Category Archives: children of God

August 5, 2018 · 9:48 pm

Christ Went “All in” and Magnified the Law to Set the High Standard

Christ is not a milk toast fence-straddler. He went “all in.” He laid it all on the line, “all” seeming to be the operative word. He said that all would be fulfilled in the law (Mt. 5: 18); that all our needs would be met if we seek His kingdom and righteousness first (6: 33). He healed all that were sick (8: 16). He preached the gospel of the kingdom in all the cities (9: 35). This is just to name a few.

In fact, the word “all” appears 105 times in the book of Matthew alone. “All” appears 5,621 times in the whole Bible (https://www.blueletterbible.org/search/search.cfm?Criteria=all&t=KJV#s=s_primary_0_75).

Christ pegs the needle as He commands us to “be perfect as your Father in heaven is perfect.” As a newly reborn babe in Christ, one might respond with, “Yeah, right.” Yet the Spirit commands us to do some very difficult things like “pray always” and “pray without ceasing.”

Christ Magnifies the Law

Christ taught that to be like Him, we would have to do much more and go much deeper than just what is written on the surface of the letter of the law, the Ten Commandments. More is expected of us in order to be the manifested sons and daughters of the King. We are talking about being like the Father here, the Father in human form, as in “each seed bears its own kind.” We are born of the Spirit and have the Spirit now in our hearts. Much has been given to us; therefore, much is required of us. A grave responsibility has been attached to our walk with Christ. He expects us to go all in. And He shows us what He expects from us when we do that. His expectations for us are in the Sermon of the Mount (Matt. Chapters 5-7).

Christ magnified the law in that sermon and thereby created a standard of what a full grown Christian looks like. The Greek word translated “perfection” indicates completeness of the growth cycle or maturity. Several translations have it as “maturity.”

Christ was saying that it wasn’t enough to just not murder someone. That is what the law required. But even unregenerated sinners can do that. He put it like this: “You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, You shall not murder… But I tell you that anyone who is angry with a brother or sister will be subject to judgment.” Anger is the spiritual root cause of murder. Christ was showing that the Father’s offspring will have a heart like His, a heart of love and not anger and hostility (5: 21-22).

Christ magnified the law when He spoke of worship. It is not enough to go to a house of worship every week, faithfully paying your tithes and offerings, if your brother has something against you. He said, “First be reconciled to your brother and then come and offer your gift at the altar.” Here Christ puts agape love for each other over formal church giving (5: 23-24).

It is not enough to not commit adultery. He continues, “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.” There it is. It is in the heart. God looks on the heart. It is all about the heart. Many people down through history have lived a life without committing the physical act of adultery. Some can do it in their own strength for whatever reason. He shows us that it takes the Spirit of God within us to not look on a woman and secretly desire her. We see again here how Christ magnifies the law as He digs down into the heart of the matter (5: 27-28).

Moreover, Christ tells us that it is not enough to love those who love you. He elucidates, “But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that?” And then Christ sums it all up with this command: “Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect” (5: 43-48). Grow to the point where you are spiritually mature like the Father who was in Christ and His apostles and who is now in you.

Christ Is Showing Us His Nature in Action

Christ in this sermon shows us what a fully matured Christian will look like and how they will act. In fact, He is showing us how we will be when the Father is fully formed in us. He is demonstrating how it will be when the Father has fulfilled His purpose in us. And what is His purpose? He is reproducing Himself in us. He is agape love, and He is giving us the standard of the ultimate growth in God.

The apostle Paul knew all about the Father’s purpose of multiplying and reproducing Love—Himself. He taught that we are to be “glorified together” with Christ; that we are waiting for the manifestation of the sons [and daughters] of God; that we are waiting for our redemption, which is our new spiritual immortal bodies—just like Christ’s; that “we know that all things work together for good…to them that are the called according to His purpose”; and that because of that purpose, we are “to be conformed to the image of His Son” (Romans 8: 17-33).

Setting a High Standard

Christ’s magnification of the law sets a high standard of spiritual conduct. It describes how we will be when the Spirit has grown up in us fully. This growth should be the desire of every Christian—to be like their example, to walk as He walked.

But this 100 fold growth will not come until we thoroughly know and do Christ’s teachings, which became the apostles’ doctrine. It is through His doctrine that we learn how to grow.

So we must study His teachings. I know; you thought you had finished school. So let me welcome you to the School of the Apostles and Prophets. It is only through prayerful study of His teachings that we may receive God’s approval—that He would consider us His friend and an able and valuable worker in His vineyard, and that we might not be ashamed, and that we would be spared the heartbreak of being rejected as an “unprofitable servant,” who was afraid and hid His Master’s talent in the earth… (II Tim. 2: 15; Matt. 25: 14-30).

The early prophets and apostles saw Christ’s vision and embraced it and studied it and taught it. And they wrote it down and left it for us to walk in, thereby fulfilling God’s  purpose for our day. We have a great responsibility and have much to learn. Studying the apostles’ doctrine is how we will get that knowledge. Those who go “all in” will study it all out and will come to this revelation: It is no longer I that lives but Christ that lives in me, “and the life I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me” (Gal. 2: 20).

The first two teachings of the apostles’ doctrine are found in that quote.

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June 2, 2018 · 8:40 pm

Christian Growth Is Stunted by False Teachings

Growth. That’s what every living thing needs—especially Christians. To grow spiritually, we need clean spiritual food and water.

But Christians are being fed false food and fetid water, if we are to believe the apostle Peter: “There will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies.” And “many shall follow their destructive ways…In their greed these teachers will exploit you with fabricated stories” (II Pet. 2: 1-3). Who are these false preachers? It is important to know, for many Christians are following them.

The apostle Jude warns us of them, also. “For certain individuals whose condemnation was written about long ago have secretly slipped in among you. They are ungodly people”(v. 4). They secretly slither in to the congregation, sharing their tainted teachings. The apostle Paul warns us that in the latter days, many will leave the true faith and will be deceived by “seducing spirits and doctrines of devils” (I Tim. 4: 1). In our time false teachers in sheep’s clothing are teaching doctrines about Christ that are straight from Satan. And these are so-called “Christian” teachers, preachers, pastors, evangelists, priests, and prophets!

Sadly, “many” are following these false teachings about Christ and what He is doing here on the earth. The word of God says that many are being fed false spiritual food and are being deceived.  Where are “the many” today? The lambs and sheep of God have been herded into corrals with names like Catholic, Baptist, Methodist, Episcopal, Presbyterian, Pentecostal, Charismatic, et al. Funny thing. The vast majority of these denominations believe that they are just about the only ones with the truth.

Hundreds of millions meet together. But Christ said to be careful not to follow the masses. He commands us to “enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.” (Mt. 7: 13-14).

Most just read over these words, never taking the time to let them sink way down into their hearts. The “wide” and “broad” way is the easy way. The wide, easy way has you to just “accept Christ as your personal Savior,” be baptized, and you are good to go. Conversely, the narrow gate is the cross experience where we place our old sinful selfish heart on the cross with Christ and let it die with Him. Then by believing in His resurrection, we receive His Spirit that raises us up to walk in a “newness of life.” Few get this deep, for they are seduced by false teachings about salvation. And until the day that my lips and fingertips fall silent, I will continue to testify for Christ, whose truth has translated me from darkness to light (Rom. 6).

Why Do We Hold on to the False Doctrines?

How do human beings get stuck in the mire of false teachings? First, no one’s pride encourages them to admit they were wrong. And there is a tendency in human nature to cling to the traditions taught them by their elders. However, going through the “cross experience” cures all this. For when we “die” spiritually with Christ on the cross, we abdicate our own will and desire and fling ourselves into His embrace. We, like a babe in arms, trust Him to care for us. We have faith in Another who is much wiser than we are. And we believe that He will raise us up and give us of His Spirit to lead us and guide us through this new spiritual landscape. This is being “born again” or “born from above.” And thereby the sin nature is gone. And He gives us the Spirit of Truth that “leads us into all truth.” It is His Spirit now within us that helps us know what is false and what is true.

This “cross experience” is there for all of us, whether we came to Christ yesterday or forty years ago. This experience is the narrow gate that allows us to enter into His kingdom. Without it, we cannot see nor enter the kingdom of God (John 3: 3-6).

So dig deep. If gigantic waves of people are following a certain teaching, it is probably a false doctrine. The cross is the starting point for Christian growth. If a person is still breaking the Ten Commandments, then how are they growing spiritually in Christ? Just remember: With God all things are possible—even to be free from sin and sinning.

False teachings are bad food for the flock of God, which stunts their growth. The true doctrine of Christ is a portion of the “hidden manna” that Christ promised to those of us who purge out the “doctrine of Balaam” (Rev. 2: 14). This spiritual bread from heaven is hidden from those who have not entered the kingdom of heaven. But it is being revealed to you and me. It has long been hidden and “kept secret from the foundation of the world” (Mt. 13: 35).

[Be sure to order my new book The Royal Destiny of God’s Elect. It discusses these things and will be a help to you and your spiritual growth. It is free with free shipping. Just send your mailing address to my email, and I will get it right out to you. wayneman5@hotmail.com ]

Kenneth Wayne Hancock

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May 26, 2018 · 4:20 pm

Distinguishing 30, 60, and 100 Fold Spiritual Fruit Bearing

The Spirit admonishes us: “Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you—unless, of course, you fail the test?” (II Cor. 13: 5). We test ourselves by answering this question: Do we know and believe that it is the Spirit of Christ that dwells within us by the love that is shed abroad to all? I.e., we are examining how much of Christ’s Spirit is flowing through us.

Someone will ask, “How do we know how much of the Spirit of Christ is in us?” The short answer: If we are in the “knowing” stage of most things, then it is 30 fold growth. To distinguish 30 fold from 60 fold growth, one must look at 30 fold fruit from a childlike perspective. Just like natural children accumulate knowledge of their surroundings and nature and other people, children of God are doing the same in the spiritual realm.

A 30 fold fruit bearing child of God is attaining truth and how it relates to them personally. They are “knowing this, that our old man is crucified with Him” (Rom. 6: 6). And they will “know the truth and the truth shall make you free…Whosoever commits sin is a slave to sin…” (John 8: 32-36). That’s the knowledge that the child of God is gaining. A natural child is mostly alive for what he can receive from his father. So it is with the spiritual. A child of God is interested in receiving from his Father—receiving peace, contentment, joy, and love. And this only comes when our old self is crucified with the Lamb of God.

A Christian, bearing 60 fold fruit, has matured to the point where he or she desires to not just receive the fruit of the Spirit, but rather channel to others of those fruits. It is the developing of interpersonal relationships. One bearing 60 fold fruit is mostly alive for what they can do for the Father.

The 100 fold Christian is like Paul and Peter and John. They have Christ’s Spirit of agape love being manifested to others. They are agape love, insomuch as Christ is manifested through their  vessels. They have the mind of Christ, and the will of their Father, foremost in their thinking. And the Father’s thoughts are rarified. Only a few will attain this position with Him. And they are those who are doing the will of the Father. They will be spiritually seated at His round table. They will know His purpose and His plan to accomplish it. They are His cadre who He will use to implement His government. Their thoughts are His thoughts, for their vision is His vision—a vision that subsumes and transcends national, international, worldwide, galactic and universal concerns. Christ is the exiled King, and “of the greatness of his government and peace there will be no end” (Isa. 9: 6-7).

Those who grow spiritually into 100 fold fruit bearers will be in His inner circle. And don’t tell me that Christ does not have an inner circle. Think about the twelve disciples. And now there are  positions to be filled. They will be leaders and administrators and ambassadors of the King as He establishes righteousness and judgment throughout the earth after the tribulation subsides. You will know that you are on the right track to become one of these princes or princesses of God if you are thinking His thoughts—His kingdom thoughts.    Kenneth Wayne Hancock

[Order my new book The Royal Destiny of God’s Elect. It discusses these things and will be a help to you and your spiritual growth. It is free with free shipping. Just send to my email your mailing address and I will get it right out to you. Helping you is my offering to God.  wayneman5@hotmail.com ]

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May 13, 2018 · 6:36 pm

Thirty Fold Understanding of the Seven Teachings of the Early Apostles

The early church “continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine,” which was Christ’s doctrine or teachings (Acts 2: 42). This truth is greatly neglected in the churches because they fail to recognize that the teachings of the early apostles were Christ’s doctrine, found in Hebrews 6: 1-2.

Seven doctrines are mentioned. Each of them are seen in three levels of spiritual growth. This mystery of three levels was inserted in the parables, insuring that only those who were predestined to understand the truths hidden therein, would. The disciples asked Christ why He spoke unto the masses in parables. He replied, “Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given” (Matt. 13: 11, 1-10). And now He has given them to you and me.

In the Parable of the Sower, He mentions the three levels of spiritual growth—30 fold, 60 fold, and 100 fold (v. 8).

Tying the two concepts together, we have seven doctrines with three levels of understanding in each. The seven doctrines found there in Hebrews 6 are “repentance from dead works…faith toward God…baptisms…laying on of hands…resurrection of the dead…eternal judgment…perfection.”

In each of these there is a knowing (30 fold), a doing (60 fold) and a being (100 fold). Right now I want to touch on the 30 fold “knowing” in each of these doctrines. I say “touch on” because we are dealing with the unsearchable riches of Christ here.

  1. The first teaching of Christ is repentance from dead works. The 30 fold fruit of that doctrine in one’s life is the crucifixion of the old self on the cross with Christ. It is the getting rid of the sin nature we are born with. Our old self is dead already in God’s eyes. We must reckon it so. This is true repentance from sin and sinning; it frees us. “For He that is dead is freed from sin” (Rom 6: 6-11). This speaks of a spiritual death of our old sinful nature. When we really believe this way down deep in our hearts, then we will experience the chains of sin falling off of us. Before we are slaves to Sin; now we are free. Why? Because our old sins died with Christ the sin sacrifice. This is the cross experience. The early church continued in this teaching. We should be doing the same.
  2. “Faith toward God” is the second apostles’ doctrine. In the 30 fold child-of-God context, we then believe that Christ was raised from the dead, and that we are raised with Him. He had faith that He would be raised. Now we have faith that we are raised up along with Christ—raised from the death that sin had held us in. [For much more on these first two doctrines, read online Chapters 26-32 of Yah Is Savior: The Road to Immortality found here: https://immortalityroad.wordpress.com/book-yah-is-savior-the-road-to-immortality/  Or better yet, order your free hard copy with free shipping by sending your mailing address to wayneman5@hotmail.com Mention the book]
  3. “Doctrine of Baptisms” is the third teaching that the apostles stayed in. There are several baptisms, but for a 30 fold child of God it is their immersion into Christ’s death. When He died, our sin nature died with Him. “Don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death” (Rom. 6: 3-4)?
  4. The Laying on of Hands is the fourth doctrine of the early church. There are many instances where hands of the righteous are laid upon people. What would constitute the 30 fold level of growth in this teaching?

To answer this, we must cross connect other things we know about the theme of “being children” in the faith. “Becoming a child of God” is an extremely important milestone in a Christian’s life. It is when Life enters into our hearts. Before, we are one of the “dead” burying our dead.

So 30 fold fruit in this context would tie in with “laying on of hands.” Hands are laid upon a person at the baptism into water, symbolizing being immersed into “Christ’s death.”

There is also the concept of “putting one’s hand to the plow.” In the passage, our Master says, “Follow me.”

The first one said, “Let me go bury my father.”

Christ replied, “Let the dead bury the dead.”

The next man said, I will follow you, but I need to go home and say goodbye to the family.

To which Christ said, “No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God”  (Luke 9: 57-62).

These two men could have become children of the kingdom. They could have begun their new Christian lives as 30 fold children. But they looked back to their earthly family. To be worthy of our new life in God, we must lay our hands to the plow and not look back to the old earthly life. Christ also said for us to take His yoke upon us. The world is the field in the parables. And this field needs to be plowed up and then planted with the see, the word of God. We are His yokefellows. We are to be equally yoked together with His Spirit intent to do his plan to accomplish His purpose. We need to be working with Him to accomplish Christ’s goal. When we pull together with Christ we will bring in the Kingdom of God (Matt. 11: 29-30).

  1. The Resurrection of the Dead is the fifth teaching. 30 fold understanding is a child of God believing that Christ was raised from the dead and that we also are raised up with Him into a new life with His Spirit now living within our hearts (Rom. 6).
  2. Eternal Judgment is the sixth doctrine that the early church continued in. We need to reckon our new life in Christ as a done deal, secured eternally with Him as our Savior and King. We must judge it so and not look back. “Remember Lot’s Wife.”
  3. And the seventh doctrine is “Perfection.” This word in the Greek is “maturity.” Thirty fold is the knowledge about this maturity concept.

Of course, there is so much more to all of these as the Spirit leads us into the 60 and 100 fold understanding. I know that some of these things are new. I offer these thoughts to you as a jumping off place in your own studies. We all have the responsibility to study Christ’s teachings. A teacher sent from God plants the seed in the  hearts and minds, but to grow, it must be watered through study and prayer.

After doing all that, most importantly, His children will have earned God’s approval and a promotion. He will look upon us no more as spiritual children, but as young men and women. We will have grown to be trustworthy heirs of the King, ready for more responsibility, ready to not just know about his purpose and plan, but to “be strong and do exploits.”

This is our calling and election, brothers and sisters. He has chosen a few to reveal the whole shooting match to. Christ is passing out his goods, His truth, to us. Will we hide it? Or will we use it to become “fishers of men”? Will we hear Him say to us, Well done thou good and faithful servant. You were faithful in a few things; I will make you ruler over many. Or will we hear a doleful and heartbreaking rebuke like the one He gave to him   who was afraid and hid the pound that was given to him? (Matthew 25: 15-30).

Kenneth Wayne Hancock

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May 6, 2018 · 4:43 pm

Seven Teachings with Three Levels of Growth

I greet you now with encouraging words, words from the heart of Christ who grants us courage and strength and power. He is that positive One, the “Holy One of Israel,” who is all “Yes” and  all Love for us all. And His Spirit now lives in us.

And we are His body, despite the world that tries to corral us into a box of their own imagination as to who God is and what He want us to do and to be. We must continue to walk worthy of His great calling and election that rests upon us.

I know that many of you are seeking God fervently, longing to know His will for your lives. As I stated before in my latest book, The Royal Destiny of God’s Elect, God has a steadfast purpose, and that purpose is to reproduce Himself in us. “For consider what He has done—before the foundation of the world He chose us to become, in Christ, His holy and blameless children, living within His constant care” (Eph. 1: 4-5 Phillips).

He chose us before the foundation of the world! We are His elect, His chosen ones. (“Elect” and “chosen” are translated from the same Greek word). Brothers and sisters, the Almighty is for us! And “if God be for us, who can be against us” (Rom. 8: 31). He has chosen us to be recipients of Christ’s most precious and endearing qualities.

He has a plan to accomplish our transformation. His will is that we surrender to His commands to be holy as He is holy. We become holy when we set ourselves apart for His purpose. And His purpose is to magnify and multiply Himself in a “chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people” (I Pet. 2: 9).

Enduring the Sojourn

I know that many of you have been bounced around from church to church, rejected and ostracized and betrayed by those you loved. Think not that God has turned His back on you. Oh, no. He allows these things for our good. He ordains hardships, reluctant goodbyes, and mindless  misunderstandings to temper and then hone the sword of the Spirit within us, that we can “endure hardships as a good soldier of Christ.”

And, yet, we wander on, like Paul, shipwrecked at sea. We still cling to a bit of driftwood called “hope.” And as we are tossed to and fro, longing for a spiritual home that’s true, we wait like those poor souls in Casablanca. We wait for a word that signals passage into the Captain’s good ship.

I write to you who are still hoping to find a clarification as to what God wants for you to do. Your vision will clear as you simply believe His vision for your life. His vision for you is His purpose for you.

Doing His Purpose

To fulfill His purpose, our feet must tread in the footprints of giants—the giants of the faith, the apostles and prophets. Step one is to acquire true knowledge of their teachings. Then we must study and continue in their doctrine, which are Christ’s teachings (Heb. 5: 12-14; 6: 1-2). Then we share them, and sharing His teachings is breaking the bread of life. This is the communion so dear to His heart.

Seven doctrines of Christ were paramount in the early church. The early church “continued steadfastly” in them (Acts 2: 42). There are three levels of spiritual growth in each of the seven.

We see this three-leveled motif at work in several passages. In the Parable of the Sower, the word of God produced three levels of fruit production—thirty, sixty, and one hundred (Matt. 13: 3-9, 18-23). John writes to “children, young men, and fathers” (I John 2: 12-14). Christ likens the kingdom of God to a man who sows seed. It grows, and he does not know how it all works. “For the earth yields crops by itself: first the blade, then the head, after that the full grain in the head” (Mark 4: 26-29).That’s how the kingdom grows. Then you have Justification, Sanctification, Glorification. And the three sections of the Tabernacle. There are many more examples of the three levels of spiritual growth. There importance is indisputable.

7 Teachings, 3 Growth Levels in Each

Each of the seven doctrines of Christ have a 30 fold growth, a 60 fold, and a 100 fold growth. Let’s just look at the 30 fold level of understanding.

  1. Right now, let us take the first teaching of Christ—repentance from dead works. The 30 fold fruit of that doctrine in one’s life is the crucifixion of the old self on the cross with Christ. It is the getting rid of the sin nature we are born with. Our old self is dead already in God’s eyes. We must reckon it so. This is true repentance from sin and sinning; it frees us. “For He that is dead is freed from sin” (Rom 6: 6-11). This speaks of a spiritual death of our old sinful nature. When we really believe this, way down deep in our hearts, then we will experience the chains of sin falling off of us. Before, we are slaves to Sin; now we are free. Why? Because our old sinful heart died with Christ, the sin sacrifice. This is the cross experience. Someone says, “I know that.” But the churches rarely get into the death of our old man  nature.
  2. “Faith toward God” is the second apostles’ doctrine. In the 30 fold child-of-God context, we then believe that Christ was raised from the dead, and that we are raised with Him. He had faith that He would be raised. Now we have faith that we are raised up along with Christ—raised from the death that sin had held us in. [For much more on these first two doctrines, read online Chapters 26-32 of Yah Is Savior: The Road to Immortality found here: https://immortalityroad.wordpress.com/book-yah-is-savior-the-road-to-immortality/ Or better yet, order your free hard copy with free shipping by sending your mailing address to wayneman5@hotmail.com Mention the book]
  3. “Doctrine of Baptisms” is the third teaching that the apostles stayed in. There are several baptisms, but for a 30 fold child of God it is their immersion into Christ’s death. When He died, our sin nature died with Him. “Don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death” (Rom. 6: 3-4)?

{To be continued…I will share a 30 fold understanding of the other teachings a bit later. These first three are what the people need. We must understand them first and then share these keys to those trapped in sin. Be sure to order my latest book The Royal Destiny of God’s Elect. Absolutely free.}

A big agape-love hug to all of you.

Kenneth Wayne Hancock

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April 21, 2018 · 3:24 pm

“Love Your Enemies”–A Radical Teaching That Leads Us to Perfection

Christ tells us to obey Him. We are to do what He tells us to do. He is our Lord, Master and Savior, after all. And then He gives us a seemingly impossible command: “Be perfect.”

And then the knee jerk response comes. “Perfect? That can’t be right. Nobody is perfect.” But why would Christ give us this command if it were impossible to obey it? Of course, that is the point. With man it is impossible, but “with God all things are possible.”

Still, Christ’s indelible words just won’t go away. Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect (Matt. 5: 48). This is not a perfection according to shallow man’s wisdom, but we are to be perfect like our Father. To make sense of this paradox, we must dig down deeper into Christ’s words.

“Be ye therefore perfect” is the command. The word “therefore” means “for that reason,” or “as a result of all that was just said.” So what was He teaching in the previous forty-seven verses of Matthew 5? Christ was teaching agape love, the love from above. He was showing how human beings think and do when God, the Spirit of Love, dwells fully within them. “God is agape love,” says the apostle John (I John 4: 8). Love solidifies the fulfillment of the seventh apostles’ doctrine—perfection.

It starts with us being born of that Spirit of love. Christ is teaching us how we will be when He is fully manifested within us. He tells us, “Love your enemies” (v. 44). Very few of us have what it takes to love everyone, especially those who hate us. So Christ is speaking of a higher love, a love that far surpasses our original self-love that we are born with.

Christ is introducing a radical new teaching, far superior to man’s feeble and petty thoughts for self. Instead of loving your friends and hating your enemies, He commands us to “love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you.” He is telling us that when  we obey these commandments, we will be showing that we are the children of our Father, for we will be like Him.

Well, what is the Father like? Our Father “makes His sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust” (v. 45). The Father opens the clouds of heaven with literal showers upon the farms of the hateful farmer and the loving farmer.

Our Father provides for both the evil and the good. That is the perfection of our Father. That is the Spirit of His perfection, the perfection that we are commanded to be like.

Understanding Why?

I know. His thoughts are not our thoughts, and His ways are not our ways. We would not do it this way. It is difficult to grasp this with the natural mind, and we are tempted to just skip these chapters. The apostle Peter before the resurrection is an example of how natural man takes care of business. He got out a sword and commenced to hack off the guard’s ear. Peter loved his friends but hated his enemies. Not good. Not God’s way. Peter would have killed all the evil ones and let God sort it out. But Peter did not have the Spirit of agape love at that time. Later he got a hold of God’s thoughts and ways, and the rest is history, which now has become our future.

What are God’s thoughts toward evil people and things? Why does He put up with the evil? Why would He desire us to love our enemies? It does not make much sense when viewed with the wisdom of the world. But with God’s wisdom…

Understanding How to “Love Your Enemies”

It is perplexing. How do we love and forgive our enemies and thereby “be perfect,” the offspring of the Father? The key is understanding that God created both the light and the darkness. That includes the literal light of day and the dark of night, as well as spiritual good and evil. God created our enemies and our friends. “I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things” (Isa. 45: 7). “And God saw every thing that He had made, and, behold, it was very good.” There were no unexpected accidents in the script.

For all of us, good or bad, play a part in the drama that He has written, directed, and produced. Like a play, the script has been written by the great Author of our faith. He knows all about the protagonists and the antagonists; He created them. He has instilled in us, His sons and daughters, an unquenchable thirst for knowledge as to what this life is all about. His law of harvest states that we will reap what we sow. Those who seek will find out the answers to the mysteries of His interactions with man.

It is when we see life as God sees it that we will comprehend the need for evil to help us display the power of His love in dispelling darkness. For love, agape love, overcomes every dark and evil force on earth. God created it that way. And when that divine love surges through us, then God is glorified. When we through the power of His in-dwelling Spirit of agape love–when we love our enemies, then Love triumphs over hate, and God is glorified. Then God will have reproduced Himself in and through us.

The Father receives glory, not through us saying, “Glory to God!” He is glorified when we with His love inside overcome the darkness by loving the unlovable, by loving our enemies. We must understand that evil serves as a foil for the love within us in this drama. It is when we overcome evil with goodness, and hate with love, that we gain a critical knowledge of just who our Creator Yahweh is. We must never lose sight of His eternal purpose; it is written into the DNA of every living thing. He wants to reproduce Himself. When we love our enemies, God is multiplied. And the only place that He has ordained for that to happen is inside of us.

Moreover, if there is no evil for His children to overcome and surpass through His agape love, then God cannot be glorified. For good overcomes evil as light dispels darkness. In fact, agape love is matured within us by confronting evil.

I know that God is raising up a people who will understand all of the above. They are the Father’s chosen ones, His elect, His sons and daughters. They will reject the doubters who say, “It is impossible to be perfect.” For they will know that perfection means the completion of the spiritual growth within them. Perfection means that the Word has taken root in their hearts and has grown to full maturity and is bearing 100 fold fruit as Christ and His apostles did. For Christ did say, “Greater works shall you do than what I have done.” His word has taken root in their hearts; now that is a radical idea. It is fundamental and a sure foundation.

And armed with this knowledge, they will see that “with God all things are possible” (Matthew 19:26). 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 first two apostles’ doctrines–“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.

God’s elect 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, “Be perfect.”                 Kenneth Wayne Hancock

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April 7, 2018 · 3:24 pm

How God Uses Evil to Perfect Us

Most Christians are painfully aware of the world system’s heavy thumb pinning them down with oppressive taxes, intrusive regulations, and the invisible chains of political correctness.

However, we as God’s children here on earth must understand how our Father has set up and ordered the operation of the world system. Code name for the world system: Mystery Babylon the Great.

The prophet Daniel, a captive in Babylon, is enlightened by God in a “night vision.” You know the story in chapter 2. King Nebuchadnezzar had a dream and could not remember it, much less its interpretation. Daniel’s vision not only gave the dream and interpretation for the king of that era, but also instructs us about the world system in our day.

First, we learn from Yahweh’s prophet that He is sovereign, for “wisdom and might” are His, and His name is blessed forever. He “changes the times and the seasons; He removes kings and sets up kings. He gives wisdom unto the wise and knowledge to them that know understanding. He reveals the deep and secret things. He knows what is in the darkness, and the light dwells with Him.” It is through this that God “has made known…the king’s matter” (2: 20-23).

That is some weighty knowledge right there. We need to stop a moment and meditate on this. Sometimes we are all like butterflies flitting from flower to flower, sampling knowledge like nectar. We are so busy in this Information Age that we rarely pause to savor the knowledge.

What did Daniel learn from the night vision? He learned that God is sovereign; He can do anything He wants with His creation and creatures. God puts some of His human beings on thrones, and He overthrows some of those kings that He has ordained to rule over others. God does that. God is the source of all wisdom and might, and He gives wisdom and knowledge to some. He reveals secrets and mysteries—even the mysteries of what is taking place right now in this present evil world. He reveals secrets about His government and how the world system, which is Satan’s kingdom, interacts with His kingdom.

Some readers recoiled at “Satan’s kingdom.” But those are not my words; they are Christ’s words. “If Satan also be divided against himself, how shall his kingdom stand?” (Luke 11: 18). Satan is the “god of this world” (2 Cor. 4: 4). Or could we say, “The king of this world system”? Satan is a little “k” king. And one of the things that we have just learned from Daniel is that Yahweh sets up kings, and He takes them down. Satan is one of the kings that our Father is taking down. But Satan is also one of the kings that God has set up.

The Revelation Contained in Daniel 2

The king’s dream and the interpretation thereof shows God setting up and removing Satan, the king of this world system. The dream’s interpretation shows “what shall be in the latter days” (Dan. 2: 28). “Thou, O king, saw and behold a great image” with a golden head, chest and arms of silver, with thighs of brass and iron legs. “Thou saw till that a stone was cut out without hands which smote the image…and the stone…became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth.” All of these body parts represent world empires that will all come down in the latter days. The stone kingdom is the Kingdom of God headed by the Stone that the builders rejected.

“And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever” (2: 44).

God is in the process of setting up His kingdom and will bring down the world system and establish Christ as King upon the throne of the Kingdom of God. This is what it is all about.

But Why Must We Have a Satanic World System?

Many Christians do not understand that God creates evil. I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil…Isa. 45: 7. He has a purpose for the trials and tribulations that we endure in this life—globally, nationally and personally. So we are not to think that our trials and hardships are a strange thing that is happening to us (I Peter 4: 12).

All this is explained in the parable of the tares in the field. The tares are the children of the devil in the earth, and we are to let them grow up with the wheat, the children of God. At harvest time God will gather up the evil ones (Matt. 13: 24-30, 36-43). But in the meantime, we need to understand that evil is part of His plan. I know; it is a tough one. But God said that His thoughts are not our thoughts, nor His ways our ways [For more on this, read the following: https://immortalityroad.wordpress.com/2011/01/07/parable-of-the-tares-in-the-field-exposing-the-rulers-of-the-darkness-of-this-world-part-i-conversations-with-the-seer/ This is in Chapter 35 of my new book The Royal Destiny of God’s Elect available free with free shipping to those who send me your mailing address to wayneman5@hotmail.com ].

Knowing that God is using Satan and the evilness in the world to perfect His children is a gigantic piece of knowledge that will open up the scriptures to us.

We simply must understand how our Father has set up and ordered the world system’s operations. God is sovereign and controls the darkness and the light for His own purpose. And that purpose is to reproduce Himself. This is the theme of the new book mentioned above.

Many get angry with the world system. They get mad at the school board, the teachers, the mayor and city council, the police and sheriff, and even state and federal officials. The anger and frustration is vain and ill-conceived. For all of these offices are part of the world system which has been ordained by our Father.

Of course, the world government is not righteous; it is not the Kingdom of God. However, when we resist their authority over us—that God has ordained—we are resisting God. “Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. Consequently, whoever rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves” (Rom. 13: 1-2 NIV). Paul understood God’s sovereignty and that He was in complete control.

He urges us to pay our taxes and “owe no man any thing, but to love one another: for he that loves another has fulfilled the law” (13: 8). Christ said that He came not to destroy the law, but to fulfill it (Matt. 5: 17). He does that by sowing the seed of agape love into our hearts. And through His love in us, we no longer break the 10 Commandment Law (Rom. 13: 9-14).

Yet, some begin to despise the “powers that be,” and then it turns into the purple shroud of vengeance. And some young Christians become infected and are overcome in the spiritual struggle, not knowing how low they have fallen. And they have forgotten the admonition, “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good” (Rom. 12: 21). It is this overcoming evil that develops His love and forgiveness in our hearts. As we grow in agape love within, then Christ’s Spirit grows and matures in us, “until Christ be formed in us.”

We are the sons and daughters of God. We are destined to be exactly like Him. Hence, our Master’s words: “Love your enemies” and pray for them. For when a Christian gets caught up in condemning another, he forgets the truer lesson here. He forgets that God is the supreme Power. It is God who allows rulers in the world system to rule over us—for now. God has given the various rulers of the world system power to create debt, and they dictate how much we own and at what interest rate.

On a personal level, it works the same. When we don’t forgive our wife, husband, children, relatives, friends and neighbors for slighting us, then they rule over our spirit. Until we forgive, they are our master. But when we forgive, agape love develops in us, and we are one step closer to being like Christ.

God wants us to be like Him. “Forgive them, Father, for they know not what they do,” Christ said. He spread love to his enemies as well as to His friends. He likened it to the Father raining down the life-giving showers of love upon the just and the unjust (Mt. 5: 43-48).

When we love and forgive all, we are fulfilling the Law by loving our neighbor as our selves. When we walk in this love, we awake out of a spiritual sleep. Paul likens this to throwing off the works of darkness” and putting on “the armor of light” (Rom. 13: 12). Flowing agape love to others becomes a shield that protects us from the arrows of deception hurled at us by the “god of this world.” However, the devil is not to be feared; he is just doing his sinister job. He has but a short time left. I think the devil still doesn’t know that he is helping us “go on unto perfection” (Heb. 6: 1).            Kenneth Wayne Hancock

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February 21, 2018 · 9:10 pm

Faults Are Not Sins

At this point, some may be asking, Why the emphasis on the repentance doctrine? Let’s get on to the resurrection of the dead and healings and miracles.

This we will do, but to get to the growth where God would entrust us with His power to heal and raise the dead like the early apostles, we must do what they did, study what they studied, learn what they learned, and suffer what they suffered. To get to the 100 fold growth, we must “continue steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine,” the first of which is “repentance from dead works.” Then we will have fellowship like they had, and the breaking of the bread of life, and prayers, and fear, “and many wonders and signs were done by the apostles.” The miracles came after they continued in the doctrine of  Christ.  (Acts 2: 42-47). This is after they repented and were baptized (v. 38-41).

Repentance is the cornerstone of Christ’s doctrine. He came preaching, “Repent, for the kingdom of God is at hand.” He also said, “Except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.” No getting around it. His remnant/elect, the sons and daughters of God, His princes and princesses—they will know these doctrines backwards and forwards. They must know them and do them, for they are pre-destined to sit on thrones with Christ, judging the nations. If you and I want this, if we really desire to go all the way with Christ, then we must pay the price of admission and completion. And it costs a lot—like everything. Law school’s a must for lawyers. Medical school’s a must for physicians. And the school of the prophets is a must for God’s future apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers. And a part of our basic education is understanding the difference between sins and faults.

Back to the Greek

“Sin” and “fault” are two different words in the Greek. The word “sin” is translated from the word harmatia (G266), 172 times. The word paraptoma (G3900) is translated “fault, trespass, offense, fall.” We see here two distinct words for two different kinds of offenses.

We begin our new spiritual growth cycle after receiving Christ’s Spirit in our hearts. This germination and growth begins by faith. We begin as little children with the new nature from God. And as in the natural, even though little children are sincere and delightful at times, they lack maturity. They mimic the spirit around them, be it good or bad. They are not perfect, and neither are we in our new spiritual walk with God. Our old sin nature is gone, thanks be unto God, but we are left with the task of repenting of our shortcomings. Our minds must be renewed and re-programmed through study of His word.

Repentance from Sins and Faults—There Is a Huge Difference

Not knowing the difference between sins and faults breeds doubts and fears in a Christian’s mind. Some will wonder and ask themselves, “Did I just sin? I feel bad about what I did. Was it  a sin?” The problem is that many followers of Christ mistake their faults for sins. This lack of knowledge causes them to forever keep themselves in chains of self-condemnation, and this stunts their growth in Christ. Many become discouraged. But to grow into the “fullness of Christ,” we must understand what faults are and how they differ from sins.

Sins are the fruit of our original sin nature we are born with. A sin is an action that breaks the Ten Commandments. As stated above, when we surrender our old nature to the death on the cross with Christ, our old sin nature dies along with the sin it produced. We become free because “he that is dead is free from sin.” Sin does not control us anymore In God’s eyes we are His sinless little children; He imputes His new righteous nature to us as we reckon it done by faith. Simply amazing faith and power (Rom. 6: 1-12)!

Delineating the Difference between Sins and Faults

Through belief in His resurrection, we receive a new nature, a law-abiding one of love. However, many imperfections in our character and make-up remain. God waves no magic wand for us. There is no “Poof!” that instantly transforms us into being perfect Christians.

We have many habits of thought and actions that are not pleasing to God. Before coming to Christ and His cross, we had our own thoughts that were programmed by the world and its thought-giver, the devil. Our old life was filled with habits of thinking and actions that still exist after our initial repentance from sin. And most of these thoughts and beliefs are in error. These make up the old leaven that must be purged after we come to Christ and are born again.

We are not talking about theft, adultery, false god worship, murder, stealing, hatred, coveting, etc. These are sins of the old nature that are repented of when we die with Christ on His cross. But after the sins are dead and gone, we still have many faults, shortcomings, trespasses and imperfections to be repented of. Note: If you still hate, steal, commit adultery, covet, then you still have the old nature and need to take it to the cross and surrender it to death.

The Divine Nature

The Spirit of Christ in Peter tells us that we are to grow in God in order to produce powerful fruit. We are called unto glory. But first, we are to partake of His “divine nature.” God has promised us “great and precious” things. But before this happens we lack certain aspects of His nature. As we begin walking in His footsteps, we fall short. We now have a new heart, but our lack of maturity in Christ produces trespasses and faults.

Peter says we need to add aspects of God’s “divine nature” to the faith we now walk in: virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience, godliness, brotherly kindness, and agape love (translated “charity”). He says that these things operating in us will insure that we will be fruitful in the knowledge of God. With God’s divine nature within us, we will “make our calling and election sure.” These additions to our faith will also illuminate “an entrance…into the everlasting kingdom” of Christ (II Pet. 1: 4-11). Not having these seven additions to the faith operating in our Christian life is a fault, not a sin. For we cannot begin to add them until the sin nature is gone.

Lack of Patience

Some have said that losing patience with another person is a sin. But “patience” is an attribute of God’s nature. It is His patience that we must add. As new Christians we are still running on our old concept of patience, and we will run out of it eventually. “Losing patience” is a fault, not a sin. God looks on the intent of the heart. In this example we see someone who intended to be Christ-like, but there is a lack of God’s nature. There’s a lack of maturity. God’s patience has not been added to this new Christian’s nature.

As said before, spiritual growth does not happen with a snap of the finger, mystically and magically. Receiving God’s patience into our being comes with an overcoming on our part, for “tribulation worketh patience.” Patience is endurance, and going through trials develops godly patience.

Here’s an example of the difference between a sin and a fault. Christ magnified the law when He taught on this commandment: “Thou shalt not kill.” [“Kill” here is better translated “murder.”] The Spirit taught that the spiritual root of murder is hate. “And he who hates his brother is a murderer” (I John 3: 15). We as Christians have passed from darkness to the light of love, and we no longer hate anyone. We may become impatient with someone in our dealings with them. But this is not a sin; it is a fault. For the Spirit has not grown up in us to fully express the 100 fold love and patience of the Father. But we are headed that way in our growth. Big difference.

Finally, sin is a “nature” thing. It is in mankind’s original nature to break the Ten Commandments. That is why it is said that if you are guilty of one of the commandments, you are guilty of them all. To break them all is in that nature. But God has made a way to put to death our first sin nature. He replaces it with the “new man,” the spiritual nature that sins no more. But we lack maturity and still have faults and shortcomings to be repented of.

Why This Lesson Is Important

If a Christian believes that faults are sins, he will not believe this scripture: “Whosoever is born of God does not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God” (I John 3: 9). He will say to himself, “I am born again and I sin.” And that Christian will look at his fault and call it a sin, and he will reject this passage because of it. And he will miss this precious truth. And his growth in Christ will be stunted.    Kenneth Wayne Hancock

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January 8, 2018 · 6:09 pm

Humility, Sufferings, and the True Worship of God

True worship takes place in the invisible, spiritual place of the heart—a heart whose pride is broken. A broken and contrite spirit is the first step in worshiping our Father; He is near to those. He will only accept worship from a humbled heart and a surrendered mind. This is worshiping “in spirit.” But it must be tempered with the truth about God’s purpose and plan to reproduce Himself. Only after humility comes exaltation. The head is bowed before it’s crowned.

Humility is the only spiritual clothing we are to wear in our worship of the Father. In fact, without it there is no worship. Humility is a purified expression of gratefulness to our Father who has cleaned up our sin-stained hearts. It is like the white raiment that He clothes us with, a pure garment without spot or wrinkle (Rev. 3: 5). Humility is the spirit and attitude we must have in order to worship the Father “in spirit and in truth.”

Humility Not Man’s Forte

However, being humble is not one of mankind’s strong points. Humanistic hubris has replaced reverential awe of our Creator. Man is in awe of himself. Natural man is born with the world in his heart, along with its desires of the flesh and eyes, and the “pride of life” (Prov. 3: 11; 1 John 2: 16). And this pride seems to say, “Hey, world, it’s all okay because I am here and I have got it all figured out.” Man puts himself first, loves himself first, and generally centers in on his own abilities to solve the problems of life. Natural man basically worships himself. He gives little thought to a Supreme Being who is wiser and more powerful than himself.

But there is a reason that natural man is on the earth. God created him for His own specific purpose. God wants to use him to fulfill His purpose of reproducing Himself in man. But natural man is so full of himself that there is no room for God’s Spirit of love, joy, and peace to enter in and begin the reproduction process of Himself. God can’t live in the house of pride. There is no room for Him at Prideful Inn. God needs first for us human beings to become humble. He will not manifest Himself in vessels filled with pride because a man with no humility would take credit for the “glory to be revealed in us” (Rom. 8: 18). Just look down through history at the dictators, who were blessed with earthly power. Look how they heaped glory upon themselves, taking credit for their exalted station in life.

Humility Needed

In order for us to contain the Holy Spirit in His fullness, we need to be humble. But therein lies the problem. Man—even childish, immature Christians—are loathe to humble themselves. Even after the 30 fold baptism into Christ’s death and the public testimony of the new direction of one’s heart, we still need more and more humility in order to grow spiritually. We are told by the Spirit in scripture to humble ourselves. If this is not done, the Father, because He loves us, steps in and provides trials, tribulations, and sufferings that He uses to humble us.

The Answer to One of Life’s Great Questions

Why must Christians go through sufferings? Because God cannot dwell in a body filled with pride. So God allows us to go through sufferings which brings humility. And this, in turn, draws God closer to us because of His love for us. We then come to Him and worship Him with a humble heart and spirit.

This is why the Spirit through the apostle Peter tells us that there will come a “trial of your faith.” These trials purify our faith like fire purifies gold; they sharpen our belief in our great Father (I Pet. 1: 6-7).

These trials of your faith are called the sufferings of Christ in us. Peter tells us to “think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you; but rejoice, inasmuch as you are partakers of Christ’s sufferings; that, when His glory shall be revealed, you may be glad also with exceeding joy” (I Pet. 4: 12-13).

Pride prohibits God from entering into us to reproduce Love (Himself). Trials, temptations, tribulations, and sufferings humble us that God may enter. When He does, we then feel His Spirit of Love inside our hearts, and Love begins to grow and manifests itself to others. We then go before His presence praising Him and thanking Him for His love and mercy upon us. This is how the reproduction process works. The diamond of love is produced through fiery pressure of sufferings. Knowing the truth about God reproducing Himself in us opens the doors of true worship. This is worshiping God in truth and in spirit.

When I Was a Child

When I first became a Christian, I did not understand about the sufferings of Christ. I did not want anything to do with the trials, tribulations and sufferings. I like most newborn Christians just wanted to bask in the newfound joy, love, and peace that I had found in Christ and His brotherhood. And it was a wonderful time in the swaddling clothes of Love. God’s servants held me close and nourished me spiritually, feeding me with the warmth of the milk of the word. And I grew, although I was mostly alive for what I could receive of my Father. But it was only later, through the trials and sufferings, that I understood these precious and painful truths that I now share. For these truths about sufferings can only be understood when we comprehend His purpose, which He will only reveal to a humbled soul.

We have been called unto a glorious walk with our Savior—a walk that leads to manifesting God’s full glory, replete with the “greater works” than even the Seed Son did. When He comes back, He will crown the faithful over comers with a “crown of glory that fades not away.” But to arrive at this 100 fold level of maturity, we must endure with great patience the trials that bring the humility needed to insure His visitation into our lives. As Peter tells us, “Be clothed with humility, for God resists the proud, and gives grace to the humble.” We are to humble ourselves “under the mighty hand of God.” God’s hand contains five fingers, a symbol of his five-fold ministry offices. These are His apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers (I Pet. 5: 4-6; Eph. 4: 11-12). Without them, there will be no “perfecting of the saints,” no “work of the ministry,” and no “edifying of the body of Christ.”

Kenneth Wayne Hancock

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November 18, 2017 · 11:37 pm

What Christ Taught–The Kingdom of God

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We have learned that the anointing is “truth and is no lie.” And we know that Christ, the Anointed One, is the truth, for He said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.” Christ expressed this with words; He is, after all, “the Word made flesh.” And this fact makes these words come alive: “Thy word is truth.” Consequently, to be anointed by God is to have God’s word of truth in one’s heart and pouring through one’s mouth. If preachers are operating in falsehoods, fabrications, and imaginations about God, then they are not anointed by Yahweh. Period. And they are legion. For the anointing is no lie (I Jn. 2: 27; John 14: 6; John 1: 1, 14; Dan. 9: 25-26 NIV).

Christ Is the Truth and the Word

So what did our Master, the greatest Teacher, teach? What words came out of His mouth when He was speaking? He is the Anointed King, so what truths came forth from Him? They were the Father Yahweh’s words. “The words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwells in me, He does the works” (John 14: 10).

And what exactly did Yahweh’s words coming out of Christ’s mouth say? In other words, what exactly did Christ teach? And by extension, what should we all be teaching?

  • “Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” It is right here, right now on this earth (Mt. 4: 17). When He began to preach and teach, these were His first words.
  • “Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.” The very first thing in our search should be His kingdom and righteousness (Mt. 6: 33).
  • Christ came “preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God.” The good news is the kingdom.
  • Christ sent out His twelve disciples to preach, and He had them say, “The kingdom of heaven is at hand.” The kingdom message was multiplied through His disciples (Mt. 10: 7).
  • All of the parables that He spoke convey and conceal at the same time secrets and mysteries of His kingdom—what it is like, where it is, when it is to come, etc. Some of the parables are in Matthew 13: 3-52.
  • “…Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven…” The Lord’s Prayer is the model prayer that our prayers should emulate. Having His kingdom come to earth is the first thing that we should ask for. His kingdom is the fulfillment of His purpose and plan and will be accomplished in the earth (Luke 11: 2).
  • Christ spoke constantly about the kingdom of God during His 3 ½ year ministry.
  • The kingdom was so important to Him that He was still teaching it after His death, burial, and resurrection! For forty days He was seen of His apostles. During that time, He was “speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God” (Acts 1: 1-3).
  • After the resurrection, the very first question that the disciples asked was this: “Will you at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel?” They wanted His government to come for their time, in which the fleshly children of the Hebrew patriarchs would receive power to rule the nations. They must have been talking about this, for it to be the first thought and question out of their mouths. This question points to not only a religious government, but also a political one. They said, “to Israel.” And Christ had said, “I am sent only to the lost sheep of the House of Israel.” Meat to chew on (Acts 1: 6; Mt. 15: 24).
  • We could go on and on with quotes about Christ’s government coming to this earth. The word “kingdom” appears over 120 times in the four gospels alone. Christ spoke the Father’s words out of His mouth, leaving us an example. Yet, the vast majority of preachers today do not teach His kingdom. The word “kingdom” seldom escapes their lips. But they insist that they have the anointing, the truth, the word of God. They mention Christ, but they do not teach the same words that He taught. Therefore, the Father is not speaking through them, for they speak not His words. So one must ask, Has God anointed them? Short answer: No.

After they had received the Spirit of Truth, the disciples later realized that the kingdom of God is where the Spirit of God is residing. The kingdom is wherever the Truth is. Wherever the King is, the government of God is there. The kingdom of God was foremost in Christ’s mind. It was all about the kingdom. And we are to have the mind of Christ.

Having the Mind of Christ

In order to have the mind of Christ, we must reprogram our thinking. It does not happen overnight. It takes time and study and prayer.

There is a process. God’s little children, upon receiving a new heart, receive “an earnest of His Spirit,” which is a down payment portion of His Spirit. This allows them to see and enter the kingdom of God (John 3: 3-5). This will take them through the thirty fold realm of spiritual growth. This is a beginning part of the kingdom of God. Or better put, the Spirit begins to guide God’s little children.

And as they begin to grow, they are given trials to overcome, which purifies their walk. Then God begins to execute His plan within them. His Spirit grows in them to fulfill His purpose of reproducing Himself, which is multiplying love. We are told, “Do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal that has come on you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you.” It is all part of His plan and is part of the sufferings of Christ (I Pet. 4: 12-13). It can be difficult. To grow, there must be painful purging out of old leaven at times. Those who overcome all things will be the citizens of the kingdom of God upon the King’s return.  Kenneth Wayne Hancock

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