Greetings;
Yesterday I had the privilege of speaking at ALife. It was great to be at home and to share my heart with our local church family. God is doing good things! This past Wednesday I also had the privilege of praying together with fellow pastors in our city. There were about 85 pastors and we all washed one another’s feet in a spontaneous manner around the room. God is revealing His people as the people of God!
We have been given really good news in Jesus. Jesus didn’t come to merely bless us. He came to reconnect us to our heavenly Father. He came so we would know who we really are. We are children of God! He is the door to the eternal reality of who we were meant to be in this world. It was the good news of the kingdom of God that was preached to Abraham in the hope of this increasing day of being the children of God!
Galatians 3:8 The Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, “ALL THE NATIONS WILL BE BLESSED IN YOU.”
What was the gospel preached to Abraham? The word gospel means good news. I don’t believe that the word gospel does the good news given us by God true justice. I believe that it is often a religious word that allows the truth of God to be masked with unreal presentations of what the good news really is. The good news is not that a man died for sinners. The good news is that an eternal Adam gave His life so that all can find themselves in the family of blessing! The good news is that Jesus Christ reconciled men to God while they were yet sinners so the blessings of heaven could flood the worlds of men. The message of heaven is one of transforming the world from the internal grace of life and peace in Christ. The internal reality of righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit is a fountain of life that empowers who we were meant to be in this world.
THE GOSPEL PREACHED TO ABRAHAM (Genesis 22:15-18):
- In blessing I will bless you
- In multiplying I will multiply
- Your descendants shall possess the gate of their enemies.
- In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed
Our heavenly destiny is to know that we are blessed in Christ and thus we believe God and are a blessing to the world. Our actions expand the blessings of heaven to the world we live in. Our imaginations are for the advancing life and authority of our children and our children’s children. Our influence is that of blessing to the families of the earth. This is the destiny of heaven in our lives! It is really good news!
The internal kingdom of God is being revealed in powerful and eternal ways. This is not a time to judge one another, but to embrace one another in partnerships for the glory of God! We are children of light and we are called by God to walk in His light and as His light in this world.
The true testimony of walking in the light of Christ is seen in our fellowship with one another. That fellowship is a fellowship of the Spirit and it is a testimony to the blood shed for us by Jesus at Calvary. He gave His love to us by giving His life for us. It wasn’t dependent upon us loving Him. It was dependent upon Him being true to the character, nature, way, power, and authority of a Son of God. This is true for us as well.
1 John 1:7 But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.
1 John 2:6 He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked.
1 John 2:9, 10 He who says he is in the light, and hates his brother, is in darkness until now. He who loves his brother abides in the light, and there is no cause for stumbling in him.
We give our love to one another by giving our life for one another. It is not dependent upon others giving their lives for us. This is the testimony of our fellowship. It is being empowered by God’s grace to walk as Jesus walked, loving one another! We were born to be loved by God, but we were born again to love others. We are children of God! The true testimony of passing from death to life is seen in our ability to love the family of God, even when other family members don’t know who they are. Being born of God empowers us to love like God loves! It is miraculous and it is fully dependent upon the Tree of Life. It is not an attribute of the old tree of the knowledge of good and evil. It is an internal power of life from the kingdom of God within our hearts. True love for one another doesn’t come when we are loved, but when we are empowered to love. It is a gift from God. God is love, and abiding in Him empowers us to love as He loves. We have boldness in every day of judgment, because we have no fear of being judged. We have a revelation of God’s love for us and that perfect love casts out all fear. We are being made perfect in love! The internal anointing that abides in us is an anointing to love one another. We don’t need anyone to teach us, Christ within our hearts teaches us to love as Jesus loved!
1 John 3:1 Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God!
Blessings,
Ted J. Hanson
1Jn. 1:7; 1Jn. 2:6; 1Jn. 2:9,10; 1Jn. 3:1; 1Jn. 3:14; 1Jn. 4:7; 1Jn. 2:6; 1Jn. 4:10,11; 1Jn. 4:16;1Jn. 4:17-19
