Category Archives: body of Christ

November 27, 2012 · 8:43 pm

The Additions to Your Faith–Prerequisites of Receiving Immortality

Just having faith in Christ is not enough.  Now, wait a minute.  Hear me out before you jump.

Some have said, “Faith in Christ is all you need.”  To get into the first level of a walk with God, that is true.  But things must be added to the true faith in order for us to fully manifest God’s divine nature in us, according to the apostle Peter.

He says that we must make certain spiritual additions to the faith, so that we can be “partakers of the divine nature…Giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; and to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; and to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity (agape love)” (II Peter 1: 5-7).

Peter goes on to say that if these additions “be in you and abound, they make you that you shall neither be barren (idle) nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus (Yahshua) Christ” (v. 8).

In other words, without these additions, we will not grow up “unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ” (Eph. 4: 13).  Nor will we without these additions “be filled with all the fulness of Christ” (Eph. 3: 19).  Why?  Because the person without these additions listed above “is blind, and cannot see afar off, and has forgotten that he was purged from his old sins” (II Pet. 1: 9).  These additions, then, serve as a kind of eye salve that anoints our eyes that we may see the spiritual road ahead of us.

In fact, the way we “make our calling and election sure” is to add these very things to our faith! That is why this is so important to the overcomers of all things.  For if we add these things to our faith, we “shall never fall” (v. 10).  The addition to our faith of these things is the key that unlocks the door to the “entrance…into the everlasting kingdom” of our God (v. 11).

Who was Peter writing to?

Peter is writing not to everyone, but to those “that have obtained like precious faith with us” (1: 1).  He is writing to “those who have already received by divine allotment” this equally honored and precious “conviction that God exists and is the Creator and Ruler of all things, the Provider and Bestower of eternal salvation through Christ” {Thayer’s Lexicon}.

It is God who has placed this faith, this “conviction” that He is real, in our hearts.  It is not something we “muster up.”  It is all Him.  It is His grace to us, which is to say, God favors us with knowledge of Him and His plan and word.  This brings light to our eyes and strength to our hearts.  God gives grace to some during this end time era with spiritual knowledge of Him.  This is His grace to us.

Now He gives this grace in accordance to “His divine power” which gives to the recipients “all things that pertain to life and godliness through the knowledge of Him” (1: 3).  For He “has called us to glory and virtue.”

Glorification = Immortality

God has tapped us on the shoulder in some way  to bring us to the stage of spiritual growth called “glorification”!  Yes, this spiritual road we have begun to walk down is leading us into being glorified with Him!  This is sonship; this is rulership with Him in His kingdom.

We have to add these things listed by the apostle Peter, if we are to fulfill our calling to be His manifested sons and daughters, His ruling family that He has called us unto.  That’s how important they are to Him, first, and should, therefore, be important to us.  Important enough to seriously study them out.

But the big take away of this opening chapter of II Peter is this: This conviction that God is and is in control through Christ–this faith, this conviction must have other attributes added to it, in order for us to fulfill our calling as His sons and daughters, the princes and princesses, sitting with Him in His throne.

Peter knows full well what it takes to “make our calling and election sure.”  He knows that our initial experiences based on God’s favor and grace in showing a bit of Himself to us and thereby “calling us out of darkness into His marvelous light”–he knows that those early experiences and revelations will not take us across the finish line in this race “for the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus” (Phil 3: 14).

And it is through this knowledge of the holy things of God that we are given “exceeding great and precious promises” (II Pet. 1: 4).  God has promised to give unto us His followers immortality, or eternal life.  Immortality is it.  It is the biggest gift, the greatest promise the Immortal One can give to a mortal.  There is nothing greater for one who will die than to be granted eternal life.

And this immortality that God has promised us is what the aforementioned “glorification” is all about.  And Peter says by the Spirit of God that we are called “to glory and virtue.”  And God promised this to us from time immemorial.  “In hope of eternal life, which God, which cannot lie, promised before the world began” (Titus 1: 2).

All of this notwithstanding, in order to receive this precious promise of immortality, we must add certain spiritual components to our faith, to our conviction that God is real and true.  These additions are the elements of the very nature of God Himself.

How do we do this?  First we must study them out and receive the knowledge of just what they are, and then, reckon them added by faith.

Two points are worthy encouragers for us on this road to immortality.  First, He said of us in His prayer in John 17: 22: “And the glory which You gave Me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one.”  In His mind, it is a done deal.  He is saying, I have already given them glorification, which is immortality.  With this, they are one with the Father and Son.  It is also good to know that “He has chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world.”  He has full confidence in His plan, which includes us.  But the first step is to add to our faith virtue.   What virtue is comes next time.          Kenneth Wayne Hancock

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October 13, 2012 · 8:40 pm

Feasts, New Moons, and Sabbath Days–Mere Shadows of Christ in Us

The Feast Days of Yahweh, His New Moons and Calendar, and His Sabbath Days–even the Ten Commnadment Law itself–are but a shadow of the spiritual light we are in Him and that He is in us.  A shadow is not the real thing.  We can learn from studying a shadow, but a shadow can never replace the thing that creates the shadow.

After we are crucified with Him, buried with Him, and risen with Christ–after receiving a new heart from the Master, the apostle Paul says this: “Let no man therefore judge you in respect of a feast day, or of the new moon, or of the Sabbath days: which are a shadow of things to come…” (Col. 2: 11-17).  In fact, these feast days and Sabbaths and laws “serve unto the example and shadow of heavenly things,” even as God told Moses to “make all things according to the pattern showed to you in the mount” (Heb. 8: 5). All things that Moses laid down to the children of Israel are a “shadow of heavenly things” and not the heavenly things themselves.

And what are these “heavenly things” that the apostle is talking about in Hebrews 8: 5? We children of the living God are those heavenly things! When we finally get it that it is “no longer I that lives but Christ that lives in me,” we then are the pattern for all the things that Moses instituted in the first five books.

The old testament was the sprinkling of animal blood upon the tabernacle, for “without the shedding of blood is no remission. But the “heavenly things” needed “better sacrifices than these” for purification (Heb. 9: 23). We, brethren, are those “heavenly things” that needed the blood of the Lamb to purify us!

We now as the spiritual body of Christ were before the sabbaths, before the moon, before food and drink, before the holy days, the feast days, before time, before this earth, before this world.  We are now “risen with Christ” and we  “seek those things which are from above” [Col. 3: 1].  We now yearn to see our true home, our heavenly dwelling.

For God has established in this new walk, this “newness of life,” a spiritual reality (Rom. 6: 4).  It is built upon better promises wherein He says that He will put His Spirit in our minds and hearts and that He will not remember our sins anymore!  This is the new covenant (Jer. 31: 31-34; Heb. 8: 12).

The apostle Paul says that we are a new creation and “are complete in Him… buried with Him in baptism, in which you also were raised with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead” [Col. 2: 10-20].  We are new spiritual righteous creatures now and are not to be judged in respect of what we eat or drink, what holy days, new moons, or sabbaths that are observed.  Why? Because His Spirit now in us was before all the laws and observances were set down on this earth.  This does not give us a license to carelessly break them.  Rather His Spirit in us guides us to that right walk in Him.

In other words, we now do not observe religiously these mentioned things to somehow be accepted by the Father.  To the contrary, we use these to teach us to come to the Savior in a true, meaningful way.

We do not do them to insure that we are okay with God.  That would be working for salvation.  Remember: they are shadows and not the reality of true worship.  Rather they, like the Mosaic Law and the Ten Commandments, are part 0f the “schoolmaster” that Paul refers to, that “the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith.  But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster” [Gal. 3: 22-25].

The Schoolmaster

The laws of God are instructive to a seeker of God.  They teach us and help bring us to the cross.  They show us about His plan of redemption.  His feasts show that very plan as a type and shadow of Christ Himself.  The new moons and sabbaths teach us of His plan and timing for His coming kingdom.  But they are but a shadow of the reality that now resides in our hearts.  They are only an image of the reality.  They are made for us to learn from–made for us by our Creator.  But they are only a shadow of the Reality.  That Reality is Christ’s Spirit in us.

Shadows Are Not Real

Shadows have never been the real deal.  Shadows are actually made from a lack of light.  Shadows are in the shape of things or people, but they are not the real thing; they are not a part of reality.  Shadows merely imitate reality; they simulate what is real; they intimate that which is true; they suggest obscurely as to what or who made their image possible. But they are not the real thing.

They do not have the depth.  They lack that third dimension.  Shadows are flat and a bit distorted at times.  They lie upon the earth in only two dimensions.  Something three dimensional is held up off the earth, and light is actually blocked and a flat shadow results–a lack of light laying flat on the earth.  Shadows are earthly phenomenon; they are distinctively of the earth.

Furthermore, shadows have no life in and of themselves.  They are only beneficial in that they resemble at times the thing that blocks the light.  Shadows are dark lifeless representations of other things.  They cannot give life because they have not life to give.  The law, along with the feast days, new moons and sabbaths are a shadow of the reality found in Christ.

We Can Learn from Shadows

But we can learn from shadows.  What do they tell us?  We can glean a rough idea of what something is, what is its shape, what is its function.  But we cannot by embracing a shadow ever obtain the reality.

Shadows are merely lifeless, lightless representations and can never perfect anyone.  They can lead you to the Perfecter, but worshipping and circling a shadow is not worshipping that Glorious Reality.

All shadows disappear when the true Light comes near.  Christ is the Light with “neither shadow nor variableness of turning” [James 1: 7].  The true Light dispels the shadows. When He is truly come inside of us His temple, the Light will cause the shadows–the new moons, feast days, sabbaths, and all other earthly situations of worship to disappear.

These two passages of scripture should become clearer now: “The sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath” (Mark 2: 27).

“The law is not made for a righteous man, but for the lawless and disobedient…” (I Tim 1: 9).

I welcome your comments.  Kenneth Wayne Hancock

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March 6, 2012 · 11:34 pm

Letter to the Future Sons and Daughters of God–You Are Not Alone

Yes, we do have a calling–a calling that sets us apart.  It is a calling from God that makes us at times feel lonely, whether we are sitting in a megachurch with its tens of thousands or in our room longing for someone to fellowship with.

But wherever we reside, the more light that He gives us, the darker it gets around us.  We try to share a revelation that we know is from God, and it is either rejected or attempts are made by our Christian brethren to redirect our thinking because they are so sure that it can’t be right because that revelation just does not fit the standard operating procedures of our denomination/fellowship/church.

And so it is a lonely walk, this walk with the invisible Father–this walk to sonship “until Christ be formed in you” (Gal. 4: 19).  But, of course, we are never alone, as long as we look after the Spirit (John 8: 29).

This road to immortal kingship that we have been called to walk is not easy.  Christ warned us to “count the cost,” to see if we are made of the right stuff for this difficult journey (Luke 14: 28).  It is not easy.  And few of the masses of humanity will find it.  The Master taught us to “enter through the narrow gate; for wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and many enter through it.  For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it” (Matt. 7: 13-14).

The Wide Gate That Leads to Destruction

Some will read that passage in Matthew 7 and stop after verse 14.  But the real revelation comes in the next verse.  Christ shows us who is opening up the wide gate that is swallowing up Christians by the hundreds of millions.  In the very next breath after saying few will find this way of truth, He warns, “Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves” (v. 15).  Go to where the many are entering through the wide gate–where the massive numbers of professing Christians are, and you’ll find that they are being led by false prophets and teachers, who come with a peaceful message about Christ that seems harmless enough.  However, they will eat you up like a wolf with the end product of their teachings leading the masses to destruction.

Few are going to find this way of truth.  So few, in fact, that the prophets of old thought at times that they were the only ones following “the true way.”  Elijah, who was hunted down like an animal in the wild, cried in desperation, “Yahweh, they have killed your prophets and have digged down your altars, and I am left alone, and they seek my life.”  To which God replied, “I have reserved to myself seven thousand men, who have not bowed the knee to the image of Baal” (Rom. 11: 3-4).

There are just a few of us, but we are not alone.  Millions will be saved and will walk as babes and children of God in His soon coming kingdom.  But there will be but a few thousand who will “walk with Him in white”–who will “follow the Lamb whithersoever He goes” (Rev. 14).  Even though we are few and scattered to the four corners of the earth, the encouraging part in these latter days before He returns is that we have the internet.  He did say that “knowledge shall increase.”  We can communicate with brethren from around the world instantaneously.

Many of us have already experienced some things and have come out of churchianity.  I rejoice with you and encourage you to continue your walk.  Prove all things out–old things that you were taught back in the day about God, and also prove out new things that are introduced to you or that you get on your own.  Prove out through prayer and study both things you believe to be the truth and also things you don’t believe to be the truth.

Remember: If some are not receiving any new truth, then one of two things is happening.  Either they have all truth already and “have need of nothing”– or the Spirit is not guiding them into all truth.  I doubt that the former is true.  So that leaves some in the terrible position of God not fulfilling John 16: 13 in their  lives:  “However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth.”

Christ is our guide on this quest for the Ultimate Truth, and with Him we are not alone.  KWH

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December 25, 2010 · 6:01 am

Knowing God as He Really Is–The Definition of Immortality

We are well down the road to immortality now.  We have learned that wisdom is being in awe of God.  It is the first step; it is the main thing, for it is the first key that begins to unlock the treasure house of God’s knowledge.  Without this awe of Him we won’t get anywhere.  Then we took step two, knowing His name.  Moses got some wisdom, some awe of God, at the burning bush, and then he had to know His name.  It was a crucial step, to know God’s true name Yahweh.

     And now we have come to our third step: Knowledge of Who He Really Is.  The farther we go down this road that leads to immortality, the more is at stake.  We cannot turn back now; our own hopes of transcending a certain death hangs on our stead-fastness and perseverance at this time.  Immortality, the elixir that our mortal mouths must drink, is the knowledge  of  who  God really is.  This knowledge is the key to unlock the secrets of eternal life.  We have arrived at nothing less than the information that will catapult us over this valley of the shadow of death.  Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Yahshua the Messiah, whom you have sent. John 17:3. NIV.

     Our hopes for arriving at immortality hinge on how well we really know Him—how well we really know His nature, His essence, His Deity, His Godhead.  For us, eternal life depends on whether we really know Him as He really is.  We must straighten out misconceptions of who He is and how He is. 

     Those of us on this road to immortality must realize that only He can grant us true knowledge of Himself.  It will not come through man’s conception of who and how He is.  We must believe upon Him in true knowledge “as the scripture has said,” the way the scriptures really portray Him.

     But that, of course, is the problem.  We all have our own conception of Him.  We think that we have just “come up with it,” but we have received our personal conception of God through what we have been taught by other human beings that we have come in contact with.  It really gets tricky when people have studied out minutely different denominational doctrines, and even though they have “come out” of that organization, they cling tenaciously to its teachings—teachings about who He is. 

     The Savior, 2000 years ago, standing before them in a human flesh body, told them that they were searching the scriptures.  They thought that eternal life was contained in those scriptures of truth.  But, as the  Master  was  pointing  out,  the very writings that they thought would yield immortality for them were the very writings that spoke of Him—the One that they were rejecting!  You diligently study the Scriptures because you think that by them you possess eternal life.  These are the Scriptures that testify about me, yet you refuse to come to me to have life. John 5:39-40, NIV…You study the scriptures diligently, supposing that in having them you have eternal life: yet, although               their testimony points to me, you refuse to come to me for that life. NEB.

     They were studying the scriptures diligently, thinking that immortality would be derived through them.  What writings were they studying that spoke about the Messiah, the Savior?  What scriptures existed then?  They were the books commonly referred to as the Old Testament.  Now  Yahshua, the Savior, said that those old books written by the prophets of ancient Israel, those old books spoke about HIM!

The prophets spoke and wrote  about the Savior by His very Spirit within them

      Let’s go, then, to the prophets where they speak about the Messiah, specifically using the word “Savior.”  He just said in John 5 that the scriptures do testify of Him, so let us go there and see for ourselves what they are saying.  Now Peter tells us that the spirit that was in those prophets was the Spirit of the Savior, Yahshua the Anointed One.  And  they  spoke  and  wrote  down with the Spirit of Yahshua about this immortality, this salvation from a certain death.  This salvation was the theme which the prophets pondered and explored, those who prophesied about the grace of God awaiting you.  They tried to find out what was the time, and what the circumstances, to which the spirit of Christ in them pointed. I Peter 1:10-11, NEB.

     The Spirit of Messiah, which was in Isaiah the prophet said this: But now thus saith Yahweh (the LORD) that created thee, O Jacob, and he that formed thee, O Israel…For I am Yahweh thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy Savior. Isa. 43:1,3.

     Several important points emerge from this passage that are vital for our understanding of His essence, which in turn is vital for our obtaining immortality.  First, the Spirit of Christ that was in Isaiah said that He was Yahweh! Thus saith Yahweh…I am Yahweh.  When the prophets wrote down the words, “Thus saith Yahweh,”  they were saying that Yahweh is speaking through me the following words.  Yahweh is speaking thusly.  Yahweh, the Father, the Creator, the Supreme Being is using me by speaking through me! Oh, to be used that way, the way He used the prophets!

     Second, the Spirit of Christ is saying that He created and formed Jacob/ Israel.  John confirms this. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. John 1:3. Paul confirms this as well. For by him were all things created, that are in the heaven, and that are in the earth, visible or invisible…Col. 1:16.

     Third, I am Yahweh thy God, the Holy One of Israel…The  Spirit  of the Messiah speaking through Isaiah now says that He is Yahweh, that He is one God and that He is Israel’s Holy One (the whole House of Israel or the 12 tribes of Jacob/Israel).

      Fourth, the Spirit of the Messiah, God’s Spirit, Yahweh, breathing and speaking through Isaiah says, I am thy Savior…I, even I, am Yahweh; and beside me there is no saviour. Isa.43: 3, 11.  Here Yahweh, which is the Spirit that was in the Messiah, says clearly that He is the Savior and that there is no other savior!  Yahweh, then, was inside the man  Yahshua who was called the Savior, for Yahweh says that there is no other savior except Him. We trust in the living God, who is the Saviour of all men, specially of those who believe. I Tim. 4:10.  God was in Christ (the Anointed One) reconciling the world unto Himself. II Cor. 5:19.  It was Yahweh in the man who was the Savior.  Or, in other words, Yahweh-in-human-form is the Savior.            

     Bottom line: the same Spirit that spoke through the prophets, that created Jacob/Israel and everything else, this Great Spirit God dwelt bodily in the man Yahshua the Messiah. His name Yahshua means “Yah-Is-Savior.” It was Yahweh of old, the Yahweh of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob/Israel, the Yahweh of Moses, David, and all the prophets—  that same Yahweh came down, leaving His spirit-body dimension.  And He came to earth in a flesh and blood human body, walked in our midst doing good and healing all that were oppressed of the devil.  And in due time, He laid down that human body, yielded it up to a sacrificial death, and raised that body in three days to life again, so that we could be restored to His original plan of reproducing Himself.    [This is Chapter 11 from my book, Yah Is Savior: The Road to Immortality.  You can find the whole book at the top of this page.  Just click “Ebook…”] Kenneth Wayne Hancock

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October 16, 2010 · 4:52 pm

“Be Ye Perfect”–Christ’s Impossible Command?

Christ gave us this command to “be  perfect.”  And, of course, the knee jerk response comes, “Wait a minute.  With all due respect, that can’t be right.  Nobody’s perfect.  Nobody can be perfect.  So why would He give us a command that’s impossible to keep?”

This is where some will begin to toss Christianity into the trashcan, never realizing that ‘Be perfect’ is a paradox, which is ‘a statement seemingly absurd yet really true’ (Dictionary.com).

But some will dig down to a deeper level and find that one man was and is perfect–Christ.  And they’ll see that He was perfect because of the Spirit that filled Him.  And they’ll understand that He has now given His Spirit to the sons and daughters of God, who will realize that they can grow in faith where “it is no longer I that lives, but Christ that lives in me” (Galatians 2:20).

And armed with this knowledge, they will see that “with God all things are possible” (Matthew 19:26).  They’ll see that the glass is not half empty nor half full, but brim full and running over with the living waters of His Spirit.

It will dawn on these princes and princesses of God that “no idle word” proceeds out of the mouth of God.  They’ll take this admonition to heart: “Let us go on unto perfection” (Hebrews 6:1-2).  And they’ll learn that there is so much more to God’s spiritual house than the foundation of “repentance from dead works and faith toward God,” which are the first steps of “newborn babes in Christ.”

They’ll realize that they have received in their hearts the seed of perfection.  Christ is that Seed.  And now that Seed is growing, for “one plants and another waters, and God gives the increase.”  This growth is likened to a planted seed of wheat or corn.  It comes up, “first the blade, then the ear, then the full corn in the ear.”  And then harvest will come when He will have been perfectly reproduced in us.  And we then in full maturity will have completed the life cycle of God.  And that is perfection.

The princes and princesses of God will realize this in the command: “Be perfect.”  For they will see these two words as His challenge to “overcome all things” and walk on down His road to the Heavenly City.  They will answer the challenge and embark on this quest for perfection.  Because He said to.              Kenneth Wayne Hancock

(If this was helpful to you, share this with a friend that might benefit from it)

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September 1, 2010 · 6:57 pm

Churches Calling for Fire from Heaven–But Be Careful: God Is a Consuming Fire

Thousands of sincere people in churches across the land are asking every week, crying aloud to the heavens, that God would send His fire down, igniting a revival in the church.  Not just charismatic, pentecostal, full-gospel, and bible-churches are doing this, but many main stream denominational churches are, too.

But do they know exactly what they are asking?  God is not just a fire; He “is a consuming fire” [1].  Most of the sheep in the pews do not realize that the judgement of this fire first falls on them; it starts with the house of God, His body, His church.  The apostle Peter warns us of the fiery trial of our faith: “For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?” [2].

“The fiery trial” is when God comes to us to purify us, which means that there is something in us that needs to be gotten rid of. 

God is fire; He is also the Word made flesh.  So the fire is His word.  And He will send His word through His five fold ministry offices.  These are His true apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers.  They are a gift of God to congregations for their perfection and edification, “till we all come in the unity of the faith…unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ” [3].

And God will speak through them, and His word, like a fire shut up in their bones, will blast as a refining fire burning away the dross and impurities.  This will be a fiery trial–the getting rid of the childish things that are clung to.  Eventually, the blankies, pacifiers, and rattlers must be put away on the road to spiritual perfection.

Just like the prophet elijah

Elijah is a type of this.  He came and exposed Israel’s sin and corruption at the highest level, demanding them to repent.  But they just could not “abide the day of his coming” [4].  He was a fire burning up their impurities.  But what did the children of Israel do to him and other prophets?  They hunted them down like dogs, tortured them, and chased them into “dens and caves of the earth” [5].

They were persecuted by the very people they were trying to help.  For few want to change so badly that they will submit to the correction of God’s word of fire–especially spoken through just another man, who they feel is really no better than they are.  Anyway, “who made you a ruler and judge over us, Moses?” [6].

God, the consuming fire from heaven, wants to burn out the impurities of false doctrines, concepts and teachings about Him and His plan.  We are told to “purge out the old leaven that the lump may be holy.”

But who will be able to bear it–the correction, instruction and reproof–that the fire brings?  This is what the fire-word of God brings.  It cleanses and purifies His children, until they are no longer alive just to receive God’s “feel-good spirit.”

Joy, peace, and love will come, for they are the fruit of the Spirit.  But the true fruit of the Spirit takes time to develop, grow, and mature.  And few modern Christians have any aspirations to wait very long for it.  And so that is what keeps them coming back week after week, crying out for God’s fire, thinking that it is a feel-good spirit, not knowing that His word is like a fire that purges out all unrighteousness. 

But that is the nature of children.  They are mostly alive for what they can receive from their Father.  As Paul said, “And yet I show unto you a more excellent way” [7].  It is the way to complete the life cycle of God in you–the way to perfection.  KWH

  1. Deut 4: 24; Heb. 12: 29
  2. I Pet. 4: 12, 17-18
  3. Eph. 4: 11-13
  4. Mal. 3: 2
  5. Heb. 11: 34-38
  6. Acts 7: 27
  7. I Cor. 12: 31

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August 7, 2010 · 5:26 pm

God’s Eternal Purpose: “Bringing Many Sons unto Glory”

The thoughts and intents of the Father’s heart are without beginning and end.  His purpose has existed through all time and has never wavered, has never changed. His intention toward His creation is everlasting.

It is forever the same and will always be true and valid.  His purpose will always go on; it will never stop.  It will come to pass; nothing can prevent His eternal purpose from finding full fruition in this earth and in the heavens.  His purpose is, of course, the perfect example of the  definition of “eternal” (Webster’s New World Dictionary of the American Language, 2nd College Edition).

God not only has, but is the definitive word on what will transpire here on earth and in the entire universe.  “In the beginning was the Word…and the Word was God” John 1:1.  “Word” is translated from the Greek word Logos, meaning “(1) a thought or concept; (2) the expression or utterance of that thought” (note, Scofield Reference Bible, p. 1114).  Therefore, in the beginning was the thought or concept, and that thought or concept was the Supreme Being.  And that thought, that Word, became an utterance of that thinking.  And that Word, that Thought, would unfold into a living reality throughout the universe.

Those thoughts, expressed in words, comprise the purpose of God.  His purpose is the road His creation will travel.  His thoughts are His counsel, and they shall stand forever and will come to pass.  The counsel of Yahweh standeth for ever, the thoughts of his heart to all generations. Psalms 33:11. 

    Both “purpose” and “thoughts” are words in English translated from the same Hebrew word machashabah, #4284 in Strong’s Concordance.  His thoughts are His purpose.  They express His intentions, His plan, His purpose.  And these thoughts, this purpose, are an intention directed personally and deliberately by God toward His people.  It is a plan that involves people right here on earth.  David knew this intimate truth that God hovers in thought abundantly over his people.  Many, O Yahweh, my God, are thy wonderful works which thou hast done, and thy thoughts which are to us-ward; they cannot be reckoned up in order unto thee; if I would declare and speak of them, they are more than can be numbered. Psalms 40:5.  David was well aware of God’s purpose, which definitely concerned him and all of Israel.

And the Word, the Purpose, the Thoughts of God “became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth” John 1:14.  The Word/Purpose/Thoughts of God was made flesh; He is called the Son of God, and He is full of grace and truth.  If we can tap into the truth of God’s purpose, if we can conceive of His plan, then we will know the thoughts and intents of His heart.  And when we think those thoughts, and have the same intention and purpose that He is and has, then we are well on the way of pleasing the Father.

Knowing of God’s eternal purpose, which is the grace and truth that the Word-made-flesh was full of, will bring light to us.  For the Word-made-flesh is Light.  That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.  He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not.  He came unto his own, and his own received him not. John 1:9-11. 

The Purpose Incarnate was walking around on the earth He created with the people He had chosen to reveal Himself through, and the majority rejected Him.  But some will receive Him, and they will receive power to become like Him.  But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name. John 1:12.

     Received Him?  Who is He?  He is the Word, the Thought, the Purpose of God from the beginning put into earthen vessels.  Receive His thoughts and intention and purpose and you are receiving Him.  And you will then receive power to become His sons.  And the sons will have believed on His name.  The sons will not only know His real Hebrew name Yahshua, but they will believe what His name means.  More on that later.

His Purpose Is Sharing Himself with His Offsprin

Yes, Yahweh has a purpose.  He has thoughts toward certain chosen vessels, His sons and daughters to be.  To get them into His camp, He deliberately contacts them or calls them.  He lets them know He is real in some way.  He puts a desire and a hunger in their hearts to know the truth as to why they are here.  He feeds their hunger with small portions of the truth, and they grow.  And soon they begin to realize that everything seems to work out for them.  Even through the bad times, the times of suffering, both of their making and through no fault of their own, God seems to bring some good out of it.  They realize that they are maturing and becoming less selfish.  They begin to love this invisible God who has provided a plan to deliver them from their sinful selves.  Where once they were destroying themselves and their families, they now are enjoying more peace and harmony in  their  lives.   And  we  know   that   all  things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose.  Romans 8:28. 

      At first, his offspring may not realize that they are a special creation descended from Adam, who was created some 6,000 years ago in God’s image.  Other men had been created by God earlier.  We know this because Cain was cast out to the east of Eden after murdering his brother Abel, and there he took a wife from those people. But the descendants of Adam had a special destiny in God’s heart.   God had His eye on a few of these Adamites  before they ever were born on earth.  Unknown to them at first, He would call and choose out a few whom He knew beforehand.  And He gave them a destiny before their entry into a mortal earthly fleshly existence.  He predestinated them to be made into the exact image of the Son of God, the Word-Thought-Purpose of God.  They are to be His siblings, his brothers.  For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be con-formed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. 8:29.  For God knew his own before ever they were, and also ordained that they should be shaped to the likeness of his Son. 8:29. NEB.

     And those that He predestinated to be exactly like Himself, those are the ones that He first contacts or calls.  And, as far as He is concerned, it is a done deal.  It is His Thought toward them that they should be like Himself.  What He has purposed, who can prevent it from coming to pass?  To those that He called, He gave them a new heart that does not sin against Him.  He justified them.  They are in His sight justified from all of their despicable past actions.  They, of course, must witness this on earth by believing the word of God about His Son, who is the sacrifice for our sins, whose shed blood slays the sin within us.  It is already done and over with in God’s mind before it ever happens here on earth to His children! And to those called ones who He has justified, He in His thinking,  in  His heart, has already glorified!  More-over, whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified. 8:30.  He chose them long ago; when the time came he called them, he made them righteous in his sight, and then lifted them to the splendour of life as his own sons. 8:30. Phillips. 

This is God’s Doing and Not Ours

      God the Word has thought it all out and has purposed it and planned it to happen according to His predetermined counsel. Nothing accidentally happens.  He is calling, justifying, and glorifying His elect, the chosen few.  They will be “conformed to the image of His Son.” They will shortly be glorified and have their mortality swallowed up by His miraculous eternal life!  God is for them!  He helps them to do His plan, and this personally pleases Him. He gives them what they need and when they need it to become what He has pre-determined for them to become.  In the face of all this, what is there left to say?  If God is for us, who can be against us?  He who did not grudge his own Son but gave him up for us all—can we not trust such a God to give us, with him, everything else that we can need?  Romans 8:31, Phillips. 

 Not According to Us, But to His Own Purpose

      We cannot do anything to become a part of His purpose and plan.  God is saving some and calling some with a holy calling, but it is not because of anything “good” or “evil” that they have done.  You cannot work at it  in  order  to be accepted as a son or daughter.  You work at it because you realize you are chosen by God.  You cannot give enough offerings or go to church tirelessly and endlessly and expect to be one of the chosen ones by your efforts.  To be called to be like Him, to be chosen as one of his sons is not according to our own works.  It has nothing to do with what we have done, do, or ever will do.  He calls us to be His immortal sons and daughters in accordance with His own purpose that was given to us in Yahshua His Son before the world began.  Who has saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Yahshua the Messiah before the world began.  II Timothy 1:9.

     Our perfection and sonship in Him was given to us before the creation of the world.  Therefore, we were in existence before the world began!  We had to have spiritually been with Him in the beginning in order to have received the holy calling of sonship from Him.  It is he who brought us salvation and called us to a dedicated life, not for any merit of ours but of his own purpose and his own grace, which was granted to us in Yahshua from all eternity. 1:9. NEB.

The Inheritance

The sons and daughters of God have obtained an inheritance.  Our destiny is to inherit all things and to reign with the King of the Universe.  Now this inheritance that some are to receive is a destiny that He has pre-arranged for that elect few.  He has predestined them for greatness.  He has selected these chosen few before the world ever was, to be like Him.  And their lives—their destiny as His sons and daughters—have been predestinated in accordance with His own purpose.  He  thought  it  through  before  the  world  ever  was,  and He purposed and planned it all out to the finest detail.  He then began to work all things after the counsel of His own will  and  purpose.   For  God has allowed us to know the secret of his plan, and it is this: He purposes in his sovereign will that all human history shall be consummated in Christ, that everything that exists in Heaven or earth shall find its  perfection and fulfillment in him.  And here is the staggering thing—that in all which will one day belong to him, we have been promised a share (since we were long ago destined for this by the one who achieves his purposes by his sovereign will), so that we, as the first to put our confidence in Christ, may bring praise to his glory! Ephesians 1:9-12, Phillips.

Summary

The great Creator, the Giver of life, has a definite plan and purpose in creating all things.  He has revealed His purpose over the last 6,000 years to only a few human beings.  We call them apostles and prophets, and they by inspiration of the Spirit of God have left us some writings that tell of His purpose.

They tell of His promise to humankind of a life everlasting—an eternal life where our frail, flimsy earthen bodies will be replaced by a glorious spiritual body in which those blessed ones will live with the Heavenly Father as His spiritual sons and daughters, His heirs of His kingdom.

The apostles and prophets speak of the following concepts that are a part of the perfecting of His sons and daughters:

  • Purpose—No accidents.  He has an eternal purpose in reproducing Himself in His children.
  • Predestination—He has given a royal destiny to a few human beings before they were ever born here on earth.
  • Foreknowledge—He knew who they would be before they were born into this earth.
  • Election—Same word as “chosen.”  He chooses or elects certain human beings to fulfill His will.
  • Grace or Favor—He favors the ones He has chosen.  They are predisposed to respond to Him, and He showers great grace on them, or He favors them with a depth of knowledge about His purpose and how He is going to perform his plan.
  • Kings and Priests—The elect or the chosen ones will acquire immortality according to His will and become like Him.  They will do the “greater works” as His ruling royal family.  They will be His immortal offspring, able to mediate the glorious blessings of His Spirit to the rest of creation.  They will be His inner circle, His cadre, His round table of rulers in His exact image, able to love mankind in the same powerful way that He did.
  • Sovereignty—He is sovereign and can do whatever He desires to do and whenever He decides to do it, in order to accomplish His purpose, plan, intention and thoughts.

[This is Chapter 2 of my book The Unveiling of the Sons of God.  If you would like to read more, I have it online at the top of this page.  Just click “Ebook…” ]  Kenneth Wayne Hancock

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January 23, 2010 · 7:03 pm

Coming to Grips with the Sovereignty of God

To fully understand the vision of the immortal sons and daughters of God, one must come to grips with God’s sovereignty.  God is totally in control.  He is sovereign.  He rules.  He is in complete charge of every-thing that is happening in our respective lives.  He is the Supreme Authority in everything that is happening to any and everyone here on earth.  And He does as He pleases without our permission.

God is in complete control of everything that is taking place in and through the governments of man here on earth.  He is ruling as I write this and as you read this.  Nothing is happening at this instant here on earth that He is not aware of and that He has not ordained and pre-determined to happen.

He is in total charge of the powers that be here on earth.  “The powers that be are ordained by God.”   He has provided for their rise to power and has helped them to accumulate wealth and influence.  Everything that is happening at this instant, or that ever has happened, is a result of God’s sovereign desire and control.

The old hymn goes, “Thou art the Potter, I am the clay…Have thine own way…” We sing it, but what His awesome sovereignty entails escapes our little finite minds.  Our Creator is the Divine Potter at His wheel.  He sits down, and with the earth He has created, He fashions containers from clay, vessels to be used at His convenience and His discretion.  He is in charge of making the vessels   and  pots.   He  molds  and  shapes  these  human beings in accordance with His own desires and purposes.  They, for the most part, do not understand most of the time what He is doing, for His ways are difficult for His creation to comprehend.  He is the Potter  and is fashion-ing from the same lump some pots to be used for everyday water containers and wash pots.  And some are done with the Master’s finest touch to be beautiful and of fine design, fit for the use of being kings and queens.  And some clay vessels may never make it to the kiln for firing.  Some are shaped and then returned to the original large lump, never to be fashioned like that again.

But some people do not like the way life is treating them.  In other words, they do not like the cards that God has dealt them.  When they find out that God is the one in control and has mercy on whomever He desires to have mercy, they do not like it.   They lash out at Him and His sovereignty and say, If He made us this way, “then why does God still blame us?  For who resists his will?”  To which the apostle Paul replies, “But who are you, O man, to talk back to God?  Shall what is formed say to him who formed it, Why did you make me like this?  Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for noble purposes and some for common use?” Romans 9:18-21, NIV.

Remember.  He is sovereign and can and does do what He wants to do with His creation.  But we humans think that we are in charge of our own lives.  No matter how insignificantly we stride upon the world stage, we think that we are formidable and of great importance.

And those humans whom He  has chosen to be kings and rulers in the world system—how high and lifted up they stand.  Take King Nebuchadnezzar as an example.  He was the famous king of the Neo-Babylonian Empire that ruled from 605-562 B.C.  His experiences with Yahweh are written down by Daniel the prophet.  Through these  experiences,  Nebuchadnezzar  learned  that  God is sovereign.

The king’s pride had puffed him up.  He was the absolute   ruler   of  an  incredibly   rich   empire.   His city Babylon was itself a wonder of the  world.  But the source of all of those earthly blessings was lost upon him.  He did not acknowledge who had enabled him to acquire untold wealth and power as the “head of gold” of the Babylonian Empire.

Nebuchadnezzar actually thought that he had on his own strength gotten all the power and riches.  “Is not this great Babylon; that I have built for the house of the kingdom by the might of my power, and for the honor of my majesty,” he boasted one year after being warned in a dream that he would go insane and become beast-like for seven years.  This warning was “to the intent that the living may know that the most High rules in the kingdom of men, and gives it to whomsoever he will, and sets up over it the basest of men.”  Daniel 4:17, 30.

God had given him warning in a dream and the dream came to pass.  Nebuchadnezzar was smitten with insanity for seven years.  And at the end of the seven years of living like a beast out in the courtyard, he began to sing a different tune.  “I Nebuchadnezzar lifted up mine eyes unto heaven, and mine understanding returned unto me, and I blessed the most High, and I praised and honoured him that liveth for ever, whose dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom is from generation to generation: and all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing: and he doeth according to his will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of earth: and none can stay his hand, or say unto him, What doest thou?” Daniel 4:34-37.

Here was the most powerful man on earth exclaiming that God is sovereign and that we earth-dwellers better realize that He rules right here on earth.  He found out the hard way.    Kenneth Wayne Hancock (from the book The Unveiling of the Sons of God which you can find at the top of this page.  Just click “Ebook…”]

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June 20, 2009 · 11:26 am

Where Do the Manifested Sons of God Come From?

They are born of humble origins and inauspicious beginnings; they start as any other sinful human being.  The vast majority will not come from the powerful elite class, for “not many mighty, not many noble are called” (1).  God is rather choosing out the weak of this world, ones who have little power or influence.  He does this so that when He reveals Himself in these chosen ones, they’ll know it is Him and not them doing the greater works.

Called to Transcend

They will have been called by their heavenly Father to transcend merely dwelling on temporary earthly delights for themselves.

During their initial selfish sashay upon earth, they will eventually see that enough is enough.  For how many women must one man bed until he finally realizes that sex without the heavenly component of love is senseless, fruitless, and meaningless.  And how many men must one woman lay with before she sees the futility of her physical submission.

Awaking Out of the Mud

The future offspring of God will awake one day and try to wash up from the mud-caked sin that smears their inner spirit.  They will hear the LORD cry, “Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean; remove the evil of your doings from before my eyes” (2).  They will at once want to change, to clean up, to attire themselves in clothes not meant to attract another’s attention, but just to modestly cover the shame of their nakedness.

They will want to change, but they will not know how exactly.  They will try to change themselves for themselves, but they will see that doing things for your self is just that same sly selfishness dolled up for another run.

They will finally see that they can’t change themselves–for themselves.  They’ll see that as long as their old self is still there, it will selfishly devote its life for self-aggrandizement.  That is all the old nature can do.

Don’t “Become a Better You”!

The world is full of people trying to become better.  They are encouraged by feel-good false teachers to do so.  But the sons and daughters of God will see through this.  They’ll realize that the “You” in Become a Better You! has got to go.  The “You” must willingly surrender its sovereignty over its body.  The “You” must not be re-directed or “made better.”  God commands that the old “You” repent, by dying on the cross with Christ.

It’s a tough sentence–this self-imposed crucifixion.  But the future sons and daughters of the Creator will become desperate enough to just believe what the scriptures of truth say.  They will surrender their old selfish existence up to God.  They will abdicate themselves as sovereign of their own life.  They will present their bodies back to God to allow His Spirit reign in them.

Life Out of Death

True life out of death.  Since God’s Spirit will not dwell in unclean temples (bodies), our old selfish heart must go.  And the only way to get rid of it is on the cross.  Through belief in His resurrection, the Spirit enters our hearts after we are immersed in His death (3).

At first hearing this, many will draw back.  This is why the Master said, “Few there be to find this way of truth.”  For “many are called, but few are chosen” (4).

After the surrender, the Spirit grows up in a person.  Lessons are learned; small battles with the adversary are fought and won; “senses are exercised to discern both good and evil.”  Fiery trials of their belief in Him come and go, lending their purifying qualities to the gold-like faith they are walking in.

Their knowledge increases about His government (kingdom), and they continue growing “up into Him” until eventually “Christ be formed in you” (5).

The manifested sons of God are destined to emerge in these latter days.  It is the crowning event of our age.  The casting call is going out.  The sons and daughters of God will be the stars of the show, and God will choose all unknowns for these roles.  The question still is, Are we one of them?           Kenneth Wayne Hancock

  1. I Cor. 1: 26
  2. Isa. 1:16
  3. Rom. 6: 1-6; I Cor. 1: 18
  4. Matt. 20: 16
  5. Gal. 4: 19

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February 26, 2009 · 5:27 am

Don’t Let “The Cares of This Life” Choke Out God’s Vision of Sonship

With so many things screaming at us today–unemployment, recession, depression, the stock market collapse, mortgage crisis, layoffs, bills, family problems–no wonder it is difficult to keep the center of our thoughts on God’s plan and purpose.

Most do not know His eternal purpose, but even if they did, that knowledge would be drowned out by the “cares of this life” (Matt. 13: 22-23).  And His vision for us on earth is choked out by fears.

But His eternal purpose remains steadfast.  We must keep reminding the sheep of His pasture of their calling as His heirs–His sons and daughters. For His eternal purpose is that He is “bringing many sons unto glory.”

For if we keep His thoughts in mind, we shall never fall to the evil conspiracy that runs amok on every level of earthly existence.

You Shall Know the Truth

But our adversary, the devil, does not want us to glimpse the truth, for he knows it will make us free of the fear that is flung into every heart on this earth.  Still Christ’s own promise is this: “And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (John 8: 32).

What truth is He talking about?  He said, “I am the truth.”  So let’s examine Christ (the Truth) a moment so that we can know just what truth really is.  Yes, He is the Son of God, but He promised that we, too, would be His sons and daughters.  “But as many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name (John 1: 12).

Two points here that we must keep in mind in order to overcome the negative onslaughts that undermine us.  First, God will give power to those who receive Christ–power to become just like Him, a son and daughter of God.  Second, these will believe on His name.  Very important.  His original Hebrew name is Yahshua (like the patriarch’s English name “Joshua”).  And this name has a specific meaning–a meaning that we need to believe!

The Meaning of the Savior’s Hebrew Name

“Yahshua” means, “The Eternal Self-Existent One (YAH) is the Savior (SHUA).  The “Truth” is this:  Yahweh dwelt in and walked around in the man known as Jesus Christ of Nazareth.  And He, Yahweh, is the Savior (II Cor. 5: 19; Isa 43: 11).

They are one.  And that is exactly what Christ said.  “I and my Father (Yahweh) are one.”  The Father resided in the body of the Son.  Now we are the Son’s body, and by the Spirit’s presence, the Father now resides in us.

This is how “The Truth,” Christ, is being multiplied in a body of many people.  The apostle Paul said that we will be glorified, and that this whole earth is waiting for this very event–“the manifestation of the sons of God” (Romans 8: 18).

Heirs of God, Joint Heirs with Christ

The vision that we shall be His heirs in His kingdom, clothed with a new spiritual body like Christ’s–this is the great theme of Paul and the other apostles’ writings.  Some will become like Christ!  There–I said it.

So the question then becomes this:  Who of all the six billion on earth will answer this “holy calling” of sonship?  Who will “lay their hands to the plow and not look back?  Who will “sell all they have” in order to make their “calling and election sure”?  Who will tell Him, “It is I, Lord, send me”?  Who will “study to show themselves approved”?  Who will be feeding His lambs and sheep the true spiritual food when He comes back to earth to establish His government?  Who will “stand in the gap” and lay it on the line, unafraid of what man can do to them?  Who will be found worthy in the end to do the “greater works” that Christ spoke of?

The future sons and daughters of God are in the earth today.  The last question we need to answer is this: Am I going to be one of them?                 Kenneth Wayne Hancock


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