Ted J. Hanson's Weekly Blog – ted4you.com

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Greetings

I am continuing to enjoy my time at home in Bellingham. Yesterday I was blessed to minister at Everyone’s Church, in Mount Vernon, Washington. This is a church relationally connected to me and House of Bread Ministry. It was a great morning. I had an interesting experience on my drive to the church. My wife was driving, and I was looking at my notes for the morning message. I looked up and I was surprised to see the scenery was moving from fall into an approaching winter. I was surprised because I thought it was moving into spring. It was a spiritual moment of God saying the seasons are His and we can expect heavenly things to spring forth, even in what appears to be a winter season

I have been writing on the symbolism of the ashes of the red heifer in the Old Covenant and how the washing of the water of purification was merely a shadow of truths being revealed to us in the body of Christ. I am not talking about truths of head knowledge. I am talking about experiences with God in Christ as we are washed by God’s word to our hearts. It is a testimony of God speaking to, through, over, and about who we are in His eternal bride, the church.  Heaven is not just a destination for us as believers, it is also a daily experience in our hearts, and it affects our thoughts and our actions in this world. 

Hebrews 10:19 Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus, 20 by a new and living way which He consecrated for us, through the veil, that is, His flesh, 21 and having a High Priest over the house of God, 22 let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.

Jesus was the body of Christ so that we could become part of the body of Christ, the habitation of God’s Spirit in us individually and together as Christ in the flesh. Jesus made this possible by His complete sacrifice for our complete sanctification. The spotless red heifer was sacrificed and burned outside of the camp to make a way for all who were outside of the camp of God to become a part of His fa  mily. The sacrifice of Jesus and the life-giving words of the Holy Spirit proclaim a transformation of what we wear. We were clothed in sin, but now we are clothed in Christ. We are in this world, but we are not of this world. We are set apart, sanctified to God, for His increasing glory in heaven and earth.

Numbers 19:8 And the one who burns it shall wash his clothes in water, bathe in water, and shall be unclean until evening. 9 Then a man who is clean shall gather up the ashes of the heifer, and store them outside the camp in a clean place; and they shall be kept for the congregation of the children of Israel for the water of purification; it is for purifying from sin.

Jesus was the body of Christ so we could come through the veil of His flesh and become members of the body of Christ joined with Him for eternity. Just as a rib was taken from the side of first Adam and a suitable helpmate was formed to be Eve, the church is the result of the spiritual rib removed from the side of the eternal Adam, Jesus Christ. When Jesus died, he went to sleep, and the soldiers pierced His side and blood and water flowed to the ground. From that ground would come the helpmate of Jesus, the eternal Eve, the body of Christ. This is the spiritual rib formed for the eternal reality of who we really are in Christ. The death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus allowed us to pass from death to life in Christ. His continued washing of our lives with the pure water that came from His sacrifice, declares that we are no longer sinners, but saints as members of the body of Christ.

Numbers 19:10 And the one who gathers the ashes of the heifer shall wash his clothes, and be unclean until evening. It shall be a statute forever to the children of Israel and to the stranger who dwells among them. 11 “He who touches the dead body of anyone shall be unclean seven days. 12 He shall purify himself with the water on the third day and on the seventh day; then he will be clean. But if he does not purify himself on the third day and on the seventh day, he will not be clean.

The third day purification was the passing from death to life in Christ. It was brought about by our born-again reality and our conveyance from the power of darkness into the kingdom of the Son of God’s love. It is the Holy Spirit in and upon our lives that reveals who we really are. We are part of the body of Christ. We have experienced the resurrection power that came through the shed blood of Jesus Christ and we are being sprinkled by the pure water of Christ’s presence in our lives. Holy Spirit is constantly interceding declaring our sanctification in Christ.

We lost our lives, but we then found our lives. We found the death of our old man in Jesus and we found our true life in the testimony of Christ within us. We are new creations in Christ. We now hear God (water) in an intimate relationship with Him in this world (outside the camp) because we can now hear Him (rhema word) and be of faith. Our fath gives access to this redemption story. Hearing God in our hearts allows us to come into the reality of who God says we really are.

Blessings,

Ted J. Hanson

If God gives you the means to help, please consider making a donation to House of Bread Ministry. 

Thanks Again – 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

Blog In Audio:

Greetings,

I am enjoying my time in Bellingham. We had a fantastic workday at the church on Saturday and got a lot of work done, as well as some great bonding time as community members. Yesterday we enjoyed communion together in our morning service time and in a meal together afterwards. I am pleased with all that God is doing in our midst. I hope you had a great weekend as well.

Today I am going to continue on the subject of the Red Heifer. The shadow of the Law was given for our learning in the reality of the New Covenant, a place of personal relationship with God our Father and Jesus the Son by the inward habitation of the Holy Spirit. In this, we are not only destined for heaven, but there is an increasing influence of heaven in our lives.

Hebrews 10:19 Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus, 20 by a new and living way which He consecrated for us, through the veil, that is, His flesh, 21 and having a High Priest over the house of God, 22 let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.

Jesus was the body of Christ so that we could become part of the body of Christ, the habitation of God’s Spirit in us individually and together as Christ in the flesh. Jesus made this possible by His complete sacrifice for our complete sanctification.

Numbers 19:5 Then the heifer shall be burned in his sight: its hide, its flesh, its blood, and its offal shall be burned.

In the shadow of the Law, all flesh, inside and out, was consumed by fire as well as all of the works of the flesh – including the refuse of that body. Jesus gives the power to transform all flesh to a testimony of His life-giving Spirit. This includes everything inside and outside our lives – including our works. Our sanctification to God in Christ includes a freedom from the futility of the curse of the administration of the knowledge of good and evil.

Numbers 19:6 And the priest shall take cedar wood and hyssop and scarlet, and cast them into the midst of the fire burning the heifer.

The cedar wood is a testimony to the generational inheritances of the curse of sin. Cedar is a wood that endures for generations and without the gift of God’s love in the form of Jesus Christ we are bound to the generational cures of the past. Hyssop is a testimony to bitterness. Jesus was the perfect sacrifice in His flesh to sanctify us in our flesh, even to the healing of all bitterness in our lives. Scarlet is a testimony to sin. Biblically sin is as scarlet. I believe that these three things, cedar wood, hyssop, and scarlet are a testimony symbolizing our iniquity, transgression, and our sin. It is in the body of Christ that we find our true sanctification and freedom from iniquity, transgression, and sin.

Numbers 19:7 Then the priest shall wash his clothes, he shall bathe in water, and afterward he shall come into the camp; the priest shall be unclean until evening.

Jesus was the washing (sanctification) of our lives as priests unto God by His death and resurrection. We know this through a ‘born again’ experience in Christ. We have been ‘born unto God’ by the resurrection life of Christ. As was symbolized in the sprinkling of the pure water of the Old Covenant, this is a ‘third day’ washing that allows us to be in this world, but not of this world. We are kept safe from the evil one. The custom of sanctification in the Old Covenant was for what was unclean to be sprinkled with the water containing the ashes of the red heifer. After a full seven days the unclean was examined again and if it was found to be free of defilement it would be pronounced fully clean. In Christ, we live in this world with the inward connection with God as our Father in Christ.

1 Thessalonians 5:23 Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely; and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Hebrews 10:14 For by one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified.

Jesus prayed to the Father for His disciples and in this He also prayed for us.

John 17:15 I do not pray that You should take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from the evil one. 16 They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. 17 Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth.

Ephesians 5:26 …that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word…

The death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ is the word that sanctifies us to be in this world but sanctified unto God while we walk out our journey in Christ. We have experienced a first resurrection from the dead in Christ so that we will receive the full resurrection of our lives unto heaven.

John 5:24 “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life.

1 John 3:14 We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love the brethren. He who does not love his brother abides in death.

Blessings,

Ted J. Hanson

If God gives you the means to help, please consider making a donation to House of Bread Ministry. 

Thanks Again – 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

Blog In Audio

The Ashes of The Red Heifer

Greetings,

I am presently on my third day of elk hunting. The operative word is ‘hunting’, since I have not yet been successful. Plenty of evidence and even sightings, just not in the spot I need them to be in. It is supposed to get really wet this afternoon, so I hope I have the appropriate gear to see me through. I sure would like to put some meat in the freezer. In light of that, my subject today is the Red Heifer, no pun intended – just happens to be during my elk hunt time.

In the Old Covenant Torah/Temple system, there was a sacrifice of a Red Heifer. That heifer was spotless, without blemish or defect of any kind. It was only a shadow and symbol of what was to come to us from heaven. It was not the thing that God desired, only a copy of something that God desired to bring into the earth. Some are looking for a day of the restoration of this sacrifice in some form in the nation of Israel, but I believe that this sacrifice is already complete in Christ and the fruit of that sacrifice is rising up in the earth. The red heifer is but a symbol of a spotless body for the service of God in Christ.

Hebrews 10:19 Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus, 20 by a new and living way which He consecrated for us, through the veil, that is, His flesh, 21 and having a High Priest over the house of God, 22 let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.

The body that we have been given access to is the body of Christ. The body of Christ is the house of God. Through Jesus we have ended our old life of flesh and entered into a body of faith in Christ. Being joined together in the body of Christ is what gives us our true identity in Christ. The pure water is the testimony of water that can sanctify us in this world. It is the water that contains the ashes of the red heifer; thus, it washes us to declare who we really are in Christ. These things are symbolic of the testimony we find by the power of God’s words to our hearts and minds that sanctify us to reign in life as God desires.

I believe that heifer was symbolic of the body of Christ, the womb of God in the earth joined to Jesus the head in all things for the glory of the Father and the testimony of Jesus name. Before we could become the body of Christ, Jesus had to come as the brightness of the Father’s glory and the express image of His person in human form. He was both the head and body of Christ for the new creation of a human race destined to become the brightness of the Fathers glory and express image of His person in the earth. Like the first Adam, the eternal Last Adam of Jesus contained a spiritual rib for the formation of the body of Christ in the earth. The body of Christ is the eternal Eve joined with the eternal Adam to fill the earth with the glory of God. This testimony is so glorious that even the heavens and the earth are shaking for the manifestation of this true glory. It is eternal in that it is destined to make both heaven and earth as one for the glory of God.

Jesus was the Red Heifer (the Body of Christ offered outside the camp for all) so that we could become the Bride of Christ (Body of Christ). He gave His life fully so that He could sanctify us with the water of His testimony (His word) and present us to Himself as a wife without spot, blemish, wrinkle, or any such thing (Eph. 5:25-32). The shadow of this truth is found in the Old Covenant. Again, the Old Covenant was only an informing of that which one day become the transforming power of God’s grace for mankind. We cannot just think in terms of a single lifetime. We must think   generationally and understand that eternity is not measured in created terms. Our lives are part of something much bigger than the mere few years we are given in this segment of our journey. Life does not end on earth, but earth plays an important role in our journey of life.

Numbers 19:1 Now the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying, 2 “This is the ordinance of the law which the Lord has commanded, saying: ‘Speak to the children of Israel, that they bring you a red heifer without blemish, in which there is no defect and on which a yoke has never come.’”

As was portrayed in this sacrifice, Jesus was without blemish to guarantee a progressive sanctification of our lives so that we too can become people without blemish. God does not see our blemishes and the Holy Spirit works in our lives to cause us to become as God sees us. Even with our flaws, God does not see our flaws. He writes us up well in the halls of heaven, even as he wrote Abraham as being a man who never wavered in his faith. Although God does not see our flaws, Holy Spirit is also working in our lives as the power of God’s amazing grace to cause us to reign in life. We are overcoming the weaknesses of our lives by the power of God’s strength. This is not merely for ourselves, but for an increasing glory in the maturation and culmination of God’s plan for mankind. Being healed of our blemishes does not make God love us more, it simply reveals the life-transforming power of God’s love working in our lives.

Jesus was without defect to assure our ability to become defect free in Christ. Those defects can even be in our thinking. God does not condemn us for our defective thinking, but the power of His love working in and through our lives causes us to take on the testimony of Christ. The mind of Christ within us is renewing our own minds to become as they should be in our destiny in life.

Jesus was never in bondage (yoked) to sin to assure our freedom from the yoke of sin. Although we may sin at times, we are no longer bound to a life of sin. God sees us as sinless in Christ, but the power of Christ in us also empowers us to take on the character, nature, and way of a sinless life. Holy Spirit convicts us of sin, not to condemn us, but to make us as we should be. He makes us free by the Spirit of the Lord in our hearts.

Blessings,

Ted J. Hanson

Blog In Audio:

Greetings,

Today I am in Bellingham. It was sure great to be home at Alife, my home church community, yesterday. I was blessed to minister the word. God’s presence was rich and full! God is calling us to a deeper level with Him to become an expression of His community in the earth. May God grant us the grace to become the people of God in our community expressions of Him. We are not just vessels of God’s presence; we are also corporate expressions of His presence for the glory of His name.

We were born to be loved by God. God does not merely want our service. He wants a personal relationship with us in life. In the story that is often referred to as The Parodical Son, it is really about a father and two sons. One son wanted to prove his independence, while the other son thought his key to destiny was to merely serve in the father’s business. Perhaps his expectation was to one day receive it fully so he too could prove his independence. Neither perspective of these two sons, was correct. The story is about a family and the business of that family. The business of that family is the calling of life, the testimony of life, and the purpose of life in all things. It is a story of relationship and the expanding influence of a world of life-filled love. God’s very nature is to give life, breath, and all things. Jesus was the brightness of the Father’s glory and the express image of His person. He was a giver of life in all His ways. He was the firstborn of a new race of humanity for the glory of our heavenly Father’s name in all things. We are a spiritual house to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. We can only discover the truth of this when we know how precious Jesus is and how essential it is for us to have the presence of Holy Spirit in our lives. It is only by the Holy Spirit that we can know Jesus and it is only through Jesus that we can truly know who our Heavenly Father is. Our human spirit cries out for a relationship with God in the Spirit. We cannot live without a relationship with God in our lives. We cannot survive but minutes without air, we cannot survive but days without water, and we cannot survive but weeks without food. These things are precious to us, but nothing is more precious than the Spirit of Christ in our lives. Jesus is  the foundation of our lives as a life-giving stone and it is only with Him in our lives that we can become the life-giving stones we are meant to be. Life-giving stones are unshakeable in their calling, inheritance, and purpose in giving life to the world in which they reside.

1 Peter 2:5 …you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

Everyone belongs, but we must choose to believe in Jesus Christ in order to walk in our true identity in Christ, manifest our true testimony in the inheritance of Christ, and fulfill our purpose in the destiny of Christ. Our purpose is to bring life to our world. It is to influence and change the world that has been given to us by the life-giving power of God in our lives each and every day. This is the power of grace! We cannot live in our world dependent upon being right, we must live dependent upon being life for others. For this reason, we need to receive God’s mercy and find His grace working in and through our lives each and every day.

Hebrews 4:16 Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

Our real need is not one of self-identity, self-existence, or some purpose of self-success.  Our real need is to become some measure of our Father’s glory and some measure of the expression of His image in our world. We were not only born to be loved by God; In Christ we are born again to love God and to love others. The foundation of our lives is Jesus Christ (1 Cor. 3:9-17). We are the temple of God when the Holy Spirit dwells within us. It is only by His presence in our hearts that we can build with things that endure in our lives. Things that endure are likened unto gold, silver, and precious stones. Thing of gold are things that reveal the divine nature and destiny of God. Things of silver are things of redemptive purpose and inheritance. This of precious stones are things with a testimony of God and the character of Christ that prove the value of God’s love. These are attributes that can only live in the lives of those we influence in this world. Something of God should be in this world because of us even after we finish our course of life and find ourselves in the realm of heaven. The works that we do are merely straw, hay, or wood. They can only last for days, a lifetime, or some short span beyond our days. The works we do are not the eternal things that endure. The life of God that we implant, inspire, and behold in the lives of others are the true enduring things of life.

Blessings,

Ted J. Hanson

If God gives you the means to help, please consider making a donation to House of Bread Ministry. 

Thanks Again – 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

Blog In Audio:

Greetings,

Today I am heading home after a great week in Bulgaria. The presence of God was rich and full in Sofia, Blagoevgrad, and Plovdiv. The people were hungry for God and ready to be God’s voice in the land for His increasing glory. The season has shifted from mere blessing to being a blessing for the purposes of God in the earth. Be ready for divine connections for God’s divine purpose. God’s grace is working in the nations for His purpose and plan.

Grace makes us right people in Christ and being right people in Christ gives us the power to reign in life. God wants us to be righteous, but our righteousness is not of the flesh. It is a righteousness that is found in Christ. I believe that there are two ways we are made righteous. Mercy qualifies us to be children of God and a righteousness by God’s mercy is enough to get us to heaven. Grace also changes who we are and that it is enough to get heaven in us. God’s grace enables what is in heaven to become something heavenly in our lives here upon the earth. How He is, is how we become in this world. It is an increasing glory!

Romans 5:21 …so that as sin reigned in death, even so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

In these verses the Holy Spirit is proactive in our lives. Something is happening. He is causing us to reign in life. Sin reigned before, but now grace reigns. There must be a change. There must be a change in our desires, thoughts, reasoning, strategy of thoughts, a change in our imaginations, and even a change in our emotions. There is a change in us, because Christ is in us is the testimony God’s grace empowering us to reign in life. It is a continual increasing glory unto eternal life. I believe it goes with us into heaven, but it also increases in the lives of people in this earth that we affect and influence. That affect and influence increases in the generations that follow us, even after we go to heaven. We are not on this earth just to live a life and then move on. We are on this earth to bring the influence of heaven in and through our lives that affects the world around us and affects the world beyond us. So, when we go to heaven something heavenly is still happening in the earth because of us. This is the power of grace. This is stronger than the power of law. It is in us and through us, not merely a controlling instruction to us.

Romans 6:4 Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.

Our old man died in Christ, but then our new life was raised in Christ. The life we live, we live in Christ. It isn’t just a grace to get us to heaven. Mercy justifies us to go to heaven and surely grace will get us there, but the objective is to walk in newness of life in this world. Every year we grow in Christ we should walk in an increasing reality of a newness of life. There should be an increasing glory. There should be a continually increasing character change in each of us. We should increasingly experience a newness of our nature and way.  It should be seen in the way we do things and the way we think, and it affects the way we act. We should walk in an increasing newness of power and authority. Our influence of life into this world should increase. It is good news for our friends and for our neighbors. It is good news for our spouses,  our children, and our grandchildren. It is good news for every area of responsibility in our lives and for the people within the sphere of our influence in life. Grace is empowering us to walk in newness of life.

Romans 6:13 And do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. 14 For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace.

We are under the influence of grace. Being under the influence is being under the power of something. In the law, we are under the influence of obligation and condemnation. Being under grace puts us under the influence of a change in, nature, way, increasing power, and authority. God’s grace puts us under the influence of true liberty. True liberty gives life to others. Grace doesn’t give us liberty that gives us life while destroying others. It is a liberty that gives life in every way.

Grace empowers us to walk in newness of life. We don’t walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit – but we do walk. We accept the practical responsibilities of our lives. We fulfill our practical responsibilities in a grace empowered way. Grace empowers us to be good friends and neighbors as citizen of heaven and earth upon the earth. It can be seen in the way we steward our possessions. It is evident in the way we accept our responsibilities of taking care of our homes and our yards in a life-giving spiritual way. It is by God’s grace that we are who we are. It is by grace that we do what we do. We are under the influence of grace. Grace is not just a theory. Grace is the presence of the Holy Spirit at work in our lives.

Blessings,

Ted J. Hanson

If God gives you the means to help, please consider making a donation to House of Bread Ministry. 

Thanks Again – 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

Blog In Audio:

Greetings,

Today I am in Bulgaria after a great weekend in Utrecht, Netherlands. It was a great weekend of teaching and activating the believers in prophecy. I will be teaching for the next week on prophecy in Bulgaria as well. God speaks and life happens. God doesn’t do anything without a partnership with the voice of mankind. We must release the life-giving words of God into the world to see the earth transformed by heaven’s grace.

Our salvation in Christ is a salvation by the power of God’s grace. Our salvation is not merely going to heaven when we die, but a testimony of heaven invading our lives in increasing and life-transforming ways. This is only possible through Jesus Christ, the last Adam that we might be a race of new creations in Christ for the glory of God in all things.

Romans 5:19 For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one Man’s obedience many will be made righteous.

Jesus made it possible for us to no longer be bound to an Adam of sin, but to be transformed in the family tree of life. God’s mercy redeemed us from the law of sin and death and God’s grace transforms us into the liberty of life in Christ. I believe that God’s mercy makes us righteous enough to go to heaven when we die. It is the free gift of Jesus. When we receive Him, we receive His gift of mercy. He gave us peace. There is no gap between us and God. No person ever needs to hide from Him because of His mercy. His mercy is enough to give us the righteousness of Christ that gets us to heaven. It is enough to cause each of us to become a child of God. Little children know the Father and they know their sins are forgiven. There is a righteousness for little children that will get us to heaven, but we are supposed to grow up and become sons and daughters and even fathers and mothers in Christ. The righteousness of God that gets us to heaven doesn’t require us to change much in our lives. We could be the thief on the cross and go to heaven when our hearts receive the gift of Jesus. The thief saying, Jesus, remember me was enough to get him to heaven. For sure that is transformational and awesome, but had the thief lived longer than that day on the cross he would have needed something more. He would have needed grace to reign in life. God’s love is enough to get us to heaven without doing anything but believing in Him. God’s love is also powerful enough to change who we are in this world. The thief was crucified on the cross because he was a thief. Had he lived on this earth beyond that day, Christ in him would have had to transform his character to no longer be a thief. A lot of believers come to Jesus and then think that is enough. They are going to heaven when they die, but they fail to reign in life. Circumstances and things in life end up reigning over them. Some believers come to Jesus and do a mixture of information and transformation. They return to the law because it has seemingly safe boundaries. It is simple. It has instructions they can see. The problem is it controls them, but it doesn’t truly change them. They may follow rules, but in their hearts they are not changed. Grace is more powerful than law. Jesus said you have heard it written in the law you shall not commit murder, but I say if you hate your brother in your heart you have already committed murder. Jesus said it is written in the law you shall not commit adultery, but I say if you do it in your heart you have already done it.

Law can give us instructions that restrain our actions, but Jesus gives us the Holy Spirit so our character changes. Our hearts and our minds change. We are not restrained or controlled but liberated by the internal power of God’s grace. Grace empowers us to not hate our brother in our hearts. Grace empowers us to no longer seek illegitimate fulfillments to the desires of our hearts. Grace includes a change that looks right, but it is deeper than actions. Doing right things doesn’t make us people who are righteous but having a right relationship with God in our hearts will empower us to become people who do right things in life. It is the power of Christ in us and this is the hope of glory!

Blessings,

Ted J. Hanson

If God gives you the means to help, please consider making a donation to House of Bread Ministry. 

Thanks Again – 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

Blog In Audio:

Greetings,

Today I am home in Bellingham. Bonnie and I got home late Saturday night after a great vacation with our son Aaron, his wife Amani, our grandson Kaden and our granddaughter Zaria. Yesterday we were blessed to hear Harold Eberle speak to our congregation. We are moving forward with the challenges of transitions and new things to come.

We are members of the Body of Christ. Corporately we are the Bride of Christ. It is Christ within us and in our midst that makes us who we are. Like our husband, we display the family name. The Bride of Christ is a testimony of the City of God. The foundations of the walls of the City are adorned with all kinds of precious stones (Rev. 21:19, 20). Whatever is in the foundation is also meant to be revealed in its rising walls of testimony.

The Grace of God has empowered the Church to become the testimony of His passion and glory in the midst of every pressure and tribulation. The city of God reflects and refracts the many attributes of the nature and the likeness of God. It is filled with the many testimonies of the light of Christ’s glory. What is in the foundation of the Church is becoming the very substance that is revealed within the community of the City. If you do some research you will find that the stones in the foundation of the City likely represent the tribes of Naphtali, Simeon, Manasseh, Rueben, Asher, Judah, Zebulun, Gad, Issachar, Levi, Ephraim (the born-again of Joseph), and Benjamin. When presented in their order they imply that in the foundation of this city is the following testimony: Has wrestled to wrestle no more, hears God and responds, knows His forgiveness and the past is forgotten, is seen as a son, is fortunate and happy, has become a testimony of praise, dwells with God, is joined to others in God, is rewarded by God by seeing what God sees, is one with God, is fruitful in God, and is a testimony of His inheritance through His hand of resurrection life. This is a great foundation for the walls of an awesome community of life!

When we stand on the foundation of truth we stand in the place of life. We no longer wrestle in the flesh but overcome by the power of His grace. We hear God in the midst of every situation of our lives and that hearing is enough to inspire our faith. The power of God’s mercy each day frees us from the strongholds of our past. We are children of God and in that we find the fortune of being His son or daughter and we know the happiness of being a part of His family. Our weaknesses are being transformed to testimonies of His strength. Our flaws are being redeemed by the reigning power of His grace. God lives with us and we live with Him. We are not alone. Being a part of God’s family is a daily reality in our world. God’s rewards outweigh the losses in our lives. Our perspectives are continually changing. We no longer see the world as we used to see it. We are increasingly looking at things through the eyes of God. He is forever with us in all we are and do. The fruitfulness of life is our portion even out of the ashes of death itself. Resurrection life is our portion; thus, life can never be taken from us. God’s hand is upon us!

In the same way that God can take the irritations of the flesh and turn them into testimonies of His love, the pressures of life can prove to reveal the character of Christ within our lives. Even as God can take the things that could be most ugly and turn them into something beautiful when we allow His grace to work in our hearts, He can also reveal the brightness of His glory in the midst of the pressures of our lives. God doesn’t want us to escape the wounds of our past, nor does He want us to escape the pressures of our lives. He wants us to realize that the wounds of our lives are part of us, but they don’t define us; even so the pressures of life don’t destroy us but prove to reveal the power of Christ’s character within us. Just as the wounds of our flesh can become a pearl of great price revealing God’s love, the pressures that appear to be against us can prove the power of the One within us who is greater than the things of the world.

The formation of precious stones involves a transformation of one substance to a more refined, purified, and hardened material. The dissolving of a certain substance, great pressure, and transformation by intense heat produces a translucent material of brilliant beauty. Gemstones of great value are formed deep within the earth and then found in higher-level rock formations as magma or other internal movements of the earth carry them towards the surface. There are various ingredients that make up the material of different precious gems, but the process is similar. It is the same in our lives. The dissolving of our old nature reveals the refining grace of God as Christ is formed in us through a baptism of fire in the midst of the pressures of our lives. The work of Christ within us causes a transformation through a metamorphosis in our thinking and the behavior patterns of our lives become changed through God’s conversion process within us.

Blessings,

Ted J. Hanson

Thanks to everyone who has helped support House of Bread and make it possible to purchase our travel tickets for September. Your prayers and support are greatly appreciated.

We are still in need of more funds for ticket purchase for October, and November. Please pray with us that the provision of God will be loosed so we can do all God has called us to do in this season. If God gives you the means to help, please consider making a donation to House of Bread Ministry. 

Thanks Again – 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