ted4leaders

Greetings,

As leaders, we are not merely called by God to lead churches or to lead various administrations of service. We are called by God to lead people. Leadership is not a job; it is a twenty-four hour per day reality and responsibility in life. It is a testimony of what we are anointed to be in life. It is not a job we were hired to do or selected my men to perform. Leadership is not a task given that you can easily be released from or simply put on or put away like a piece of clothing from our dresser drawer or closet. Leadership is a gift from God for the sake of leading others.

In the Old Covenant the responsibility of a leader was to take people by the hand and lead them (Jer. 31:32). We cannot take people by the hand and lead them in life. That will never empower people to become who they are meant to be in life. We must lead to empower people to know who they are and to be who they are destined to be in the everyday world of their daily lives. We are not to make decisions for those we lead or tell them what to do. We are to serve them by activating, facilitating, and releasing the life of Christ within them to become human beings who live lives filled with the testimony of God in the world. They must be spiritual people empowered, anointed, and led in life. They must know the power and life of the Spirit of God within them, discover their unique roles in life, and join with others to produce the effects of God’s life in the world and to the world that continues to exist even after they have transitioned to the greater glory of heaven.

So many times we think that the things of the Spirit are spiritual and the things of the natural are natural. Religious cultures have left us a bankrupt mentality of life. We have somehow bought a lie that God’s world is separate from our world and that our world is separate from His. This has left us bound to realities of poverty, depravity, and meaningless activities in life. I believe that human beings were born to be spiritual beings in life. They are both natural and spirit and both of these realities are what make them spiritual in everything they are and do in life. It is not more spiritual to pray for the sick than for a mother to care for her children. It is not less spiritual for a man to drive a truck than to cast out a demon. It is not more holy to sing worship songs than for men and women to lay their lives down for one another out of a preference of love. It is not more holy to wait on tables than to sit at Jesus’ feet and it is not less holy to wait on tables than to sit at His feet. It is all a matter of the responsibility and important thing of the moment. Mary was not more spiritual than Martha; she simply knew what was important at the moment.

As leaders we must lead to empower others to be spiritual in life. We must be spiritual and empower others to be spiritual also. We must be sons and daughters of God who serve to empower others to be sons and daughters of God in life. Paul wrote some words in regard to being spiritual people.

1 Corinthians 12:1-3 Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I do not want you to be ignorant: You know that you were Gentiles, carried away to these dumb idols, however you were led. 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 the above text is not in the original Greek. It is an added word to explain the context of the letter. I believe that the translators have missed the point of this chapter by adding the word ‘gifts’. The chapter is not about spiritual ‘gifts’. It is about being spiritual people. It includes gifts of the Spirit, the ministry of Christ’s body, and the effects or workings of the body in the world. This chapter is describing the empowerment of humanity from within, the diversity of humanity in revealing Christ to the world, and the purpose of humanity in effecting the world through relationships and functions of destiny. In all of these, human beings are to be spiritual.

Paul starts by saying that when we were not in covenant with God, lifeless, voiceless things were the drive and passion of our purpose. We were motivated by fleshly passions and desires, but at least we were motivated. Things such as parties, business, education, sports, adventure, vacations, shopping, music, science, discovery, and many other things that do not reveal or release the true destiny of human beings led us. Things are not the true issue. They are not necessarily bad, but when they become the controllers and motivators of our lives they bind us to being natural people. They become the idols and lords of our lives. The real issue Paul was dealing with was one of being spiritual. Paul was challenging believers to be the most passionate and purpose focused human beings on earth. They looked like people with destiny when they were dead, but now they should really reveal the true destiny of human beings in the earth. They must be spiritual people. They were born to reveal the Lordship of Jesus in life! This can only happen by the power, testimony, and purpose of the Holy Spirit manifested in their lives.

We must not be ignorant in being spiritual. We must not ignore, have little use for, have little value for, be uneducated to, or slack in any way in being spiritual people in life. Our role as leaders is to help people discover this mystery of life.

The true subject of Paul’s writing is found in verse four of this chapter.

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

Paul was dealing with the subject of gifts of the Spirit, ministries of Christ, and effects or workings of God in life. To be spiritual people we must have the power of the Spirit, know the uniqueness of who we are in being human’s expressing the power of Christ, and we must know our divine connections for our purpose in life. All humans must be empowered by God’s Spirit in their spirits, led by the spirit in their souls, and reveal a spiritual testimony in life. Paul was not merely talking about how gifts of the Spirit function in an institution called the church. He was talking about how the life of the Spirit works to make human beings spiritual in their expression as the Church of Christ in life.

Food For Thought,

Ted J. Hanson

Greetings;

Today I want to write concerning our qualifications as leaders. It is not what we know about God that qualifies us to lead. It is what we have become of God that qualifies our leadership abilities. We are all part of the family of God and as leaders in the family of God we are called to inspire others to become all that God has for them to be in Him. We are not merely leading them to do all that they can do; we are called to lead them to become all that they are to become. Each of us is an expression of God in our lives. We were created to reveal the likeness and the image of our heavenly Father to the world. None of us can reveal the fullness of who He is, but each of us can reveal a measure of who He is. When we join together we reveal an even greater measure of who He is. When we live as the family of God we reveal the testimony of God to the world.

Becoming expressions of God involves the process of relationship with God in life. Every revelation from God is an invitation to have an encounter with God, so we will be transformed by God, and become a revelation of God to others. God gives us words so that we will become a testimony of that word. God will always makes us become a testimony of His word, before He sends us to deliver it. We may not be a completed work when He sends us, but we will for sure be the testimony of a work in process. When we talk about what we know about God, we are talking. But when we share the testimonies of what we have become in Him we impart life to others. We inspire faith. We encourage others to hear the voice of God within their own hearts. I believe that our greatest qualification as leaders in leading is what we have become of God in Christ, not what we know about God from the Book.

Leaders often encounter many trials, because those trials cause them to be rooted in God to become who they are meant to be in Christ. I believe that this happens for the sake of those they lead and as an example to others as to how to stay in love, intimacy, faith and life in Christ in all things. I don’t believe that the trials of life are our teachers. I believe that the Holy Spirit is our teacher, and He is teaching us on good days and on bad days. It is the difficult days, however, that we often prove to reveal the true testimony of what Christ is forming in us. He is at work on the good days, but the truth tends to manifest in the times of pressure. This is the process of grace.

Romans 5:1-5 Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; and perseverance, character; and character, hope. Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.

Grace is the power of God at work in our lives. We enter into grace by faith, because we already have peace with God by the blood of Jesus and the mercy given to us each day in Him. In the process of grace we experience tribulations, the pressures of life. Those pressures are not meant to cause us to fail; they are the times that prove the substance of the life of Christ within us. It is in those times that we endure. The Greek word for endure always involves a ‘cheerful endurance’. In the midst of the tests of life we cheerfully endure. We don’t just hold on in pain, we choose to rejoice in Christ! When we cheerfully endure in Christ we see the character of Christ manifest in our lives. This is seen as the hope of the life of Christ revealed in us. From glory to glory He changes us and that change is a testimony to those around us. We give life to others because we have become a testimony of the life of Christ for others.

I believe that people are meant to be a message of God. They are not called to know about Him, but to know Him and to become activators, facilitators, and releasers of God’s grace into the lives of others. As leaders we are to excel in living in the testimony of God’s grace. We must cheerfully endure the pressures of life and testify of the character, nature, way, power, and authority of Christ revealed by His work within us. We must lead, not to show what people are to do, but we must lead by example in becoming so that others can also become who God has made them to be in Christ.

Food For Thought,

Ted J. Hanson

Greetings;

Today I want to challenge you all as leaders in the body of Christ.  A leader is not someone who is a scholar or a professional. They are not leaders because of their administrative expertise. A leader is not someone who can give eloquent, impressive sermons; nor someone who is a great orator, educator, or instructor. When we exalt these things we rob the church of the spiritual blessings that only spiritual fathers and mothers can bring. We don’t need information without love, mercy, or understanding. We don’t need information about love, about mercy, or about understanding. We need love, mercy, and understanding. We lead because we have be sent by God our Father to activate, facilitate, and release His children to know Him, mature in Him, and become expressions of Him in this world. Humanity is the family of God and only by knowing Him and depending upon Him can men and women fulfill their destiny in life. These things can only be made manifest through a close relationship with God, God’s people, and the spiritual example of true fathers and mothers in the faith.

Leaders are willing to go through struggles in life on behalf of others. Whatever you might be going through at this time in your life is not for you, but is for the sake of those you affect in this world. Can you hold on to the good news of a God who is good in the midst of situations that don’t appear to be good? We are here for the well being of others so whatever we find ourselves going through in life is ultimately for the well being of others. This even includes being transparent and vulnerable in the wrestles of our own hearts and the walking out of the will of God in the midst of our own weaknesses. God is transforming us, even as He desires to transform those we serve for the glory of His character, nature, way, power, and authority. We are leaders in His family for the sake of revealing His family in the earth.

1 Thessalonians 2:1 For you yourselves know, brethren, that our coming to you was not in vain. 2 But even after we had suffered before and were spitefully treated at Philippi, as you know, we were bold in our God to speak to you the gospel of God in much conflict. 

Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy knew that their role as leaders in the body of Christ included their ability to live life and go through all things they had to go through for the sake of others (1Thes. 1:1). The conflicts of their lives were not self-inflicted for the cause of their own selfish needs. The conflicts of their lives came about through their willingness to live for the sake of others. They were willing to lose their own reputations for the sake of loving those God had sent them to. Their objective as leaders was to live responsibly before God in the commission given to them for the sake of the future generations of the church. As leaders, God has entrusted us with a task of bringing the good news of God’s kingdom to others in the way that God desires for it to be given. We are not to be men-pleasers, but pleasers of God our Father. We lead for the sake of the Father’s will in and through the lives of His sons and daughters in the earth. Our task as leaders is not to assess the needs of the people and then seek God for the presumed answers to human needs. Our task as leaders is to seek the will of our heavenly Father and then ask God how we may extend the good news of His will to those he has sent us to. The Father is the one who knows the true needs of human hearts. We often seek to mend the fruits of men and women’s lives, but God knows the roots of the human heart that manifest in the fruits of their ways. People don’t usually know what they truly need. What the think they need is what has gotten them into the situations they so often find themselves in. When people do what they have always done they will always get what they have always gotten. God is the one who knows how to give them new results and how to put them on the path of true destiny. We must be leaders for the sake of God’s will, not the will of the people. We must be willing to be misunderstood and rejected at times in our task of extending heavenly news into earthly situations.

1 Thessalonians 2:3 For our exhortation did not come from error or uncleanness, nor was it in deceit.  4 But as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, even so we speak, not as pleasing men, but God who tests our hearts.  5 For neither at any time did we use flattering words, as you know, nor a cloak for covetousness—God is witness. 

Being leaders is not a hierarchy of command. It is not a position of glory before men. It seems that leaders often error is seeking the glory from those they lead. Being a leader is a position of servant hood to God and servant hood to those God sends them to. Our ministry to and before men is not to seek their approval, but to equip them and exhort them in their process of coming to maturity as children of God. Our way as leaders must be that of seeking to give life to those we lead. It is not a job; it is a mandate. It is part of our role in the hope of His calling. It is our position of authority as part of the riches of His inheritance. It is the a measure of the testimony of His power that we carry to change the world behind us in this world.

1 Thessalonians 2:6 Nor did we seek glory from men, either from you or from others, when we might have made demands as apostles of Christ.  7 But we were gentle among you, just as a nursing mother cherishes her own children.  8 So, affectionately longing for you, we were well pleased to impart to you not only the gospel of God, but also our own lives, because you had become dear to us.  9 For you remember, brethren, our labor and toil; for laboring night and day, that we might not be a burden to any of you, we preached to you the gospel of God.

Our task as leaders is to constantly live as examples to those we lead. We must exhort, comfort, and even charge those we lead as a father does his own children. We embrace the mother nature of God to in gentleness, nurturing, and love and the father nature of God in inspiring the generations to embrace the Father’s will in destiny. We live for the Father’s glory and our responsibility before men is to invite men and women into the greatness of our family name.

1 Thessalonians 2:10 You are witnesses, and God also, how devoutly and justly and blamelessly we behaved ourselves among you who believe; 11 as you know how we exhorted, and comforted, and charged every one of you, as a father does his own children, 12 that you would walk worthy of God who calls you into His own kingdom and glory. 

What we have to offer those we lead is not the fruit of our own gifting and talents. We are not administrators of human abilities. We are ministers of the expressions of God among men and women. We are distributors of the truth given to us by God. We do not lead according to our own abilities. We lead by the grace given to us by God for the sake of His kingdom and His will in the generations of humanity.

1 Thessalonians2:13 For this reason we also thank God without ceasing, because when you received the word of God which you heard from us, you welcomed it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which also effectively works in you who believe. 

I encourage you all to embrace the hope of His calling, stand fast as the riches of His inheritance, and release the power of His resurrection life in all that you are and do for the sake of His glory. You are leaders in the body of Christ – LEAD!

Food For Thought,

Ted J. Hanson

Greetings,

As leaders in the body of Christ we must keep a clear perspective in regard to our responsibility as leaders. The Old Covenant was a covenant based upon the knowledge of good as it pertains to God who is good. The New Covenant is based upon a knowing of God who is good. Leadership in the Old Covenant was all about taking people by the hand and leading them in the ways of God. The prophet Jeremiah foretold of the New Covenant that would come through Christ. That New Covenant sets out the parameters for leadership in the church.

Jeremiah 31:31-34 “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 — 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. 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. 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.”

In these verses we find several keys to the requirement of leadership in the New Covenant. The first thing that is seen is that 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 we lead.

We must be fathers, mothers, mentors, and influencers of true vulnerability and life. There are absolutes in the character of God, but seeking to please those absolutes is not enough. We must have a revelation of who God is and a revelation of who we are meant to be in order to receive a change in our hearts and minds that empowers us to become people who cast a shadow that looks like the absolutes of God’s way.

As leaders we must consider the root of the issues of the human heart and not merely seek to deal with the fruit of those issues. We are not here to teach people what to do or how to act. We are here to help them discover who they really are. When they know they are sons and daughters of God they will manifest as His children in the earth. It is about an empowerment to be, not merely an empowerment to do.

Food For Thought,

Ted J. Hanson

Greetings;

Leadership is a gift from God to people He loves. Yes, the highest form of communication is the Holy Spirit speaking to the human heart and no person can replace the hope of Christ within each man or woman. The Spirit of God within us leads each of us, but God also gives gifts to help us in our relationship with Him. Sometimes we need a visible expression or an audible sound that helps us receive what God is doing within us in order for us to respond fully to that inner voice. I believe that leadership is a gift from God and it is a sent voice of life to help us recognize the voice of God within us.

We are not in an Old Covenant where someone takes us by the hand and leads us. We are in a New Covenant where the inspirational voice of God within us empowers us to become all that God desires for us to be. The New Covenant is one of faith, but faith does not negate the need for leadership in our lives. We all need help in hearing God at times. Faith comes by hearing God personally, but sometimes we are looking or listening in the wrong direction. We need a gift from God that we can see to help us look in the right direction or listen to the right voice.

Leaders are not men and women of power. They are men and women who have been given an authority. This means that they are men and women who have been given a responsibility to lead. Many people associate the word authority with the word control, but those with true authority bring freedom and release to those they lead. A voice of authority is a voice of life, but it is a voice! God appoints leaders to enable people to fulfill the greater purpose of being part of the body of Christ, not merely live a testimony of individuals with Christ within them. The corporate purpose of the body of Christ is greater than the individual destinies of people. Together we are the fullness of Him, but individually we are merely expressions of Him.

Ephesians 1:22-23 And He put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.

The body of Christ is the fullness of Him therefore we need one another to discover the greater purposes of Christ. Leadership fulfills an important role in this corporate purpose. As leaders we must understand that God does not merely give us words to speak to those we lead. He causes us to become an expression of the word that He is writing in a corporate measure. We must be the first to respond to the will of God in our hearts and we must then inspire others to follow the inner voice of Christ within them to become what God desires them to be both individually and corporately together. This means that leaders are the first to walk into new territory. They are the first to think new thoughts. They are the first to respond to the change that God is bringing about through the corporate expressions of the body of Christ in the earth.

As a leader you can assume that what is going on in your life is for the sake of others. If you are facing challenges, you are facing those challenges for the sake of those you lead. If you need to invite the Holy Spirit to help you in your attitude, your focus, your purpose, your expectations, or any other thing, it is for the purpose of those you lead. If you will be the first to pioneer new territory in life others will also experience the benefits of those territories. This is called leadership. It is what you are becoming in Christ that counts. Embracing the journey of ‘glory to glory’ is part of the testimony of being leaders. We must be men and women of faith. We must be men and women of love. We must be sons and daughters of God to be qualified leaders in the body of Christ. It is not a position of hierarchy over others. It is a responsibility of becoming what God is calling His body to be in order for the fullness of Christ to be seen in a greater measure in the earth. Embrace the journey and embrace the responsibility to lead for the sake of others.

Food For Thought,

Ted J. Hanson

Greetings,

As leaders we must lead others in a way that empowers them to be, not to do. We are not called to raise up Christ empowered activities. We are not called to facilitate Christ empowered doings. Our investments in life are not investments in works, but investments in people who will no doubt do works. We are called to serve others in helping them become who God has created them to be in this world. They are human beings, not human doings. Leadership is about empowering people, not empowering the activities of people. When people are alive they do things, but doing things is not what makes people come alive. When people are insecure in who they are they tend to find their security in what they do. We must influence people in a way that they become secure in who they are as sons and daughters of God. We must seek to create an atmosphere within our realms of responsibility that empowers people to become who they are. When we seek to empower people to do we can create a prison of bondage that becomes a system we serve instead of a culture of life that serves to give life to others. Very often our intentions are sincere, but the results are less than life and true freedom. True freedom brings life to others. When we discover whom God created us to be we find that who we are is a gift for the sake of the world. We were born to bring life to the world, not to live for ourselves or to live for works of ministry.

The will of God is not what we do. The will of God is who we are. When we discover who we are we find that there are many things we can do. The things we do come out of the identity of who we are. When the will of God becomes an activity, that activity limits us in our destiny. If we think the will of God is a work, what happens when that work fails? When we know the will of God is who we are we will not be shaken even when some works seem to fail. We move forward in doing works because we always stand in whom we are. As leaders we must activate, facilitate, and release people to stand as who they are in this world. We must equip them to be, more than equipping them to do. The tools of life serve life; life does not serve the tools. The tools are given to help us be who God made us to be, not make us become who God made us to be. David’s sling carried the stone from David’s hand, it did not make David’s hand. Saul’s armor didn’t fit David, because David was David. Neither the armor nor the sling made David a giant killer. It was the anointing of God upon who David was that made him able to do the work of slaying Goliath.

1 Samuel 17:38-39 And Saul said to David, “Go, and the Lord be with you!” So Saul clothed David with his armor, and he put a bronze helmet on his head; he also clothed him with a coat of mail. David fastened his sword to his armor and tried to walk, for he had not tested them. And David said to Saul, “I cannot walk with these, for I have not tested them.” So David took them off. Then he took his staff in his hand; and he chose for himself five smooth stones from the brook, and put them in a shepherd’s bag, in a pouch which he had, and his sling was in his hand. And he drew near to the Philistine.

David was not seeking to fulfill the hope of his calling. He wasn’t seeking to get His inheritance. He wasn’t trying to stand in his own power. His heart was to be the will of God for the purpose of the will of God in Israel. He was willing to do what needed to be done because he knew who God was. Because he knew who God was, he also knew who he was in the hand of God.

Many times we become stressed over our callings in life. We become prideful in our attempts to be successful. We even become self-sufficient in our desire for the power of God before we realize it. We do not have a calling; we fulfill a specific role in the hope of His calling. We are not looking to get our inheritance; we are a part of His inheritance in the earth. We do not have power; we walk in the testimony of His power for the sake of the world in which we live. These are not things we do. These are attributes that come out of the testimony of who we are in Christ. Christ in us is the hope of glory and that glory is meant to bring life to others. It is a matter of becoming people of the likeness and the image of our Father in heaven. God is not a Great Doing. He is a great Father. He is who He is and therefore He can do all things. He is not motivated by what He does; He does all things because of whom He is. When we discover who we are we can do many things that serve to bring life to the world.

Food For Thought,

Ted J. Hanson

Greetings,

As leaders in the body of Christ we are responsible to lead for the sake of the body of Christ. We are not leaders for the sake of our own Christian organizations. We are responsible to the Holy Spirit in all that He desires to do in the area of responsibility entrusted to each of us as leaders. Jesus is the head of His Church and whatever expression of Christ we are called to lead is a testimony of the body of Christ. We must seek to receive our instructions from the Holy Spirit and not from mere biblical principles and truths. We cannot lead to merely meet the needs of people, fulfill our own dreams, or accomplish some sought out significance in life. We must lead for the purpose of Christ.

In order to lead for the purpose of Christ we must first lead for and from the temple of Christ. Our first qualification as leaders is in being a place where God lives. Our lives must be filled with God’s presence in order to lead for His presence in the Church. Being a temple of Christ comes before being a leader for Christ. Being a temple of Christ comes before being a community of Christ.  Being a place where Christ lives is essential to be leaders for any testimony of Christ in the earth. The Lamb is the temple and that temple is found in the human heart (Rev. 21:22). We live in Him and He abides in us.

When we lead for and from the temple of the Holy Spirit we discover the community of Christ. As the community of Christ becomes evident in our lives and in the lives of those we lead, we can then add the measure of leading for and from the community of Christ in our midst. As we lead for and from the community of Christ we will see the purpose of Christ revealed both corporately and individually in the testimony of those we lead. As the purpose of Christ is revealed we can then lead for and from that purpose. As we lead for and from the purpose of Christ and we will see the destiny of Christ fulfilled. We are called to lead with the authority of Christ. This means we must constantly be under the authority of Christ in all that we are responsible for. Everything is dependent upon the temple of Christ inspiring the community of Christ, which reveals the purpose of Christ, and fulfills the destiny of Christ in our lives.

The temple of Christ will facilitate a culture of Christ. A culture of Christ is a culture of love and a culture of faith. Without love there can be no faith, since faith works by love. The Old Covenant was dependent upon the law and the commands of law. The New Covenant is dependent upon love and the commands of love. The commands of law were commands of bondage and fear, but the commands of love are inspirations of love and faith. As leaders we must seek to activate, facilitate, and release a culture of love. Being right or wrong are not the key elements to the discovery or the development of a culture of love. Being loved by God is the ingredient of life that spawns the culture of love in our midst. When we know how much God loves us we are inspired to love others even as we love ourselves.

John 13:34 “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even
as I have loved you, that you also love one another.”

The ability to love others is dependent upon a revelation of God’s
love for us. We can only love God when we realize how much God loves us. When
we know He loves us we love Him! It is only then that we can truly love others
and ourselves. It is not the command that gives us love, but receiving His
love. It is a revelation! A revelation of God’s love will be the seedbed for a culture of love in our midst. As New Covenant leaders we must point to the testimony of God’s love in the midst of His people. This will inspire those we lead to look to Him and not to their own right or wrong efforts. This cannot just be a theology of love. It must be a manifestation of His love that is made known by His presence in our midst. God is love and when He is in our midst a culture of love is revealed in our communion with one another. A community of love comes from the communion of His love among us.

A culture of love will create the atmosphere for a culture of faith. Faith comes by hearing God and it is manifested through acts of love from our hearts towards God and one another. Faith is manifested through trust in the One who speaks. It is manifested in a willingness to respond to the One who speaks. It is revealed in acts of honor towards the One who speaks. Faith is dependent upon the One who speaks. These were the attributes of faith. As leaders we must first see these attributes in our own lives and then we must lead to activate, facilitate, and release a culture of faith among those we are responsible for. These were the attributes of Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, even in their captivity in Babylon.

Daniel 1:6, 7 Now from among those of the sons of Judah were Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah. To them the chief of the eunuchs gave names: he gave Daniel the name Belteshazzar; to Hananiah, Shadrach; to Mishael, Meshach; and to Azariah, Abed-nego.

These men were given different names by those who observed them from a culture that did not understand faith. These men requested that they be allowed to eat only vegetables and drink the water of Babylon (Dan. 2:12). Their request was that they be allowed to eat and drink these for ten days. Ten is a symbolic number of totality, or judgment. That judgment is not a condemning judgment. It is a judgment of love, even as the ten commandments of God are a testimony of loving God and loving others. These Hebrew men trusted God’s judgments of love in the midst of their testing. They requested only that which they had faith for. They didn’t ask for vegetables or water from Judah. They simply requested that they be allowed to stay in faith towards their God in the midst of their captivity. The names of these men speak of a testimony of faith. Daniel means, ‘God is my judge’. To him the Babylonians gave the name Belteshazzar, a name meaning ‘one who knows secrets’. When we trust the One who speaks it will appear to those who don’t understand faith that we know secrets. The name Hananiah means, ‘God is merciful, gracious and a giver of gifts’. It is a name that implies being willing to receive everything and anything from the One who speaks. To Hananiah the Babylonians gave the name Shadrach, a name meaning, ‘one who sucks the nipple’. A culture of faith inspires a attitude of being willing to receive everything and anything that God gives. When we are willing to receive anything that God gives it will appear to those who don’t understand faith that we are childish and foolish in our actions.  The name Mishael means, ‘who is asked for or lent’ in the sense of ‘in awe of God’ or ‘God is awesome’! This name implies an awe for the One who speaks. To Mishael the Babylonians gave the name Meshach, a name meaning ‘drawn or controlled by force’. When we are willing to respond to the One who speaks with actions of honor, those who do not understand faith will accuse us of being controlled by force. They will interpret our honor for God as some cultic force of control in our lives. The name Azariah means, ‘God is my help’ or ‘he that hears the Lord’. It implies not knowing anything and being completely dependent upon God. The Babylonians called Azariah, Abed-nego, a name that means you are ‘in league with the god of knowledge or science’. It implies that you ‘know things’. When we are completely dependent upon the One who speaks it will appear to those who do not understand faith that we are in league with some form of knowledge or enlightened truth.  These are the attributes of a culture of faith.

Daniel 1:15-20 And at the end of ten days their features appeared better and fatter in flesh than all the young men who ate the portion of the king’s delicacies. Thus the steward took away their portion of delicacies and the wine that they were to drink, and gave them vegetables. As for these four young men, God gave them knowledge and skill in all literature and wisdom; and Daniel had understanding in all visions and dreams. Now at the end of the days, when the king had said that they should be brought in, the chief of the eunuchs brought them in before Nebuchadnezzar. Then the king interviewed them, and among them all none was found like Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah; therefore they served before the king. And in all matters of wisdom and understanding about which the king examined them, he found them ten times better than all the magicians and astrologers who were in all his realm. 

This is the testimony of a culture of faith that flows from a culture of God’s love. We must lead for these attributes in the body of Christ.

Food For Thought,

Ted J. Hanson

Greetings;

As leaders in the body of Christ we must be New Covenant in our thinking and New Covenant in our leadership style. Church is not a structure. It is the testimony of the culture of the kingdom of heaven made manifest in human community. Many times people get offended with what they see in the structure of the church and think that the solution is to create a new structure for a New Covenant expression. I don’t believe we have a structure problem as much as we have a culture problem. Structure doesn’t create a culture, but a culture will mandate a changing structure. Surely there are changes needed in the structure of things in the church, but the answer is not to simply change the structure. It is to change the culture. When the culture of the kingdom of God enters into any structure, the structure will change. The New Covenant church is built upon a New Covenant culture.

Jeremiah 31:31-34

“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 — 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. 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. 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 an external change, but rather an internal one. The internal change of the New Covenant in the heart of the believer empowers many changes to the external way of things. It is not about knowing what to do or knowing how to act. It is about being empowered to live, move, and have our beings as sons and daughters of God in the earth. As New Covenant leaders we must seek to activate, facilitate, and release this reality in the lives of those we lead. We cannot take people by the hand and lead them. We must create an atmosphere that invites all to know God and to listen to His voice. We are not responsible to teach people right from wrong. We are responsible is teaching them to recognize and obey God’s voice. The culture of the kingdom of God is one of hearing, responding, and becoming a testimony of all that God desires in the earth. This will create a community of unity through diversity. When we lead for a structure we command unity through conformity, but when we lead for a culture we inspire unity through diversity.

Psalms 133:1-3 Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity! It is like the precious oil upon the head, running down on the beard, the beard of Aaron, running down on the edge of his garments. It is like the dew of Hermon, descending upon the mountains of Zion; for there the Lord commanded the blessing — Life forevermore.

God doesn’t bless unity; He blesses Zion. Zion is the place of the manifest presence of heaven on earth. It is the place where the anointing oil touches the earth. It is the place where the dew of heaven touches that little hill of Zion. That is where God commands the blessing and that blessing is – Life forevermore! The result is a testimony of unity. Unity is not the starting point; it is the finished testimony. It comes when everyone finds heaven’s grace in the same place. If God simply blessed unity we could all agree to be religious, we could agree to lie, or we could all agree to hate and expect some form of blessing from God. God doesn’t bless our agreement. Our agreement comes from the place of His blessings. The place of His blessing is the place of His cultural invasion in our hearts. That cultural invasion is one of knowing God and becoming a testimony of Him in the earth. We must be a house of God’s presence before we can be a community of His testimony. We must be a community of His testimony before we can be a people of His purpose.

The 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. 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.

Food For Thought

Ted J. Hanson

Greetings,

There are different roles of leadership in the body of Christ. People often think that ministry training is about being instructed in the ways of ministry, but mere instruction alone will only inform us of what to do. It will not cause us to become who we need to become. We cannot change the lives of others merely by what we know. We can only change the world by who we are and what we have become in Christ. It is not what we know that empowers us for ministry. It is who we have become in the substance of Christ. To become the substance of something involves being transformed to become something. The apostle Paul understood this truth when he wrote to the church of Corinth. He considered them to be a spiritual letter of truth that was first written in his own heart and then written in both the individual and corporate expressions of the church. This is how he viewed his responsibility to the church in Corinth. This is how Paul saw his role of apostolic leadership and the role of leadership of others towards the church.

2 Corinthians 3:1-3 Do we begin again to commend ourselves? Or do we need, as some others, epistles of commendation to you or letters of commendation from you? You are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read by all men; clearly you are an epistle of Christ, ministered by us, written not with ink but by the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of flesh, that is, of the heart.

Paul understood that his role to the Corinthian church was not one of instruction. It was one of bringing transformation to the lives of the people he had been sent to. His mind was fixed on being a minister of the Spirit and not a minister of the word alone. He knew that the Spirit of God was the source of any and every testimony in the lives of people alone and people joined together for God’s glory in the earth. Paul accepted his role as a spiritual father in bringing this to pass.

1 Corinthians 4:15, 16 …for though you might have ten thousand instructors in Christ, yet you do not have many fathers; for in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the gospel. Therefore I urge you, imitate me. For this reason I have sent Timothy to you, who is my beloved and faithful son in the Lord, who will remind you of my ways in Christ, as I teach everywhere in every church.

There is a place for instructors, but there is an essential need for fathers in the church. Paul knew that his role as a leader was not to bring instruction to those God sent him to. His role was one of representing God as the Father of all that is born of Him. Paul’s own relationship with Timothy was one of being a spiritual father. No man is the Father, just like no man is the Pastor or Shepherd of the church. God is the Father and Jesus is the Shepherd of human souls, but men give the expressions of God a physical form that can be seen, heard, touched, and handled by men. Their physical form must come in agreement with the ministry of the Spirit in order to see the inheritance of God manifested in the earth. It is not the inheritance of men that we seek. It is seeing men and women standing as the inheritance of God that we seek to attain (Eph. 1:18). Paul understood his role as one of being used by God to serve in bringing about God’s transformation power to those divinely joined to him for God’s purpose and glory in the earth. This is why Paul could use great confidence in expecting others to receive his spiritual son Timothy. He didn’t send Timothy to those in his sphere of responsibility because of his gifting of ministry, anointing, or informative message. He sent Timothy, because Timothy was something of the substance of Paul. He was something of the substance of the spiritual inheritance entrusted to Paul by God. This is an essential role of spiritual leadership in the Church.

We are not leaders because of the information we know. We are leaders because of the substance of Christ entrusted to our destiny. We are leaders for the sake of others, thus we must become the substance of that for which we lead. We must be the first to be transformed by God in order to carry the substance of that transformation power to the lives of those God sends us to. We need more fathers and mothers and less instructors in the body of Christ.

Food For Thought,

Ted J. Hanson