A Proper Value For Traditions

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Greetings,

Today I am in Colorado Springs, Colorado to do a week of prophetic training with the G42 students. I am looking forward to activating, facilitating, and releasing God’s voice though these awesome sons and daughters of God. I am encouraged today as I sense a momentum of what God is doing and about to do. God’s influence in in our live and in the earth is truly a reality for all who seek Him. We are being built as a place of God’s habitation for His glory in heaven and upon the earth.

How do we value yesterday, embrace today, and pursue the destiny of tomorrow? It is easy to value the things of God from our past and we should do so. I should say, it is easy to value the memories of what God has done in our own lives in the past, but it is not so easy holding a value for what God did in someone else’s life. For this reason, we must find a God experience of our own in the things resident in the earth as the works and evidence of God’s grace. We must each find a personal experience with God in what God has given us as an inheritance in the earth. We are not just individuals; we are part of a corporate dwelling place of God. What God has done corporately; He wants us to embrace individually. This is essential to a foundation of inheritance as we seek the things that God is giving us now and in the unfolding path of our future. Without a personal value for what God has done we lack the substance of furthering the purposes of God in the earth. We must also value what God is doing now and what God is going to do that involves things we have not seen, heard, or thought before in our lives. This can be a bit scary, but it is part of a journey of faith. It is the fruit of hearing God above other voices in our world. Our experiences create our traditions and traditions are common denominators to God experiences. Those traditions, however, can resist and even reject what God is doing now and what He wants to do tomorrow. Jesus told the Pharisees of His day, that their traditions made the word of God of no effect.

Matthew 15:1 Then the scribes and Pharisees who were from Jerusalem came to Jesus, saying, 2 “Why do Your disciples transgress the tradition of the elders? For they do not wash their hands when they eat bread.”

3 He answered and said to them, “Why do you also transgress the commandment of God because of your tradition? 4 For God commanded, saying, ‘Honor your father and your mother’; and, He who curses father or mother, let him be put to death.’ 5 But you say, ‘Whoever says to his father or mother, “Whatever profit you might have received from me is a gift to God”— 6 then he need not honor his father or mother.’ Thus you have made the commandment of God of no effect by your tradition.

The traditions of the Pharisees were based upon God experiences from the past, but the walking out of those things in their own lives was twisted by their own person agendas and selfish desires. The past is important, but we must have a personal understanding of the past things of God in our hearts today. We must also seek to embrace God’s personal voice of faith in our hearts that leads us into new things of God in our lives. Faith is a matter of relationship. It is seen in the works of our lives, but the foundation for those works is a revelation of a love for God. Our traditions can be based upon our own ways of doing things, or even upon how God did things in our past. Traditions can be good, and traditions can be bad. Even the ways of the world establish traditions that can be strongholds against what God is doing now and what He wants to do tomorrow.

Colossians 2:8 Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ.

We don’t want to lose the past established by God, but we must never allow the past to bind us to the past. We must also value the things of God in the past so that we don’t just embrace any new thing for the sake of something new.

2 Thessalonians 3:6 But we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you withdraw from every brother who walks disorderly and not according to the tradition which he received from us.

2 Thessalonians 2:15 Therefore, brethren, stand fast and hold the traditions which you were taught, whether by word or our epistle.

We must hold fast to the traditions that are part of our foundation in Christ, but we must live to build upon those foundations with a constant growth of the truth of God in our lives. When we do this, we value what God has done, what God is doing, and what God will do in our lives tomorrow. We never stand fast on the foundations of the past to be held in the past. We seek the new things of God that are connected to the foundations of the past. When we do this, we grow in being a place of God’s habitation in the earth.

Blessings,

Ted J. Hanson




Donations can be made at the link on the home site of:

www.ted4leaders.com

www.ted4you.com or

www.houseofbreadministry.org.

Checks can be made payable to House of Bread Ministry and sent to:

House of Bread Ministry, 3210 Meridian St., Bellingham, WA 98225

To avoid us paying a transaction fee from your donation, you can also set up a payment or an automatic payment from your bank to House of Bread Ministry. Just set it up as a ‘bill pay’ through your online bank account and your bank will mail a check to House of Bread Ministry. We will record your payment as a donation to House of Bread Ministry (E.I.N. 91-2009037) and we will send you a contribution receipt at the close of the year.

Our Ministry Information Is:
House of Bread Ministry
3210 Meridian St.
Bellingham, WA 98225-1728

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The Fruit of a Right Focus

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Greetings,

I hope you all had a great weekend. I have been in the woods attempting to harvest some elk. The operative word at the moment is “hunting” because I haven’t had any success yet. I am enjoying my time in the outdoors alone. I have had good days and good sleeps so far. Maybe I will find the blessing of harvest today. In any case, it is a good day to connect with God.

What does it mean to inherit the kingdom of God? I believe that there is a realm of the kingdom of God beyond this life as we know it, but I also believe that the kingdom of God is now. I believe that the kingdom of God is inside of us. Our lives are not determined by what is going on around us, but upon what is going on inside of us. Our worlds should be defined by the kingdom of God that is within us. Our internal relationship with God should shape our world; our world should not shape our relationship with God.

Jesus told us to seek first the kingdom of God and not to seek our own needs or desires. Our Father in heaven knows our needs and our desires and He wants to care for us as a good Father. Life is not about merely getting our needs met or fulfilling our desires. Life is about a personal connection to God in our hearts. Life is about being one with God in heaven so we can be heavenly expressions of God in our world. Life is about a partnership with God in all things that enables us to fulfill God’s purpose in all things. This is the kingdom of God. The apostle Paul said it was righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit.

Romans 14:17 …for the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.

Righteousness in the Holy Spirit is an internal righteousness. It is a dependency upon God. It is a right relationship with God in our hearts that inspires our minds to think as He thinks. We cannot live our lives as self-seekers and think as God thinks. God is a giver and not a taker. He doesn’t need anything. He gives life, breath, and all things. His focus is outward, and our focus must be as His; a focus of giving life to our world.

We cannot live our lives with being right as our Lord. When being right is our Lord we use what we believe to be right to destroy those that we deem to be wrong. In a justice system of right and wrong it is unjust for an innocent man to die for the guilty. In a justice system of love, it is totally right for an innocent man to die for the guilty. This is what Jesus did for us. The administrations of the world are administrations of a knowledge, or even a perceived knowledge, of good and evil. The administration of the kingdom of God is one of eternal life, an intimate knowing of God as our Father and Jesus the Son. When we embrace the administration of the world in our hearts and minds, we cannot inherit the righteousness of God that is a righteousness of true life and love. The same is true for peace. The kingdom of God is a place of peace in the Holy Spirit. The world’s definition peace is the absence of conflict. True peace is not the absence of conflict. It is a place of no gap or separation from God in every situation of our lives. We are joined to God in heaven, so a heavenly testimony is the only possibility in the outcomes of our lives. He is the word, but we are expressions of Him in and through the testimonies of our lives. If we look to our present circumstances, we will only have peace when there is no conflict. But when we partake of the inheritance of the kingdom of God, we can have peace that surpasses our understanding. The world has peace when everything appears to be right, but we can always have peace because the life of Christ within us will become the testimony we are clothed in on our path of moving forward in life. The kingdom of God is also a matter of joy in the Holy Spirit. Joy is not self-happiness. It is the zeal of true purpose. It is only in the presence of the Lord that we can find the fullness of joy. It is a matter of partnership with God in His purpose in all things. Jesus endured the cross for the joy that was set before Him. That joy was the fruit of the cross, not an escape from the cross. That fruit was that one seed would become countless seeds of sons and daughters of God in partnership with their heavenly Father in the purpose of eternal life in the earth. The world defines joy as the fulfillment of personal visions and dreams, but true joy is only found in a partnership with God in all things. We cannot live for ourselves and avoid an all-in partnership with God and find the true inheritance of joy. When we open the doors of our hearts to the manifest presence of God in every aspect of our lives, we find ourselves eating, drinking, and partnering with God in all things to reign in life. This is where we find joy in the Holy Spirit.

We can be assured that we are walking in the inheritance of the kingdom of heaven when we find the fruit of His Spirit manifesting in the attitudes, actions, and atmosphere of our lives. These are not realities we find from the outside in. They are the fruit that comes from the inside out.

Galatians 5:22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. 24 And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. 25 If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.

We cannot do love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, or self-control. These are not disciplines of the flesh. They are the fruit of the Spirit of God living in our hearts and working in our hearts and minds in all things. When we seek first the kingdom of God, we can see the evidence in the fruit of our lives. Let us all be sons of daughters of God who live to know what it is to be partakers of the inheritance of the kingdom of God. It is a righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit. It is internally knowing a right relationship with God in our hearts that inspires us to confess that He is our God. It is internally knowing a divine connection of peace with God in heaven that empowers us to wear the heavenly testimony of sons and daughters of God that overcome the wicked one in all things. It is an internal partnership with God in all things that empowers us to know the joy of His purpose in and through our lives at all times. It is a kingdom inside of us that causes the external expressions of our kingdoms to become expressions of life. By this we will know that the kingdoms of this world have become kingdoms of our Lord and Christ.

Blessings,

Ted J. Hanson




Donations can be made at the link on the home site of:

www.ted4leaders.com

www.ted4you.com or

www.houseofbreadministry.org.

Checks can be made payable to House of Bread Ministry and sent to:

House of Bread Ministry, 3210 Meridian St., Bellingham, WA 98225

To avoid us paying a transaction fee from your donation, you can also set up a payment or an automatic payment from your bank to House of Bread Ministry. Just set it up as a ‘bill pay’ through your online bank account and your bank will mail a check to House of Bread Ministry. We will record your payment as a donation to House of Bread Ministry (E.I.N. 91-2009037) and we will send you a contribution receipt at the close of the year.

Our Ministry Information Is:
House of Bread Ministry
3210 Meridian St.
Bellingham, WA 98225-1728

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The Overcoming Harvest

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Greetings,

Today I am back in Bellingham after my time caring for my grandchildren in California. I have a busy week this week with lots of online training and preparations for coming ministry missions in October. I am believing for an effective door of life as this summer transitions into the fall for a new year.

The kingdom of God is an internal force of love and life upon the human heart that is the testimony of intimacy with God in Christ. The administration of the law was an external influence upon the human soul and was limited to the instruction of words and the voice of a prophet. The administration of grace is an internal influence that brings about true change of the hearts and minds of men. It is not administration of mere accountability to God. It is an administration of intimate and powerful relationship with Him. It is an unshakeable testimony of God in the human heart.

Hebrews 12:25 See that you do not refuse Him who speaks. For if they did not escape who refused Him who spoke on earth, much more shall we not escape if we turn away from Him who speaks from heaven, 26  whose voice then shook the earth; but now He has promised, saying, “Yet once more I shake not only the earth, but also heaven.” 27 Now this, “Yet once more,” indicates the removal of those things that are being shaken, as of things that are made, that the things which cannot be shaken may remain.

The voice of God within our hearts is a more sure voice than a covenant of remembering what He has said in the past or the discipline of keeping to rules that He has established for us to follow. The writer of Hebrews was admonishing the Jewish people to remember that they were meant to be Hebrew people and it was time to listen to the intimate voice of God within their hearts that empowers children of God to be children of faith. This is the power of the kingdom of God for each and everyone of us. External things can be removed, but the internal realities of the kingdom of God in our hearts is enough to frame a world of love, hope, and faith in any environment we find ourselves. The kingdom of God is not just a promise for us in heaven to come, but also for heaven coming into our world in increasing measures as we respond to the internal voice of the One who loves us in all things. We must let the shakable things be removed so we can become the unshakeable people empowered by His love.

Hebrews 12:28 Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us have grace, by which we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear. 29 For our God is a consuming fire.

The temporary things of creation are the things that can be shaken. These are the things that will be removed. We have this hope and guarantee of the corruptible things of this world being swallowed up by all that is incorruptible. The incorruptible things are those of our Heavenly Father, the Creator of all things. As people put their focus on creation, they often become distracted from the Creator. Creation is bound to the laws of entropy. There is as frustration, a futility, a great struggle in the groanings of creation and it is not possible to get a clear perspective of truth as God sees it in the lies that mankind has chosen to believe. We are living in a time of seemingly great knowledge, but the mass availability of information has overwhelmed our heads and dullened our hearts to hearing the true news of heaven. This is not only found in the world, but also in the church. I am not talking about an institution known as the church. I am talking about the church in the essence of who she really is. She is the many membered place of God’s corporate dwelling in the earth. Even in this place, there is often a distraction from the true light by a peering into the darkness. When the news in the world gets shaky, we begin to recite the end of the world to the nations. We should be exhibiting the increasing light of Christ to the darkness of the world. Instead of asking if people are receiving the mark of the beast, we should be asking the real question: Are they receiving the mark of God?

The Scriptures of the Old Testament foretold of the New Testament, but the New Testament is the fulfillment of what was old. The New Testament is foundational for eternal life and the kingdom of God; therefore, it does not tell us the absolutes of the future. It does, however, give us a first fruit of all that is the New Covenant harvest. We can know what is in the fruit of our harvest by looking at what was in the first fruit of our harvest in Christ. The first fruit of the new demanded a full harvest of what was old and produced seed and bread for a further harvest of all that is new in the future. The true destroys what is false. The light removes the darkness. The life overcomes all death. This is our hope in every season of harvest in our lives and in the earth. The harvest of every season is about seed and bread. It is about seed that brings more life in increasing measures. It is about bread that brings life to the world. Harvest is not a thing that happens at the end of our lives. Harvest is a testimony in every season of our lives. The final harvest of our lives is only seen in the celebration of trumpet that declares the overcoming triumph of Christ in us, the hope of glory!

Blessings,

Ted J. Hanson




Donations can be made at the link on the home site of:

www.ted4leaders.com

www.ted4you.com or

www.houseofbreadministry.org.

Checks can be made payable to House of Bread Ministry and sent to:

House of Bread Ministry, 3210 Meridian St., Bellingham, WA 98225

To avoid us paying a transaction fee from your donation, you can also set up a payment or an automatic payment from your bank to House of Bread Ministry. Just set it up as a ‘bill pay’ through your online bank account and your bank will mail a check to House of Bread Ministry. We will record your payment as a donation to House of Bread Ministry (E.I.N. 91-2009037) and we will send you a contribution receipt at the close of the year.

Our Ministry Information Is:
House of Bread Ministry
3210 Meridian St.
Bellingham, WA 98225-1728

Posted in #graceculture, #newcovenant, #peopleofGod | Comments Off on The Overcoming Harvest

Last Days

Blog In Audio:

Greetings,

Today is my last day in California with my grandson Kaden and granddaughter Zaria. We have had a great week. My wife Bonnie went home last week, and dad and mom have now returned here. It will be a sad goodbye, but we look forward to our next adventures together.

Last week I addressed the subject of the Day of the Lord and the end times. End times is only necessary for the things that need to end. Things that offend and things that are lawless are removed by the administration of God’s grace in our lives. The Day of the Lord is a continued reality for all that is eternal and knows no end. The Day of the Lord is not just a coming day. It is the continued coming light of Christ in our lives. In Christ, we are children of the day and not the night. No aspect of the coming of the Day of the Lord comes as a thief for us. It is a constant, maturing, and culminating reality in our lives. We are increasingly becoming the light of Christ. We must not be distracted by those who choose to walk in darkness, but rather be the light of life that shines in the world for their sake. We are putting on the clothing of Christ.

Galatians 3:25 But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor. 26 For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. 27 For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. 28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29 And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s descendants, heirs according to promise.

Romans 13:11 Do this, knowing the time, that it is already the hour for you to awaken from sleep; for now salvation is nearer to us than when we believed. 12 The night is almost gone, and the day is near. Therefore let us lay aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light. 13 Let us behave properly as in the day, not in carousing and drunkenness, not in sexual promiscuity and sensuality, not in strife and jealousy. 14 But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh in regard to its lusts.

These words written by Paul were words to the first century church of Christ. They apply to us today, but Paul was not talking to us. He was talking to the first fruit church of Christ in his day. We are a further-fruit church, but we are not the first fruit. Whatever happened in the first fruit set a precedence for all the aspects of fruit and harvest that would follow. These words are applicable to us, but they are words to the foundation of the church. The Day of the Lord is a day that has no end. It is a day that is as a thousand years.

God owns the cattle on a thousand hills, meaning He owns all cattle (Ps. 50:10). God keeps His love and mercy for a thousand generations, meaning He keeps His love and mercy forever (Deut. 7:9). He remembers His covenant and word for a thousand generations, meaning He remembers them forever (Ps. 105:8; 1 Chr. 16:15). God is God for a thousand generations, meaning He is God forever (Ps. 105:8). With the Lord a day is as a thousand years, meaning it is a day that never ends. We need not be moved to fear by the end of days around us. We live in the eternal day of the Lord!

2 Peter 3:8 But, beloved, do not forget this one thing, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day

There was an aspect of the Day of the Lord in Peter’s day. There was a testimony of grace and truth in the first fruit church that guaranteed that same testimony in the fruit of the church in the generations to come. Last days can only come when that which is temporary comes face-to-face with something of the realm of eternity. We are people of eternal life, and we can expect God’s grace and truth to be good news for who we are in this world and all that is to come.

Hebrews 1:1 God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, 2 has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds; 3 who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, 4 having become so much better than the angels, as He has by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they.

The writer of Hebrews was clearly communicating a last days that was at hand for his letter’s recipients. He was putting this last days era in the context of the already given Son of God, Jesus Christ. It was not a last days thousands of years in the future, but a last days for a nation at the time. God speaking to our hearts is an internal power of the kingdom of God that transforms our lives to be eternal testimonies of all that is in heaven. The last days only come because of the eternal day of life given to us all in Christ.

Blessings,

Ted J. Hanson




Donations can be made at the link on the home site of:

www.ted4leaders.com

www.ted4you.com or

www.houseofbreadministry.org.

Checks can be made payable to House of Bread Ministry and sent to:

House of Bread Ministry, 3210 Meridian St., Bellingham, WA 98225

To avoid us paying a transaction fee from your donation, you can also set up a payment or an automatic payment from your bank to House of Bread Ministry. Just set it up as a ‘bill pay’ through your online bank account and your bank will mail a check to House of Bread Ministry. We will record your payment as a donation to House of Bread Ministry (E.I.N. 91-2009037) and we will send you a contribution receipt at the close of the year.

Our Ministry Information Is:
House of Bread Ministry
3210 Meridian St.
Bellingham, WA 98225-1728

Posted in #graceculture, #newcovenant, #peopleofGod | Comments Off on Last Days

Foundations For Wheat

Blog In Audio:

Greetings,

Today Bonnie and I are in Redding, California. We have the very blessed duty of being grandparents for the week with our eight-year-old grandson Kaden and our six-year-old granddaughter Zaria. Their parents are away so we get to be all things to a couple of our favorite people. It should be a great week, as long as we get them off to school on time in a rested, fed, and somewhat clean condition – ha, ha.

If you have been connected on the internet with social media in a Christian format, you have no doubt seen many concerns regarding the coming of Jesus and the end times. This thinking is spawned by what many believers perceive the Scriptures say regarding the end times. The Scriptures are foundational for our believing in Christ, they are not words that project thoughts towards what might come. Even the coming of Jesus is a foundational truth in the Scriptures and not merely some coming event. Jesus said that all the things of His discourse in Matthew chapter 24 would be in the generation of the first century church. Jesus came as a man in the fullness of the times and brought an end to the Old Covenant age for those of the Torah/Temple society so that the continued coming of Jesus in the manifest presence of Holy Spirit could bring an end to every tongue, tribe, people, and nation in the ages of the earth. That end would only come because of an embracing of eternal life in Christ. When we embrace the true, the things that are false are destroyed. An opening of grace in our lives destroys the things of law in our lives. The law is not bad, but it is only a shadow of what is truly good. God’s grace is the power of His manifest presence in our lives that transforms our character, nature, way, power, and authority to be as we should be. God’s grace empowers us to take on the true likeness and image of our Father in heaven. The follow is an exert from my book, For His Glory – You Have Been Left Behind.

So much foolishness has been propagated in past years regarding “last days” mania and fear-filled predictions of the Second Coming of Christ. The New Testament has many references to “the end” and “last days”. What were the “last days” and “the end” proclaimed in the New Testament Scriptures? Were they predictions of the end of the world, as we know it? Were they predictions of events to come thousands of years in the future, or were they warnings of something much closer to the people of the day? Was there an exegetical truth to their warnings, or were they simply irrelevant words to their day and prophetic warnings for fifty-plus generations in the future? We are going to look at what Jesus said concerning “the end”. Let’s look at a parable that Jesus spoke to real flesh and blood Jewish people who came to hear His words of instruction.

Matthew 13:24 Another parable He put forth to them, saying: “The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field; 25 but while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat and went his way. 26 But when the grain had sprouted and produced a crop, then the tares also appeared. 27 So the servants of the owner came and said to him, “Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have tares?’ 28 He said to them, “An enemy has done this.” The servants said to him, “Do you want us then to go and gather them up?’ 29 But he said, “No, lest while you gather up the tares you also uproot the wheat with them. 30 Let both grow together until the harvest, and at the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, First gather together the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them, but gather the wheat into my barn.”

In this parable we see the story of the wheat and the tares. Many people think the tares were just weeds, but the tares were not weeds. “Tares” were darnels, “a type of grass commonly found growing as a weed in grain fields in Europe and Asia. Tares looked like wheat that had not produced a full wheat head. They were simply stalks of straw with a worthless seed head. All of the energy went into producing stalk, but it had not produced any wheat for food for others. These darnels were symbolic of humanity that consumes its nutrients on self-survival and self-exaltation. The Rabbis called these darnels “bastard wheat”. These tares that were sown by the enemy in this parable represented fleshly lives that are bound to being self-seeking, self-responsible, self-governing, and self-ruling in the DNA of their life’s existence. Jesus described the tares as “the sons of the evil one”.

Matthew 13:36 Then Jesus sent the multitude away and went into the house. And His disciples came to Him, saying, “Explain to us the parable of the tares of the field.” 37 He answered and said to them: “He who sows the good seed is the Son of Man. 38 The field is the world, the good seeds are the sons of the kingdom, but the tares are the sons of the wicked one. 39 The enemy who sowed them is the devil, the harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are the angels. 40 Therefore as the tares are gathered and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of this age. 41 The Son of Man will send out His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all things that offend, and those who practice lawlessness, 42 and will cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be wailing and gnashing of teeth. 43 Then the righteous will shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears to hear, let him hear!”

This parable had an exegetical fulfillment in the days of Jesus’ hearers. He said the harvest is the “end of the age”. He didn’t say it was the end of the world. This was the end of the Jewish age. Following the end of this age the “righteous would shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father.” Jesus said, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear!” This must have meant that it was possible to hear and understand this principle at the time that Jesus spoke it. At the end of that age the wheat would be gathered into barns, but the tares would be burned. The false covenant keepers would be consumed, but the true covenant keepers would become food for the nations and seed to be sown in the lands of the earth. You don’t put wheat in barns to collect it! You put wheat in barns to distribute it! God had a plan of filling the earth with the knowledge of His glory (Isa. 11:9; Hab. 2:14). The tares looked like wheat, but they did not have the substance of wheat. They would be burned, and the wheat would become the hope of the nations! We can receive this as a principle of truth in every generation, but there was a literal fulfillment of this Scripture within a generation of His speaking. The destruction of A.D. 70 burned the tares and left the wheat. Those holding on to the Law were consumed and the grace empowered Church came through a great tribulation to become the overcoming power of life and hope for the world.

Blessings,

 

Ted J. Hanson




Donations can be made at the link on the home site of:

www.ted4leaders.com

www.ted4you.com or

www.houseofbreadministry.org.

Checks can be made payable to House of Bread Ministry and sent to:

House of Bread Ministry, 3210 Meridian St., Bellingham, WA 98225

To avoid us paying a transaction fee from your donation, you can also set up a payment or an automatic payment from your bank to House of Bread Ministry. Just set it up as a ‘bill pay’ through your online bank account and your bank will mail a check to House of Bread Ministry. We will record your payment as a donation to House of Bread Ministry (E.I.N. 91-2009037) and we will send you a contribution receipt at the close of the year.

Our Ministry Information Is:
House of Bread Ministry
3210 Meridian St.
Bellingham, WA 98225-1728

Posted in #graceculture, #newcovenant, #peopleofGod | Comments Off on Foundations For Wheat

Christ In Us and Us In Him

Blog In Audio:

Greetings,

I was blessed to speak at ALife Church yesterday. I spoke on the theme of Christ in us and us in Christ. It is part of the message I have been blogging on in the past weeks concerning Jesus being the way, the truth, and the life.

We are blessed to receive the first coming of Jesus as the one who judged sin to give us mercy and justify us to live as new creations in Christ. His blood upon the cross was His death once for us all. When we willingly receive Jesus into our lives, we receive Holy Spirit. This is a first coming of Jesus into our hearts that enables us to find the grace of God by which we can reign in life.

Romans 5:17 For if by the one man’s offense death reigned through the one, much more those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.

Jesus’ coming was not merely to get us to heaven when we die, but to bring heaven into our lives today. We often think of God in heaven, but the truth is that God is in heaven and on earth. Through Jesus, we have the presence of the anointed One in, upon, and with us in our lives. It is important for us to welcome His presence and to welcome His life in all that we are and do. He does not force Himself upon us, but He invites us to call upon Him. When we draw near to Him, He quickly draws near to us. He is willing, but it is the willingness of our hearts that allows Him to come. He is knocking at our door, but we must open the door for Him to come in and commune with us in life.

The work of the Holy Spirit is a work of life. The Father has sent the Spirit and the Spirit invites the Son. Jesus is Lord of lords and King of kings in all the earth and the Holy Spirit has come in His name. The name of Jesus is not merely an identification of who He is, it is the identity of who He is. It is the substance of who He is. We identify water by the substance of wet, refreshing, thirst quenching, washing, and other attributes of water. The name of Jesus is like this. It is the substance of who He is. Holy Spirit comes in the substance of all that Jesus is. Holy Spirit partners with us as the bride of Christ and calls for the manifest presence of Jesus to come in increasing measures in the ages of men.

Revelation 22:17 And the Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” And let him who hears say, “Come!” And let him who thirsts come. Whoever desires, let him take the water of life freely.

The Greek word for “come” in this verse is the Greek word ἔρχομαι (erchomai). It is used only in the present and imperfect tenses, thus it is not a concluding event, but a continually happening reality. This is not merely meant to give the hope of what is to come in the future, but for hope in our present reality for the increasing glory of God in our future. It is a foundational truth of Jesus Christ in our lives. There is an aspect to the second coming of Jesus in our life as a continually happening reality. The Holy Spirit is God with us and He comes in the name of Jesus. The water that we freely drink of is the water of the Holy Spirit. It is the life of the Holy Spirit flowing in and through our lives to bring life to us and to the world we live in.

John 14:26 But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you.

Jesus was saying these words to His disciples, but these words are true for us as well. When we receive Jesus, we receive the Holy Spirit. It is by believing Jesus that we receive the Holy Spirit and when we receive the Holy Spirit, we become testimonies of the life that comes by Jesus’ name. Jesus is alive and it is by the Holy Spirit in us that we can know Jesus with us.

John 7:37-39 On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.” But this He spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in Him would receive; for the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.

It is the Holy Spirit of God that draws us to God the Father and God the Son. Holy Spirit precedes the work of God in all things and is God with us and God at work with us in all things. In the book of beginnings (Genesis) we find the Holy Spirit as the expression of God in the earth. Holy Spirit was ready, willing, and able to bring life to all that needed life.

Jesus came to reconnect us to God as our Father in this world and in heaven to come. His goal was reconciliation for mankind. That reconciliation was to restore the mandate of mankind. That mandate was to be fruitful, multiply, fill, subdue, and have dominion (Gen. 1:26-28). Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life for us to fulfill this mandate. We know this by the Holy Spirit in us, upon us, and with us in all things.

Blessings,

 

Ted J. Hanson




Donations can be made at the link on the home site of:

www.ted4leaders.com

www.ted4you.com or

www.houseofbreadministry.org.

Checks can be made payable to House of Bread Ministry and sent to:

House of Bread Ministry, 3210 Meridian St., Bellingham, WA 98225

To avoid us paying a transaction fee from your donation, you can also set up a payment or an automatic payment from your bank to House of Bread Ministry. Just set it up as a ‘bill pay’ through your online bank account and your bank will mail a check to House of Bread Ministry. We will record your payment as a donation to House of Bread Ministry (E.I.N. 91-2009037) and we will send you a contribution receipt at the close of the year.

Our Ministry Information Is:
House of Bread Ministry
3210 Meridian St.
Bellingham, WA 98225-1728

Posted in #graceculture, #newcovenant, #peopleofGod | Comments Off on Christ In Us and Us In Him

His Coming For Salvation

Blog In Audio:

Greetings,

Yesterday I was blessed to speak at Everyone’s Church in Mount Vernon, Washington. Thanks to all who came and to those who follow online. Pastor Brice has had COVID, and we are praying for his full recovery. It was a good day to be together and it is a great time to expect God’s presence in increasing ways!

Jesus came to reconnect us to God as our Father in this world and in heaven to come. Jesus didn’t merely come to die for our sins. He came to reconnect us to the place of being the likeness and the image of God to be fruitful, multiply, fill, subdue, and have dominion. He had to die for our sins to make that possible, but His ultimate goal was reconciliation for mankind so that mankind, male and female, could fill the earth with the knowledge of the glory of God! It is knowing Jesus on the throne of grace that makes that possible. The blood of the cross opened the door to find the life of the New Covenant in the throne of grace. It is there that we find mercy; a judgment that frees us from the guilt of sin and justifies us to find the empowerment of God’s grace. God’s grace is something we can find. It is the empowerment of a changed character, nature, way, power, and authority in Christ! The throne of grace is the place of reining in Christ!

Hebrews 4:14 Seeing then that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. 15 For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. 16 Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

Jesus came to empower us to live our lives with Holy Spirit in us, upon us, and with us in all things. His coming back to us is not just a return in the future. It is an increasing return of His presence in our lives every day. We are not just waiting for Jesus to return. We are embracing His manifest presence each, and every day. He is our salvation in each, and every, situation we face in this world.

Hebrews 9:27 And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment, 28 so Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many. To those who eagerly wait for Him He will appear a second time, apart from sin, for salvation.

The judgment that has been given to those who come to Him is a judgment of mercy. We lose our lives to find them in Christ. We laid our old life down to find a new life in Christ. We died in Christ, so the life we now live is by faith in Christ. This enables us to see Jesus for who He is. He is the way, the truth, and the life! All we have to do is come to Him and see Him. His appearing in our hearts is a testimony to His death upon the cross. It is a judgment of mercy for all who believe. His mercy is new every day and it frees us from every sin. It frees us from being disconnected from God in any way. This is the place of our death in Christ so that we might find our true life in Christ. After this, there is a continual coming of Christ for salvation in our lives. There is no doubt a maturation to a culmination of this reality, but we can embrace His coming presence after our first encounter with His judgment of mercy in our lives. Jesus came for us to live in this second and eternal reality of life! It is a second coming for salvation! Jesus gave this truth to his disciples, who were about to know His judgment of mercy and the return of His presence not just in the bodily form of Jesus, but in the form of the body of Christ.  They would soon know what it is to be a dwelling place of God in the earth. Not just a place of God being with them, but in them, upon them, and with them at all times.

John 14:28 You have heard Me say to you, ‘I am going away and coming back to you.’ If you loved Me, you would rejoice because I said, I am going to the Father,’ for My Father is greater than I. 29 “And now I have told you before it comes, that when it does come to pass, you may believe. 30 I will no longer talk much with you, for the ruler of this world is coming, and he has nothing in Me. 31 But that the world may know that I love the Father, and as the Father gave Me commandment, so I do. Arise, let us go from here.

In this account of Jesus and His disciples, Jesus was about to enact the fulfillment of His first coming so that He could enact the reality of His second coming for His disciples. That would be the testimony of His true salvation in their lives and in the lives of men and women from every tribe, tongue, people, and nation in the world. When He said, “Arise, let us go from here”; He wasn’t just talking about physically going from the supper to the cross. He was talking about entering the fulfillment of the purpose for which He came. He didn’t come for judgment; He came for salvation. He made a way for God’s judgment to be a judgment of mercy for all who come to Him to receive it so that He could come to them for salvation in their world. He wanted to move into every neighborhood, not just a region in the Middle East. He came so that all would know what it is to be a dwelling place of God in the earth. Surely there is a maturation and a culmination of all things in Christ. There is no doubt an increasing reality to the second coming of Christ, but there is also a truth of His second coming in our lives today. Are we living at His first coming of judgment or are we moving beyond to an increased testimony of His coming for salvation in our lives?

Blessings,

Ted J. Hanson





Donations can be made at the link on the home site of:

www.ted4leaders.com

www.ted4you.com or

www.houseofbreadministry.org.

Checks can be made payable to House of Bread Ministry and sent to:

House of Bread Ministry, 3210 Meridian St., Bellingham, WA 98225

To avoid us paying a transaction fee from your donation, you can also set up a payment or an automatic payment from your bank to House of Bread Ministry. Just set it up as a ‘bill pay’ through your online bank account and your bank will mail a check to House of Bread Ministry. We will record your payment as a donation to House of Bread Ministry (E.I.N. 91-2009037) and we will send you a contribution receipt at the close of the year.

Our Ministry Information Is:
House of Bread Ministry
3210 Meridian St.
Bellingham, WA 98225-1728

Posted in #graceculture, #newcovenant, #peopleofGod | Comments Off on His Coming For Salvation

See Him To Know Him

Blog In Audio:

Greetings,

Today I am in Wisconsin. I have been here for several days with a very good friend of mine. We have had a wonderful time sharing in the goodness of God and one another. It was also good to see some friends from the past at Living Waters Fellowship in Ellsworth, Wisconsin yesterday. I have blessed to be here.

Christ in each of us is the hope of glory in and through our lives. We are each a dwelling place of Christ and together we live our lives as the manifold dwelling place of God. Our lives are to be a testimony of the righteousness, peace, and joy of God. We are the visible expression of who God to our world.

John 14:19 “A little while longer and the world will see Me no more, but you will see Me. Because I live, you will live also. 20 At that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you. 21 He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him.”

Do we see Him? The more we see Him the more we become like Him. Perhaps, whatever we look at is what we become. What has our attention? What is the focus of our lives? Looking at a created thing will limit us but looking at Jesus will transform us to become givers of life to all creation in our world. Because He lives, we also live! What does it mean to live? Jesus said that eternal life is to know God as our Father and to know Jesus the son. Our lives are to be lived in Him and Him in us (Jn. 17:3). We can expect Jesus to manifest Himself in our lives daily.

John 17:1 Jesus spoke these words, lifted up His eyes to heaven, and said: “Father, the hour has come. Glorify Your Son, that Your Son also may glorify You, 2 as You have given Him authority over all flesh, that He should give eternal life to as many as You have given Him. 3 And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent. 4 I have glorified You on the earth. I have finished the work which You have given Me to do. 5 And now, O Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was.

Eternal life is not simply where we are going to go when we die. Eternal life works today! It is true life! It is life that destroys death today, tomorrow, and in every situation to come. Not even the second death can overpower it. To embrace the Spirit of Christ in our lives today is to destroy the power of death today, tomorrow, and in every place to come. Holy Spirit in you and me inspires us to call out for the testimony of our husband, our head, to come. Jesus will manifest today in our lives!

John 14:22 Judas (not Iscariot) said to Him, “Lord, how is it that You will manifest Yourself to us, and not to the world?” 23 Jesus answered and said to him, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him. 24 He who does not love Me does not keep My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine but the Father’s who sent Me. 

Christ in us empowers us to be as He is. Christ in us empowers us to be keepers of His word. His word is a testimony of His love for us and through us to the world around us. His love redeems, restores, and reveals His true life in every phase of our journey in life.\

John 14:25 “These things I have spoken to you while being present with you. 26 But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you. 27 Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.

Peace is not the absence of conflict. Peace is living in a place of connection to God in heaven. It is by our connection to God in heaven that heavenly things become the testimonies of our lives. God is the word, but we are His voice. We are expressions of Him in this world. The peace that God gives to us is a peace of connection to Him in all things. We have access to His house, and He has access to our house to make our house a testimony of His presence.

Blessings,

Ted J. Hanson




Donations can be made at the link on the home site of:

www.ted4leaders.com

www.ted4you.com or

www.houseofbreadministry.org.

Checks can be made payable to House of Bread Ministry and sent to:

House of Bread Ministry, 3210 Meridian St., Bellingham, WA 98225

Posted in #graceculture, #newcovenant, #peopleofGod | Comments Off on See Him To Know Him

In Us, Upon Us, and With Us

Blog In Audio:

Greetings,

Today I am heading home after a great weekend with CitiLife Church in Deming, New Mexico. God was good and I believe the weekend is going to bear some good fruit in the lives of many. The church here is doing a great job and Jesus is being glorified. I look forward to coming again.

The year of 2021 is a year to know Christ the Rock. I declared this prophetically in December of 2020 and proclaimed that 2021 would not be an easy fruitful season. I also declared that 2021 would be a ‘come back year’. It would be a season of connection to God and purposed connection to one another. It is, and has been, a time to be renewed. The renewing is a testimony of being renewed in the courage of the Lord, renewed in the holiness of the Lord, and renewed in our faith in God. This is not the strength of our own flesh, but our confidence in the strength of God’s Spirit in us, upon, and with us in all things. It is a year of an increased knowing of God’s rest.

This is a testimony of God resting in us and we resting in Him. This is the place of being the body of Christ, the gate of heaven’s grace in the earth. This is not a year of great fruit, but it is a year of knowing a great God. It is a year of individual testimonies that are like leaves on a tree. Those leaves bring healing to the world around us. The testimonies of God in us are what heals the brokenness in others. These are personal testimonies for the healing of nations. 2021 is the space between. It is the space between what was and what is to come. There is a new look, a new mode of operation, a more enduring testimony.

John 14:5 Thomas said to Him, “Lord, we do not know where You are going, and how can we know the way?” 6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.

Thomas was known as the disciple who doubted, but perhaps he was the disciple that demanded hard evidence. There is nothing wrong with wanting things to be true. The questions of Thomas were not bad, but Jesus’ answers to Him were the true key to finding truth. Our relationship with God and our perception of God is dependent upon faith. It is found in our spirit connection to God by His Spirit. This truth was further illustrated in the questions of Philip and the further answers of Jesus.

John 14:7 “If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; and from now on you know Him and have seen Him.” 8 Philip said to Him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is sufficient for us.” 9 Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; so how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? 10 Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me? The words that I speak to you I do not speak on My own authority; but the Father who dwells in Me does the works. 11 Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father in Me, or else believe Me for the sake of the works themselves.

As the way, the truth, and the life Jesus testified that His life as a man was a testimony of His heavenly Father. He didn’t do anything without being a place of the Father’s habitation. He was a temple of the Holy Spirit in all things. He demonstrated living, moving, and having His being in God. He was also a testimony of the Father living, moving, and having His being in Jesus. This is the way, the truth, and the life for all of humanity. We must live, move, and have our being in God and we must also be a dwelling place that demonstrates God living, moving, and having His being in us. It is empowered by Christ in us, upon us, and with us in all things.

John 14:12 “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father. 13 And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 If you ask anything in My name, I will do it.

Anything we ask in the character and authority of Jesus will be done. How do we ask in His name? We must be the place of His habitation. We live, move, and have our being in Him. He also lives, moves, and manifests His being in partnership with us in all things. To ask something in Jesus’ name is to manifest the character, nature, way, power, and authority of Christ in who we are. This empowers us to fulfill the will of God in and through our lives.

John 14:15 “If you love Me, keep My commandments. 16 And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever— 17 the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you. 18 I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you.

The Holy Spirit is in us, spilling over to be upon us, and with us to reveal Jesus as the way, the truth, and the life. He is our righteousness, peace, and joy.

Blessings,

Ted J. Hanson




Donations can be made at the link on the home site of:

www.ted4leaders.com

www.ted4you.com or

www.houseofbreadministry.org.

Checks can be made payable to House of Bread Ministry and sent to:

House of Bread Ministry, 3210 Meridian St., Bellingham, WA 98225

Posted in #graceculture, #newcovenant, #peopleofGod | 1 Comment

The Way, The Truth, and The Life

Blog In Audio:

Greetings;

We had another great service at ALife yesterday. Pastor Jonathan gave a great word on being rivers of life to our world. The things that God does in our life have been and are great, but God Himself is greater. The flow of God’s Spirit in our lives is more valuable than the things that He has done. It is time to expect new and greater things.

Jesus demonstrated who He was as a man connected to God as His Father in every way. He demonstrated the life of a human being who was full of grace and truth. The manifest presence of God in Him, upon Him, and with Him in all things illustrated a redeemed human life in Christ. At the end of His earthly course as a man He summed things up to His disciples and prepared them to launch the life-giving force of humanity in Christ and Christ in them.

John 14:6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.”

Jesus is our righteousness, Jesus is our testimony of peace, and Jesus is our connection to life-giving purpose in all things. How do we know Him and How do we connect to Him? Holy Spirit in us is our connection to Jesus as our righteousness. We know that God is our God by the internal belief of our hearts and the external confession of our ways and actions in life. We have been granted a right relationship with God in Christ that empowers us from within to live in a right relationship with others in our world. The overflowing presence of Holy Spirit upon our lives is our testimony of peace. His overflowing presence upon us is the evidence that we have access to all that is in heaven for a heavenly testimony in this world. Jesus is the Word, but we are expressions of His voice in the power and fruit of our lives. There is no gap between us and God. We are growing increasingly like Him in our character, nature, way, power, and authority. We are clothed in Christ! Holy Spirit with us is the evidence of our partnership with God as our Father in all things, by this the presence of Jesus in His character and authority is manifested for the destiny of our purpose in Christ. We have the fullness of joy by knowing God’s presence with us in all things. These three things are the evidence of the kingdom of God working in, through, and for us as the kingdoms of our lives become known as kingdoms of our Lord and Christ.

Romans 14:17 …for the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.

John 14:1 “Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. 2 In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also. 4 And where I go you know, and the way you know.”

God is our Father and together we are a many faceted house for His holy habitation. Each of us are a place of God’s presence, but together we are a place of His presence in a greater way. His coming is a perfect and imperfect tense of His nearness to us in life and into the fuller glory. We are not abandoned or waiting for a time to know God. We know the presence of the Lord in our lives more and more each day. Our connection is to God as our Father and to Jesus as the Son by the fellowship of Holy Spirit. Holy Spirit is our access to Jesus as the way, the truth, and the life. As the way, Jesus connects us to true life. As the truth, Jesus causes us to become testimonies of life to our world. Knowing Him is to truly see Him for who He is. The more we see Him, the more we become like Him. This is truth. When we know Him in truth, we become truth in who we are, and truth crumbles every lie. As the life, Jesus is the presence of authority in our lives that fulfills the joy of God’s purpose in our lives. He is manifestly with us in all things to demonstrate we live together for His purpose in all things. This is the fullness of joy!

John 14:5 Thomas said to Him, “Lord, we do not know where You are going, and how can we know the way?” 6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.

Embracing the truth of Christ in us and us in Christ is the key to fulfilling our true purpose in life. This is a year of personal testimony, and it is the secret to our ability to be unshakeable in a shaking world. When heaven and earth shake it is because the unshakable kingdom of God is growing in heaven and on earth. We truly can be renewed in the courage of the Lord, the holiness of the Lord, and our faith in God. God is in us, upon us, and with us in all things through the character and authority of Jesus. Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life!

Blessings,

Ted J. Hanson


Donations can be made at the link on the home site of:

www.ted4leaders.com

www.ted4you.com or

www.houseofbreadministry.org.

Checks can be made payable to House of Bread Ministry and sent to:

House of Bread Ministry, 3210 Meridian St., Bellingham, WA 98225

Posted in #graceculture, #newcovenant, #peopleofGod | Comments Off on The Way, The Truth, and The Life