ted4leaders

Blog In Audio:

Greetings,

I have been addressing transforming a community of escape and refuge to a community of purpose and destiny. To do this we must first recognize that we have all come from a bondage of some sort and are therefore people of escape who are vulnerable to seek a place of personal safety and refuge. It’s ok to come from a place of captivity and find the freedom of refuge in Christ, but Holy Spirit wants to empower us to become a community of purpose and destiny.

God wants us to see what He sees, embrace His testimony, and live for His purpose in life. We must become a community of clear identity, unique testimony, and common purpose, that always lives for a 100-year plan. This involves generational connections, congregational connections, and tribal connections that give us a solid foundation in the past, an active embracing of all that is true today, and a vision for the generations that goes beyond where we have been before.

The culture of our community must become purpose focused. To do this we work together to know God’s general will for our community. When we know the general will we can find freedom in our specific role in our God-sent community. To make this happen, we must actively educate, train, equip, and send individuals to fulfill their role in the destiny of the God-birthed community. 

In order to encourage each community member to find their role in destiny, leaders must envision individual ownership for the greater corporate purpose. This involves igniting a fire in the heart and mind of each community member to desire to become all they are meant to be for the sake of their part in the community. This is an igniting of passion and desire for the calling of Christ, the testimony of Christ, and the power of Christ to bring life to the world through the corporate expression of God’s family. This means that every community member is responsible before God to be obedient to the faith. That faith comes by specifically hearing God in their hearts even as those who lead them lead by hearing God for the corporate direction of the family.

I believe that the apostle Paul captured this well when He addressed the need to engage in being spiritual people. People in the world are inspired to be people of the world. That inspiration comes from an external focus that motivates them to seek the fulfillment of their personal needs and desires. They are led by life-less things that distract them from the true destiny of life. We must be inspired to be life-giving people of God’s Spirit. This comes from an internal connection to God in the Spirit and it motivates us to seek God’s kingdom and will to be done in our lives as sons and daughters of God. It inspires us to live our lives for something greater than anything we can find alone. It is a testimony only discovered in community life.

1 Corinthians 12:1 Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I do not want you to be ignorant: 2 You know that you were Gentiles, carried away to these dumb idols, however you were led. 3 Therefore I make known to you that no one speaking by the Spirit of God calls Jesus accursed, and no one can say that Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit.

The word ‘gifts’ in this text is not found in the original Greek language. It is added in an attempt to give us understanding of the chapter, but the chapter is not merely about gifts. It is about gifts, ministry, and works. These are the ingredients of being spiritual people. We must embrace the diversity of the power of the Spirit, find our own place in the ministry of Christ, and find our corporate connection of purpose for the work of God in all that we are and do. Every God-birthed community must be spiritual in its calling, testimony, and purpose.

1 Corinthians 12:4 There are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. 5 There are differences of ministries, but the same Lord. 6 And there are diversities of activities, but it is the same God who works all in all.

These things are all a matter of individual responsibility and connection to God to become all that they are intended to be for the corporate purpose of the body of Christ, the family, and any expression of Christ’s community. Every community member must seek the power of God’s Spirit to enable them to be sons and daughters of God. They must willfully live to discover how they bring life to one another in becoming a corporate testimony of God’s life. As leaders we must seek to empower people to overcome in their individual struggles to give their lives for the testimony of God’s inheritance and the glory of His name. Our true product of life is our ability to expand the life of God into our world.

Food For Thought,

Ted J. Hanson

As we conclude the year of 2023, please consider making a contribution to House of Bread Ministry. We have increased our input to many parts of the world and your contribution will help us equip, train, equip, and send many for the purpose of God’s New Covenant Life and Grace in the nations. Thank You – 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,

A city of escape and refuge creates a culture of survival and thus it cannot develop and change for a greater glory. A city of refuge is a need-based society, and it can create a fellowship, but not an ecclesia. An ecclesia is an assembly of kingdom influence to the world. To be a community of joined believers in Christ that brings heaven’s influence into our world, we must establish a purpose focused culture. Each member of the community will have a specific role to play in bringing heaven into their part of the world, but we must know the general will of the community to understand what any specific will can be. Knowing the general will can give each community member freedom in their specific role in the community. What is the VISION of the community – Where are we going? What is the CULTURE of the community – What are the principles, patterns, and values that will get us there? What is the PURPOSE of the community – What is the result when we get there?

The general will of a community fulfills the purpose of that community. The purpose of every community expression of God is determined by God. It is determined by God, and it is only discovered through His manifest presence within it.  A community of God is dependent upon being the temple of God’s Holy Spirit. The temple is not dependent upon the community. The community is dependent upon the temple. A temple is what holds a higher value than the earthly members of the community. For believers in Christ the temple is the place that is inhabited by God’s presence. The temple of the Holy Spirit will activate, facilitate, and release the community of Christ. Build a temple and you will build the city. Build the city and you may never build the temple. In the Old Testament, King Cyrus made a decree to build the temple of God and that decree was in reality a decree to build the city of God (Ezra 1:2; Dan. 9:25). The city of God had to be built because the temple was built (including the law and proper offerings). The word sent to build the city was the physical manifestation of the temple. The temple was the word gone forth. Build a temple and there will be a city. It is just like our Christian walk. If Jesus is in our heart, if there is a temple, then the work of the city (Christian community life) can be completed. Once Jesus is in our hearts we are new creations, but it is yet to be further manifested in our lives. God spoke the word to call us, but it didn’t become ‘the word sent forth’ until we received Jesus into our hearts. We had to become a house for His Spirit to dwell in and we had to receive His Spirit to dwell in us to write His law upon our hearts and minds. We had to become proper ‘burnt offerings’ through the one offering Jesus Christ (Rom. 12:1 – members of the body of Christ). Christian community doesn’t make us the testimony of Christ. Christ in us empowers us to become the testimony of a Christ-like community. As leaders we must lead for the culture of Christ before we can activate, facilitate, or release Christian community. Our personal needs are not the center of our community, Christ is!

Part of the culture of a city of influence is to continually educate, train, equip, and send members of the community in their specific roles of influence. What are the values of the community? What is the general vision of the community? What are the foundations of that community vision? Just as the church is built upon the foundations of the apostles and prophets, every community is built upon the foundations of that community.

Matthew 13:52 Then He said to them, “Therefore every scribe instructed concerning the kingdom of heaven is like a householder who brings out of his treasure things new and old.”

Our path in life is connected to who we are in life and who we are is connected to who others have been before us. The will of God doesn’t come from what we want to do or what we think God wants us to do. It is found in the continuity of our lives. Wisdom, the direction to the future, is connected to who we are. We are the will of God and the things we do in life are connected to who we have become because of the foundations and the ceilings of the past. What God declares our community to be determines who we are to be in that community. Our lives are like a highway and our lives are meant to go somewhere in God for the sake of others and for the will of our heavenly Father. Each successive generation must be educated, trained, equipped, and sent to go another measure in the destiny of a God-birthed community.

Food For Thought,

Ted J. Hanson

As we conclude the year of 2023, please consider making a contribution to House of Bread Ministry. We have increased our input to many parts of the world and your contribution will help us equip, train, equip, and send many for the purpose of God’s New Covenant Life and Grace in the nations. Thank You – 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 lead people in becoming expressions of a community of heaven to the communities of the world. This is a community of identity in Christ, a testimony in Christ, and a purpose and destiny in Him to bring life to their world. People in the world are facing increasingly complicated pressures of life and they are looking for a way of escape and place of refuge. God will meet people in that place, but He desires to bring them to a place of becoming an influence of blessing and life to their world.

How do we lead people into the change and purpose that God has for them? If we had a physical city that was built of refugee camps, we would need to change the structure of those camps to become a community of connection. This would mean that we would need to put infrastructure in the community that connects it as a city, inside and out. The construction of the city would need to be built according to a plan of easy ingress, egress, and access within the city. How do people enter the community? How are they sent out from the community? How do they function together in the community?

What does this look like in a community of Christ? We cannot fulfill our destiny in Christ by seeking to build our lives as merely a place of protection, provision, and fellowship. To be a community of destiny we need a structure of destiny. How de we make generation connections? How do we make congregational connections that connect one part of the community with another? How do we make tribal connections that join other parts of Christ’s community that are beyond our own measure of influence? I can’t give you an answer to these questions by some method that will work for us all. All I can do is challenge us all to seek Holy Spirit to become an expression of the family of God for our Father’s name.

I believe that one key is that we know that we have a part in the calling of Christ. We each have a part in the testimony of Christ. We each have a part in the power of Christ to bring life to our world for the glory of His name. This is true for individuals in a congregation of believers and it is also true in the joining of congregations for a greater glory.

Ephesians 1:18 …the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, 19 and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power 20 which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, 21 far above all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come.

We don’t have a calling. We have a part in the calling of Christ. We don’t have an inheritance (testimony). We have a part in the inheritance (testimony) of Christ. We don’t have an individual purpose. We each have a part in the purpose of Christ to exercise His power for the glory of God in our world. As leaders we must model this, and we must lead to envision and to see God empower those we lead to find their place in the body of Christ for His kingdom and will to be done.

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 begin addressing a need for leadership to take people from the world and empower them to become effective sons and daughters of God that bring the life of God to their word. Jesus didn’t merely free us from a life of sin, He came to empower us to live lives that are influenced by and for the grace of heaven. Grace is the manifest presence of Holy Spirit in our lives that transforms us to become what we could not be before. God wants us to be individuals who are joined to an expression of His family to fulfill the purpose of our Heavenly Father in our world.  

In the world, there is increasing evidence of the iniquities of the hearts of mankind. Men and women in the societies of the world live in the ways of the world. Although this can appear to be a challenge to our faith, I believe it is a real opportunity for God to do great things! As leaders in the body of Christ we are called to empower former people of the world in becoming heavenly people of life in this world. This means that those people find their identity, testimony, and purpose in Christ. Christ in them is not only the hope of heaven for them one day, but also the hope for each of them living their lives for the glory of God. It involves their individual lives, their marriages, their families, their membership in the family of God, and in every role that they find themselves in, in life.  

When we come to Christ, we find an escape from the bondages of our sin. We find our refuge in God. People in the world are increasingly knowing the pressures of life in a progressively complex world. They often look for a way to escape their old life. They look for a place of refuge that meets their own needs in this world. When we seek to serve people as a way of escape from the world or a way of finding their personal needs fulfilled, we fail to see a community of God’s purpose. We end up becoming some measure of a fellowship with God and with one another, but we don’t discover our true identity, testimony, and purpose in this world. Leaders must lead people from a place of escape and refuge to become a place of purpose and destiny. The church cannot be a place of escape and refuge. It must be a place of empowerment and glory. A city of escape and refuge will create a culture of survival and thus it will not develop and empower change for a greater glory. A city of refuge is a need-based society, and it can create a fellowship, but it cannot produce an ekklesia (church) of influence in the world.  

What is an ekklesia? The word “Church” is taken from the Greek word “ekklesia”. It comes from the Greek word “eke”, a primary preposition denoting origin (the point whence action or motion proceeds), from, out (of place, time, or cause; literal or figurative; direct or remote) and the Greek word “kaleo” meaning; to “call” (properly, aloud, but used in a variety of applications, directly or otherwise). In the time of Christ using this word it was a political term used in the Greek culture. It literally meant “an assembly of citizens summoned by the crier, the legislative assembly to make a decision for the community”. 

Leadership is greatly affected by our definition of what we lead. If we lead for the purpose of the facilitation of a group of Christian people gathered together to encourage one another in the Christian lifestyle and the principles of the Christian faith we will carry some measure of significance, but we will miss the fuller picture of what Jesus meant.  

The church is the body of Christ. She, together with her head Jesus, is the fullness of Christ who fills all in all. She is one with Jesus Christ in His authority and has been given authority over every rule, authority, power, dominion, and name in the earth. This is the ekklesia of God. This is the church, the called-out assembly of the members of Christ’s body that brings life to the world. She is the life-giving womb of God in the midst of the nations and the generations of men. 

We cannot empower the church to fulfill her destiny in Christ by merely becoming places of escape and refuge from the world. We must be transformed in our thinking, and we must empower those we lead to be transformed to become a different kind of community than the communities of the world. We must restructure the city to become a city of destiny in Christ. We must see ourselves as a community with a clear identity. That identity is given to us by God in Christ. We must see ourselves as a community with a unique testimony given to us by a manifestation of God’s Word and Spirit in our lives. We must embrace a partnership with God in all things to find a common purpose of God’s kingdom and will in our lives. We must set a foundation in our community for a 100-year plan. We must lead to empower the present and future generations to live to be a blessing, apply the actions of their lives to multiply by giving their lives to empower their sons and daughters to believe and know God in an intimate and powerful way. We must lead to see our children’s children bring the life of Christ to places beyond the ability in our present day. We must lead to see the blessings of Christ influence the world with the eternal power of our Father that creates a life-giving sound in our world.  

Food For Thought, 

Ted J. Hanson  

Donations can be made at the link on the home site of:

www.ted4leaders.com

www.ted4you.com or

www.houseofbreadministry.org.

Checks can be made payable to House of Bread Ministry and sent to:

House of Bread Ministry, 3210 Meridian St., Bellingham, WA 98225

To avoid us paying a transaction fee from your donation, you can also set up a payment or an automatic payment from your bank to House of Bread Ministry. Just set it up as a ‘bill pay’ through your online bank account and your bank will mail a check to House of Bread Ministry. We will record your payment as a donation to House of Bread Ministry (E.I.N. 91-2009037) and we will send you a contribution receipt at the close of the year.

Our Ministry Information Is:
House of Bread Ministry
3210 Meridian St.
Bellingham, WA 98225-1728

Blog In Audio:

Greetings,

I have addressed several roles of leaders in leading and today I want to present a final thought on the role of leaders. That thought is that the point of life is LIFE! Leaders lead others in knowing God’s life and giving God’s life to their world. This is knowing God’s love and loving others.

Revelation 22:1 And he showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding from the throne of God and of the Lamb. 2 In the middle of its street, and on either side of the river, was the tree of life, which bore twelve fruits, each tree yielding its fruit every month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. 3 And there shall be no more curse, but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it, and His servants shall serve Him. 4 They shall see His face, and His name shall be on their foreheads. 5 There shall be no night there: They need no lamp nor light of the sun, for the Lord God gives them light. And they shall reign forever and ever.

These verses reveal an awesome truth in regard to the administration of God in the body of Christ. That administration is not one of the knowledge of good and evil, but one of the Tree of Life. I believe that this is the administration that is suitable to sum up all things in Christ. It is an administration of grace. If we believe that true righteousness is about being right and not wrong, our words and expressions to others will be about being right verses being wrong. If we as leaders embrace a justice system of right and wrong, we will embrace those who are right and reject those who are wrong. We will govern and rule through an administration that defines some as worthy of God’s love, while others are cast out from His love. God’s New Covenant government is not based upon right and wrong. It is the power of life that prevails over every form of death. There is a right and there is a wrong in the matter of things in life, but true life only comes from an intimacy with Life. When we know Him, we release the substance of who He is to the world and to all that we administrate in life. I have addressed this in my book, Prophetic Ministry – A Ministry of Life in the chapter called The Administration of God.

Leaders lead others to allow every thought, attitude, vision, dream, emotion, and action that they express in life to pass through the Tree of Life before the fruit of their lives becomes food for others or the outward expression of our lives becomes a touch of healing to a sick and dying world. Believers in Christ must embrace an administration that receives mercy and finds grace each and every day (Heb. 4:16). Mercy ends that past administration of right and wrong, while grace empowers the present administration of grace that enables us to live by the spirit of life and peace in Christ. This is the administration that loves the unlovable and empowers the unlovable to become loveable. It is the administration of love that believes all things, hopes all things, and endures all things. It is the administration that changes what is a substance of death to become a substance of life for others.

1 Corinthians 13:4-8a  Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails…

As leaders we must excel in love, not in being right. We must inspire others to excel in love more than in receiving what they think they deserve. This is a different justice system. It is not a justice system that receives the good things we deserve. It is a justice system that gives love to others. It is a justice that is better than being right. It is a justice system that reveals the love of God to others in this world.

Summary:

• Leaders lead by being an example to those they lead.
• Leaders humble themselves and serve others by giving their lives to give life to them.
• Leaders equip believers for the work of ministry.
• Leaders lead others to know God personally and to mature in Him.
• Leaders lead others to live in God’s life and to give His life to their world.

Food For Thought,

Ted J. Hanson

Donations can be made at the link on the home site of:

www.ted4leaders.com

www.ted4you.com or

www.houseofbreadministry.org.

Checks can be made payable to House of Bread Ministry and sent to:

House of Bread Ministry, 3210 Meridian St., Bellingham, WA 98225

To avoid us paying a transaction fee from your donation, you can also set up a payment or an automatic payment from your bank to House of Bread Ministry. Just set it up as a ‘bill pay’ through your online bank account and your bank will mail a check to House of Bread Ministry. We will record your payment as a donation to House of Bread Ministry (E.I.N. 91-2009037) and we will send you a contribution receipt at the close of the year.

Our Ministry Information Is:
House of Bread Ministry
3210 Meridian St.
Bellingham, WA 98225-1728

Blog In Audio:

Greetings,

I am continuing to address the role of leaders in the church. I have presented that leaders lead by being an example to those they lead in their way of life. This is in their character, nature, way, power, and authority. They are examples of Spirit empowered and transformed people who give life to their world. Leaders are servants and not hierarchal leaders. They are not above others in value but take on the form of servants to give their lives to give life to others. Leaders have been given a grace from God to equip believers for the work of ministry. That work is to love others in being sent and established, being a voice of God’s life to their world, assisting others in knowing the grant of God’s salvation and life in all things, caring for one another with a pastoral grace, and discipling others in understanding and knowing God in the transformation of their hearts and minds before Him.

A fourth role of leaders is to lead others in knowing God in an intimate and powerful way. Leaders don’t hear God for the people, they assist those they lead in hearing God. They don’t take others by the hand and lead them; they inspire them to give their hearts and minds to the will of God’s Spirit from within them.

Jeremiah 31:31 “Behold, the days are coming, says the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah— 32 not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, though I was a husband to them, says the LORD. 33 But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. 34 No more shall every man teach his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ for they all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the LORD. For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.”

The new covenant is not a different way of informing us concerning what God desires in our lives. The new covenant is a granted gift from God that puts His desires in our hearts and minds by an internal supernatural power of grace. Our knowing God is not the result of new instructions from God, it is an internal transformation of our hearts and minds by Christ within us. Knowing God is not a matter of understanding His instructions, knowing God is a matter of internal revelation and intimacy with God in our hearts. Leaders set an example in receiving this gift and they inspire others to receive the life-transforming gift of God’s grace that brings about this internal change in everyone who comes to believe. It is a grant from God. Knowing God is a matter of knowing His love that forever changes us. That process is not just a one-time event. It is a way of life that changes us from glory to glory as we each turn to God in Christ.

Christ in us is the source of life for a changed and enlarged heart. Leaders lead others in knowing the power of Christ in them. Each person must know the testimony of God’s grace that gives them a changed and enlarged heart that increasingly becomes a testimony of God’s law of love.

leadership cannot take people by the hand and lead them and expect to see New Covenant transformations in the lives of those they lead. We must inspire people to live from their hearts in loving God and we cannot lead them through mere accountability to godly principles and rules. A covenant of accountability will not change the hearts of those we lead. It must be a covenant of love and relationship. We must lead in a way that inspires people to live from transformed hearts and mind towards God. It must be a covenant based upon a revelation of God’s love. Even the least in a covenant of love can know Him. We must lead in a way that we inspire a culture that is shame free. We need God’s manifest presence that transforms the weaknesses of people’s hearts by the greatness of God’s love and the power of His grace.

We cannot put God’s way into the hearts and minds of those we lead. We must be more dependent upon God’s manifest presence in the lives of those we lead than in merely teaching them godly principles. We must be dependent upon God’s presence in order to lead others into His presence as well. We must teach people what God is like in His character, nature, way, power, and authority, but we must depend upon God to be the one who makes those things real in the lives of those we lead.

Food For Thought,

Ted J. Hanson

Donations can be made at the link on the home site of:

www.ted4leaders.com

www.ted4you.com or

www.houseofbreadministry.org.

Checks can be made payable to House of Bread Ministry and sent to:

House of Bread Ministry, 3210 Meridian St., Bellingham, WA 98225

To avoid us paying a transaction fee from your donation, you can also set up a payment or an automatic payment from your bank to House of Bread Ministry. Just set it up as a ‘bill pay’ through your online bank account and your bank will mail a check to House of Bread Ministry. We will record your payment as a donation to House of Bread Ministry (E.I.N. 91-2009037) and we will send you a contribution receipt at the close of the year.

Our Ministry Information Is:
House of Bread Ministry
3210 Meridian St.
Bellingham, WA 98225-1728

Blog In Audio:

Greetings,

Today I am continuing to address the role of leaders in the church. The first was that of being an example to others in word, conduct, love, spirit, faith, and purity. Leaders inspire those they lead by the example of their own personal testimony.

A second role of leaders is that of being servants. Leaders are not better than those they lead. They have been given a grace from God to assist others in living and growing into maturity in Christ. Paul wrote concerning what manner of attitude a leader should embrace.

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.

Although Jesus was equal to God, He served mankind in the form of a man. He didn’t make Himself of any reputation but served those that He led with a face like that of every man. As leaders, we must humble ourselves and give our lives to give life to others. Although we too are members of the body of Christ as sons and daughters of God, we choose to serve others by giving our lives to give life to them. All that we do we do for the wellbeing of others. This is the true heart of a leader.

True ministry is to love others. It is not about anointing and power. It is about powerful love and being able to love others powerfully. All believers are to give life to others. They are to do the work of ministry. The true work of ministry is to give love as who we are for the sake of others. We have each been given a grace from God to give life to our world. For this reason, a third role of leadership is to equip believers for the work of ministry.

Ephesians 4:11 And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, 12 for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry.

The equipping gifts of leadership serve to activate, facilitate, and release the characteristics of the apostolic, prophetic, evangelistic, pastoral, and teaching testimonies in the body of Christ. 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.

The apostolic gift is a gift that is ‘sent’ to ‘send others’ in establishing the things of God. An apostolic body of believers are believers who each know they are sent by God for a purpose, and they assist others in knowing who they are so they too can be sent for their true purpose of establishing others in Christ. A prophetic gift sees what God sees and activates a prophetic spirit in the body that sees what they could not see before. True prophecy is to speak as God’s voice whereby – life happens! God wants a prophetic body where the voice of God is spoken, and life happens. The evangelistic gift causes those who did not know faith to know faith in Christ and the salvation of Jesus’ name. God wants an evangelistic body of believers that brings the life of God’s salvation to many. The pastoral gift is a grace of caring for others. God wants a pastoral body of believers that cares for one another. This is not one pastor over many, but a pastoral spirit that empowers everyone to know the names of one another and to care for them as an expression of our chief shepherd – Jesus Christ. The teaching gift is not about information but is a true grace of mentoring that brings an understanding of God to the hearts and minds of men. God wants a body of believers with a grace of discipling others in understanding and knowing God in all things. For these reasons, leaders lead others to equip others for the work of ministry.

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 give you some foundational truths for the role of leaders. I have written on these in previous blogs, but I felt it important to remind us as leaders in regard to what our role is in leading others in the body of Christ.

God appoints leaders in the body of Christ for the sake of those that God leads and loves. Leaders don’t lead others for their own sake. They lead them for the sake of every believer’s relationship with God as their Father, Jesus as their Lord, and Holy Spirit as their empowerment of life in all things. Leaders inspire others to embrace a personal and powerful relationship with God in life.

What is the role of leaders? The first role of a leader is to be an example to those they lead so that those they lead can see an expression of the way, the truth, and the life in Christ. The apostle Paul wrote to his spiritual son Timothy in regard to being an example to those that God had entrusted him to lead.

1 Timothy 2:12 Let no one despise your youth, but be an example to the believers in word, in conduct, in love, in spirit, in faith, in purity.

To be an example in the word is not about being an example in Scripture memory. The Pharisees were excellent in Scripture memory but their use of the words of the Scriptures became weapons of death in their mouths and not words of life to those they spoke to. To be an example in the word is to be an example in the substance of the word. This is the Spirit of the word in the testimony of their flesh. Just as the word became flesh in the life of Jesus the Son of Man, leaders are to become a testimony of flesh transformed to the word of God as a life-giving testimony and expression to inspire those they lead to become the same. It is about setting an example that others can see that is true to the word of God. It is true to being an expression of God. All believers in Christ are to be an example to their world as expressions of God. They are to be true to God’s word. Leaders simply lead others in becoming true to God’s word.

Leaders are to be an example that can inspire others by their conduct in life. Leaders are not examples in conduct while believers are not. All believers in Christ are to be an example to the world as to the conduct of sons and daughters of God. How do we handle the challenges of life? How do we live our lives? How do we respond to others? Do we react to the situations in our lives, or do we make actions of faith in every circumstance of our lives? Reactions will lead us into a path of carnality and self-preservation, but actions of faith are responses to the voice of God in our hearts that always leads to new life. How do we react to others? How do we live our lives as dads, moms, brothers, sisters, grandparents, friends, and neighbors? Leaders lead for this testimony in the family of God.

What about love? How do we exhibit the character of love in our attitudes and actions in life? All believers in Christ are to exhibit the love of God to their world and leaders lead in this testimony. They demonstrate the character, nature, and way of God in their love for God and for others. True love lives to give and never to get. Leaders lead others in this testimony.

What about living lives that exhibit a supernatural connection to the Spirit? Do we manifest being spiritual people that inspire others to be the same? This is not about being religious with religious actions and the keeping of religious ceremonies. It is about being people of the spirit. This includes a discerning of spirits and a spiritual example to others in being connected to the Spirit of God at all times. For this reason, I stir up my spirit all day long in praying in the spirit. I don’t make it a religious task; I simply pray without ceasing throughout my day. I choose to have a face-to-face relationship with God all day long.

A leader is to be an example in faith. Faith is a supernatural testimony of responding to the voice of God in our hearts. The opposite of faith is natural sight, but faith is walking in a path that is inspired by God’s voice of love. It enables us to see what we could not see before, hear what we could not hear before, and to think what we could not think before. The trouble in our lives simply becomes framing material to frame our world according to God’s purpose and will.

Leaders are to be an example in purity. This is to live an innocent and sinless live. To do this requires a connection to God that inspires a change in our hearts and minds to live to be givers of life and not takers of life from others. We live for the wellbeing of others through an intimate connection with God in or hearts. We live lives empowered by God’s grace. The manifest presence of God in our hearts enables us to live lives that exhibit the holy life-giving nature of our heavenly Father in all things. Leaders give themselves to being pure to inspire those they lead to do the same.

Food For Thought,

Ted J. Hanson

Donations can be made at the link on the home site of:

www.ted4leaders.com

www.ted4you.com or

www.houseofbreadministry.org.

Checks can be made payable to House of Bread Ministry and sent to:

House of Bread Ministry, 3210 Meridian St., Bellingham, WA 98225

To avoid us paying a transaction fee from your donation, you can also set up a payment or an automatic payment from your bank to House of Bread Ministry. Just set it up as a ‘bill pay’ through your online bank account and your bank will mail a check to House of Bread Ministry. We will record your payment as a donation to House of Bread Ministry (E.I.N. 91-2009037) and we will send you a contribution receipt at the close of the year.

Our Ministry Information Is:
House of Bread Ministry
3210 Meridian St.
Bellingham, WA 98225-1728

Blog In Audio:

Greetings,

Today I am going to continue on the need to keep our hearts in a way that life is always flowing from us to others in our world. Leaders must set an example that can inspire others to do the same.

Keeping our hearts filled with life that overflows to others is connected to our decision to rejoice in God in all things and at all times. We must be sensitive to others around us and not consumed by our own needs or desires. We cultivate a relationship with God that simply seeks to know Him and to grow in the testimony of His love to others in our world. There is no separation between us and God. He sees us as His sons and daughters, and we must always live to see Him as our heavenly Father. The apostle Paul encouraged believers to live a lifestyle of rejoicing, being gentle to others, knowing God, never being anxious, and cultivating a face-to-face relationship with God that would protect their hearts and minds in Christ (Phil. 4:4-7).

Paul went on to write some key things for us to embrace in order to keep our hearts open to the flow of God’s life. We must keep our hearts so the issues of life will freely flow to those around us. This is true for all believers, but especially true for us as leaders as we set an example for others to follow.

Philippians 4:8, 9 Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things. The things which you learned and received and heard and saw in me, these do, and the God of peace will be with you.

Rather than focusing on the things we cannot think about, we should fill our hearts with the things we can think about. We must give our hearts to things that are true. Here is something true. He loves us! He will never leave us! He cares for us! Nothing can separate us from Him! We must receive the things that He says about us and embrace them with our whole hearts. We must give our spirits, souls, and physical lives to all that is true. What about things that are just? I am not talking about complaining about injustice! I am talking about thinking on the things that are just. Can we be merciful and gracious to others based upon who we are and not what they deserve? Love, forgiveness, mercy, and grace – these are all things of God’s justice. We must give our hearts to things that are pure! Resisting the things of impurity is not as powerful as embracing the things of purity with our whole hearts. We must give our hearts to things that are of a good report. Indulging in the good reports of life is more powerful than choosing a path of negativity and of bad report. Let’s give our hearts to things that are of good report. How about virtue? This is giving our hearts to every opportunity to give life to others. To live for the wellbeing of others and for the purposes of God and His kingdom is a virtuous thing. Life will come off of us that will empower others to live too! We must give our hearts to anything that is praiseworthy. If we think this is hard, all we have to do is think of ANYTHING! Anything praiseworthy is a good thing to give our hearts to. Giving our hearts to receive, hear, and emulate others in their example of faith in their journey of Christ’s life will surely help us keep our hearts with all diligence. These things are essential for all believers, but especially for those who lead for the sake of others.

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 know how to keep our hearts for the sake of others. Our ‘heart’ includes our emotions, and all about us that is spiritual, mental, and physical in life. If we confess that our heart is into something, it means that all that is spirit, soul, and body embrace it. A great example of this is when King David danced before the Lord with all of his might.

2 Samuel 6:14-16 Then David danced before the LORD with all his might; and David was wearing a linen ephod. So David and all the house of Israel brought up the ark of the LORD with shouting and with the sound of the trumpet. And as the ark of the LORD came into the City of David, Michal, Saul’s daughter, looked through a window and saw King David leaping and whirling before the LORD; and she despised him in her heart.

David’s wife, Michal, didn’t understand what David was doing. Her heart was not into what he was doing. She saw his actions as actions of foolishness, but David knew that his actions were those of a full and passionate love for God. David was giving his full heart to worshipping God and that included the emotional and physical expressions of his life.

Our heart is the seat of our collective energies and the focus of our personal lives. It is the throne from which life flows. It is the seat of our thoughts, passions, desires, appetites, affections, purposes, and endeavors. Our heart is our personality, our inner life, and our character. A leader must guard their heart. We are not to guard our hearts in the way the world guards their hearts. Those in the world seek to protect their hearts and often find themselves in situations where their hearts become hard and small, due to the wounds of life. King Solomon said that keeping our heart had to do with keeping the springs of life open and flowing.

Proverbs 4:23 Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it spring the issues of life.

How do we as leaders guard our hearts and set an example that others can follow? How do we keep the springs of life flowing from within us? The apostle Paul gave some great instructions to the Philippian church.

Philippians 4:4-7 Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, rejoice! Let your gentleness be known to all men. The Lord is at hand. Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

A decision to live a lifestyle of rejoicing is key to being a healthy leader. This doesn’t mean that we laugh when we should cry; it means we choose to embrace God’s life and God’s presence every day of our lives. We must seek to be gentle among people and not forceful in our own ways, our own desires, or our own agendas. God is always at hand. He is always within our reach. If we realize that God is with us every step of the journey, we can embrace a face-to-face relationship with Him that will keep us from being anxious. We should keep an open line of communication between Him and us, as we would with a friend. We don’t go to God with our needs of crisis expecting Him to give us a bailout or to deliver us from our circumstances. Once in a while God wants to get us out of our circumstances, but 100% of the time He wants to get into our circumstances with us. When we realize that there is no gap between God and us we can have a peace that surpasses our own understanding. Peace is not the absence of conflict; it is being in a place where there is no gap between God and us. It works on good days and on bad days. Peace is a knowing that our house is in the right place and that no change of circumstances can separate us from the love of God in our lives. It isn’t necessarily the absence of conflict. It is the assurance that we are joined to God and His house in all things and at all times. There is no separation between us, and we can live near to Him in all things. Knowing these things will help us keep our hearts so that life-giving water flows from within us to our world.

Food For Thought,

Ted J. Hanson

Donations can be made at the link on the home site of:

www.ted4leaders.com

www.ted4you.com or

www.houseofbreadministry.org.

Checks can be made payable to House of Bread Ministry and sent to:

House of Bread Ministry, 3210 Meridian St., Bellingham, WA 98225

To avoid us paying a transaction fee from your donation, you can also set up a payment or an automatic payment from your bank to House of Bread Ministry. Just set it up as a ‘bill pay’ through your online bank account and your bank will mail a check to House of Bread Ministry. We will record your payment as a donation to House of Bread Ministry (E.I.N. 91-2009037) and we will send you a contribution receipt at the close of the year.

Our Ministry Information Is:
House of Bread Ministry
3210 Meridian St.
Bellingham, WA 98225-1728