ted4leaders

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Greetings,

What should our focus be concerning the last days, or what is often referred to as the ‘end times’. I have written on these things in my book, For His Glory – You Have Been Left Behind. For this blog, I am posting the summary of my findings concerning these terms in the synthesis of Scripture.

The term for “last days” in the Scripture is written in two ways. It is referred to as the “last days” or the “latter days”. These are particular days or periods of time. They are the “last” or “latter” days. The NKJV uses the term “last days” six times and the term “latter days” is used sixteen times. There are a total of twenty-two mentions in the NKJV. The Hebrew word for “last”, as it is used in the context of “days”, is “HSRN 319 – אַחֲרִית ’aḥărîyṯ; from HSRN 310; the last or end, hence, the future; also posterity.” This word for “last” or “latter” is found in its Aramaic form in the book of Daniel “HSRN 320 – אַחֲרִית ’aḥărîyṯ (Aramaic); from HSRN 311; the same as HSRN 319; later.” This word does not just imply an end to something, but rather an end that continues with an “afterwards”. Another Hebrew word that is akin to this word is “HSRN 310 – אַחַר ’aḥar; from HSRN 309; properly, the hind part; generally used as an adverb or conjunction, after (in various senses).” This word is used as the word “afterward” in the prophet Joel’s description of the “last days”.

In its first mention, the term “last days” is used by the patriarch Jacob to deliver a word to his twelve sons of their “last days” in the earth (Gen. 49:1). It was used to describe an end of the nation of Israel and the beginning of the increasing reign of Christ to the nations of the world (Num. 24:14-19). It was to be a time of judgment for apostasy (Jer. 23:20; 30:24; 48:47; 49:39; Ezek 38:16; Dan. 10:14). The false image of man would be dealt a crushing blow by the true image of Life (Dan. 2:28-45; 8:19, 21, 22). The “last days” or “latter days” was to be a time to turn to the Lord as a new beginning of increasing eternity (Deut. 31:29; 4:23-40). These would be the days to make way for the increasing Body of Christ in the earth (Isa. 2:1-3; Mic. 4:1-7). The “last days” would open the door for many to return to God in Christ (Hos. 3:4, 5). This term was used to reference a prophetic word by the prophet Joel that means “afterward” (Acts 2:17; Joel 2:28). This prophecy revealed an ‘after something happened’, not an informing of what was ‘yet going to happen.’ The Apostle Paul used this term as an exhortation to Timothy in a time when many people were abandoning the faith (1 Tim. 4:1-3; 2 Tim. 3:1). It is used to describe a time in history for the Hebrew people (Heb. 1:2). The Apostle James used this term to refer to the persecutors of the Church in his day (Jam. 5:3). The final time it is used is in the context of scoffers of Peter’s day who were walking according to their own lusts (2 Pet. 3:3).

There is not one case where this term is used to imply a complete cessation with nothing to follow in the world. It was used as a term of conclusion for the government of the past in the earth, but it implied the entrance to the government of increasing grace and peace in Christ. This term was exegetically true in the first century. This term establishes a principle of conclusion to man’s way and an entrance to God’s way in the synthesis of Scripture. This term can also be applied in our own lives. My “last day” was May 12, 1973. The natural light of king Ted’s kingdom went dark on that day and the Light of Christ shown in my heart (2 Cor. 4:6)! The life of Ted’s kingdom was in the flesh. Jesus shed His blood so that through the pouring out of His blood (life), Ted could receive the life of the Holy Spirit. Ted’s moon (the reflection of his natural light) turned to blood. Ted’s time ended, but the eternal life of Christ began. Ted’s day ended, but he forever lives in the eternal day of the Lord!

My “last days” did not bring hopelessness and despair. They made way for hope and destiny! The “last days” of the nation of Israel as the way to God’s covenant did not bring hopelessness and despair. They brought hope and destiny to the Greek and the Jew! The book of Job gives us a syntactical principle for this truth. This word for “last” or “latter” is used in the book of Job to describe the latter days of his life, after God restored to him what the enemy had destroyed. Since Job is the oldest book of the Old Testament, we should perhaps extract a principle that the blessings of Job’s “afterwards” exceeded the glory of his former life. Isn’t it true that the glory of the latter house will exceed the glory of the former house (Hag. 2:9)?

Job 42:12 Now the LORD blessed the latter days of Job more than his beginning; for he had fourteen thousand sheep, six thousand camels, one thousand yoke of oxen, and one thousand female donkeys.

Solomon used this word to describe the aging years of a man. Hasn’t the wisdom of God come to the nations in Christ? As we grow into the latter days of our own lives, shouldn’t we grow in the wisdom of God? Shouldn’t our love for Him grow? Shouldn’t our lives exhibit obvious works that our faith toward God is exhibited in sacrifices of love?

Proverbs 19:20 Listen to counsel and receive instruction, that you may be wise in your latter days.

Perhaps one of the most powerful principals of synthesis is found in the book of Deuteronomy. This Scripture refers to the entrance of the children of Israel into the Promised Land. This was a type and shadow for our entrance into the Body of Christ. The Old Covenant Law had given the earth the “early rain”, serving as a tutor to lead us to Christ (Gal. 3:24), and the need for His GRACE. The outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2) was a testimony to God’s giving of the “latter rain”. The earth is now destined to produce the testimony of “grain, new wine, and oil.” The bread of God’s living word, the life of His Spirit, and the power of His authority is now destined to fill the earth! God’s increasing specific graces will increase His common grace in the earth. There will be “grass in our fields,” There will be life in the earth because of the increasing influence of God’s kingdom grace in the Church!

Deuteronomy 11:13 “And it shall be that if you earnestly obey My commandments which I command you today, to love the LORD your God and serve Him with all your heart and with all your soul, 14 then I will give you the rain for your land in its season, the early rain and the latter rain, that you may gather in your grain, your new wine, and your oil. 15 And I will send grass in your fields for your livestock, that you may eat and be filled.”

We can conclude the “last days” of Scripture are not a conclusion to the world, but an open door to the increasing influence of Christ’s Kingdom power upon the world! We should not fear an imminent judgment to come, but rather anticipate a testimony of increasing grace as God’s mercy triumphs over judgment (Jam. 2:13)!

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,

Last week I presented the need for leaders to inspire those they lead to find their life in Christ. Our focus should not be upon a day that is yet to come. Our focus should be on each, and every day to come. We live in the light of Day found in Christ. We have eternal life, and we are no longer children of darkness, but children of light.  

Jesus came as a man to free us from the life of the flesh and empower us to live as a dwelling place of God by His Spirit. Our freedom from the life of the flesh is given to us by Jesus in His judgment of sin upon our cross at Calvary.

Romans 5:8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

We are justified to live. This was the gift of God’s mercy through the man Jesus, the Christ. His gift of mercy justified us to live, even though we were bound to death in our sin. This was the power of the first coming of Jesus as the word in flesh. His death upon the cross grants us mercy and that mercy justifies us to live, but it is His grace that empowers us to reign in life.

Romans 5:9 Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him.

We are justified to live because of His blood, but we are saved by His grace. This is not just a salvation of heaven, but an increasing glory of a heavenly influence of salvation in our lives. We shall overcome all wickedness through Him. Our thoughts, reasoning, desire, imagination, and emotions are being empowered by God’s grace working in our hearts and minds. Holy Spirit in our lives gives us the salvation of Jesus to our spirits, souls, and bodies in this world and all that is to come. This is the power of God’s grace working in and through us. It is the power of God’s manifest presence in or lives. It is the proof that there is no gap, no separation, between us and God when we boldly come to the place of His presence because of His mercy, we find the power of His love towards us as a giver of grace.

Romans 5:10 For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. 11 And not only that, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation.

God’s mercy reconciled us to God as our Father, but God’s grace empowers us to live as sons and daughters of God who have been reconciled to God. Grace is the evidence that God is in our lives. We must choose to receive God’s mercy and embrace His grace to live with a culture of grace among the kingdoms of the world.

To experience God’s justice system, we must first acknowledge the old one. The way to God’s grace is through God’s mercy. Mercy is found in the testimony of the cross of Calvary. Each of us must receive the first coming of Jesus to receive the salvation that comes by His presence abiding in us in our world. Mercy ends our old life of the flesh and without mercy we are still bound to an administration of death. We must come boldly to the throne of Christ to receive the end of our old life of flesh and discover our new life empowered by God’s grace.  

Hebrews 4:16 Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

Mercy is obtained by an acknowledgement of mercy given. God loves us, but we don’t deserve His love. To think we deserve His love is an injustice in the covenant of law and conscience. The justice system of grace is available for all, but we must first receive the end of the justice system of law and conscience. That requires God’s mercy, and it can only be obtained through a revelation of the cross. We must receive His first coming into our lives as a judgment for sin to receive His full coming of eternal life in every measure of our lives.

Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Romans 3:21-26 But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe. For there is no difference; for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed, to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.

We are justified to find our life in Christ. The sacrifice of Jesus put away our sin. His death is our death, and His life is our life unto salvation in all things. As leaders we lead others in joining their lives to Christ in all things. This is our salvation to the generations to come for the glory of God.

Food For Thought,

Ted J. Hanson

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

www.ted4leaders.com

www.ted4you.com or

www.houseofbreadministry.org.

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

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

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

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

Blog In Audio:

Greetings,

As leaders in the body of Christ, we don’t lead people to discover a place of the temple of God in their lives. We lead them to be the place of God’s presence. Finding the correct geographical location is not the fulness of this, but the fullness of God’s dwelling place can be found in many geographical locations of the earth. God intends for the knowledge of His glory to cover the earth as the waters presently cover the sea (Isa. 11:9; Hab. 2:14). God’s glory is a place of His abundant life! This is not just a place of being alive, but a place of becoming someone who gives life to the world even as our Father gives life. This is being a temple of Holy Spirit whereby our world in influenced by God’s mercy and grace.

Being a dwelling place of God by His Spirit is true for individuals and for individuals together in community expressions of God’s life. The path of becoming a dwelling place is a path of faith, hope, and love. In Christ there is the calling of Christ, the testimony of Christ, and the purpose of Christ. Our life is in Him. We lose our lives to save our lives in Him. We lay our lives down to find our lives in Christ.

Matthew 16:24 Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. 25 For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.”

The objective is not to lose our life, but to finally find it. We don’t lose our life to die, we simply acknowledge that life without Christ is not eternal. Only in Christ can we know life that cannot die. Only in Christ can we know the life that gives life to our world. It is in Christ that we become a place of God’s dwelling presence, and this is eternal life – a place of knowing God the Father and Jesus His Son by the fellowship of Holy Spirit.

John 17:3 And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.

The Day of the Lord is an eternal Day. It is a Day of light that knows no darkness. It is a day beyond the ages of men. It is the place of eternal life that invites all men to end their age and embrace the calling, testimony, and purpose of God for His glory. As leaders we must lead people to let go of their age for the sake of God’s eternal purpose and plan. It is a path of greater glory. It is a path of unexpected glory!

Hebrews 9:24 For Christ has not entered the holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us; 25 not that He should offer Himself often, as the high priest enters the Most Holy Place every year with blood of another— 26 He then would have had to suffer often since the foundation of the world; but now, once at the end of the ages, He has appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. 27 And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment, 28 so Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many. To those who eagerly wait for Him He will appear a second time, apart from sin, for salvation.

The death of Jesus upon our cross was a death, once for us all. This was the judgment of sin. In Christ we recognize our death so that we can find our life in Him. We end our age so that we can have a life influenced by and for God’s eternal plan of life. The cross of Jesus was His coming into our lives the first time. He died once for all so that all can see the end of their age and the beginning of His glory. This is the place of knowing His government and peace that has no end. God’s glory is seen in, by, and through His appearing in our lives a second time. We are no longer sinners, but sons and daughters of God in Christ. His appearance the first time was in the flesh to pronounce a judgment once for all upon the flesh of men. His judgment was one of mercy whereby all can believe in Him and be justified to live by that belief. His appearance a second time is by His Spirit within us. Holy Spirit has come in Jesus’ name to give us His salvation in every measure of our lives, including that which is beyond our world. This the place of His constant coming and His constant abiding in our lives. It will one day lead to a greater glory, but His glory is in our lives as sons and daughters of God. We are a dwelling place of God by His Spirit.

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,

Our purpose as a community of Christ is to bring life to our world. It is not merely to meet our own needs. It is to be a source of life to our world. It is to fulfill the purpose of God in our lives to be as our Heavenly Father is, a giver of life to others in our world.

To transform a community of escape and refuge to a community of life-giving purpose we must create a love for the community that is manifested in the environment of the community. To do this, faith will have to overcome natural sight. Natural sight will keep us bound to the conditions of our present and our past. Only faith can give us what we have not seen, heard, or thought before. Transformation only exists in an environment of faith. This environment can only be found in a culture of hope and love.

Each member of the community needs to experience an internal revelation of faith that can change every condition of escape and refuge to a world of purpose and destiny. Leaders lead to activate an internal environment of faith that frames a new city – a new world. To do this, leaders must see the change and lead others into that change. They must hear God in their hearts for what needs to change and then inspire those they lead to hear that vision from God within their own hearts.

Hebrews 11:1 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. 2 For by it the elders obtained a good testimony. 3 By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible.

The word for world in this verse is the GSRN165, αἰών aiōn; an age. The worlds that were framed in Hebrews chapter 11 were not the worlds that God created. They were the worlds of Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Sarah, and many other men and women of God. Their futures were resisted by the natural realities of their lives, but they were empowered to overcome all things by hearing and responding to God’s voice. Their present and their futures were framed by hearing God in their hearts. A vision for the future must become stronger than any fear of the past or present. For this reason, the culture of our community must value what God desires above just meeting our daily needs.

In this process of change there must be an embracing of change for the whole community. Each member is inspired to fulfill their role in the change, but the change is for everyone together. Hope can be seen in the testimonies of change. For this reason, we must celebrate accomplishments. Don’t just celebrate alone – celebrate together! As change happens let it be a testimony that inspires everyone to move from what was into what is being established by God today. In this we value the community by seeking to bring everyone to the change.

We must recognize individual strengths for the corporate value. Our individual strengths make us stronger together. Living for the well-being of one another will manifest individual strengths and those strengths will envision a greater value for community. This will reveal an unfolding testimony of life-giving and life-inspiring change.

Leaders facilitate the writing of the story. The story is revealed through a connection to the foundation with an envisioning for the future. We value the successes of the past, the present testimonies, and we inspire a desire for all that God desires for His glory. In this we will draw from our treasure things that are new and old.

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.”

We must be willing to root out and to pull down, to destroy and throw down, to build and to plant to be able to embrace what is new. We cannot pant and build if we are not willing to let go of what was in the past. To become a community of life-giving purpose we must be willing to let go of every stronghold of escape and refuge.  

Jeremiah 1:10 “See, I have this day set you over the nations and over the kingdoms, to root out and to pull down, to destroy and to throw down, to build and to plant.”

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,

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