Category Archives: faith

July 18, 2018 · 5:42 pm

Apostles’ Doctrine Explains How God Reproduces Himself—In Us

God is reproducing Himself. This is His eternal purpose that has been “kept secret from the foundation of the world.” He revealed His purpose to His holy apostles and prophets in the early rain era, and now He is revealing His plan to us in the latter rain era. The seven teachings of Christ that became the apostles’ doctrine explain how the Father will accomplish His purpose—in us. [For much more on this, order your free copy with free shipping of my latest book, The Royal Destiny of God’s Elect. Send your snail mail address to my email wayneman5@hotmail.com  No gimmicks, no follow up, just love from above, down and through. You need this book].

Yes, His purpose is to multiply Himself. He likens the process to the law of harvest where a man plants a grain of corn in his garden. After harvesting that lone seed, hundreds of seeds—just like the original—are ready to be either eaten or replanted. Quite elementary are these teachings of Christ, and yet they are profound. Christ’s doctrine spoke of the growth cycle in nature, a metaphor of the spiritual growth that transforms natural man into the “manifestation of the sons of God.” In fact, it is through viewing nature’s “seed time and harvest” cycle that we get our first glimpse of Christ’s doctrine of “the resurrection of the dead.”

In nature, a tiny seed loses its identity by being buried in the earth, and then the resurrection power from God surges into that seed, causing it to spring to life. It is a rebirth, a classic type of life out of death. It is from this matrix that we may extrapolate the spiritual life cycle of man. It is all about life out of death.

God is Love, and He is reproducing Himself through you and me. We have seen that “the seed is the word of God.” And seeds are created by God to grow. And they grow until harvest, when His word in our hearts comes to full fruition. This is when His word is magnified, and through it He is glorified when He sees Love expressed one to another through us. Our destiny is the harvest of many sons and daughters just like Christ.

Christ’s Doctrines Explain How God Is Reproducing Himself

Using this truth as a jumping off point, we look to Christ’s doctrine that He taught His early apostles. They learned from the Chief Apostle and High Priest Yahshua. His doctrine became His apostles’ doctrine. These seven specific teachings are extremely important, for they explain how God reproduces Himself. Each one of the seven sheds light on a facet of how He produces light out of darkness. Through the apostles’ doctrine, Christ shows us how He takes the dark heart of a selfish wretch and transforms him into a shining minister of light. “Let there be light,” is the seed/word from God in Genesis. And sure enough, that scripture is fulfilled in our hearts. He earnestly wants this for us all. But, if we do not have thorough knowledge of His doctrine, then it is doubtful that He will use us to fully reproduce Himself. I.e., we will lose our opportunity to become a member of God’s first fruits, the first to have Christ fully formed in us.

It was asked, “I understand, but what if we follow this way and die before Christ returns, and Christ is still not fully formed in us?” Then we join the other apostles and prophets awaiting Christ’s return to earth. He has promised that He will resurrect His followers upon His return. Those who are alive when He returns to earth will be changed “in a twinkling of an eye.” So whether we live, we are living His plan, and whether we die, we expire having lived and worked for His plan to come to fruition.

It All Begins with the Seed

It starts with the Seed, the word of God, being planted in our hearts. The sower sows the seed by telling others about Christ’s love for us all. The Seed is the Word, and in that word is a promise of a new clean life, free from the sin that has darkened our actions toward others. When we believe in Christ’s resurrection, He energizes that very word, and like a seed, it begins to grow. Seeds grow. That is their destiny. And now that the Seed of God in the form of Christ has taken root in our hearts, we begin to grow.

But like any seed, the new spiritual man inside of us needs good soil, water and sunshine to grow to its potential. Good soil is earth that is free from contaminants. The problem with quick spiritual growth is that our new man sits in a mind that has been contaminated. What are the contaminants? Erroneous concepts concerning God’s purpose and plan and kingdom, salvation. You name it. Almost anything you have heard about God needs some straightening out. All of the apostles and prophets of the Bible warn us incessantly about false prophets, false teachers, and false pastors.

But you rarely hear a word on Sunday morning about it. The people in the pews are told to accept Jesus, go to church, pay your tithes and offerings, pray, support your local communities, and just be a better you. All of which sounds so correct and good.

Especially the last one. Be a better you. What’s wrong with that one? You may ask. Christ did not tell you to be better. He said that there was no one righteous, no not one. He said, Take up your cross and follow Me. Back in the day, that meant only one thing. You would be dying very soon on that cross. Be a better you? No. In fact, He says that “you” must spiritually die with Him in revelation on the cross, the place where your sinful nature finally expires. There is no “cleaning up your old self.” No. For He says that “our righteousness is as filthy rags.” To be better, we must submit to death on the cross and then receive His Spirit into the new heart that He gives us. Our vessel gets “better” when we are no longer there [we must decrease] and when He is growing in us [He must increase] (John 3: 30). That is the message. Everything else is just smoke and mirrors and falls woefully short of what the Master requires.

Nevertheless, “Be a better you” sounds so right to the natural man. However, we must get rid of the old concepts about Christ. The truth found in the apostles’ doctrine contains the nutrients that we need to grow spiritually into Him.

For we see that Christ is the Seed, the Word that was made flesh and that walked among us (John 1: 14). And He fell into the ground and was raised up the third day. His resurrection power now courses through our mortal flesh. “God is a Spirit,” and He now lives in us, and through Him we are raised up with Him and now walk in a brand new life (John 4: 24; Rom. 6: 4).

The early apostles stayed in Christ’s doctrine, making it their own. They continued in His teachings because they knew that they contained the secrets of sonship. Christ’s teachings explain how God will reproduce Himself in us. If we are serious about going all the way and being like the early apostles, then we must do what they did. They studied Christ’s seven doctrines and got rid of false teachings. That is the bottom line.      Kenneth Wayne Hancock

{Brothers and sisters, you made it through the 1,300 words to this short addendum, proving that you, like me, are hungry for the meat and are tired of playing church house games. The Spirit is going deeper and deeper, explaining His plan and guiding us into all truth. The above is a chapter in the new book The Apostles’ Doctrine. I am writing it to leave to you, that you would have a guidebook that will afford you comfort and instruction for the long journey to the end of this age. It is for you who desire to overcome all things and sit down with Christ on His throne. This calling of manifested sonship (and daughtership) is a rare spiritual commodity, and it takes a rare breed of cat (a Lion, perhaps) to enter through its doors into the Father’s good graces. I have great respect for the future manifested sons and daughters who will “rule and reign with Christ” right here on earth upon His return. It is my privilege to be able to share with you a little milk and meat of the word to strengthen you on your quest. Keep studying. Dig deep, for only those who do will be approved by God to do great things in the earth. Can you hear Him knocking? Can you hear His voice?}

3 Comments

Filed under apostles' doctrine, belief, calling of God, Christ, cross, crucified with Christ, death of self, elect, eternal purpose, faith, false doctrines, false teachers, Law of Harvest, light, old leaven, old self, perfection, repentance, spiritual growth, Spiritual Life Cycle

Tagged as , , ,

July 11, 2018 · 5:52 pm

The Resurrection of the Dead–The Many Levels of the Fifth Doctrine of the Apostles

When someone first hears of the “resurrection of the dead,” they think of Christ’s resurrection. And rightfully so, for without His resurrection from the dead, our faith, our preaching, and our hope of eternal life are all vain and utterly of no profit. And like Paul said, if there is no resurrection, “…we are of all men most miserable.” However, Christ is alive; He is risen, and He is our only hope of immortality (I Cor. 15: 12-19).

And yet, Christ’s doctrine, The Resurrection of the Dead, which became the apostles’ doctrine, encompasses a vast array of miraculous pulsating life, from the smallest garden seed to the new heavens and a new earth that He has promised.

Belief in His resurrection opens the door to the light of His resurrection power. Belief in Him raising from the dead after three days and three nights in the tomb—that is the seed beginning of our yearning “to know Him and the power of His resurrection.” For His power commands light to spring out of darkness, creating a new heart in us where once the darkness of selfishness dwelt.

Back to 1971

I remember when I was twenty-four, I went through a life-changing experience, and Christ’s resurrection was at the center of it all. As a child I had heard many times the story of the Savior and how He rose from the dead. I had walked the aisle at ten, being swiftly baptized into that Baptist church. But later as a teen I left the church after my parents’ divorce. I surmised then that something was terribly amiss; there was no love and peace in Big D. In my tortured teenage angst, I figured that the message the church was teaching was not strong enough to hold my parents together, so I moved on.

Yet, everyone at the church had said that I was “born again,” but booze and cigarettes and Playboy magazines became my cheap little gods. I realized later that I had never risen with Him from the state of being dead in sin. By 1971 my old nature had grabbed the steering wheel of my life and was drunkenly crashing into everything. It was then that I first heard that my old sinful nature “is crucified with Christ.”  And that I am buried with Him, and by believing in His resurrection, I, too, am raised from the dead (in sin). I was raised to “walk in a newness of life.”

I had skin in the game this time. I was presenting my body as a “living sacrifice,” trusting in the power of His resurrection to sustain me in this new sinless walk of life. I had a great teacher who told me that “he that is dead is freed from sin…and in Him is no sin.”

Powerful truth is found in His word. But, first, someone’s got to stand on the wall and proclaim it in the face of the gainsayers. And then it must be believed. It is by faith in His resurrection that the surge of new life comes into our mortal bodies.

So, I went home and tried to think upon these things. But the first thought that came piercing into my mind like a sharp arrow was this: You don’t really believe that Christ was actually raised from the dead, do you?

This thought shattered me. My existence fell like shards of glass to the floor. I felt the terror of one who was hopelessly lost, rudderless, adrift in an empty sea of nihilism.

The next day I related all this to my mentor. He told me that the voice was Satan’s and that Satan knows that belief in the resurrection is the crux of the whole matter. If he gets you to doubt the resurrection, he wins, and you lose. I have not forgotten that day so many years ago. I was blessed; I had someone who loved me and helped me to overcome the first of Satan’s assaults.

From Personal to the Universal

The early apostles continued in the doctrine of the resurrection of the dead. They had the ultimate mentor, the “Author and Finisher of our faith,” Christ. He taught them that the resurrection has many levels, from the personal level on up to the universal level. Christ’s resurrection power is shown when a humble little garden seed sacrifices its identity and yields to that invisible creative power that is God, and then life bursts from that seed. Such is the word of the Spirit; such is the Seed, the Word of God, when it springs forth in our hearts.

From the personal the “resurrection of the dead” grows into a national scope. Remember how Christ was always teaching about the “lost sheep of the House of Israel”? For forty days after His resurrection, Christ taught them “the things pertaining to the kingdom of God”?  And the foremost question on their minds was this: “Lord, will you at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel?” The national restoration of the lost tribes of Israel was on their minds, and they continued speaking on this theme because it was one of the main doctrines of Christ (Acts 1: 3-6). This restoration of the lost tribes of Israel is a resurrection of their nation spoken by the Spirit through the “mouth of all of His holy prophets since the world began.”

The next level of the apostles’ doctrine of the resurrection of the dead is worldwide. The earth will have gone through the Great Tribulation Period; the world system will be destroyed. The earth will have gone through a devastation that the world has never seen. The earth and its inhabitants are the walking dead by the end of this horrendous seven year period. This is when God will resurrect the whole earth through the establishment of His government and kingdom.

But there is another resurrection that takes place on a galactic scale. The Spirit speaks of a planting of the heavens. “For, behold, I create new heavens and a new earth…And of the increase of His government and peace there shall be no end…We look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwells righteousness” (Isa. 51: 16; 65: 17; Dan. 2: 44; II Pet. 3: 13). God will sow His seed, planting us with life giving power to resurrect cold dead planets, translating them into the gardens of God.

This resurrection of the universe is so grand and glorious, that my small mind struggles to taste it. It brings to mind Paul’s quote of Isaiah: “But as it is written, Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God has prepared for them that love him. But God has revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God” (I Cor. 2: 9-10).            Kenneth Wayne Hancock

5 Comments

Filed under apostles' doctrine, death of self, eternal purpose, faith, great tribulation period, kingdom of God, old self, resurrection

July 4, 2018 · 3:24 pm

If You Ain’t Knowin’, You Ain’t Growin’

A wise voice once spoke to me, “If you ain’t knowin’, you ain’t  growin’.”

And so later I asked myself, “Knowing what exactly?” And then a few scriptures came to me.

“Be still and know that I am God.” First, be still. Get out of the traffic of your life, slow down, and take that country road and pull over, and with a calm mind, know that He is God.

But which God, or rather which version of the God of the Bible? “What is His name?” Moses asked. “I AM THAT I AM” was God’s reply. YHWH in the Hebrew. And it was the same I AM that spoke through Christ when He said, “Before Abraham was I am.” Know that “the fullness of the godhead dwelt bodily in Christ.” “Be still and know that I am God” (Psm. 46: 10) [For much more on this subject, read Chapters 11-14 in Yah Is Savior: The Road to Immortality found here:  https://immortalityroad.wordpress.com/book-yah-is-savior-the-road-to-immortality/ ].

Knowing and growing in Him. And then the much quoted passage from Christ’s lips came to mind: “You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (John 8: 32). But free from what exactly? He answers that two verses later. “Whoever commits sin is a slave of sin.”  I.e., if you are sinning, it is because you are Sin’s slave. Sin is your master. You do Sin’s bidding. You are not free from sin. You don’t know the truth that will free you from sin and sinning (the breaking of the Ten Commandments [I John 3: 4]).

To know the truth that will free us from having to sin. What is that knowledge that will liberate mankind from sin’s slavery? HalleluYah! This is gigantic information!

“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). Same verses in the NIV: “For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin— because anyone who has died has been set free from sin.” We have got to know that our old sinful first nature “was crucified” with Christ on the cross. It is already accomplished! The only thing that we need to do is believe it. That is all. And through believing it, we know that it is done by Him. It just takes faith/belief.

I don’t get it. This is so fundamental. Why aren’t pastors and ministers preaching this in their churches? Oh, I don’t know. Could it be that they just do not believe it? And it is not a very popular message. Hey, people, repent of your sins and die with Christ on His cross! Not real popular. Probably it will get you fired. Hirelings get fired. God’s prophets and apostles and teachers don’t. They are not in it for the salary. And so, the pastors and ministers blather platitudes about Christ and never by His Spirit speak of this knowledge.

Brothers and sisters, we’ve got to know this: God gives us His word that if we submit our old sinful selves to spiritually die with Christ on the cross, that He will free us from sin and sinning. Because “he that is dead is freed from sin.” And now we also know that being spiritually buried with Him, and being raised up with Him secures a brand new life in Him, free from the bondage to sin and its consequences. It is all laid out there in the sixth chapter of Romans. This is where the knowledge of the truth that will free us from sin is crystallized.

Of course, there are many passages of scripture that deal with knowing. But I will close with one that seems to fit nicely here, again from Christ’s lips: “If you know these things, happy are you if you do them” (John 13: 17). And we are growing when we do Christ’s things. Knowing and doing equals growing. “If you ain’t knowin’ you ain’t growin’.”       Kenneth Wayne Hancock

[Order your free copy of any of my books—free with free shipping in the USA. Just email me your snail mail address, mentioning which book—the latest being The Royal Destiny of God’s Elect.  wayneman5@hotmail.com ]

2 Comments

Filed under belief, Bible, cross, crucified with Christ, death, death of self, faith, Sacred Names, sin, spiritual growth, Spiritual Life Cycle, truth, Yahweh

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

1 Comment

Filed under apostles' doctrine, baptism, children of God, Christ, death, death of self, elect, eternal purpose, faith, kingdom of God, knowledge, Love from Above, old self, Parables, perfection, prayer, resurrection, sons of God, Spirit of God, spiritual growth, Spiritual Life Cycle

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

1 Comment

Filed under apostles' doctrine, baptism, belief, children of God, church, cross, crucified with Christ, death, death of self, elect, eternal purpose, faith, hope, kingdom of God, love, Love from Above, old self, Parables, sin, spiritual growth, Spiritual Life Cycle

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

1 Comment

Filed under agape, apostles' doctrine, children of God, Christ, elect, eternal purpose, faith, glorification, God's desire, light, love, Love from Above, perfection, princes and princesses of God, repentance

March 31, 2018 · 4:09 pm

The Importance of the Apostles’ Doctrine

The doctrines that the early apostles taught were Christ’s very own teachings. And Christ’s doctrines were the Father’s. Christ said, “My doctrine is not mine, but His that sent Me” (John 7: 16). That is why they are so important to God and should be important to us.

The apostles’ doctrine is the foundation. Period. When Christ admonishes us to dig deep and lay our house upon the rock, He means for us to have that solid foundation of His teachings of truth, for He is the truth.

We cannot go any farther in our preparation to fulfill God’s purpose of reproducing Himself in us without these principles established in our hearts. This is the major reason that millions of mute professing Christians sit in the same pew every week for decades. Some feel stagnant, ossified, and stunted.  These beautiful and wonderful people spiritually grow very little, for they were not taught the doctrine of Christ, which are the teachings that the apostles embraced. The people in the pews hear sermons about Christ, but not messages from Christ.

At best, Christ’s teachings are not presented as a purposeful curriculum. Preachers accidentally hint around at a biblical theme, but precious few know where Christ wants us to go and how to get there. And yet, it is right there in the scriptures. His teachings are right there, written down in the Bible, but one needs the key to gain “entrance…into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and savior Jesus Christ (Yahshua the Messiah). His doctrine is plainly laid out for us (Heb. 6: 1-2).

Millions of Christians have read the apostles’ doctrine, but without the compass pointing to God’s purpose, the knowledge of God becomes just another nice story, another promise of going to heaven, escaping the woes of this earth. Escaping hell and going to heaven—is that all there is?

No. Christ has promised that “few there be to find this way of truth.” That means that few will be seeking the “high calling of God in Christ.” A few will learn the apostles’ doctrine like the early apostles did. And these few in our day will do the “greater works” that Christ promised some of us will do. They are the remnant; they are the first fruits.

For there is a stark distinction between those on the milk of the word and those on the strong meat of the word. Those desiring the milk are little children spiritually; those on meat will grow strong and brave and will do the same mighty works that Christ did. That is His promise. And by doing what He did, God fulfills His purpose of reproducing Himself. But the strong meat can only be digested by those who have the strong foundation in the apostles’ doctrine. Only those who have studied and shared the milk of the word with the young ones coming into the body will grow into fathers of the faith like the apostle Paul. The apostles’ doctrine is Christ’s pure teachings without the old leaven, which is the error-filled doctrines of the Pharisees and Sadducees and Herod.

So, yes, Christ’s teachings are important. They are the yellow brick road leading to us fulfilling our very purpose in being here on earth, which is to glorify God. But here is an example of just how humble and great our God is. He will glorify us by filling us up with Himself first, and in so doing, He is glorified. When He will have multiplied Himself in us, then He will be glorified. You talk about giving and thinking of others. What Love!

In God’s Mind It Is Already Done

The key to implementing every step in our spiritual growth is this: In God’s mind and heart, it is already done. His work and purpose is already finished in us. He sees us that way, as already having all of His holy attributes. For He “calls those things which be not as though they were” (Rom. 4: 17). That is a good description of His faith in Himself and in us. Through His apostles and prophets, He has spoken prophecy about us. And He believes His own word concerning us and sees it as accomplished. That is His faith, which now is our faith since He now lives within us.

Take repentance from sin. Nobody wants to talk about that concept. Most preachers equate it to feeling sorry for the bad things that they have done. But that is “godly sorrow which leads us to repentance.” Feeling sorry is good but it is not repentance. Repentance from sin happens when we surrender our old heart, our old nature, our old self and let it die with Christ on the cross. “And he that is dead is freed from sin. Feeling conviction and sorrow and walking the aisle and joining the church does not constitute repentance from sin. For past sins keep rearing their ugly heads in a person’s mind. There is a remembering of sins, and one’s conscience bothers them, and they feel guilty and defeated again. It is only the blood of Christ that can “purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God.” These dead works are produced by a sinful old nature.

But here is the astounding thing. Our old sinful self, in God’s eyes, is already dead. He is just waiting for His people to believe it. He has reckoned our old nature dead, and He considers us alive unto Him. What we must do is believe it in faith, confess it with our mouth that the Father has raised Christ from the dead, and we then may begin to “walk in a newness of life.” Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with Him…Rom. 6: 6.

This walk is a huge part of the first two of the apostles’ doctrine: repentance from dead works and faith toward God. The apostles’ doctrine is not only important, but also vital in us fulfilling our destiny here on earth.  Kenneth Wayne Hancock

8 Comments

Filed under apostles' doctrine, belief, Christ, death, death of self, eternal purpose, faith, glorification, manifestation of the sons of God, old self, repentance, sin

March 5, 2018 · 7:53 pm

Faith Is Believing What God Believes

We have been sent into this world by Christ to bear witness to the truth (John 17: 18). A group of young Christians asks us to speak truth to them. What would we tell them? We should be speaking to them the exact same message that Christ spoke, not a message about Christ. Big difference. In fact, Christ’s very Spirit should be speaking through us to that group of young hungry seekers of God. But what would Christ say? Rather, what should He tell them through us?

  1. Christ spoke of God’s eternal purpose, which is this: God is reproducing Himself. He is agape love, and He intends to multiply Himself throughout all eternity.
  2. He spoke of His plan to accomplish this purpose. He created human beings to be the medium by which He would accomplish this magnificent purpose. God plants His Seed/Son in our hearts, and that seed of Love grows into His Kingdom of Love and Righteousness, till “God be all in all.”
  3. His plan is laid out in the Christ’s teachings.
  4. His teachings are His doctrine (Heb. 6: 1-2)
  5. The early apostles made it their doctrine.
  6. And the early church continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine
  7. Repentance from dead works is the first teaching. Sin is the breaking of the 10 Com. law (I John 3: 4). To repent one reckons their old self dead on the cross with Christ, buried with Christ. Then belief in His resurrection in us raises us up in a newness of life (Rom. 6: 1-12).
  8. The rest of the apostles’ doctrine is faith toward God, baptisms, laying on of hands, resurrection of the dead, eternal judgement, and perfection.
  9. We receive the faith of the Son of God when we believe.

Faith, the Second Apostles’ Doctrine

The early church were of one mind and one accord. And one faith. God’s faith. Like Paul said, “The life I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God…”

It is all about belief—“faith” and “belief” are translated from the same Greek word. They both mean believing having not seen. But when we think of “faith” we immediately think about our faith in God. What we need to see is that we are dead and our life now is His life; our faith now is His faith, His belief in Himself, and His belief that we are in a right state with Him.

For it is God’s faith in Himself that moves mountains. “With God all things are possible.” His faith in His own intelligence and power is the foundation of His divine nature that He has imparted to us. We are to add to this faith other facets of His nature that now resides in us. God believed in His own abilities and power before He saw the fruit produced in us according to His plan of Sonship.

It Is All About the Seed

Like every spring, we get the urge to plant a seed in the garden. We take a seed and place it in the broken earth. We do this by faith, by believing that it will spring to life and shoot up and grow and finally bear fruit. We believe that this tiny seed will bear fruit before we ever plant it.

This is like God’s faith. He believes in His Seed, His Son. He has faith that His plan will work; He knows that it will, for He has spoken it, and His word is that Seed, and it always comes up and grows comes to pass.

That’s the faith we now walk in! It is not our puny faith that we have to muster up out of our depleted reserves. It is His faith! It is all about believing what He believes! Hey, He believes in His Spirit that He has placed now in us. Now we can say, “It is no longer I that lives but Christ that lives in me.” It is the Son’s faith that we live by now! (Gal. 2: 20).

I believe that this is what those young Christians need to hear. Not some tired, old, worn out platitudes about Christ, used in the 19th  and 20th Centuries. Yesterday’s light was a needed candle back then. But now Christ has arisen in our hearts with a new powerful light that illuminates our path to the entrance “into the everlasting kingdom of our” God (II Pet. 1: 4-11). Remember that yesterday’s manna is of no use today. Christ is now giving “the hidden manna” to the over comers (Ex. 16: 14-21; Rev. 2: 17).

Kenneth Wayne Hancock

2 Comments

Filed under additions to our faith, agape, apostles' doctrine, baptism, belief, cross, crucified with Christ, death, death of self, elect, eternal purpose, faith, glorification, kingdom of God, light, Love from Above, manifestation of the sons of God, repentance

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

13 Comments

Filed under additions to our faith, apostles' doctrine, belief, children of God, faith, love, repentance, sin, sons and daughters of God, spiritual growth, Spiritual Life Cycle

Tagged as ,

January 20, 2018 · 9:51 pm

True Worship and Prayer

True worship, then, is worshiping God in spirit and in truth. “And so it is written: ‘The first man Adam became a living being’; the last Adam, a life-giving spirit.” When we are born into this world, we are a living being, a living soul. But when we are born from above, we become a spirit that gives life; we become a “life-giving spirit.” (I Cor. 15: 45 NIV)

“For that which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit” (John 3: 6). Brothers and sisters, as born again Christians, we are now spirit because we have been born of the Spirit of God. Each seed bears its own kind.

We are new creatures—spirit-creatures now. We are no longer of the earth, although we do dwell in these clay earthen bodies. Now that we are changed into a spirit, He calls us the “last Adam.” Since we are new spiritual creatures, we simply must stop speaking as the first Adam did, as we used to. But someone will say, “Well, it is all I know.” True, but that is why we must study the written word and dig deep and get it into our new hearts. For the word of God is spirit. Christ said, “The words I speak unto you are spirit and they are life.” And He has told us to study His words, and study we must in order to do Him justice. We owe our King that (II Cor. 5: 17-19; John 6: 63).

Now That We Are Spirit

We now may enter into true worship of our Father, for only a spirit being, born of the Spirit, can worship the Spirit of Truth, which is our Father. “God is a Spirit,” a Spirit-Being that gives life to the dead. We know this because we were once dead in our sins, but now we are made “alive unto God” through Christ’s resurrection of the dead. Engendered by the Supreme Spirit-Being, we now have His life-giving seed within our hearts. And this seed is the word that the Father has spoken and now written down in our hearts. We now are a part of His heart, born of His Spirit, and now able to give life like He did for us. We do this by sharing His word with others. This is the bread of life, broken for you and others. His seed becomes bread that will sustain others unto eternal life. His word is the seed, now ground into unleavened flour through our shared sufferings and baked into the bread of life. This is the partaking of the bread; this is communion—the spiritual sharing of His word, plan and purpose. Everything else is window dressing, if it is done without true knowledge in true worship (John 4: 24; Rom. 6: 4-11; I Pet. 1: 23; John 6: 33-35).

We now are a spirit that can make others alive. When we relate the truth of Christ to the lost, and they respond, we are being used by God to raise the dead, for they are dead in their sins. As we share our testimony of how God gave us new life in Him, we are giving new life to others. This is how we are a “life-giving spirit.” This is part of the 30 fold “resurrection of the dead,” the fifth apostles’ doctrine. If we are faithful in giving others a new spiritual life, then the Father will grant us more power to perform Lazarus-like miracles. It is coming for those who can receive it.

Those who have ears that can hear what the Spirit is saying to us—they will stand in reverential awe of this mighty Spirit of Love, who shares Himself. And as our hearts bow before Him, stupefied beyond mere human words at His majestic mercy, a brokenness comes over us as we begin to worship our humble Father and King. For He seeks such who are like Him, who have a broken spirit and a contrite heart. For they are the only ones who may enter into this rareified court. For God’s love has melted our hearts from which gratefulness pours forth. And this gratitude is expressed in communication back to the Father in the form of prayer.

Prayer—What Do We Say after “Thank You”?

We cannot but pray, for it is the foundation of a spirit’s worship of the Great Spirit Yahweh. Prayer is invisible; it ushers forth from the spiritual heart with waves of thanks splashing on heaven’s shores.

No wonder we are told to “pray always.” I could not understand that as a young Christian. It sounded impossible. How many times can we say thank you to God? What else should we express to Him? What other things should we discuss with Him?

In essence the disciples asked these same questions. After seeing Christ pray, they said, “Lord, teach us to pray.” First He told them how not to pray. Don’t pray in public to be seen of men like the hypocrites do. Go into a secret place. Don’t use “vain repetitions, as the heathen do.” Then He taught them what to say by giving them a model prayer.

And then He gives them the key. “After this manner therefore pray ye…”  He then gives them the example prayer. Just mouthing the words of it does nothing. He wants our hearts full of His ideas that are contained in the phrases of the prayer communicated back to Him. When we earnestly speak to Him about the things that are on His heart—wow! We make contact with the Power of the universe, the Power that created it all, the Power whose thoughts and ideas will come to pass. When we get on His page, speaking to Him with details of His plan to carry out His will and purpose—then we will have effective communication, then our prayers will touch His heart and take on a gravity in His heart and mind.

When we pray in accordance with the concepts contained in His model prayer, then we will get His attention. Then He will say, “Wait, I believe that they are getting it. Let’s give them what they need, and have asked for, to get the job done. They asked for the tools to complete My plan. Let’s give them the power to finish the work before us.”

The so-called Lord’s Prayer shows us exactly what to pray for. It lines out His plan. But natural man does not perceive the things of God; he has misused the prayer and cheapened it. He has used it as penance and a good luck spiritual charm to be chanted. Satan has made it so common that many reading this now will not be able at first to see just how important it is, for it has lost its original meaning.

A Blueprint

Christ gave us the model prayer as a blueprint to show us what to pray for. Each phrase has deep meaning pertinent to our one-on-one relationship with our Father. God wants to hear the meaning of the phrases of the prayer come forth out of our mouths. This is a sacrifice of a sweet smelling savor to Him. He wants us to be able to elaborate upon His plan and purpose, and share with Him our desire to accomplish His plan for mankind. All this is contained in the model prayer. God wants us on board with what He is doing, which is establishing the Kingdom of God right here on this planet. For He told us, “But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.” He is saying, Don’t ask for material things for you and your family. He already knows all about your wants and needs. What He wants to know is this: Are you in or out? If you are in then speak to Him about His plan and purpose; speak to Him of the spiritual. Show Him that you care for what He cares for. In a word, He wants us to be like Him.

His vision of His plan to fulfill His purpose of multiplying Himself in human beings—it is all there in the concepts and thoughts of His example prayer.

Take the phrase: “Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” May the Father’s government come to this earth. Let the Father’s will make it happen here. His plan encompasses His kingdom and government. We should be seeking it first.

So much more can be said about His kingdom—the who, the what, the where, the when, the how, and the why. We’ve only just begun. I have written specifically about the model prayer, which gives more information about the meaning of each of its phrases.  [Check out these articles: https://immortalityroad.wordpress.com/?s=Lord%27s+prayer ].

The bottom line for the future manifested sons and daughters is that we must begin to pray the way He wants us to. His example prayer shows us what to pray for. It reveals the mind of Christ, which we are to have. It shows God that we are serious about His plan. Praying with the mind of Christ forming the words is worshiping in spirit and in truth.

It’s like when Christ asked, If your son asked you for bread, would you give Him a stone? If we ask Him for the spiritual tools to bring in His kingdom, He will have our back.

Kenneth Wayne Hancock

2 Comments

Filed under apostles' doctrine, eternal purpose, faith, kingdom of God, manifestation of the sons of God, prayer, Spirit of God, spiritual growth, Spiritual Life Cycle, The Lord's Prayer, will of God, Word