Greetings,
Wow! What a great time of ministry and connection in Angola, Africa. I have ministered 25 times in 8 days of training. The people were very hungry, willing, and teachable. I also made many new connections with new Pastors and congregations. There will be a full schedule when I come again in November. It was a blessing being with my church family of Angola. Tonight I will head to Portugal for more connections and the goodness of God.
We are to be disciples of Christ to disciple the nations, or more specifically – the peoples in our world. Who do we influence in life? Who is in our measure of influence? To be givers of life we must cultivate our inner relationship with Christ within us. Christ in us is the hope of glory. The God-connection in our spirits is the source of becoming a disciple of Christ. The ability to give life to any and every situation in life has been given to Jesus as a man, the firstborn from the dead. It is by His life within us that we can bring life to our world.
We are to baptize those in our world in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. This is the fullness of the identity of God. I believe in water baptism and that water baptism is a perfect demonstration of a life of works that speak of our faith toward God. In water baptism we publically demonstrate that we died in Christ, we were buried in Christ, we rose from the dead in Christ, and the life that we now live we live by faith in Christ. We are no longer members of our old bodies of flesh, but we are members of the body of Christ. We have been submerged into the identity of the body of Christ. I believe these words of the commission of Jesus pertain to this, but even more so they are words telling us to live to empower others to be submerged into the identity of the fullness of God in this life. This is the only place where satisfaction can be found.
Jesus told His disciples to teach those in their worlds to observe all that He had commanded them. Our teaching is not by the old tree of knowledge it is by demonstrating a life empowered by the tree of life. The Pharisees taught by the tree of knowledge, but Jesus demonstrated the life that comes by being part of the family tree of life. We must be givers of life to our worlds. We must choose intimacy with God in Christ and embrace the tree of life in order to bring life to our worlds. Mercy has triumphed over judgment and the judgment of the Father’s love exceeds the judgments of the flesh.
The great commission of Jesus could be worded to say: The ability to give life in and to every situation in heaven and earth has been given to Me, go therefore and put your peoples under the influence of life. Submerge them into the identity of who God is. Empower them to be givers of life as you are becoming a giver of life from the power of Christ within. Demonstrate this life to your world as I empower this life within you. You are not disconnected, I am manifestly with you in the whole task and journey. Amen.
Who is in your world? Jesus was the Lamb slain for the world, but His means of reaching the world was by influencing a few. His immediate concern was those in His world and by this the power to reach the whole world would be made known.
John 17:9 “I pray for them. I do not pray for the world but for those whom You have given Me, for they are Yours.”
John 17:20 “I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word; 21 that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me. 22 And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one: 23 I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me.”
Jesus was a disciple of Christ, a disciple of the Spirit of God within Him. He was in the Father and the Father was in Him. His connection with God by the Spirit was His source of bringing life to His world. It is by this same means that we are to bring life to our worlds. We are to abide Him and He in us. Only Christ in us can empower us to be givers of true life to the world. This is how we are sent to our worlds.
John 20:21 So Jesus said to them again, “Peace to you! As the Father has sent Me, I also send you.” 22 And when He had said this, He breathed on them, and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit.”
We are sent to bring life to those in our world by the power of the Holy Spirit in our lives. Each of us has been called to be ministers of life by the power of Christ within us.
Blessings,
Ted J. Hanson
Thank you to all of you who have partnered with me in prayer and support. More resources are being developed and we are moving forward with reaching the nations with the message of New Covenant Life and Grace.
Donations can be made at the above right link or mail your donation to House of Bread Ministry, 3210 Meridian St., Bellingham, Wa. 98225.
