Category Archives: body of Christ

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 glorifiedMore-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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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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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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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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“Is Christ Divided?” Asked the Apostle Paul

Obviously  not.  And neither are the true members of His spiritual body, the church.  Yet, in Christendom divisions abound, as they did in Paul’s day.

“We are the true church,” say the Roman Catholics.  “No, we are,” say the Baptists.  “We are the Church of Christ!”  “No, we are following Luther.”  “We are following Wesley.”

Please.  2,600 different denominations, each with a different take on Christ.  Divisions abound.  And they all claim to be following the words of the Bible, yet they do not obey its words: “I beseech you…that you all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you…that you be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment” (I Corinthians 1: 10).

The same mind.  Whose mind?  The mind of Christ.  Since Christ is not divided, then those who really have His Spirit will not be divided either.  “If any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His” (Rom 8: 9).  If we are His, then we will have His Spirit.  And if we have His Spirit, we will have His mind, and we will not be divided.

Because of the divisions, Paul said that he would have to teach them the basics: the preaching of the cross.  This is what is lacking in Christians today.  They have not been taught that they must surrender their own egos to the death of the cross.  They must identify their sin with the dying Christ who took upon Him the sin of the world that day at Calvary.

“Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.  For he that is dead is freed from sin” (Rom 6: 6-7).   The old heart dies with Christ, and then He gives us a new heart by faith in His resurrection.  If we can believe that Christ was raised from the dead, can we not also believe that His Spirit is now raised up in us, thus freeing us from sin and sinning?

If all Christians had this experience of deliverance from sin and sinning, then the divisions would evaporate.  We would all join hands in grateful fellowship, sharing His Spirit among us.  For “there is one body, and one Spirit” (Eph. 4: 4).  That one body is Christ’s one body of believers, which have His Spirit.

And that Spirit only comes into us after we believe that our old self  has died on the cross, and then believe that He has been raised up again in us!  That will get rid of all the divisions.   Kenneth Wayne Hancock

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Wisdom Is the Principal Thing–Key to God’s Treasure House

     Those of us who are on this quest for immortality must have the key that unlocks the vault to God’s treasures.  He has left it in plain sight, for He wants us to find it.  That key is wisdom.

     “Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom” (Proverbs 4:7).  We’ve got to get wisdom.  It is the main thing.  Why?  Because we cannot find God without it.  He didn’t say that we first need to come down to the front of a church building, go to meetings or tithe or jump through  manmade hoops.  We need wisdom, the key that unlocks God’s spiritual treasure house.

     Many people have tried to enter into the vaults of the  Supreme  Being where His treasures are stored.  Many  have  wanted  to  explore   the   unsearchable riches of Christ–without wisdom.  Many people have tried to clone the Messiah or make temples and buildings to please Him, without wisdom. Mankind sometimes uses interesting but futile chants, hums, repetitions, songs, shouts, “slayings-in-the-spirit” and the like, but the Almighty is not impressed by them. He seeks people to worship Him in Spirit and in truth.

     Many have twisted the word “riches” to mean only money: filthy lucre, mammon, riches of this world that finance luxurious cathedrals midst the poverty,  wealth that  the  world  and  Satan  can  give  ( “I’ll  give you all the kingdoms of this world if…”).

     And yet, Wisdom personified cries to us, “Riches and honour are with me; yea, durable riches and righteousness” (Prov. 18: 8).  The durable riches, those that will last, are with wisdom.  And the righteousness that will last and endure is with wisdom, as well.  In the end man will be destroyed “that made not God his strength; but trusted in the abundance of his riches…” Psalms 52:7-8. 

 

The True Riches

     So what are the true riches of God that comes with wisdom?  Paul said that “all the treasures of wisdom” are hid in Christ (Colossians 2:3).  After we get rid of our old selves on the cross, we then are “dead and our life is hid with Christ in God.”  We receive His Spirit in us.  We then have the opportunity to grow up spiritually into Him-walking-around-in-our-body! Which has now become His body!  Think about it: Us doing the same things that He did 2,000 years ago!  Christ did say that those “who believe on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works shall he do also” (John 14: 12).  

 

     That right there should put us in awe of our Creator–which, incidentally, is the very definition of “wisdom.”  More on this next time.  {This is from chapter one of my book, Yah Is Savior: The Road to Immortality found here:  http://www.yahwehisthesavior.com/yahch1.htm )  Kenneth Wayne Hancock

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“God’s Elect”–His Body, His Chosen, His Church

     God’s church is His elect, His “chosen ones.”  To those drenched in humanism, that will sound elitist and unacceptable, for humans do the choosing in this world.

     But the Scriptures of truth say otherwise.  They speak of an “election”–one not in which we choose or elect, but one in which God chooses those whom He wants to reside in.  And this truth goes against the grain of unsurrendered modernism.

          The words “elect” and “chosen” are translated from the same Greek word eklektos (Strong’s # G1588); its root word means “to pick out, to choose.” 

     These “chosen ones” are called “God’s elect.”  And these play a big role during these last days.  But who are they exactly?

Saints, Faithful Brethren, Elect of God

     The apostle Paul shows us a clear picture of them in the book of Colossians.  He writes “to the saints and faithful brethren in Christ” (1:2).  They are also fruitful Christians (v. 6).  They have “love in the Spirit” (v. 8).  Paul confirms their “redemption through His blood” and includes them as being members of Christ’s “body, the church” (v. 18). 

     Paul, as their minister, is so close to them as Christian brethren, that he shares an astounding revelation from God.  He declares to them “the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints…which is Christ in you, the hope of glory” (1: 25-27). 

     Paul continues to share precious truths to the Colossians in ch. 2.  He has called them saints, the body of Christ, and the church.  And in lieu of all this, he admonishes them: “Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering” (3: 12). 

      Being Christ’s body and church, and having His Spirit makes you His elect, Paul is telling them.   And because He dwells in you, you are the “elect of God.”  Or, because you are the “elect of God,” He dwells in you.  Here we see the Colossians called saints, the body of Christ, the church, and the God’s elect–or His chosen. 

“I Have Chosen You”

     Speaking to His disciples, Christ says, “Ye have not chosen Me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit…” (John 15: 16).  The word “chosen” here is from the same word translated “elect.”  You are my elect, He is saying, my chosen ones that will bear the spiritual fruit, bearing witness that my Spirit is in you.

     Later in that sequence, Christ prays for those disciples, and “for them also which shall believe on me through their word; that they may be one; as thou, Father, art in me and I in thee” (John 17:20-21).  Oneness–the Spirit of God in His chosen ones as the Father is in Christ. 

     That’s us, brothers and sisters.  We have believed on Christ through the words written down by His very disciples whom He prayed for.  We are His body, His church, His elect, His chosen.  

     So when we see “the elect” spoken of in the scriptures, know that it is His church, His body of believers.  And we see “the elect” on earth during the Tribulation Period (See “No Pre-Tribulation Rapture” at  https://immortalityroad.wordpress.com/2008/08/05/no-pre-tribulation-rapture-gods-elect-on-earth-during-tribulation/ ).           Kenneth Wayne Hancock

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“Thine Is the Kingdom, Power, Glory”–Surrendering to God

     It is all His, and we’ll surrender to Him when we believe it.  Because in the end, it will be all Him.  It is the Father’s kingdom rule that will hold sway to the furthest speck of the universe. 

     His power will permit what He desires and will permeate the will of mankind.  He will share His glory with the humble, with those who have abdicated and renounced themselves unworthy to rule their own lives, and have surrendered to His majesty for ever.

     Here lies a paradox.  There is nothing in the plan of God for us humans, and yet, if we surrender to Him, we inherit all things!  How can this be?

     Christ is teaching us His disciples in this closing line of the blueprint prayer to realize that it is all about the Father.  In the end, after our fitful demands and childish schemes, all of us humans will fall into one of two categories: vessels surrendered to Him or unsurrendered to Him.

     “Surrender” implies a fight that has taken place.  We see in the natural a little child throwing a fit, fighting the will of his parents.  It is his will versus his parents’ will.  And so it is spiritually with us adults.  We have our own will initially that fights against God’s will for our lives.  And His will is for us to see that His way is best and surrender to it.

     For He, of course, already knows “the end from the beginning,” and in the end, it will be all Christ.  The Spirit of Christ will be all, and will fill all (Colossians 3:11). 

     When we surrender to Him, we receive His Spirit into our hearts (“that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith”–Ephesians 3:17).  He begins to make His abode in us; He takes up residence in our hearts, and His Spirit in us grows as we water the Seed through study and prayer.  He actually fills us with His goodness.

     He in His surrendered vessels is how He multiplies Himself.  This is the role that we His followers play.  For we become more than just followers.  We become His dwelling place, His temple, His body.

     The “Father of glory” glorified Christ, who is “the image of the invisible God” (Col. 1:15).  The Father unleashed His power and glory to be channeled through Christ.  And He has opened it up to the likes of us.  To us, who were so far removed morally from His purity, has He provided a way “to partake of His divine nature” (II Peter 1:4). 

     If we surrender to Him.  And those who do will become His body, His very dwelling place, which is “the fulness of Him that fills all in all” (Eph. 1:23).  Full of His power, full of His glory, and full of His regal aspect.  Wow.  That is all I can say right now.   Kenneth Wayne Hancock

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“Give Us This Day Our Daily Bread”–The Bread of God

     We are to ask for the heavenly bread–not physical bread.  Christ told us specifically to not ask for food.  “Do not set your heart on what you will eat or drink; do not worry about it” (Luke 12:29, NIV). 

     Christ in the Lord’s Prayer tells us rather to ask the Father each day for the spiritual bread from heaven.  But what is it exactly?  Some churches believe that a round wafer is magically and     mystically turned into the body of Christ, the bread from heaven.  This practice is not found in the scriptures of truth.

     Christ gives a treatise on the heavenly bread in John 6.  The “true bread from heaven” was not manna which fell for the Israelites in the wilderness.  They all died.  But, My Father gives you the true bread from heaven (v. 32).  The spiritual “bread of God is He which comes down from heaven, and gives life to the world” (v. 33).

     Physical bread is the staff of a physical life that ends.  But spiritual bread is the staff of the spiritual life that never ends.  This bread feeds the new inner spiritual man; it is our sustenance.

     Then Jesus (Yahshua) declares Himself to be that Heavenly Sustenance.  “I am the bread of life: he that comes to me shall never hunger, and he that believes on me shall never thirst” (v. 34). 

     The key word here is “believes.”  It is believing on Him–that is how we partake of His Spirit.  You take into yourself what you believe.  You become what you believe.  You are what you eat. Believing Him and His word about who He is, and what He has done, and what He will do–this is what it’s all about.  Belief.  Belief is not a material thing.  It is a special invisible, spiritual thing.  To believe Him and what His name means is to eat of the spiritual bread from heaven.   

     He would later say that His body is the “bread of God” and encouraged us to eat it.  “Eat” here is to spiritually believe what transpired with His body–the death, burial, and resurrection.  He was saying that His flesh, His actual physical body was going to be presented as the one sacrifice that would purge our sins.  Believing this in truth is eating (taking in) this spiritual, true bread from heaven.

     “I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live forever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh which I will give for the life of the world” (v. 51).  Here we see him giving His physical body so that we could have immortality.

     He was teaching us to pray–not for ourselves with things for ourselves, food, material things.  No.  We are to ask for more of His Spirit, more faith, more belief of what He has done for us.  We should recall and thank Him for allowing our old nature to die with Him on the cross, to be buried with Him, and to be “raised to walk in a newness of life” with Him (Romans 6:3-7). 

     The words, Give us this day our daily bread, contain a profound lesson in our learning to pray.  Kenneth Wayne Hancock

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The Lord’s Prayer–Blueprint for Building God’s Temple–Us

The Lord’s Prayer is a blueprint showing us how to become His temple, which is the habitation of God.  It is not a ritualistic chant.

An architect’s blueprint contains blue lines and white paper that to the trained eye reveal what the building should look like.

The Lord’s prayer is a spiritual blueprint that shows us what the temple of God looks like and how to build it. Christ said that His house “shall be called of all nations the house of prayer” (Mark 11: 17).  And in His example prayer to us, we understand what those prayers consist of in His temple.  And His temple is us (I Cor. 3:16).  We, His sons and daughters, born from above, born of the King, are now His princes and princesses in training to rule with Him.  “To him that overcomes will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne” (Rev. 3:21).

So what do we do with a blueprint?  A building contractor would not stand around repeating the dimensions found in the blueprint. By merely reading and repeating the words and figures found on the blueprint, the edifice would never get built.  Rather, he has to study it, visualize it, believe in the vision of the architect for the building, and get to work in order to make it a reality.  This is what God’s children need to be doing–studying out His example prayer and understanding what it means, and then do it.

To illustrate, the disciples asked Jesus (Yahshua in Hebrew–the same name as the anglicized name “Joshua”… <Dictionary.com http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/joshua> ).  “Teach us to pray.”  And He told them, “After this manner pray,” and then He spoke the model prayer.

“After this manner…”  After this way.  Make your communication to God based on these precepts I’ve given you in this example prayer, He was saying.  And the precepts are based in selflessness.

But many prayers that are offered up to God are shameless petitions for self–asking for material things.  These prayers cannot penetrate the brass of heaven’s dome.

To be heard by the Almighty, we must get on His wavelength.  And God’s all about reproducing Himself.  We are now “born of that incorruptible seed, the word of God.”  But that is just the start.  We must grow up into him, no longer content to be little babies in Christ, always wanting something from Him.

We must study to unlock the secrets of His kingdom, secrets held close to the heart of God, secrets that He will reveal to them that are in awe of Him, secrets encrypted in a spiritual blueprint called “The Lord’s Prayer.”

So, let us dig into it, line by line, phrase by phrase, extracting His thoughts about how He is going to get Himself down into His temple, us.  This I hope to do in the next few posts, beginning next time with “The Lord’s Prayer–Our Father.”  Kenneth Wayne Hancock

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Filed under body of Christ, God's wish, immortality, princes and princesses of God, sons and daughters of God, will of God