This week at G42 was packed with wisdom beyond my understanding. Ted Hanson came from Washington State to speak with us here in Spain. He is a man who truly lives and breathes the gospel, in fact it is hard to have a conversation with him that isn’t about God. Ted would admit to you himself that he lives in a whole different realm. He has regular encounters with Angels has the gift of prophesy which makes him stereotypically… weird, which he embraces!
His topic this week was on “New Covenant Realities,” which proved to be a mentally challenging subject. The bare bones of the teaching was that we are currently living in New Covenant times (after Jesus was crucified and raise from the dead) but hold onto Old Covenant ways of thinking (practices from before Jesus died on the cross so we could be closer to the Father.) The basis of the New Covenant time is to be loved and to love, where the Old Covenant is a works based system. Jesus came to the earth in an old covenant time with a new covenant theology.
The New Covenant that we are intended to be living in is a genuine intervention with God. He wants to simply love us and for us to understand that He sees us as a beloved child. We hear the term “beloved child” too often that it has since become well… cliche. I challenge you to bring meaning back to the term and imagine having a child that you loved more than anything. How would you react to them walking in the room or making them smile? Our Father gets just as giddy and even more with each one of us. He wants to be in relationship with us over anything else. He never stops desiring more of our hearts.
Since He never stops pursuing us when we mess up He doesn’t hold sin against us. He IS Mercy and He IS Love. They are not just characteristics of God they are God. So every single time you see love in the world that IS God. God is love and He wants to love us. Now since we are loved and if we choose to walk in that love as a result we will empower others to be loved.
New Covenant is about what will be passed onto the next generation, our legacy. How will our grandchildren walk in Christ’s love, what is the 100 year plan. To do this we need to be dependent on Rema, or what God is currently doing in our lives not what He has done. Having a personal relationship with Him is what is core. The Bible is a tool to understanding God’s character, but be careful to not make the Bible your God. “The Author is far better than the book.”
I have only touched the tip of the “Ted Ice Burg.” I appreciate his willingness to challenge the common theologies and respect the amount of effort he has put into researching the Bible. Ted is the author of 11 published books, has build two very successful businesses, is the pastor of a growing church and most importantly is a native of the great state of Wisconsin :). Our motto here at G42 is “The Hungry get Filled,” and I know my cup is overflowing as I am trying to wrap my head around his teachings from the week. Praise God for strong men of faith like Ted who live a hungry life.
“You don’t know who you are grasshopper”
-Ted Hanson (Pertaining to how special we are to God)
If you would like to watch pod casts by Ted, or the G42 founder Andrew Sherman, you may do so at this web address: http://rimnetwork.org
Out of the Pew 