Tag Archives: kingdom of God

May 20, 2025 · 8:10 am

“Husbands, Don’t Be Bitter toward Your Wife”

(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)

I barely had enough time to sit down, and before I had spoken a word, the Seer asked, “Troubles with the wife?”

“Yes.  How did you know?”

“The Spirit, if your heart is attuned, picks up on these things.  It’s really not difficult to discern because ‘all things come alike to all.’  We all come up the same way” [1].

“My wife is always bringing me down.  It’s frustrating.  I’ll get a wonderful revelation about God, and I am so enthused, and I try to share it with her, and all she has to say is, ‘Yeah, that’s great, but would you help me, please?  Could you do something around here?  Help straighten up the house.   Check on the kids.’   Things like that.”

The Seer just looked at me as if looking through a window at the wind blowing through a white oak tree.  “We on our spiritual walk back to the Father’s heart must not get too heavenly minded to be of any earthly good.”

I looked at him as if he were speaking Chinese.  “What?  What do you mean?”

“It is all about taking the heavenly things like love and mercy, and putting them into action here on earth.  Christ did it and then taught it” [2].

“She makes me mad,” I continued.  “It’s like she deliberately throws on me all this negativity, like a wet blanket.  Instead of rejoicing with me, she just smothers me.  I try to correct her and get her to stop, but that just sets her off and we start fussing and fighting.”

“Oh, you mustn’t try to stop her,” the Seer said.  “Goodness, no.  Never try to prevent someone from doing God’s will.”

“God’s will?”  I asked.  “A wife so earthly minded that she can’t get past the pots and pans and diapers is doing God’s will?”

“They are your pots and pans and your children’s clothes.  Let me explain what is spiritually happening.  God Himself has created your wife exactly the way she is in every respect.  He has made her to be your absolute complement.  She, with all her faults and all her many unappreciated virtues , is exactly what the Great Physician ordered–for you and your perfection.”

“My perfection?” I asked.

“She’s your help meet, isn’t she?” [3].

“Yes.”

“Well, then, she is being a good help meet because she’s helping you meet God.  Look.  She is merely speaking what is in the script written by God–as if He had with a thoughtful quill inked upon her DNA the lines she speaks to help you mature spiritually.  And her reactions to you and her ‘negative’ comments to you about your ways are all ordained, scribed, and orchestrated by God to get a rise out of you.”

“It does that,” I said.  “But she should be honoring her husband and not putting him down all the time.”

“You don’t need a wife that praises your every word or whim.  That would not bring you to perfection.  In fact, it would ruin you for God’s purposes.”

“I still don’t get it.”

“You see,” the Seer continued, “You have many faults that must be purged out of your life before full spiritual maturity comes.  God uses wives to help us grow from a babe in Christ to a young man.  A ‘woman shall be saved in child bearing’ [4].  She not only rears your earthly children, but also helps to rear the spiritual child of God in her life–you, her husband.  She cannot change the way she has been created.  She is saying exactly what the Father has entrusted her to say to you.”

“It just makes me mad,” I said.

“There.  Right there in that thought–that unjust anger is an example of the kind of things that God desires to erase out of your life.  And your wife will continue to bring it out–not to be mean, as you suppose.  She has to.  She doesn’t even realize that God is using her for the purpose of burning out the dross that lurks around your new faith.  Yet, she will continue saying her lines as a faithful player on the stage of life–until you get it.”

“Get what?” I asked, still not understanding the depth of the matter.

“When you finally understand these words I’ve spoken and believed them–then you will have gained several precious life lessons.  Number one.  That God is totally sovereign and in complete control.  He uses anyone and anything He desires to effect a change in one of His chosen ones–one of His elect sons of God.  Two.  God’s ways are not our ways.  We would not perfect us the way He does.  We would much rather sit in the sunshine munching Oreos as the way to make big changes in our life.  Third.  We need to be grateful for God’s love to us.  He has chosen us as His offspring.  He did not have to pick us to reveal Himself in us.  So, just be grateful for your wife and don’t be bitter towards her [5].  God is using her to do a great work in you.”

“It doesn’t seem so great right now,” I said.

“When you receive this truth that I’ve shared with you, you won’t get angry and frustrated with her.  You’ll know the truth that it is all God’s doing, flowing out from His heart of love.  Right now you are buffeted for your own faults [6].  What will you do when you are persecuted unjustly?”

“I don’t know.”

“When it happens, just know that it is still God doing His work of perfection in you.”  The Seer paused.  “But, enough of this now.  Tell me.  What is you wife’s favorite candy bar?”

“Almond Hershey.”

“Tell you what.  Go buy her one.  And with no fanfare, hand it to her and tell her that you love her.”

I did what He said.  And that little gesture generated a smile on her face that said, “He understands.”  But all I understood that day was the magic of chocolate.  She would receive several Almond Hersheys throughout the years.  But it would take decades for me to finally understand and appreciate the message he gave me that day.       Kenneth Wayne Hancock

  1. Eccle. 9: 2
  2. Acts 1: 1
  3. Gen. 2: 18
  4. I Tim. 2: 15
  5. Col. 3: 19
  6. I Peter 2: 20

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April 29, 2025 · 1:11 pm

Our Death and Resurrection with Christ—The Power of God

Our Death and Resurrection with Christ—The Power of God

The Savior told Paul, “My strength is made perfect in weakness” (II Cor. 12:9). There is nothing weaker than dying on the cross. But the cross is proclaimed as “the power of God” (I Cor. 1:18). How does that work?

By placing our old nature and mind on the cross, we acknowledge our weakness and helplessness apart from God’s strength. In doing so, we renounce our carnal powers, declaring through this act: We are nothing, and He is everything.

This is the supreme paradox. By submitting to the death of our old selves, we admit our utter vanity and worthlessness without our Creator, Father, and Savior. This act of negation is the first step toward aligning our thoughts with His. For He views us in our unregenerated state as nothing: “In me dwells no good thing… all things are meaningless, a chasing after the wind…all  have sinned and come short of the glory of God” (Rom. 7:18; Ecc. 1:4; Rom. 3:23).

Recognizing our spiritual ineptitude, we come to Yahweh-in-human-form, the fountain of life, from whom flows the water of true, eternal life. Yet the path to life is through death—a paradox. Only by the death of our selfish hearts can we enter His Spirit-filled life. We must remember Christ’s words: “For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will save it” (Luke 9:24).

Through faith, we trust in His resurrection—not only His, but also our own. We believe that, just as He was raised, we too are raised to walk in newness of life. This faith energizes us to receive His Spirit, which transforms our hearts. “We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life” (Rom. 6:4 NIV).

And transformed we are! The hand that once stole steals no more—not by our own strength but through His Spirit. By relinquishing our old lives, we take on His life. This miraculous change is the power of the cross—the death, burial, and resurrection shared with Christ. As Paul wrote, “I am crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, I live; yet not I, but Christ lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me” (Gal. 2:20).

God’s power is life from death. He establishes life where none existed, calling “those things that are not as though they are.” This revelation is vital. It is through overcoming this paradox—life emerging from death—that we are delivered from the inevitability of physical death.

This is the way to salvation, the way to life, the way to an immortal spiritual body that He has promised us. It all flows from understanding, believing, and enacting this profound truth: eternal life out of death.

Kenneth Wayne Hancock [From a journal entry dated May 4, 2001. By liking, sharing, commenting, and subscribing, you attest to these writings, that they come by the Spirit of truth. May God bless you all]

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April 25, 2025 · 2:13 pm

Truth Cannot Nest in the Thorns of Falsehood

The Son approaches the hour of sacrifice,
His steps nearing the cross, heavy with the world’s weight.
The disciples, fragile hearts, shaken,
Are cloaked in sorrow, like a dim twilight descending.

Yet, He speaks, tender as a father to his children,
“My little ones, I am with you only a while longer.”
And then, the command like a flame passed from torch to torch:
“Love one another, as I have loved you,
So you, too, must love.”

Feast no longer on His love alone;
Drink deeply from the wellspring of the Spirit,
The Father, alive in Him, who works through Him.
“Believe,” He pleads, “that the Father is in Me,
And you shall do greater things, for I go to Him.”

A promise takes flight, soaring on the breath of His words:
“Keep My commands, and whatever you ask in My name, it shall be.”
But first, the name—the sacred name—and all it holds,
Its weight, its wonder, its truth.

Again, He returns, a shepherd calling to His flock:
“If you love Me, obey what I command.”
Obedience, the root from which love springs,
And to the faithful, the Counselor comes—forever,
The Spirit of truth, eternal and pure.

Yet truth cannot nest in the thorns of falsehood,
Cannot take root in soil tainted by error.
All must be purged, all misconceptions cast to the wind.
“Believe,” He urges, “that the Father is in Me,
And I in Him. We are One.”

Oneness—a Spirit that breathes life into all,
The Creator, the Holy, pouring Himself
Into fragile flesh, the Savior of mankind.
All that denies this truth must wither and fall,
Pruned by the Gardener’s hand.

And He ends as He began:
“Believe Me when I say, the Father lives in Me.
Through Me, He works miracles.
Obey, and believe,
For Yah is One,
The Holy One of all who trust in Him.”

The words echo, a melody to be sung
Until hearts and minds are free from chains of error,
And truth shines unclouded,
Forever.

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April 21, 2025 · 9:47 am

The Two Abidings: Us in Him and He in Us

We have a saying: “I am in.” It means “I am with you. I support you in your endeavor. I got your back.”

This statement is a good example of one of the two “abidings” that we see in God’s word. Christ commands us: “Abide in Me.” Christ continues, “and I in you.” Two abidings.

Notice the order of the two abidings. Us in Christ, and then, Christ in us. We must first get our minds and thoughts in line with Christ’s mind. Think His thoughts. We must through our actions say, “I am in. I am a full-throated supporter of Yahshua’s plan and purpose. I am in Christ. I am with Him and for Him.

Now we must dedicate ourselves through prayer and study, to Christ’s desires [his will]. Walking in his desires leads us to abiding in Christ. [For more, order my book, The Royal Destiny of God’s Elect. It is free with free shipping. Just email me your name, mailing address, and the title of the book to wayneman5@hotmail.com.]

We must be “all in” on Christ’s plan, purpose, and will. This is the cleaning out of God’s spiritual temple, which is us. It is only in this state that He will come and abide in us. Our minds must be in Him. Our thoughts must be His thoughts. Then, and only then, will He come and abide, dwell, and stay in us.  

Abiding in Christ is not a passive belief but an active commitment—an intentional alignment of our thoughts, desires, and actions with His will. When we declare, “I am in,” we affirm our dedication to His purpose, rejecting complacency and false teachings. Through prayer, study, and transformation, we cleanse our spiritual temple, preparing for His presence. Only when we fully abide in Him will He abide in us, empowering us to walk in His truth.   Kenneth Wayne Hancock

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April 13, 2025 · 4:39 pm

Few Enter through the Narrow Gate into the Spiritual Dimension

Few Enter through the Narrow Gate into the Spiritual Dimension

Christ commands us: “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it.” The small and narrow gate leads to life and “only a few find it” (Matthew 7: 13—15 NIV). The wide easy gate is bad. Destruction looms.

In the very next breath, He warns us of something bad—false prophets. “Take heed that no man deceive you…And many false prophets shall rise and shall deceive many” (Matt. 24: 4,11; II Peter 2:1). Obviously, they are bad. In fact, these false prophets are the shepherds, the pastors, who appear in “sheep’s clothing” and preach false doctrines. These are false teachings about Christ. Millions of well-meaning people flock to their meetings. They are leading the people through the wide, easy to get into gate. Bad plus bad equals bad.

Question: Are the billions of deceived people in the pews the “few” who find life, who find what Peter, James, John, and Paul found? Who found the other dimension, the dimension where Peter and John healed the man with cerebral palsy! He had never walked upon this earth! This was not our holy King healing in person. It was his Spirit inside of Peter and John who had healed the poor man. This can be us, brothers and sisters.

In that scene, we see Peter and John entering God’s spiritual dimension. They had found the entrance into the spiritual dimension! No one can deny that they were the “few” who had entered “through the narrow gate.”

And why is it a narrow and small gate? It is narrow because it does not allow false teachings about Christ to pass through it. It is a narrow entrance gate because it compels us to “purge out the old leaven,” the old false teachings that have been handed down through the centuries.

The entrance is likened unto a small, narrow gate. It is narrow because very few we’ll dig deep to prove out all that they have been taught. Very few will study earnestly. For example, they will cling to ancient Pagan festivals. Most don’t even know that their holidays are of Pagan origin. Billions celebrate these festivals, but few ever research it.

There is a extremely wide door that receives the billions. But it is a narrow gate that “leads to life.”  But Yahweh still says, “Learn not the way of the heathen, who cuts down a tree and decks it with silver and gold (Jeremiah 10:2-4).

Another false teaching concerns the “time of the end.” Billions have been taught that they will escape the Tribulation Period, that they will be saved by a rapture. Billions of Christians floating up, up, up above the devastation prophesied over the earth. Sounds like a very wide gate. The billions must be told that the rapture doctrine is a false doctrine. [Much more on the rapture found here: rapture | Search Results | Immortality Road].

“In conclusion, the narrow gate symbolizes the path of truth, righteousness, and spiritual discernment—a path few are willing to pursue. It demands the rejection of false teachings, worldly traditions, and complacency in favor of diligent study, spiritual growth, and abiding in the Word of God. While billions may be led astray through the wide gate by deception and ease, Christ calls us to strive for the narrow way that leads to life. This journey requires commitment to uncovering genuine teachings, purging old falsehoods, and standing firm against the allure of superficial doctrines. Ultimately, it is through the narrow gate that we enter the true spiritual dimension, where the Spirit of God works powerfully within His faithful few. Let us seek this gate with all our heart and mind, ensuring our walk aligns with His truth” [Conclusion written by Co-pilot, based on essay].

Kenneth Wayne Hancock

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April 4, 2025 · 8:49 am

Spiritual Fasting from Lukewarmness

Abstaining from being lukewarm

In the previous post, we explored God’s chosen fast—a spiritual fast where we abstain from false teachings about Christ and His plan and purpose. But you might ask, “What exactly do we abstain from?”

One significant fault prevalent among Christians is lukewarmness in our search for God. It is believing that we can please Christ with a lukewarm heart. Being lukewarm separates us from Him. As Christ sternly warned, “I will spew you out of My mouth.” Christ said that Christians in the last church age—that’s us—will be lukewarm, being neither hot nor cold.

The concept of being “lukewarm” in Revelation 3:15–16 is a metaphor used by Christ in His message to the church in Laodicea. He rebukes them for their spiritual complacency, saying they are neither “hot” (passionate, on fire for God) nor “cold” (completely rejecting God). Instead, they are indifferent, stagnant, and lacking zeal, which displeases Him to the point of threatening to “spit them out of His mouth” (Rev. 3:15-22).

Gold, White Raiment, Eye Salve

Christ goes on to give us the remedy for being in the dangerous state of lukewarmness. He counsels us to repent from lukewarmness by buying from Him three things: “Gold tried in the fire,” “white raiment,” and “eye salve.”

“Gold tried in the fire” is partaking of Christ’s sufferings. This is the trying of your faith, which purifies our belief in God (James 1:3). Lukewarm Christians do not want to suffer. But “beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you.  But rejoice insofar as you share Christ’s sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed” (I Peter 4:12-13; I Peter 1:6-7; Job 23:10). Those who overcome will share in His “praise, honor, and glory at His appearing.” Suffering for Christ’s sake is fasting from lukewarmness. “If we suffer with Him, we shall also reign with Him.”

Furthermore, we are to seek “white raiment” to clothe our spiritual nakedness (Rev. 3:18; 19:8).  And finally, we are to seek “eye salve” so that we have eyes to see the secret things.

[You will notice the brevity of the previous paragraph. Instead of explaining “white raiment” and “eye salve,” I have left them as your “homework.” From the Scriptures, explain what they mean, and for an “A” on the assignment, explain how they help us repent from lukewarmness. Share your study in the comment section.]

Spiritual fasting is abstaining from false doctrines

 I saw a shop window this morning. It displayed different size eggs and bunny rabbits. They were made of pottery, plastic, and white fur. And I thought, Christ has nothing to do with these vestiges of fertility rites that pagans esteemed millennia ago. The person responsible for the display probably does not know the gravity of this practice. Then I thought, We have been fasting from the pagan holidays for decades. [For more, check out this excellent video: A Very PAGAN EASTER | FULL DOCUMENTARY].

I can hear Yahweh’s voice crying through Jeremiah’s lips: “Learn not the way of the heathen…for one cuts a tree out of the forest…They deck it with silver and gold…They fasten it with nails and with hammers, that it move not…” While they fiddle with earthly ornaments, they forget that “He has made the earth by his power, and He has established the world by His wisdom, and has stretched out the heavens by his discretion” (Jer. 10:1-12).

To become His manifested sons and daughters, to achieve this growth, we must repent of the faults learned in our early years. God knows our hearts; He sees the sincerity in our efforts to do what is right. He has reached out to us in deeply personal ways, enabling us to know Him as our Savior. We were often told that attending church, paying tithes, making donations, and reading the Bible would secure our acceptance by Him. Yet, despite these practices, our growth has been limited—nothing resembling the profound transformation experienced by the early apostles.

God desires more for us. He has ordained spiritual fasting to foster our growth. This involves rejecting false doctrines and allowing His Spirit of truth to guide us, revealing the areas in our lives that require repentance. He has already cleansed us from all sin, which is defined as breaking the Ten Commandments. However, He seeks to purify us further by purging the “old leaven”—the faults rooted in false beliefs. These faults hinder the Spirit’s flow, much like clogged sap prevents the vine’s nourishment from reaching its branches (John 15:1-10).

Some may feel overwhelmed and exclaim, “I can’t do this! I don’t know how!” But that is the very point. It is not by our own strength that we succeed. After the cross experience, it is no longer “I that lives, but Christ that lives in me.” We have the Spirit of truth dwelling within us. We need only ask Him, and He will show us the way.

Let us read Christ’s comforting promise: “When He, the Spirit of truth, is come, He will guide you into all truth, for He shall show you things to come” (John 16:13). Those fasting from lukewarmness will be shone the treasures of wisdom. [Don’t forget to do your homework. May Yah show you His secrets. Kenneth Wayne Hancock]

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March 20, 2025 · 8:35 am

Hearing Audibly Yahweh’s Voice

Hearing Audibly God’s Voice–He Has Provided the Way

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February 28, 2025 · 10:29 am

Introduction to The Abiding—Indwelling Spirit of Love, Part Two

When we believe that Christ was resurrected and we were resurrected, too, with Him, then we were “born from above,” [translated “born again” in the KJV].

We receive the seed, the word of God, and His word speaks of Christ being the sin sacrifice. He laid down His life, accomplishing our salvation through His love for all of us. And the Word of God is the Seed that will spring to life when we fully believe that our old life died when the Sin Sacrifice died. “The life is in the blood.” When Christ’s blood was shed, the life of sin died. Our sinful self died. This is how His blood cleanses us of all sin [See more on this: blood | Search Results | Immortality Road].

And activated by our belief of this report, His Spirit begins to grow inside of us. As we grow, we begin to walk the walk of a Christian. Through study and prayer, we begin our growth, ending in the harvest of His Word in us and, then, He casts us throughout the world.

We must walk in this knowledge. Walking in the Spirit is studying this out and then being able to share it with others. Christ’s elect becomes the Sower of the Seed (Matthew 13). It’s like being a farmer who sows the seed. Some comes up; some don’t. We followers of Christ are at once a member of the collective Sower, and we are a part of the Seed itself.

God’s plan is couched in secrets and mysteries. If all this is making sense to you, then “blessed are your eyes for they see, and blessed are you ears, for they hear.” “For few there be to find this way of truth” (Matt. 13:16; Matt. 7:14).

When we first come to Christ, we all become spiritual babies, no matter our earthly age. The spiritual foundation is the food that is most digestible. The strong meat of the Word is for those who have reached a level of maturity. This growth continues until the harvest, called 100-fold by the Savior.

The Foundation Is Important

Laying the spiritual foundation is to give the King’s word context. For truly the spiritual foundation in our new life is “the foundation of repentance from dead works [sin] and of faith toward God” (Heb. 6:1). But we are not to keep laying it. These two doctrines are the “first principles of the oracles of God (Heb. 5:12-6:2). It is crucial to obtain an accurate bearing on the walk to the Heavenly Jerusalem. But we must leave 30-fold’s safety, secured in His loving arms to grow into “the fulness of Christ.” We are to grow in the Spirit and begin partaking of the “meat of the word” and not the milk. We are to grow up and stop being spiritual babies, mostly alive for what they can receive from the Father.

We must grow to become young men and women in the Spirit and on into being fathers and virtuous women. We need the meat of the word for us to grow into the 60-fold and 100-fold growth levels. “But strong meat belongs to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil” (Heb. 5:14). A young Christian needs time to mature. The Abiding presents a banquet of visionary food that will help them grow properly.

This book, with Christ’s help, shares knowledge of the secrets and mysteries of Christ and His Kingdom. It is an attempt to illuminate the path of those He has chosen. His elect will choose to “go all in.” They will understand that half-stepping lukewarmness won’t make it.

The Abiding explains the 30-fold, 60-fold, and 100-fold growth levels. But its main focus is on the 100-fold harvest of maturity. That is why I have spent so much time on spiritual growth. This book discusses the maturity [think apostle-like power] that He has called us to.

For He has called us to His throne. Those who reach maturity will sit with Christ on His throne, ruling “over ten cities” during His thousand-year reign on earth.

Understanding Matthew 13 Parable of the Sower unlocks the door into the Father’s spiritual treasure house. The early apostles knew and understood what it all meant. They wrote about it, and time has preserved the scrolls of that sacred writing.

Knowledge of The Parable of the Sower unlocks the secrets of Christ’s other parables. Speaking of the Parable of the Sower, Christ said, “Do you not understand this parable? How then will you understand all the parables? (Mark 4:13 ESV)?

Christ admonishes us all: Walk humbly as stewards of His truth.

With agape love,

Wayne

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February 24, 2025 · 9:06 am

Introduction of “The Abiding”—The In-dwelling Spirit of Love

The abiding of the Holy Spirit in us is a definition of God’s ultimate growth within a believer. The abiding is when He, the Spirit of Love, comes to dwell in us and remain in us, thus fulfilling His purpose. And God does have a purpose and a plan to fulfill that purpose. He created human beings to carry out His plan.

“God is love.” Agape love. His purpose is to multiply or reproduce Himself—Love—in man and woman. That is where you and I come into focus. This happens when we spiritually grow the agape Love He has planted in our hearts (I John 4:16). We show the greatest love in the universe, like Christ did by laying down our selfish lives for Him. We show our love for Him when we give up our old life and take on His life.

 [This is the Major Leagues. Christ is assembling His team. Game time is at hand.  The denominational churches contain many who are called, but sadly, they will not hear this message about dying with Christ on the cross and resurrecting with Him. Once this truth sinks in, it burns a hole in your heart. The fire of God’s reality will consume you. Romans 6 is not preached or taught in 99% of church houses.

I love all of you; With each post that He shares with me, I give it my best to bring light to the road you are travelling. I know. It is a thankless vocation, marching on in the Savior’s army. But we thank Him for everything, and He thanks all of us with the fruit of the Spirit: Love, joy, and peace.

Being Called and Chosen

God calls many to be a part of His plan. It is an invitation to be adopted into His royal spiritual family. “Many are called, but few are chosen.” The chosen are called His elect.

Since “God is a Spirit,” it takes faith to enter His Spiritual realm (John 4:24). It takes belief. It takes belief that the sin in our life is dead. And it takes belief that we have now a new, sinless heart. Belief. “For they that come to God must believe that He is, and that he is a rewarder of those who diligently seek him” (Heb. 11:6).

We are born into this old 3-D life with a selfish, sinful heart. To be a part of God’s plan, mankind must surrender to God. He then will give them an escape from the earthy, sinful life.  

The old heart must go. But how does one get rid of it? God has provided passage into a new life! First, we must learn about and then believe in the sin sacrifice that the Father has provided. Our sacrificial Lamb is known as Jesus Christ in English speaking countries, but His Hebrew name is Yahshua. He is the Son of God, our Savior.

How does he save us? Christ took all of mankind’s sins upon Himself. When He died on the cross, our old sinful heart died with Him! Then we were buried with Him. Then the Father raised Him from the dead. When He was raised, then we were “raised to walk in a newness of life,” too.    

The Apostle Paul Explains

“Or have you forgotten that when we were joined with Christ Jesus in baptism, we joined him in his death? For we died and were buried with Christ by baptism. And just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glorious power of the Father, now we also may live new lives. Since we have been united with him in his death, we will also be raised to life as he was. We know that our old sinful selves were crucified with Christ so that sin might lose its power in our lives. We are no longer slaves to sin. For when we died with Christ we were set free from the power of sin” (Romans 6:3-7 NLT).

This is how sin is conquered. It has already been defeated! This is true repentance from sin. This is our testimony. We need only to believe it and walk in it.

When you believe, you are walking in the doctrine of Christ. Repentance and Belief are the first two doctrines that the apostles walked in. Through believing this, you now are continuing in the truth that the apostles had.

But this is only the beginning of spiritual growth. This is only 30-fold fruit bearing. Our destiny is to sit with Christ on His throne. It is to bear 100-fold fruit. To see what 100-fold fruit bearing looks like, look at the lives of the early apostles. They healed the sick and raised the dead, and they taught righteousness.

“And they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine…” (Acts 2:42). Christ’s seven doctrines are His major teachings. We will continue in Part Two next time. Kenneth Wayne Hancock

[Order your free copy, with free shipping, of my book The Apostles’ Doctrine. Send your name, mailing address, and the name of the book to my email: wayneman5@hotmail.com Yes, it is free. Christ took money off the table.]

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January 27, 2025 · 2:13 pm

Heart Preparation for the Abiding of His Spirit

The book I’m working on, The Abiding, will explain to the reader how the great Spirit, our Creator and Savior, will come and live in us—fully, like in the apostles of old. That is the main theme of the book.

But many Christians will say, “We don’t need to study out all these things; we just need to be filled with the Holy Spirit. All we need to do is raise our voices loudly enough with song and praise. We believe that He will hear our cries and answer us with His slaying power. That’s how the disciples did it.”

Not so fast. The disciples had much more preparation than any of us. The Savior taught and walked with them before their experience at Pentecost. They were with Him forty days after the resurrection. Not to mention the 3 1/2 years that they walked with him before the crucifixion. It wasn’t like twelve men wandered up into an upper room and began to pray and—boom!—they’re all filled with God’s Spirit. With no study? Please.

There was much preparation before their experience. The disciples had studied the Word up close and personal. They were taught daily by the Anointed One. They didn’t fully understand His plan and purpose until they were filled with the Holy Spirit and fire. But they studied the Scriptures and the living, spoken words of Christ, who is the “Word made flesh.”

What Christ Taught Them

And what did Christ teach the disciples during the forty days after the resurrection? He spoke of “the things pertaining to the Kingdom of God” (Acts 1:3). That’s what the disciples were doing after the resurrection. Christ was teaching them “the mysteries of the Kingdom of heaven” (Mt. 13:11). Before they gathered in the upper room, before they were “filled with the Holy Ghost,” before they began “to speak with other languages” to those devout Jews who had come to the feast from at least fourteen countries. They all heard the Spirit speak their languages, through the apostles. It was not “unknown” languages. The Spirit was speaking through them in known, living everyday languages (Acts 2:4-12).

Christ’s lambs and sheep earnestly desire the true experience of the Spirit filling their vessels, but all of us must get our ducks in a row first. We must get an answer to this question: What are these “things pertaining to the Kingdom of God” that Christ, the resurrected Savior, was teaching them? If Christ appeared to us tonight in a vision and asked us, “What are these ‘things’ pertaining to my Kingdom?” How would we answer Him?

Christ was teaching them things about spiritual growth.

Christ speaks no idle words. Christ was teaching “things” to his disciples, as the Spirit of truth directed. It seems like a divine mystery, right? But it shouldn’t be. The disciples wrote down the “things” for us, that Christ had spoken to them about.

I submit to you that these “things” are lessons on how we are to grow spiritually. This gets us ready to be “filled with the Holy Spirit,” like the early apostles experienced.

These “things” are about how we are to go through God’s spiritual life cycle of growth. The parables of Christ teach us about growing from a babe in Christ to apostleship. In the “Parable of the Cast Seed,” the man sows; the seed comes up and grows. “First the blade, then the ear, after that the full corn in the ear” (Mark 4: 26-29). Spiritual growth is also when he likens the Kingdom of God to a grain of mustard seed and how it grows and matures (4:30-32).

“And when they were alone, he expounded all things to His disciples” (4:34). Christ spoke to them “of the things pertaining to the Kingdom of God.” He explained it to them.

And then there is the Parable of the Sower, who sowed the seed, the word, into four different soils. The birds ate up the seed that fell by the wayside. Some seed fell on stony ground and was scorched by the sun. And some seed fell into thorns and was choked out. But some “fell on good ground, and did yield fruit…some thirty, and some sixty, and some one hundred” (Mark 4:3-8).

This great parable is all about spiritual growth. It is so important to understand, for it unlocks the rest of the parables (4:13). Christ explains the Parable of the Sower in Mark 4:14-20. It is all about growing and bearing fruit.

The Spirit is expounding to us His word about how He grows in us. In retrospect, nearly everything published on this site is a connecting dot concerning spiritual growth, from the sprouting of the seed, the word of God, in our hearts to the harvest of that seed.

The last phase of God’s growth in our vessels is what The Abiding is all about. It is about the “things pertaining to the Kingdom of God.” The complete abiding will come as we do the new commandments, and add to the faith, and put on the armor of God, and continue in the Apostles’ Doctrine.

Christ’s teachings on the Kingdom of God are lessons on spiritual growth, guiding believers from spiritual infancy to apostleship. Parables like “The Cast Seed” and “The Sower” explain sowing God’s word and nurturing it to yield spiritual fruit. Embracing these teachings allows God’s Spirit to flourish within us, helping us partake of the divine nature.

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Kenneth Wayne Hancock

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