ted4leaders

Greetings;

I hope you are all well and for those who are facing difficult challenges I pray that God causes obvious good to come from any bad situation you may be facing. May God give you wisdom inspired by faith and peace that surpasses your own understanding. I pray for God’s manifest presence to be clearly evident in the life of each of you. I also pray that God brings a huge testimony of grace for dependence upon Him in everything.

I am going to continue today with a blog on church government. As I have stated earlier, the government of God is the life of the Holy Spirit in the church and in the life of each believer. The governing of that government is facilitated by the Holy Spirit’s voice in each of us as believers and through God-sent authority in our lives. The Holy Spirit is the true voice of life, but He uses God-sent authority to witness with His voice in our lives. The government is the power of God, while the governing is the direction of God to facilitate that increasing power of grace and life. Every individual believer has a responsibility to hear God. New Covenant governors cannot rob God’s people of carrying the responsibility of the covenant nor the presence of God in their individual lives. If you have been given a governing responsibility to others you cannot rob them of their personal connection with the true government of God. That government is Christ in them and He alone is the hope of glory!

There is a great story that depicts a testimony of New Covenant leadership found in the life of King David. When he became the king of Israel he knew that he needed the presence of God in Jerusalem in order to rule as God’s sent king. He understood that the direction of God’s government is by God and not by men alone. In the history of David’s life the Ark of the Covenant had been missing from the Tabernacle of Witness for twenty years. The Ark of the Covenant was representative of the presence of God and was filled with the presence of God. In the beginning days of David’s rule there was a form of godliness in the Tabernacle, but God was not there. David understood that godly ritual is not a substitute for the presence of God. We must know this as well. No form of godliness is enough to accomplish God’s purposes in the earth. Only God’s presence can bring about His kingdom will upon the earth. King David, as the governor of the government of God in the earth, recognized that in order to lead God’s house he had to have the presence of God (2 Sam. 6:1-15).

There are many hidden secrets in this story of King David. A profound secret is revealed in the death of a man who’s name meant “strength” (Uzzah). He was struck dead for trying to steady the ark while it was being transported to a prepared place known as Nachon’s threshing floor (Nachon means “prepared”). David was attempting to move God’s presence without the instruction of how to carry it. It didn’t matter how spiritual of a procession he orchestrated or how much he had prepared to succeed. His means of transport was a human method or form for moving it, not a relational response to God’s instructions. The stumbling of an ox and the death of the man who tried to control the presence of God in the task interrupted David’s means of transport. God expects us to do things His way. Human strength and preparation is not a substitute for the way of God. In all the form that we have of God, we have to be willing for God to interrupt us.

Somehow David figured it out. In his second attempt to transport the ark he put it on the shoulders of the priests. Continual sacrifices were made to God as the procession took place. God was the center of the movement of the ark and God was the purpose for its movement. The prophetic sound of life was heard with trumpets and shouts of praise. There was a great celebration by David and he was not afraid to become undignified in his own way to honor the presence of God as he went.

2 Samuel 6: 13-15

And so it was, that when the bearers of the ark of the LORD had gone six paces, he sacrificed an ox and a fatling.  And David was dancing before the LORD with all his might, and David was wearing a linen ephod.  So David and all the house of Israel were bringing up the ark of the LORD with shouting and the sound of the trumpet.

2 Samuel 6:17-19

So they brought in the ark of the LORD and set it in its place inside the tent which David had pitched for it; and David offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before the LORD.  When David had finished offering the burnt offering and the peace offering, he blessed the people in the name of the LORD of hosts.  Further, he distributed to all the people, to all the multitude of Israel, both to men and women, a cake of bread and one of dates and one of raisins to each one. Then all the people departed each to his house.

Uzzah’s death was symbolic of the death of strength. We have to be willing to allow God to change our form of operation if our form of operation is absent God’s presence. The blessing of God is found in the presence of God. To get the presence of God we have to desire Him more than any work we may think we are doing for Him.

If we want the government of God we must have a willing heart for the government of God. This is the key to the life of the kingdom. The government of God is made known through His manifest presence and it is going to be expressed in all of the members of the house of God. We must receive every member of the Body of Christ for who they are and recognize the grace of God that is upon their lives. To have a willing heart for God’s presence doesn’t mean we just have a willing heart to receive the blessings that come from His presence. God’s presence leads us, anoints us, and allows us to be expressions of His kingdom. His Spirit doesn’t bring liberty. The Spirit of the Lord brings liberty (2 Cor. 3:17). Flowing water without direction or boundaries is a flood. An entrenched boundary without flowing water is a rut. Flowing water within the boundaries of direction is a powerful life-giving river leading to purpose and destiny. This is the testimony of the government of God.  Liberty without boundaries is a flood and it can bring great destruction. Boundaries without the liberty of the Spirit is a rut and can lead to death and even end up being a grave for ministry in the long haul. Only proper boundaries with the life-flow of God’s Spirit can bring about God’s kingdom purposes in the earth.

As leaders we must lead to inspire people to take a personal responsibility for the personal testimony of Christ in their lives. An equipper in the Body of Christ must be willing to be misunderstood, yet keep his or her attitude right at all times. We must lead as those who bring life giving blessing, not organizational control. In the New Covenant we are each made responsible to carry the presence of God. The blessing of God’s kingdom is in God’s presence. In taking the responsibility for the personal testimony of Christ, we must lead to see the manifest presence of God in all that we do.

I am posting an audio teaching with this blog that is on the topic of this past month’s teaching. I don’t expect you to copy the methods of my subject material, but I do hope that the principles of my life inspire you to discover God’s personal convictions in your own life as leaders to the body of Christ.

Food For Thought,

Ted J. Hanson

Attached Leadership Audio#2:

Audio

Leader2

PDF file of Teaching: Leader2

Greetings;

Welcome once again to my weekly leadership blog. I hope you are finding some inspiration and spiritual input from these blogs. Please feel free to share them with anyone else you may feel will benefit from them. They can subscribe to be put on the weekly blog sending.  If you have noticed, each month is a topic of leadership focus with an end of the moth audio teaching on that month’s topic.

Today I am going to continue on the topic of God’s government. Every believer needs to be empowered by the government of God. The government of God is the empowerment of faith within the body of Christ. Two things have been given to us for obedience to the faith. Those two things are grace and apostleship (Rom. 1:5). Grace is the work of the Holy Spirit within our lives. The empowerment of the grace of the Holy Spirit in the life of each believer reveals the voice of God and activates the testimony of faith within their lives. That faith brings not only direction to the church, but also the power of God’s continued maturation and transformation in the life of each believer. It is the voice of the Holy Spirit within the heart of the believer that empowers the church. We have also been given external authorities that have been sent to us in life. Those authorities also serve to activate the voice of God within the hearts of the believers. Who are the sent authorities in our lives that keep us focused in the right place? A leader cannot lead in a way that violates the hearts of people. He or she must lead in a way that activates the headship of Christ in every person’s heart and empowers the testimony of faith.

The kingdom of God is a theocracy. God speaks and we respond to His voice. I believe that there are five expressions that are essential to any body expression of Christ in order to assure the theocratic direction of God is fulfilled. Any methods of facilitating these qualities can be negotiable, but the principle of these means of implementing a theocracy is a non-negotiable in my life. The direction of a God established work of God is not implemented by the will of people, but the will of God. It is necessary to discern the will of God for His mandate to whatever expression of Him we find ourselves a part of.

Let me explain how I believe a theocratic rule operates in a corporate expression of the Church. Whether it involves the life of an individual Christian, the corporate expression of a family, the corporate expression of the body of Christ known as a congregation, or any divinely called assembly of believers; a theocracy is the rule of Christian faith. In a theocracy, God speaks and we respond to what He wills. It is a governing by God. The result is always life and peace. The result is the abundance of life that He desires for us all to have. The result is also a furtherance and advancement of His kingdom in the earth. This sounds simple enough, but we don’t hear God well alone. We all have dull ears and blind spots of various kinds to His voice at times and we are therefore dependant upon His grace to help us. His grace is not just given to us as individuals alone, but is also given to us as various expressions of His grace to one another. God has joined us in relationship together and has granted various measures of grace in order for us to articulate what He is saying to us.

We are dependant upon one another in order to be able to hear God clearly. I believe there are several aspects for this to happen in any corporate expression of God’s house. God provides a source, a resource, and a means of furthering His generations and purpose in His eternal plan for the Church. He provides a means by which He can appoint the furtherance of His corporate will for the Church. From what has been, God appoints what is and is to be. This is then seen in various corporate expressions of His will. For every father there is a father and for every mother there is a mother. It is the way of generations. I believe those generational authorities are the apostolic authorities of life sent to the Church to release the continued inheritance of Christ in His body.

I believe that God also appoints specific prophetic voices to any and every expression of His body. These are not apostolic authorities, but are an objective voice of God to them. These voices help them hear God’s word for the direction of their lives. There should be a plurality of prophetic voices to every individual or corporate expression of ministry or local church.

God also appoints a leader to provide responsible headship accountable to articulate His will for any measure of His house. This God appointed individual is a gift of God’s grace sent specifically to a corporate expression of God’s family as a leadership gift to them. This is a leader, not a dictator or a controller. This leader is simply a “leader”.

Every God-appointed leader must also be relationally joined to other leaders in the dynamic of leadership in order to articulate God’s voice through a fuller measure of Christ’s leadership to the Church. These leaders are gifts of God’s grace sent to the leader and the corporate body in order to fully lead the corporate house within the boundaries of God’s bigger plan.

God also anoints members of the household to hear His voice in order to respond to His will. These are God’s individual gifts of diversity within the house to fully articulate His expression of life in and through that house for the work of ministry in Christ.

There are five theological names that describe these means of hearing His voice. The authority to appoint a sent leader to any given expression of God requires a source of sending. Something generational must exist to provide the authority of further generations. This is known as Apostolic Leadership. This type of leadership is a source and resource to any corporate expression of the body of Christ. This leadership is plural and diverse. It is diverse to the manifold expression of God to the Church. A plurality of diversity in source provides a fuller resource to the future generations of God’s will.

God appoints prophets and prophetic voices to bring direction to a local body. This is Prophetic Council. These voices help the local church hear God’s direction to them corporately.

God always sends a leader to lead specific expressions of His will to reveal His increasing glory in the earth. The sending, or appointing, of a leader is known as an Episcopal form of leadership. God simply sends or appoints a leader to lead a body of believers. He puts a special grace upon that individual to be a leader of leaders for the sake of the corporate household.

Another aspect is that of a Presbytery. This is a team of diversely gifted leaders working together to function as one team in leadership. Various levels of grace are given by God within this Presbytery to lead. God bestows different kinds and various measures of grace upon each of these individuals to create a fuller expression of leadership to the household. Some members of this team are graced by God to make decisions of a governmental nature. These individuals exhibit a tangible power of leadership to put new direction from God into motion for the body. They release direction and grace to the body to respond to His will and voice for their lives. Some members have a grace to creatively implement the governmental direction and decisions of function given by God. They themselves did not receive the direction or make the decision, but they have a grace to see to it that works are facilitated in accordance with God’s given direction and decision. These individuals have a grace to activate and facilitate works that speak of the faith of the corporate house and its members. Some members of the leadership team have a God-given grace to equip individuals of the house for individual function and faith that leads to the actions of ministry in the house. A plurality of these equipping graces will release a harmonious expression of Christ’s function within the house. Within each of these expressions of leadership there is diversity according to the various measures of grace given by God.

The final aspect of God’s rule to the corporate house is found in the lives of individual members of the household. This is an aspect known as Congregational Function, where every believer carries the responsibility of hearing the voice of God within the corporate expression. God gives various kinds and measures of grace to individual members to reveal His voice in and through His household. Some are graced to prophesy, some pray, some see God’s treasures in others, some draw treasures out of others, and so on. There is an endless supply of diversity in any expression of God’s house. All corporate hearing of the congregation members is subject to the discernment, facilitation, and direction of the Episcopes and Presbytery levels of authority in the Church.

I believe that it requires all five of these aspects divinely working together in order to discern and articulate God’s will for the corporate house. The methods for implementing these truths can be flexible, but the principle of the role of each part is essential for discerning the will of God. I believe that a true theocracy requires the submission of each of these aspects of family life in order to make correct conclusions as to the will of God for any corporate expression of the body of Christ. This is not Apostolic rule, Prophetic rule, Episcopal rule, Presbyterian rule, or Congregational rule. It is these five aspects of body dynamic submitting to God’s grace given to each measure in order to clearly hear Him and respond to Him. It is the active function of Theocratic Rule in the Church.

Food For Thought,

Ted J. Hanson

Greetings;

I hope you are all doing well and are encouraged in all that God is doing in these days. We live in a time where God’s grace is abounding and people are coming alive to the goodness of God in an increasing measure. We have a great responsibility as leaders and influencers of God’s expressions of His church in the ministry of Christ. Today I want to begin to address the topic of being governors (leaders) in the body of Christ.

I believe that much of the church tries to operate with Old Covenant principles. Principles alone cannot change the lives of people. We all need the influence of a greater Prince and we all need to be motivated as princes in Christ in order to express the true life-giving changes that are only testified of in godly principles (Isa. 32:1). The system of the Old Covenant was one of law and conscience, while the New Covenant is an administration of grace and truth. Under an administration of the knowledge of good and evil it was necessary to have a knowledge of good in order to inspire the human desire for the One who is good. That knowledge either came in the form of the administration of the human conscience or in the form of law. The perfect knowledge of good was given through the full expression of law in the Torah Law of God. God had no intention of the Torah Law changing the inherent lives of people, it simply pointed to the perfect knowledge of good in a time of the administration of the knowledge of good and evil. It lacked the fullness of truth, which could only be revealed in and through a human expression of grace, and truth.

John 1:14   

And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth…

John 1:17

…For the Law was given through Moses; grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ.

In order to lead the church as New Covenant leaders we must embrace the realities of New Covenant grace and truth. We cannot put New Covenant rule with Old Covenant principles and expect it to work. As church leaders we are governors of the government of God, but the government of God is the life of God within the heart of the church and within the heart of each believer. We must lead in a way that activates, facilitates, and releases the life of God within the church and its members.

Two things have been given to us for obedience to the faith. Those two things are grace and apostleship (Rom. 1:5). Grace is the work of the Holy Spirit within our lives. Every New Covenant expression of Christ’s body is empowered by grace and then manifested as a testimony of God’s truth. The life of the seven-fold perfecting Holy Spirit of God is the power of Christ’s government in the church (Isa. 11:1,2). The grace of the Holy Spirit is the power of the government within the body and He also brings a governing activation, facilitation, and release to the body and its members. We are also governed by “sent ones” in our lives. Those “sent ones” can be categorized in the gift of apostleship sent to us by God in Christ. These sent authorities also represent the force of all sent authority in our lives. They must operate in the same way that the “Sent One”, the Holy Spirit, operates in the life of each believer. I believe that the apostleship of Christ is manifested in the New Covenant authorities of the body of Christ. These New Covenant governors cannot rob God’s people from carrying the responsibility of the covenant nor the presence of God in their individual lives. These are merely governors sent to inspire and direct each body expression to embrace the power of God’s true government. The government must be upon the shoulders of each believer, while the governing is sent to each believer by God to activate, facilitate, and release the power of that life-giving government.

Isaiah 9:6,7            

For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us; and the government will rest on His shoulders; and His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace.  There will be no end to the increase of His government or of peace, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and righteousness from then on and forevermore. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will accomplish this.

1 Chronicles 15:14,15

So the priests and the Levites sanctified themselves to bring up the ark of the LORD God of Israel. And the children of the Levites bore the ark of God on their shoulders, by its poles, as Moses had commanded according to the word of the LORD.

I view a governor like a governor on an engine. The governor on an engine is a regulating device that assures that the supply of fuel to an engine results in uniform motion as well as a limiting of speed in order to make the engine more effective for its workload. That device doesn’t give power to the engine; it merely gives proper focus to the operation of the engine. It is the design of the engine and the fuel supplied to the engine that causes it to be empowered. The governor is simply a directional device to assure the engine accomplishes its greatest purpose.

The government of God is both the body and the head. The headship of the body is seen in the governing of the body, but also in the governing of the heart. Each of us has the headship of Christ in our lives. The human heart is the entrance and the rule of the kingdom of God. As leaders we have to lead in a way that activates, facilitates, and releases the headship of Christ in each individual’s life. If we as leaders rule by simply implanting the principles of God we will not see the full reality of God’s people manifested as princes of God. Governing the body of Christ is more about influencing the focus of who the body is more that what the body should do. When people know who they are they will be empowered to do what they were called to do.

Merely presenting rules, principles, and words of truth cannot fulfill the purpose of New Covenant governing. These alone leave the body confined to the Old Covenant system of law and conscience. As New Covenant leaders we must govern to empower the work of God’s grace and the testimony of His truth within every corporate and individual expression of God entrusted to us. The life of the Holy Spirit, the letter of the Holy Spirit, and the accomplished work of the Holy Spirit is essential to every New Covenant expression of God.

Food For Thought,

Ted J. Hanson

P.S.

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Hello;

This week I am also giving you a bonus resource. With this posting is an audio link to the first of several teachings I did with a selected group of Abundant Life as a means of releasing a sound of core values for generational leadership. I hope you find this audio both inspiriting and beneficial in your own sphere of influence. These audio teachings are merely a means of me expressing some of my core values and how I arrived at them. I pray that God will inspire you to discover the core values of your own.

Leader1 PDF Outline

Audio

Leader1 Mp3 Audio file of teaching

Blessings,

Ted J. Hanson

Hello;

I hope this blog finds all of you doing well. I am presently in Bulgaria. I will be here for the next week with various meetings, training, and one-on-ones. From here I go to Portugal for several days of meetings. I am looking forward to seeing all that God is going to do here in Bulgaria and in Portugal. May God inspire the leaders of these countries to lead in a New Covenant way!

Thank you for taking the time to view these weekly blogs. It is my desire to serve you as a resource of New Covenant life and experience. Please feel free to pass this blog on to any leaders you may know that might find it useful. They can put their email in the subscribe space if they would like to receive it weekly.

Last week I addressed the topic of leading to bring a three-fold God testimony in the body of Christ. I want to continue with this theme today and then I will move to another topic next week. I believe that our endeavors as leaders and influencers of the body of Christ have a great purpose and responsibility. We are not merely called to do good or godly works of ministry. We are called to serve God and His people in seeing His body fulfill its purpose in the earth.

There were times in the Old Testament when men or women of God presented a glimpse into the greatness of the purpose of the body of Christ. King David was one such individual. There is a great statement made by King David at the end of his life. The purpose of his life was summed up in these words:

1Chronicles 28:2

Then King David rose to his feet and said, “Listen to me, my brethren and my people; I had intended to build a permanent home for the ark of the covenant of the LORD and for the footstool of our God. So I had made preparations to build it.”

All of King David’s efforts were summed up in these above words. First he wanted to build a home for the ark of the covenant of the Lord. I believe that this is a place where the manifest presence of God rests. So many times we seek to find our place of rest, but King David wanted to make a home for God to rest. I think this is the first essential key to the purpose of the body of Christ. We must lead in a way that inspires and equips the members of the body of Christ to become a place where God can rest. Since men have found favor with God they should live for His favor in all things. To be such influencers we must ourselves be individuals that God can rest in. It is not what we know about Christian ministry that will change the world. It is how we manifest the presence of God that will change the world. When God rests in our lives we then see His enemies made His footstool. Jesus is held in the heavenlies until His enemies are made His footstool (1Cor. 15:25; Heb. 10:13). When the presence of God manifests, His enemies are subdued.

I find this same truth hidden in the words of Jesus in the book of Luke. One day Jesus was walking down the road and a certain man came to Him making a typical Old Covenant statement. His statement concerned a willingness to follow Jesus, but Jesus’ answer to Him revealed that following Him is not what God desires. The New Covenant minded man, Jesus, responded to the Old Covenant minded man with the following words:

Luke 9:57, 58  

As they were going along the road, someone said to Him, “I will follow You wherever You go.” And Jesus said to him, “The foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.”

Jesus wasn’t saying that if we follow Him we wouldn’t know where we would sleep each night. He wasn’t saying that if we follow Him we wouldn’t have any guarantees of what is next. His statement was one of “being” and “belonging”, while the statement of the man was merely one of “doing”.  Jesus’ illustration of the fox and bird are quite simple and profound. The fox affects the world from beneath the ground with fox stuff, simply because he has found his place of habitation. The fox doesn’t look for a hole in the ground to find a night’s rest. He builds his home in the ground and then he lives a fine old fox fulfilled life. The bird doesn’t look for a nest to have a place to sleep. No, the bird finds a stick, then another, then another, and he builds a nest to live from. From the place of his nest the bird and all of his family affect the earth from the air living a fine old bird’s life. Jesus was simply saying to the man that He wasn’t looking for anyone to follow Him. He was first looking for a place to call His habitation. He was looking for a body! He was the Head and He was looking for a place to rest His headship. He was looking for that part of humanity that would say yes to His habitation in their lives. We must lead the body of Christ in a way that inspires men and women to find Christ as the head of their lives. God wants to rest in their lives and empower them to live out a Christ filled destiny! The first and foremost purpose of the body of Christ is to be a place for His habitation. In Him we live!

Jesus continued in His words to address the issue of “doing”. After He spoke those words of “habitation” to the one man He spoke to another concerning “following” Him.

Luke 9:59, 60

And He said to another, “Follow Me.” But he said, “Lord, permit me first to go and bury my father.”  But He said to him, “Allow the dead to bury their own dead; but as for you, go and proclaim everywhere the kingdom of God.” 

I don’t believe that Jesus was advocating never going to a funeral again. He wasn’t advocating not showing honor to the loss of our loved ones. His illustration was addressing the subject of our “doing” in Him. Our “doing” is not with an objective of being free from our past. Our “doing” is meant to be a testimony of being joined to Him in a continually unfolding future of life. Our aim in life is not to fix the things of our past, but to embrace all God has for us in Christ. Just as we live in Him, we also move in Him in all things. We must influence and lead the body of Christ in doing works that speak of their faith, not works that appease the loss of our past. Our works are from justification, not for justification. If we spend more time trying to fix things in our lives than in living for the life of others, we are missing the mark. We need a revelation of “habitation” before we can continue in any ministry of “administration”.

In this story found in the book of Luke, Jesus continued to address a third aspect of humanity. This again pertained to the issue of following God.

Luke 9:61, 62

Another also said, “I will follow You, Lord; but first permit me to say good-bye to those at home.” But Jesus said to him, “No one, after putting his hand to the plow and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.”

In this third example, Jesus addressed the issue of fully following Him. God doesn’t just want a relationship with men whereby they do a few good things in life. He wants a relationship that empowers us to become a full testimony of Him in everything in life. We have our being in Him. In these above words Jesus wasn’t advocating cutting off relationships with friends. He was simply revealing the full reality of being friends with God. We were born for the kingdom of God. We must lead in a way that inspires the members of the body of Christ to know that the whole purpose of their lives is for the glory of God. Jesus was God born for us that we might be the body of Christ born for Him! Because we area habitation for God we can do works that speak of our faith in God. Because we have faith toward God all our lives can be lived for His glory.

We must lead and influence the body of Christ in a way that inspires them to live, move, and have their being in God. We are a place where God can rest in the earth and thus all of God’s enemies will be made His footstool in the earth.

Food For Thought,

Ted J. Hanson

Greetings;

I hope you are all well. This is my second leader’s blog and I think I am getting the kinks worked out of the process. I apologize for any hiccups this blog start up might cause you. If you received this blog and you would not like to receive it please click the “unsubscribe” button. There is likely a link in your received email contact. If not, you can find an “unsubscribe” link by scrolling down on the right side column of my blog under “Blog Administration”. I do hope that these blogs will be useful to you and you will choose to continue to receive them.

Last week I addressed my personal non-negotiable in regard to the purpose of leadership being for the Body of Christ. The Body of Christ is not just a fellowship of socially connected people, but a divinely joined connection of members of Christ’s Body for Christ’s purposes in the earth.  I want to continue on that theme today and address a few more essential points as I see them in regard to the Body of Christ.

When completing my Masters degree in Biblical Studies I was asked to write a theology of the Old Testament. My theology of the Old Testament was quite simple. The first thing that God wanted was a people who could say, “God you are our God”. This was known as Passover and the Old Testament was filled with principles, patterns, and values revealing the need of God as man’s God. The second thing that God wanted was to have a people that it could clearly be testified of them, “These are God’s people”. This was known as Pentecost and the Old Testament was filled with principles, patterns, and values revealing God’s desire for a special people. The third thing that God wanted was for a people who would live together with Him. This was known as Tabernacles and the Old Testament was filled with principles, patterns, and values revealing God’s desire to tabernacle with men. I was also asked to write a theology of the New Testament. My theology for the New Testament is pretty close to my theology of the Old Testament. Stated simply it would be that God finally has a people who can truly say from their hearts, “God you are our God”. There is undeniable evidence that God’s people are His with the evidence of heavenly power and fruit. Now all people can come and abide with God in Christ and He with them. This is the reality of the Covenant made living in Christ! Another way of saying these three things is to say: In Him we live, in Him we move, and in Him we have our being! This is the true reality of each of us being empowered by God’s grace to love Him with all our heart, all our soul, and all of our strength.

As those who influence the Body of Christ I believe we must seek to lead for the purpose of activating, facilitating, and releasing people into these three things. There is a great Scripture spoken by the Prophet Isaiah that I believe reveals these three things in a great way.

Isaiah 51:16 “And I have put My words in your mouth; I have covered you with the shadow of My hand, that I may plant the heavens, lay the foundations of the earth, and say to Zion, ‘You are My people.’ “

Jesus said that if we come to Him and drink, out of our inner beings would flow rivers of life-giving water (Jn. 7:37-39). This is none other than the word of God within our mouths. It is a confession that God is our God. God has poured out His Spirit upon all flesh and now is the time for all tribes, tongues, peoples, and nations to come with the testimony of God’s resurrection life upon them. This is the blessing of God’s hand upon us as His own special people. The ultimate testimony is for God to cause His kingdom to come and His will to be done on earth just as it is in heaven. He is planting the heavens (a people who say God is our God), laying the foundations of the earth (a people who are the testimony of heaven in the earth), and saying to Zion, “You are My people”(a tabernacle of God and men together in heaven and earth).

We must lead to facilitate the hearts of men. The kingdom of God is not a kingdom that is far away. It is a kingdom that is within the hearts of men (Lk. 17:20). The key to being a living body is the heart. The heart is the door to heaven. Our role as leaders is not one of rules and commands, but that of opening the hearts of men to God. We cannot change people, nor can we empower them. Only God can give true life!

We must lead to facilitate TRANSFORMATION not to implement INFROMATION. The Old Covenant presented a concept of the way, while the New Covenant is the reality of the way. Information government will not activate, facilitate, and release the true testimony of God. Only a transformation government can do that and this is only found in the power of God’s grace. The Spirit of Christ within the BODY is the only hope of glory.

We must lead to raise up a BODY. The Old Testament was filled with principles, patterns, and values that only revealed a shadow of the true principality Christ. He alone is the King of kings and the Lord of lords. The Law was only a shadow of the good things to come (Heb. 10:1) and was never intended to be the good thing that God gave. The good thing that God gave was His only begotten Son and He came in the stature of a Body. He allowed His Body to be broken that we might receive Him and become pieces of the living bread sent down from heaven. Before the sacrifice and offerings were, the Body was. The Body is the key because the body is the place. Only a living Body can say, “God, You are our God”, “We are God’s People”, and “We live together”. Works of ministry can’t do that, only a living being can.

Food For Thought,

Ted J. Hanson

Greetings;

Welcome to the first of my leadership blogs. I will be posting a weekly blog in regard to values for leadership. Some of you are part of the Missions/Church Tract in G42; others are leaders that I am working with in some way through House of Bread Ministry. If you would like to receive this blog on a weekly basis PLEASE CLICK THE FOLLOW BUTTON at the right of this page.

I am writing this blog to share some things that I feel are necessary for a multigenerational focus in the church. I don’t expect any of you to have to buy into my topics of sharing, but I feel that it is beneficial for me to share some of the strong values of my own heart for the sake of inspiring you to find the values of your own. I will also include audio teachings once in a while from a set of core values that I shared with a group of church influencers in our church of Abundant Life.

In today’s blog I want to address the topic of the Body of Christ. As leader’s we can easily get caught up in the task of ministry. We can become very focused on the task of ministry or the works of ministry. I believe that God has much more in mind that the task or the work of ministry. As leaders we must lead for the purpose of a BODY not a WORK OF MINISTRY. God’s will was not sacrifice and offerings. It was a body.

Whether you are called to leading in the church or leading in missions, you are called to people. I believe that the place of God’s choosing for all of us is to find our place of planting in the body of Christ (Deut. 12:5). Jesus Christ was the first expression of the body of Christ in human form. He became a manifestation of God in the flesh so that we as flesh could become an expression of God. The human expression of God in the earth is the very thing that Jesus came to restore. We are called to become the fullness of the likeness and the image of our heavenly Father in human form (Heb. 1:3).

It is the expression of the body of Christ in the earth that is going to subdue the enemies of God in the earth (Heb. 1:13). Jesus as the head is waiting for the fullness of His life to be made known in His body in heaven and on the earth. Our covenant with God is not one of works, but one of relationship. God is writing His nature upon our hearts and upon our minds. The body of Christ is in organism, not an organization. God’s covenant is with a living body, not an institution of works. I believe that the true holy place of God is not a place of coming together for Christian efforts, but a relational place of knowing God in the Spirit.

The power of God’s grace is not discovered in the works of ministry. It is found in the relationship of the body of Christ. The forgiveness of sins is not a testimony of works, but one of relationship with God in Christ as a part of the body of Christ. We must never forget that this in our focus of ministry. We are not here to build the works of the kingdom. We are here to participate in the increasing testimony of the kingdom.

We have entered the holy place by the blood of Jesus. It was through the rending of His flesh that we have been invited into membership in His body. The veil that was rent at the cross was not merely the veil of the temple. It was the veil of His flesh that invites us into true relationship with God in His true temple. The body of Christ is the temple of God and of is being increasingly filled with the life of His Holy Spirit.

Hebrews 10:19-25   

Therefore, brethren, since we have confidence to enter the holy place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He inaugurated for us through the veil, that is, His flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful; and let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds, not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and all the more as you see the day drawing near.

As leaders and influencers of the activities of the church, let’s not be distracted by mere activities. The holy of holies is the heart of the church and it is a corporate place of life in Christ. God is doing a good work in the earth and His enemies will be made His footstool beneath His feet. Those feet are the standing place of the body of Christ in heaven and earth.

It is not the works of church ministry of mission endeavors that proclaims the glory of God. It is the increasing habitation of God in the earth through the testimony of the written letters of Christ in the body of Christ. Works of ministry are adjustable; relationship in the body is not. Let’s keep our covenant responsibilities in tact and make relationship with God and people our primary aim in life.

Divinely joined human relationships empowered by the grace of God’s Holy Spirit are the true testimony of Christ’s power. We must never cheapen the gift of life in God and in the power of Christ in each of us for one another. If you are seeking to expand the influence of the kingdom today, don’t just look for good works. Look for God relationships. Who are the connecting members in your life that will become the ground in which God writes His expanding letter of life? Maybe we should honor common relationships and discover common purpose in life? Surly a true sound of purpose and attract common relationships, but I also believe that supernatural relationships spawn the expansion of greater purposes in the earth.

Who are the people that God has divinely joined you to? Who is God sending you to? What is the letter that God wants to write with you and others that will reveal the testimony of God’s grace? They will know us by our love!

A revelation of God’s love will empower our commitment to God and one another. A receiving of God’s love will active works of love toward God and others. An understanding of God’s love will invoke a response of love. A relationship of love will inspire a submission of love. An awakening to love will call for a contribution of love. A sharing of love with one another will further a transparent and vulnerable communion of love with one another. An awe of love will empower the reigning of love. I believe that these things can only be found in the place of true relationship, not merely the function of ministry. We are called to great things in Christ!

Food For Thought,

Ted J. Hanson