we believe He is unapproachable, we will also become unapproachable in life. If we believe He is compromising in His character, we will also become compromising in our character. If we believe that He is legalistic in His words, we will become legalistic in our words to others. If we believe He simply forgives, but He never empowers us to change, we too will be forgiving, but we will never live to empower anyone else in the change that God can bring in life. We must be leaders who see God more clearly each season of our lives. It is only then that we can be an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma of life.

Ephesians 5:1, 2 Therefore be imitators of God as dear children.  And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma.

This is called living for the sake of the Father and for the sake of the unfolding generations of His family in the earth. We were born for such a time as this and we are on this earth to bring life to others. As leaders we must be imitators of God as dear children and then examples of fathers and mothers to others.

Food For Thought,

Ted J. Hanson

Greetings;

Jesus has ascended above all the heavens that He might fill all things. As the body of Christ, we are a growing part of the fullness of Christ as His glory increases in the earth. We are not just living lives with the hope of going to heaven some day. We should embrace the eternal purpose of Christ in filling the earth with the knowledge of the glory of God. It is for this reason that God has given some to be gifts to the body of Christ.

Ephesians 4:11 And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers… 

What is the purpose of these five-fold expressions of Christ in the church? I believe the greater value is not the gifts themselves, but the attributes that these gifts serve to release in the church. God wants His church to be apostolic, prophetic, evangelistic, pastoral, with a teaching grace for mentoring and understanding of truth. The five expressions of equipping are meant to release the unique expressions of the body of Christ. They will activate, facilitate, and release the members of the body to be themselves with the anointing of Christ in unique ways that contribute to the collective purpose. Members of the body will be edified and will edify one another. There will be an increasing unity of faith, knowledge of the Son of God, perfection, and continued maturation among the members of the body.

Here is a list of the things the equipping gifts do, and even more so inspire to happen, among the members of the body of Christ:

• Equip the saints for the work of ministry
• Edify the body of Christ
• Cause the body members to come to the unity of the faith
• Cause the body members to come to the knowledge of the Son of God
• Cause the body to become a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ
• Prevent the body members from remaining little children, growing up into maturity
• Protect the body from being tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine
• Protect the body from the trickery of men who come in the cunning craftiness by which they lie in wait to deceive
• Teach the body members to learn to speak the truth in love
• Produce a functioning body that grows up in all things into Him who is the head – Christ
• Cause the whole body to be properly joined
• Cause the body members to be knit together
• Cause every joint (body member) to supply life to one another
• Cause everyone to find their place of effective working
• Cause every part to do their share
• Cause growth of the body
• Cause the body to edify itself in love

The equipping gifts of leadership serve to activate, facilitate, and release the characteristics of the apostolic, prophetic, evangelistic, pastoral, and teaching testimonies in the saints. I believe that the body of Christ is filled with diverse members that exhibit the actions and testimonies of these attributes found in Christ. God has given equipping gifts in Christ that are sent to release and facilitate a culture where the maturation of these attributes can come about in the body. As those characteristics and attributes are made manifest the members of the body will be edified and will edify one another. There will be an increasing unity of faith, knowledge of the Son of God, increasing perfection, and continued development in maturation among the members of the body.

As leaders we must set an example in the things we seek to activate in the hearts of those we lead. The work of ministry is to love God and to love people. We are ministers of reconciliation so our aim as leaders must be to reconcile people to God. We must stir up the Holy Spirit within our hearts so that we can be edified and therefore edify others. We must depend upon God’s voice in our hearts so we can excel in the unity of the faith. Intimacy with God as our Father and intimacy with Jesus the Son should be priorities in our lives. Dependency upon God that leads to perfection and the stature of Christ needs to be an attribute of strength in our lives. As we grow in maturity we can lead others into maturity. Seeking God and seeking to understand His heavenly ways must be the strength of our stability that we might lead others to be stable in their courses of life. Love and relationship must be the foundation stones of our lives in order to lead for the sake a relational body of life. As leaders we must live for the sake of giving life to others and we must inspire body members to do the same. Giving greater value to others is the testimony of the great value of ourselves. Our place of effective working is to live for the sake of giving life others; this is the place of God’s favor for every member. When everyone does their share the body grows in life, liberty, and a testimony of the greatness of Christ. This is the edification of the body with the life of Christ.

We are here to set examples in putting on Christ and putting off our old ways that were before Christ. It is not a matter of escaping our past lives. It is a matter of fully embracing our new lives in Christ. We should be the most imaginative, expectant, and hopeful people on planet earth.

Food For Thought,

Ted J. Hanson

Greetings;

Today I want to remind us that our role as leaders is not a role of position or organization. It is a role of family participation. The body of Christ is the family of God and leadership must excel in being family. Jesus was the Son of God, not merely the appointed King. He is the King, but it being a Son that qualifies Him for that role of responsibility. Being sons and daughter so God is what qualifies us for our roles of responsibility in life, but those roles serve the purpose of being the family of God. God wants all people to receive a revelation of being true family.

Ephesians 3:14-19  For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height— to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

We are the family of God and the glue of our relationship with God and with one another is love. Love is the key quality of both membership and leadership in the body of Christ. Where love is, faith will be. Faith works through love and without a revelation of love there can be not true faith. The love of Christ passes our own knowledge therefore we are often faced with impossible situations so that we will know the love of God. As leaders we must set the example of facing impossible situations with a spirit of love that only comes through a revelation of God’s love. God wants us to be filled with His fullness, but the key a revelation of His love that works within us.

Ephesians 3:20, 21 Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.

God wants us to do greater things than Jesus did. He wants us to be the testimony of His family, a family of calling, inheritance, and power in all things. The substance of our family is Christ in us, God Himself! The testimony of Christ is us is one of God’s own love. As leaders we must set the examples of sons, daughters, fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters, and even transitioning grandparents to the generations that follow us. It is all about family!

When we understand that we are family, we willingly embrace necessary sacrifices for the sake of others. Our position becomes that of lowliness, gentleness, longsuffering, bearing with one another, and an endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit and the bond of peace in all things. The apostle Paul understood this to be true.

Ephesians 4:1-3  I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called, with all lowliness and gentleness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

Church is not an organization, a structure, a belief system, or a way of ministry. Church is something we are and it is a family for the glory of our Father in heaven. Each of has a grace given to us by God for the sake of others. That grace allows us to be a multifaceted, diverse, and glorious family. There is one body, one spirit, and one hope of our calling. That calling is fulfilled by being sons and daughters of God who are led by one Lord, one Faith, one submersion, one God and Father of us all, one God above us all, one God through us all, and one God in us all. This is the testimony of the family of God in the earth. As leaders let us lead in an example of all of this.

Ephesians 4:4-6 There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.

Food For Thought,

Ted J. Hanson

Greetings;

We are blessed to be a part of something that was a hidden mystery in the Old Covenant. God has always desired to have a partnership with humanity in revealing His glory in the earth. That glory is made known through an intimate relationship with God and man. As leaders in the body of Christ we must first and foremost seek the fellowship of the Holy Spirit and the power His grace that brings the fullness of His glory to the world. We are part of something ancient that has now become amazingly new! We are part of the good news of God’s wonderful love and transforming grace! As leaders, we must set an example of the life that God desires with mankind.

Ephesians 3:1-7 For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for you Gentiles— if indeed you have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which was given to me for you, how that by revelation He made known to me the mystery (as I have briefly written already, by which, when you read, you may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ), which in other ages was not made known to the sons of men, as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to His holy apostles and prophets:  that the Gentiles should be fellow heirs, of the same body, and partakers of His promise in Christ through the gospel,  of which I became a minister according to the gift of the grace of God given to me by the effective working of His power.

All human beings are part of the mystery of the gospel. It is not for any one natural race of people. It is for a race of people made of every tribe, tongue, people, and nation. It is a supernatural testimony of heaven made known in the formerly natural seed of man. The mystery of the gospel is for all of humanity. What is the gospel?

We have been given really good news in Jesus. He is the door to the eternal reality of the blessings of heaven in our lives. Jesus was the Seed promised through the faith of Abraham and that Seed was the source of heaven to this world in which we live.

Galatians 3:8 The Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, “ALL THE NATIONS WILL BE BLESSED IN YOU.”

What was the gospel preached to Abraham? The word gospel means “good news”. I don’t believe that the word gospel does the good news given us by God true justice. I believe that it is often a religious word that allows the truth of God to be masked with unreal presentations of what the good news really is. The good news is not that a man died for sinners. The good news is that an eternal Adam gave His life so that all can find themselves in the family of blessing! The good news is that Jesus Christ reconciled men to God while they were yet sinners so the blessings of heaven could flood the worlds of men. The message of heaven is one of transforming the world. The good news preached to Abraham was that in blessings God would bless Him, in multiplying God would multiply him, His descendants would possess the gates of their enemies, and through his Seed all the families of the earth would be blessed (Gen. 22:15-18).

Our heavenly destiny is to know that we are blessed in Christ and thus we believe God and are a blessing to the world. Our actions expand the blessings of heaven to the world we live in. We don’t merely add people to our own cause in life; we give greater value to others. We live to multiply and thus God multiplies our lives in the lives of others. Our imaginations are for the advancing life and authority of our children and our children’s children. Our influence is that of blessing to the families of the earth. This is the destiny of heaven in our lives! I believe that Paul understood these things when he wrote to the church of Ephesians.

Ephesians 3:8-12 To me, who am less than the least of all the saints, this grace was given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, and to make all see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the ages has been hidden in God who created all things through Jesus Christ; to the intent that now the manifold wisdom of God might be made known by the church to the principalities and powers in the heavenly places, according to the eternal purpose which He accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord,  in whom we have boldness and access with confidence through faith in Him. 

The manifold wisdom of God is going to teach principalities and powers through the influence of God’s amazing grace in the earth. The testimony of the increasing influence of Christ in the world is causing the places inhabited by the enemy to be reclaimed for the God’s glory. The love of God is more powerful than any or all of the weapons of the enemy. Our boldness and access to the fellowship of Christ is revealing a great testimony of God’s grace in the generations of mankind. As it was in Nebuchadnezzar’s dream (Dan. 2), the stature of Christ in His body is destroying the former strongholds of human selfishness inspired by principalities and powers in high places. The hearts and minds of people are being captured by the love of God in Christ and the places once held captive by an enemy are being revealed as free by the power of God’s intimate love and grace. Christ in us is the power that overcomes all strongholds of the enemy. Our hearts are now held by the love of God. As leaders we must set this example. Like the apostle Paul, we can endure all things because the resistance of the enemy only proves to reveal the power of God’s grace. God’s glory shall fill the earth!

Ephesians 1:13 Therefore I ask that you do not lose heart at my tribulations for you, which is your glory.

Food For Thought,

Ted J. Hanson