Greetings,
Sorry I was not able to post today’s blog earlier. I was in the midst of a long drive on the road. I have just arrived home after a great weekend in Castlegar. B.C., Canada. I will be writing soon as to some significant things released over the weekend here that pertain to the new year. I believe that God is going to reveal His faithfulness in our lives in amazing ways in this new year.
I have been addressing various subjects concerning people from the world coming into the church. When we read our Bibles, we tend to think that God wants everything perfect, clean and right in our lives. We think that perfection is His aim, in the sense of perfection by correction of all things that are wrong according to His standards. I believe that God’s idea of perfection is for us to boldly come to His throne of grace where we can receive mercy and find His overcoming power of grace for increased transformation in our lives. Sometimes as leaders, pastors, or believers we think we have to fix everything, or we are going to be in trouble with God. In the covenant of Law, the Old Covenant, it appeared that people had to fix everything in their life to be in right standing with God. The problem was, the Law never changed the human heart of mind from the inside out. What appeared to be in order was only a surface masking of the real issues of the human heart. The mask was not real, only a pretense to what needs to be real in the human heart. The mask of Law left us thinking that if we don’t get everything right in our lives we cannot come before God. It left us believing that human beings in their flaws were in trouble with God. The truth is, we can never change unless we come to God who has the power to change our hearts and minds. The Scriptures clearly revealed the gravity of sin, in that they revealed how humanity without God are takers and not givers like God in their nature and way of being. The Law showed us our problems and our need to change, but it did not offer solutions to our real problems. It offered no supernatural solutions to changing our hearts, minds, or any weakness in our lives. Only Christ inside our hearts can offer true solutions.
I believe that people in the Old Covenant had enough information to get them to heaven when they died. However, the Old Covenant lacked the power to get heaven into their lives. There was a place called Sheol, the realm of the dead, that served as a holding place in the Old Covenant waiting for the day of supernatural intervention. That day was when Jesus opened heaven’s gates to all who waited for the Lamb who would take away the sins of the world and reconcile men to their Father in heaven. When Jesus rose from the dead, He led captivity captive. He freed humanity from that place of death to lead them to heaven and to make a way for heaven to invade the worlds of men.
Psalms 68:18 You have ascended on high, You have led captivity captive; You have received gifts among men, even from the rebellious, that the Lord God might dwell there – (also Eph. 4:8-13).
The apostle Paul wrote that the church is built upon the foundation of the prophets and the apostles. It is built upon the ceiling of the Old Covenant prophets and the foundation of the New Covenant apostles. This is true for those who were part of the Law and those who simply had the voice of human conscience. Both the Law and the human conscience were simply tutors calling for the day when Jesus would make a way for humanity to live in a grace empowered relationship with God in their hearts. That was the finish of the Old Covenant and the open door for a New and Living Covenant for each and every man and woman among the human race.
Ephesians 2:19 Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, 20 having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone, 21 in whom the whole building, being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, 22 in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.
God does not see two different plans in the destiny of the human race. He does not see an Old Covenant and a New Covenant plan. He sees one plan made real by the power of His love for all mankind. There has always been one plan. Jesus was the Lamb slain before the foundations of the world were laid. People in the Old Covenant were actually saved through Jesus to get into heaven, but their actions in the earth could never really bring heaven into their families. God wanted to empower a dwelling place for His Spirit in the earth.
As the church, we live our lives in a way that creates an inviting environment for people seeking truth. We must become people who create an environment of love and life and also a people who create an environment of overcoming testimonies that can be real for all people. This should be the atmosphere of the forms, patterns, and structures we us to express who we are as the Christ filled people of life. God wants all people to come and become a part of His dwelling place in the earth.
Blessings,
Ted J. Hanson
Thank You to all who were able to support House of Bread Ministry in 2018 by way of finances and/ or prayer support. Your commitment has enabled us to reach many nations and many people. We are looking forward to all that God is going to do in 2019.
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