Category Archives: Spirit of God

April 2, 2011 · 3:24 pm

The Oneness of God–Christ Said, “The Father Is in Me”

Believing in the meaning of His name is of utmost importance.  To ever fulfill our God-given calling of becoming His sons and daughters with His power flowing through us, we must believe on His name.

“But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name” (John 1:12).  And in John 3:18 we discover that “believing on Him” is “believing in the name of the only begotten Son of God.”  And conversely, he that “believes not is condemned already” for only one reason: “because he hath not believed in the name.”

Not believing in the meaning of His name carries a catastrophic result.   The condemnation is “that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil” (John 3:19).  Because that same apostle wrote, “God is light,” in I John 1:5, we might read the above passage, “God is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than God, because their deeds were evil.”  He did say that He was “the true Light” in John 1:9.

The Savior’s name, Yahshua, which means in Hebrew, “Yahweh is the Savior,” has within it God’s truth as to what His very nature is.  That nature is that He is One.  One Spirit, one expressed image called the Son, One, One, One.  The invisible Father is in the Son, which is God (Spirit) in human form.

Let us get this teaching from the Master’s own lips.  In John 14:10, it is like the Savior is speaking to us today.  Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and the Father is in Me?  The Father that dwells in Me speaks the words through me and does the works.  The Father is omnipresent.  He is everywhere.  The Son is a vessel, then, that is in the Father, in the Spirit.  We, then, since God is everywhere, we are in the Father, too. And the Father, in turn, is also in the vessel as that same one invisible Spirit.

In verse 11, He commands us.   “Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father is in me: or else believe me for the very works’ sake.”  This is a commandment.  In fact, this is one of his new commandments that John tells us about.  He is saying, The things I do only God can do, so believe what I am saying to you about the Father being now present right now with you (in me).  These miracles done through me—it is the Father in me that is doing them.

Believing on Him as the Scripture has just said

In verse 12 He says that those who “believe on Him” will do the same works that He does.  Now, most assume that this means “accepting Him as their personal Savior.”  But it does not mean this.  It means, “to believe on Him” in the same manner that He just expounded on in the previous two verses.  I repeat—those that “believe on Him” will believe on Him as He has just expounded—believing that the Father, the great wonderful invisible Spirit-Creator is in the Son.  There is only one way the Father could be in a human vessel, and that is by the Father being an invisible Spirit.

Let us not forget already what He taught about belief in them.  First, He said that “ if you have seen me, you have seen the Father.”  Second, He said, “Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me.”  This was His teaching on “believing on me.”  That is what He meant when He commanded, “Believe on me.”  It was that we believe that He was in the Father and the Father in Him, as opposed to the idea of the Father in some other vessel.  For the Son is the “expressed image of the invisible God.”

He emphasized this truth by prefacing it with, “Verily, verily.”  This means, “In truth,” and He said it twice to make sure we got it.  And that truth about believing on Him means believing that He was in the Father and the Father was in Him.  And if we get this right, there is a ton of promises He makes to us.  One of them is that we will do the same works that He did.  And “if we believe on him as the scripture has said,” the Spirit will flow out from our depths.  KWH

3 Comments

Filed under faith, Sacred Names, Spirit of God, Yahshua, Yahweh

Tagged as , , ,

March 18, 2011 · 1:41 am

The Parable of the Leaven Hidden by the Woman

Things in this world are not what they seem.  Our perception, or lack thereof, causes us to see only what we have been told was there.  So we only see what we expect to see.  The rest of what really is available to see lays dormant to the eye.  It waits for someone to perceive what was there all along.

Take reading the Bible, for instance.  Every person who reads it, reads it through a matrix of past teachings and doctrines that they sat under, making it difficult to see it with fresh eyes.  Every denomination has pet doctrines that serve as a prism for their followers to see through.

It is the “leaven that the woman took and hid in three measures of meal” (Mt 13:33).  “Leaven” in scripture is hypocrisy.  “Beware ye of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy” (Luke 12:1).  The key word here is “to hide.”  Leaven is hid during the kingdom of heaven years after the resurrection and ascension.  It is hid in the food that the followers of the Savior are to eat for their spiritual sustenance.  Leaven is hid through false teachings about God.

False Doctrines Multiply

And “a little leaven leavens the whole lump” (Gal 5:9).  A little false doctrine multiplies like a bit of yeast in a lump of bread.  It soon spreads throughout the whole lump of dough.    That is what the false religious system, symbolized as the “woman,” has done.  Their false teachings cloud the truth so that the truth cannot be seen.  They hide the truth with smoke and mirrors and spread confusion and a false sense of security.  The Savior in the next verse after His warning about the leaven of hypocrisy says, “For there is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed; neither hid, that shall not be known.”  False teachings about God hide the truth from the eyes of casual onlookers.

You mean things really are covered up where the average person can’t see them?  Yes, according to the Messiah.    We are doctrinally to partake of the “unleavened bread of sincerity and truth,” Paul says.  That would then make leaven insincerity and falsehoods.  Bread is a symbol for sustenance.  “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.”  So leavened bread, spiritually speaking, is not the true word of God, but another doctrine.

Many say, “Doctrine is not the important.  Just loving Jesus and each other is the important thing.”  This is some of the old leaven we are to purge out.  The apostle John was strong on the importance of sound doctrine.  “Whosoever transgresses and abides not in the doctrine of Christ, has not God.  He that abides in the doctrine of Christ, he has both the Father and the Son.”  Doctrine is translated from a Greek word that simply means “instruction.”  We, then, are to abide, or to continue in the teachings and instruction of Christ, the Messiah.  If we do not continue in them, then we “have not God,” according to the apostle John.

That is how important the doctrine of God is.  But this takes us full circle to this dilemma: What is the teaching/instruction/doctrine of the Savior?  If we have been eating of a tainted, leavened bread that seems to be truth, but is actually hiding the truth as seen above, then how will we be able to see the truth?

It is here that many will balk.  They will think in their hearts that the old wine is better; the new wine we can’t trust because it is new. “I already know the truth.  I’m set.  Many will go on their way and not delve any deeper into this area.

But wait!  Don’t throw this aside! I want to prove to you that there are things hidden right in your own Bibles that you have read a hundred times or more and never saw.  How can I say this with conviction?  Because I just experienced a profound revelation of truth in the Bible—a truth that was always there in black and white—literally there, but I had never seen it.

I was reading Paul’s writings in I Corinthians 10:4-9—what he said about the children of Israel in the wilderness.  “And did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ.”  A footnote loomed out at me on the word “followed.”  It said, “that went with them.”  In other words, “They drank of that spiritual Rock that went with them…”  The children of Israel drank in the words of Christ, for He went along with them on their journey in the wilderness.

This intrigued me, so I turned to Exodus 17 to read about this.  We have all heard of the story of the miracle of Moses smiting the rock and water coming out to quench the thirst of the people.  In that passage, the children of Israel chided Moses for bringing them out “to cause us to die of thirst.”  Moses then cried to YHWH and YHWH responded by saying,  “And Yahweh said unto Moses, Go on before the people and take with thee of the elders of Israel; and thy rod, wherewith thou smotest the river, take in thine hand, and go.  Behold, I will stand before thee there upon the rock in Horeb; and thou shalt smite the rock, and there shall come water out of it, that the people may drink.  And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel” (Ex 17:5-6).  Okay.  Moses smites the rock and water comes out of it. A great miracle, indeed, but we have all read this passage many times.  What’s new?

Go back to where Yahweh is speaking, “Behold, I will stand before thee there upon the rock in Horeb…” I will stand before you there upon the rock in Horeb! Yahweh stated here that he was about to stand on the very rock that Moses was to smite.  Picture it!  God Almighty, in His glorified human form, the one He spoke through in the Garden of Eden to Adam and Eve, the one who appeared to the patriarchs and prophets—Yahweh said that He will stand on that rock that Moses would smite for water, and He would stand there in the sight of Moses and the elders of Israel.  And Paul, getting the revelation of this wrote that the children of Israel saw and heard Christ; they drank for that spiritual Rock that went with them through the wilderness, and that Rock was Christ.  The Anointed One was there in the wilderness.  He is the arms, the legs, the body of the invisible God, Yahweh.  Yahshua is the “expressed image of the invisible God.”  When Yahweh said, “I will stand on the rock,” He would use His glorified form, Immanuel.   Invisible Yahweh poured fully into His glorified form standing there on that rock that Moses struck!  What a sight!  What a glorious moment in the history of this world.  The children of Israel had no excuse for acting the way they did, for He went with them and stood before them, His feet above where the water was gushing out!

I never saw that before.  I have never heard this or read this before.  This revelation was a complete utter gift that God gave to me for no merit of my own.  I share this so that, yes, others may see the glorious appearing of the Savior in Moses’ day.  But more importantly, I share this so that we all can see that there is more to all of this truth than what we first thought.  It is the “unsearchable riches of Christ.”  We all have not even scratched the surface.  His works are so grand and glorious that John said that “if they should be written every one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written” (John 21:25).

Consequently, we must remain open to new revelation.  We must open our minds and hearts and pray that God would lift the fog of old leaven teachings that conceal and hide the truth of what God is doing and will do in the earth shortly.

THERE IS MORE! The old teachings of the old denominations won’t get the job done in this day.  God is doing something new in the earth.  He is calling forth a group of men and women who will remain open to new revelations.  He said, “Behold, I make all things new.”  That’s a “new covenant…a new heart…new wine…new bottles…new testament…new cloth…new commandment…new doctrine…new creature…all things are become new…a new man…new creature…a new and living way…new heavens…a new earth…a new name…a new song…and a new Jerusalem.”

If there is nothing new in our spiritual life, then we are missing out on God’s work in the earth.  And He will do all of this as He restores all things that He spoke through His prophets since the world began.  What a God!  KWH

7 Comments

Filed under Christ, false doctrines, false prophets, old leaven, Spirit of God, Yahweh

Tagged as , ,

July 11, 2010 · 2:24 pm

His Faith–Once Delivered to the Saints

We have seen that we are to look upon the invisible things and not on the things that are seen with our earthly eyes.  Faith is one of those spiritual things that is invisible.  But there are many misconceptions as to what faith really is.  Everyone has their own imagination as to what faith is.

But faith is an invisible spiritual thing that has already been given to God’s elect.  It is a special gift from Him to His future sons and daughters that will help them grow up into Him.

It is the “faith once delivered to the saints” (Jude 3).  Faith is a spiritual commodity that has been delivered to the people of God.  Who delivered it?  The Creator Yahweh did.  Faith is not something that has to be mustered up by us His people.  We rather must receive it from Him.  It is something that originates from out of His nature and is given to us.  “For every good and perfect gift comes down from the Father of lights.” That includes faith.

It is His faith that is transplanted into our hearts.  It is not something we manufacture out of our own will and effort that leads us to finally believe in Him.  His faith in us is the first part of His divine nature to enter into the human heart.  But what is it exactly?  Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Hebrews 11:1.

“Things hoped for…”  What does Yahweh hope for?  What are the desires of His heart?  What has He purposed?   Long  before  we were ever born, He saw us in our down-trodden state of sin and misery.  He also saw us rise with Him by His Spirit to vanquish sin and death in our lives.  He believed that this was a reality—that this was substance—having not yet seen it come to pass.  He believed and so therefore spoke and said that it was so.  He believed the best about us and His plan—not having seen the evidence yet of its fruition.  We as changed individuals are evidence that the invisible Supreme Being is real.  We are His witnesses that He is God.  And if He believes in His work in us before it comes to full fruition, then we should, too.  He is our example.

His divine nature is positive, full of faith and power.  All of His promises are “yes.”  Nothing negative flows from His heart.  He is positive; His attitude is positive.  In fact, He calls those things that are not, that do not exist as yet, as though they did exist.  He said that He will be all in all eventually.  We should then, right now, begin to walk around as if He already is all in you and me.  This will take belief that “it is no longer I that lives but Christ that lives in me.”

He is positive, giving “life to the dead and calls that which does not exist as existing.”  This is He.  This is how He thinks.  He is positive about His capabilities.  He has absolutely no doubt about His reserves and His resolve to get done what He wants done.  And what He wants done is the multiplication, the reproduction of Himself, within His creation.  He is an invisible Spirit; He wants to see Himself in action in human form.  This is the witness that He talks about in Isaiah.  We are to be His witnesses that He is the invisible Spirit/God.  His faith believes that not only we can change, but that we will change—that we are changed!  He seeks people to worship Him in this spirit and attitude and in this truth.  He needs people to worship Him in this way—to believe the way He believes.

A key scripture regarding the nature of His faith is Romans 4: 17.  It  sometimes is advantageous to read it in several translations.  God, who quickeneth the dead, and calleth those things which be not as though they were. KJV.  God, who gives life to the dead and calls that which does not exist as existing.  The Scriptures.  God who gives life to the dead and calls things that are not as though they were.  NIV.  God who brings the dead to life and whose command brings into being what did not exist.  TEV.

Nothing good exists within us—except His Spirit, if so be that we have received His Spirit.  By believing that He is—not only that He exists, but also that He is where He hopes, intends, and expects to be—in us.

Tapping into this faith of His will bring His Spirit down into us.  You cannot receive the Spirit by just keeping the law, or trying your best to keep the law.  Human effort in trying to keep the law (the ten commandments) will not bring His Spirit down into us.  The work of our selves, of our flesh, profits nothing in the end.  After all, it would be just us trying to accomplish a spiritual law made for a spirit to keep.  It is the spirit that makes alive…the flesh profits nothing.  The words I speak, they are spirit and they are life…Does God give you His Spirit because you observe the law or because you believe what you heard?  Gal. 3: 2.  NIV.

Paul is trying to tell the foolish Galatians that no amount of us trying to keep the letter of the law will bring His Spirit into us.  Trying to keep the law in our own strength will never perfect us.  Are ye so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh?  3:3.

No.  We shall receive the Spirit by believing what we heard—by faith.  We have to be like Abraham, who believed in the promises without wavering.  Even as Abraham  believed  God,  and  it was accounted to him for righteousness. 3:6. Abraham believed the promises.  But what promise?  “I will walk in them and will be their God and their sins I will remember no more.”  Hebrews 8:12.  The promise we are to believe is the promise of God giving us His Spirit.

Some of us are so afraid of being like “them”—the mainstream denominations with their cheap grace.  But Yahweh is saying to us that you are not like them.  You have respect to my laws and ways and precepts and you know my name.  But although your conscious effort to keep my laws and honor my sabbaths are good intentioned, that alone should be the fruit of the state I want you to be in.  And that state is a state of your old nature not being there in the temple of your body, but rather my Spirit, my presence.  I have promised you my Spirit, my presence.  That is all you need.  When I am there in you, I’ll keep my laws in you. If any man have not the Spirit of Messiah he is none of His. You do not have to worry about that.  My servant Paul kept the feasts and preached law keeping.  He forbad sinning.  Shall we continue in sin that grace (favor) may abound? God forbid. Romans 6:1-2.

It is absolutely not the way to go to try to keep the torah and 10 commandments without first seeking to receive the promise of His indwelling Spirit.  The law, the torah, was given 430 years after the promise to Abraham—the promise that God would live in us and help us live righteously and godly. And the law cannot “set aside the covenant previously established by God and thus do away with the promise.  For if the inheritance depends on the law, then it no longer depends on a promise…” (Galatians 3:15-18, NIV).

What was the purpose of the torah (the law)?  It was added because of transgressions until the seed to whom the promise referred had come.  We are that seed—rather Christ in us is that seed.  When we believe, the seed germinates and grows within us.  The promise is receiving His Spirit by believing that He has given it to us—as we follow on in His steps.

We do this by faith.  We do this by believing His word about His faith, His nature. His faith works both ways.  If He has confidence in us before we ever bring forth the fruit, then we should believe in Him even though we have not seen Him in the flesh.  This is our trial of the faith.  Whom having not seen, you love; in whom, though now you see him not, yet believing, you rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory: receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls. I Peter 1:8.

And during the time of our sojourning here on earth, we are to add His divine nature to the faith that He has delivered unto us.  His divine nature is built upon His faith.  No wonder not many have added it, for they have tried to add it to their own faith in Him instead of adding His divine nature to His faith. Peter says that we are “partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.”

The Word is the seed.  And that seed is growing in us by us believing His word that says that His word is growing in us.  This is the faith once delivered to the saints.  This is the way He thinks about His power to change our lives—by His Spirit.  Now we walk in His faith/belief when we believe the same thing about ourselves that He believes about us.  That is His faith.  That is His faith which was once delivered to the saints.    Kenneth Wayne Hancock

[This is Chapter 19 of my book The Unveiling of the Sons of God.  To read more go to the top of this page.  Just click “Ebook…”]

 

4 Comments

Filed under apostles' doctrine, eternal purpose, faith, Spirit of God

Tagged as , ,

December 20, 2009 · 8:39 pm

The Armor of God–Conversations With the Seer

(Formerly in Israel, if a man went to inquire of God, he would say, “Come, let us go to the seer,” because the prophet of today used to be called a Seer.  I Samuel 9: 9)

“The last time we talked, you mentioned the armour of God.  I have been thinking about it a lot lately.  And I’ve been studying it out.  But I’m really having difficulty grasping what it means, ‘to put on the whole armor of God.'” 

The Seer smiled at me and said, “It is difficult to grasp the heavenly things with a mind that is thinking on an earthly plane, and next to impossible to comprehend spiritual things with a finite mind.  It is difficult to understand because of unbelief.”

“But I believe,” I blurted out.

“You want to believe desperately,” the Seer said.  “I will grant you that, and that is good.  But wanting to believe and actually believing are two different matters.  Belief in the armor’s efficacy brings the ability to grasp its power.  It all goes back to trusting in His word.”

I was really confused now.  “Well, what is the armor of God exactly?”

“First, the armor is spiritual.  The apostle likens it to literal devices like shields, armor, a breastplate, a helmet, and a sword.   Through this extended metaphor, we take away the idea of a spiritual, protective layer.  It is the armor of God (Eph.6: 11-18).  And God is Spirit [1].  He is also truth.  Therefore, it is the armor of the Spirit and truth and light.  And we are to ‘put on the armor of light [2].'”

“And what is light?” I asked.

“Light is the life of God.  If you want to see light, then look at the Light in action by studying Christ.  Because ‘in Him was life; and the life was the light of men’ [3].  God dwelt in the Son of God fully [4].  God is life and ‘this life is in His Son.  He that has the Son has life'” [5].  When we truly receive this truth in our hearts, then we receive the secret to answered prayers [6].”

“Wait a minute.  I didn’t get all of that.  Let me see if I got this right.  God is the Spirit of Truth, which is light and life.  And the fullness of life and light dwelt in the Son of God.  And if we believe that, then we receive the same light and life of God, too.”

“That’s right,” the Seer said.  I don’t know if I was seeing things or not, but his smile radiated a glow of inner light.  He continued, “For, you see, since God dwelt fully in Christ, if we reject the Son of God, we reject the Father, as well, because the Father was inside the Son” [7].

“But how does all this tie in with the armor of God?”

“The armor of God is not some equipment that God possesses that He wants to give to us.  No. 

“The armor of God is God Himself!  It is a spiritual protective covering comprised of the invisible Spirit of God Himself.  Since His Spirit is truth, when we know and then believe the truth, we are believing God.  And by believing, God comes down into us.  When you believe the truth, the truth (God, Spirit) takes up His abode in us, and we become one with Him.  In other words, by believing all this truth how that the Father dwelt fully in the Son, giving light and life to the world–this truth is God, and through faith or belief of this truth, the Spirit of God comes into our hearts and minds.  This is the armour of God–God’s Spirit in our hearts and minds.”

We just sat there for what seemed an hour.  Finally I said, “I understand it now, but why haven’t the preachers told us about all this?”

“The only part of the apostle John’s writings they quote is John 3: 16.  They stay clear of the rest of his gospel and his three letters to the churches.”

“But why?  Why don’t they preach it?”

“Either they don’t know what is in John’s writings or they don’t have it in their hearts because they don’t believe it.  Either way, they will have to give an account to God about it.  I would like to think that the vast majority have not been taught these truths.  They have been taught old leaven from a hundred years ago.  There is no new light in them.  They are still preaching what their grandfathers did in the 1950’s, and they are proud of that fact.  Spiritual stagnancy is equal to spiritual bankruptcy.  However, ‘when the Spirit of truth comes, He will guide you into all truth’ [8].  But there I go quoting more of John’s gospel–the part they don’t like to read or quote.”

“He will guide you into all truth?” I asked.

“It is the ‘unsearchable riches of Christ’ [9].  ‘All truth’ are these unsearchable riches.  And if those  preachers are not leading their flocks into more and more astounding and fresh truth, then it is safe to say that the Spirit of truth does not reside in them.  Because that is the sign that a person has the Spirit of truth.  At least that is what John said.  And I’m sticking with him.”

“This is a lot to take in,” I said.

“We will save some for later,” the Seer said.

“There’s more about the armour?”

“It’s the unsearchable riches.  Remember?”

  1. John 4: 24
  2. Romans 13: 12
  3. John 1: 4
  4. Colossians 2: 9
  5. I John 5: 11-12
  6. I John 5: 14-15
  7. I John 2 23
  8. John 16: 13
  9. Ephesians 3: 8

Leave a comment

Filed under armour of God, faith, old leaven, Spirit of God

Tagged as , , , ,

June 26, 2009 · 11:52 pm

The Manifested Sons of God–Overcoming the Law of Sin and Death

The scriptures speak of a special destiny for certain human beings who overcome the pitfalls of their carnal mind.  And the world is waiting breathlessly, waiting for these rare individuals to appear on the scene (1).

They are called the sons and daughters of God, for God is their spiritual Father–not in word only, but in power.  For they will have changed at their core; “old things are passed away” in their new shining life.  They will have picked up The Book and just believed it and walked in it, and they will change history.

The End of the Carnal Mind

The apostle Paul saw their day, which all signs tell us is our day–the latter days.  He saw a group of individuals who through faith would walk the way Christ walked this earth–in purity of purpose, in honor and integrity.  The way they would do this is by receiving a new spirit–God’s Spirit into their hearts.  God’s Spirit will lead and guide them.  Consequently, they will be called the true children of God, for those “who are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God” (2).

These offspring of the Most High, who dwell on earth today, will overcome being carnally minded, which is death.  For “the wages of sin is death” (3).  Therefore, the carnal mind stems from a heart that sins.

The Old Heart

This old heart is the spiritual condition that a person is born with.  It is the core center of natural man Adam and all his earthly offspring.  This old heart is the well from which the mind draws up evil selfish thoughts by the bucket fulls.

Without a spiritual heart transplant, one will continue sinning.  Temptation arises, and like a bull led by a nose ring, the natural carnal minded man and woman succumbs to the temptation.

The Law of Sin and Death

And hereby hangs a law, as inexorable as the law of gravity.  It is called “the law of sin and death.”  It is quite simple to understand.  If you continue in sin and sinning, you will die.

But someone will say, “Well, we are all going to die eventually anyway, so what is the difference?”

Yes, “it is appointed unto man once to die.”  The first death will come for the vast majority–the death of our physical bodies (unless we are alive in Christ when He returns and we are changed).  But it is the “second death” that we need to be concerned with.  For it is the snuffing out of any memory of us and the hope of life in the next dimension–the era of the immortal ones walking on this earth.

So natural man is strapped with his old sinful nature, and try as he might, he cannot rid himself of it in his own strength.

But God has provided a way to escape this hellish condition–a way to be freed from the inevitability of this “law of sin and death” (4).

There is another Law that negates the sin and death law.  It is called “The Law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus.”  Receiving His Spirit “makes us free from the law of sin and death” (5).

The children of God will go through the “cross experience” whereby the old heart we are born with will be surrendered up.  A spiritual death will occur as they identify their old self with Christ, who was sent “in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin,” through which God “condemned sin in the flesh” (6).

And all this is done in us when we just believe it.  This spiritual state of being “right with God” is when He dwells in us and keeps His own laws in us.  When we walk in accordance with His Spirit, we do not break His Ten Commandment Law (7).

A chosen few, the future manifested sons and daughters of God, called the elect, will experience the above.  They will go deep and answer the “high calling” and make their election sure (8).

These are the sons of God, shining as lights in a dark and “crooked and perverse nation.”  Again, we must ask ourselves, Are we one of them?   Kenneth Wayne Hancock

  1. Rom. 8: 17-19
  2. Rom. 8: 14
  3. Rom. 6:23
  4. Rom. 8: 1-5
  5. Rom. 8: 2
  6. Rom. 8: 3
  7. Rom. 8: 4
  8. Phil. 3: 14; II Peter 1: 10

3 Comments

Filed under belief, death of self, sin, sons and daughters of God, Spirit of God

Tagged as , , , ,

February 4, 2009 · 1:31 am

Christ Abiding in Us Yields the Fruit of the Spirit

God’s abiding presence in us is really all we need.  When you have all of the Creator, what good is only a small part of His creation.  If  He is indeed abiding in us, all of our physical and emotional needs will be met.

With His Spirit abiding in us, we will have found “the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added unto us.”

The spiritual fruit will come with the sap of His abiding spiritual presence in us.  Love, joy, and peace will flow through us out to others, and they will marvel when they see this great light shining into their dark, loveless life.

And they will feel the warmth of God’s love as it touches their hearts, and they will long to lie down and rest in our spiritual pastures of peace that our Great Shepherd has led us into.   Kenneth Wayne Hancock

For more, check out my books here:   http://www.yahwehisthesavior.com/

2 Comments

Filed under fruit of the Spirit, love, Love from Above, Spirit of God

Tagged as , , ,

January 30, 2009 · 12:36 pm

A Broken Heart and Spirit–The Sacrifices of God

The death of someone close to us brings a broken heart and a broken spirit.  There are no braggarts at a funeral–no loud boasters in the “house of mourning.”

I thought of this at Lindsay Stout’s funeral. She was my student, just beginning her senior year.  She died in a one car crash about three years ago now.  I remember that she was just  lying there in front of the church, pale and joyless.

Her mother wanted me to speak that day.  “You were her favorite teacher.  She talked about you all the time.”  But it was difficult to look at Lindsay that morning.

I was broken when I rose to speak.  I told them how blessed I was to have spent some 800 hours with her in the classroom.  Three years of Spanish, two years of English.  I read her last essay that she had written and a poem that I received in a dream about her the night before.  In the poem I re-assured them that we would all see her again at the resurrection.

Death Brings Brokenness and Humility

We were all broken that day.  Death has a way of doing that.  It brings  humility, compassion, and mercy to the heart.

How does death do this?  The Spirit of God uses the dead body to speak to us of our own mortality and the futility of this earthly existence.   In this environment, we are humbled, for we know that we cannot say to our own bodies, “Live on forever,” and they obey us.

It is at this very moment of humbleness that God can enter and be close to those who are brokenhearted.   It is just a shame that it takes the death of someone close to us to get “close to God.”

The scripture says, “The LORD is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit” (Psm 34: 18).  God is near them.  He can approach us when our stiff pride is wilted.  The reason that it “is better to go to the house of mourning than to the house of mirth” is because hearts in mourning are broken hearts, and God is near to them.  The invisible Spirit of God is palpable to those with a broken heart.

The Point

Do we have to literally have someone close to us die in order to get a broken heart and thus be close to God?  No, for He has provided a better way for this to happen.  We can carry around in our hearts “the dying of the Lord Jesus” and let His physical death break our hearts and spirits.  This is how we “show forth His death till He come.”

Paul wrote that “we are delivered unto death for Jesus’ sake that the life also of Him might be made manifest in our mortal flesh” (2 Cor 4: 11).  We think on the Savior willingly giving up his earthly life for us and allow His death to break us, preparing a place for Him to enter.  “Death works in us” [bringing God’s presence], but life in you [His presence in us gives His life unto others around us]” (v. 12).

“The Sacrifices of God…Broken Spirit, Contrite Heart”

This brokenness (through Christ’s death) becomes the only sacrifice  that God will accept.  It is only our broken heart that shows Him our sincerity.  A broken spirit is the only sacrifice we can make to Him that He will receive.

Everything else that we could offer Him, He already owns–money, houses, cattle.  For “the earth is the LORD’S and the fullness thereof.”  What He wants is our broken heart because He wants to be able to come down and dwell in us and be with us more fully.  But first, somebody has got to get broken to provide the environment for His visit.

Yes, our bodies are the potential temple of the Spirit.  But He will only come to dwell in us if we are humble and broken.   Kenneth Wayne Hancock

For more check out my books by clicking the link “Yahweh Is the Savior” in the Blogroll in the right column, or going here:  http://www.yahwehisthesavior.com/

6 Comments

Filed under death, humility, Spirit of God

Tagged as , , , ,

January 28, 2009 · 1:40 pm

“Is Christ Divided?” Asked the Apostle Paul

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

{A note to fellow bloggers:  Check out this website in order to get more traffic to your blog:  http://condron.us  }

1 Comment

Filed under body of Christ, children of God, Christ, christianity, church, cross, crucified with Christ, death of self, mind of Christ, Spirit of God

Tagged as , , , ,

October 24, 2008 · 10:13 pm

The Kingdom of God–Not a Worn Out Phrase

    The phrase “kingdom of God” has been used so much by so many people from so many different religious backgrounds that its real meaning may have been lost.  Heretofore, most  have understood the phrase to mean “God’s kingdom,” or the kingdom that belongs to Him.  And this is true, it does belong to Him and His children.  However, there is another way to look at that phrase, and that is “the kingdom of the Spirit.”

    It says in John 4 that “God is Spirit.”  Therefore, “kingdom of God” can be construed as “kingdom of Spirit.”  Or, in other words, it means a form of order and government headed by a Sovereign entity that is comprised of Spirit.  The Master did say that “the flesh profits nothing; it is the spirit that makes alive.”  “All is vanity,” in other words, except the invisible spiritual things.

     We are admonished that we should seek first this invisible spirit kingdom.  Also, the only true worship of the Father is in spirit and in truth.  It is not any old spirit worship, but it must be spiritual and truthful. It won’t be anything remotely having to do with earthly natural things.

     True worship is an invisible connection between our spirit in the human heart and the Eternal Creator Spirit.  It is the connection you cannot see.  You cannot legislate it, tax it, build fine buildings in order to coax true worship into your midst.  It is an invisible agreement between the Creator and His special spiritual creation, Adam.  “The true worshippers must worship the Father in spirit and in truth.”  They must find out the truth about His invisible Spirit reign within, for “the kingdom of God (Spirit) is within you.”

      It is a realm of the heart, an inner sanctum full of true thoughts about the true nature of things.  “The kingdom of God cometh not with observation.”  You can’t see it with your fleshly eyes.  It is not of this earth.  Consequently, when we look out over this earth, anything we see, be it ever so religious, cannot be or have anything to do with the kingdom of Spirit (God).

      “Every good and perfect gift comes down from the Father of lights.”  The kingdom of God is a dimension and realm that our five senses don’t pick up on.  It is not of this earth.  It must first be believed on, and then it will begin to manifest itself to the understanding of our hearts.  We will never see it first with our earthly eyes and then believe.  Faith must be exercised—believing having not yet seen with the fleshly eyes.  The kingdom of God is a government of God, who is Spirit, and who rules in our hearts by His very essence, which is spirit.      Kenneth Wayne Hancock        {For more on this topic see this earlier article  https://immortalityroad.wordpress.com/2008/03/14/not-of-this-earth/ and the one dated 3/17/08 }             

 

 
 
 
 
 

 

 

    

 
 
 
 
 
 

 

 

 

    

 
 

 

 
 
 
 
 

 

 

 

Leave a comment

Filed under faith, kingdom of God, Spirit of God, truth

Tagged as , , , ,

July 9, 2008 · 10:02 pm

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

4 Comments

Filed under belief, body of Christ, cross, death of self, immortality, Sacred Names, sons and daughters of God, Spirit of God, The Lord's Prayer

Tagged as , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,