“Let This Mind Be in You”–Thinking the Way Christ Thinks

We are to have God’s purpose in mind.  But therein lies the problem.  How do we know what God’s purpose, plan and priorities are?  The answer is found in the writings of the apostles and prophets.  And they speak of “the elect,” “the sons of God,” and of the wonderful works that God will do through them at the time of the end.

God Will Make It Happen

Because it is His plan and He is all-sovereign and all-powerful, He will make it all happen and come together.  He will call out His sons and daughters, bidding them to come away a while and learn of Him.  He will draw them away from the cacophony of man’s thoughts and rumblings and the vain trappings of the Spirit-less life and feed them with wholesome spiritual food.

Putting on the Mind of Christ

Shouldn’t we be thinking on the things that God is thinking about, too?  We are admonished to do this.  “Let this mind be in you that was also in Christ Jesus/Yahshua.”  We have to allow His mind to come into us and take over.

What was in His mind?  He knew that He was in God’s form, that His body was the temple of God, the place for God to dwell in.  Christ knew that His Father Yahweh meant all along to come fully into Him and dwell in Him.  He knew that He was the heir, that He would inherit the Spirit of God Himself!  This was in His thoughts and mind.  And we should have the same mind and thoughts as Christ did.

But Christ humbled Himself, knowing that humility is the way a human should walk on earth.  He submitted Himself unto death.  Now we are asked to follow Him in a “baptism into His death,” where sin and its sin nature dies with Christ.

Doing this, we will the become “blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom you shine as lights in the world” (Phil. 2: 5-15).

Christ is our example, and He was always “about His Father’s business,” which is bringing forth His sons and daughters.  We now should make the “Father’s business” our business.  If we do, you know that He will be pleased.     Kenneth Wayne Hancock

“Baptized into His Death” Frees Us from Sin–The Doctrine of Baptisms

     The early apostles’ taught their third doctrine–the “doctrine of baptisms” with an “s.”  For there are several baptisms in the Christian walk–not just the one with water.

     The first baptism mentioned was John the Baptist’s “baptism unto repentance.”  He encouraged the people to repent of their sins, be baptized in water, thus pointing them to the Lamb of God, who would soon become the Sacrifice for all men’s sins.  “I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance: but he that cometh after me is mightier than I…he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire” (Mt. 3:11).  Here we have three baptisms in one verse.

     The baptism in water is symbolic of the death of our old sinful heart (see post on this at http://immortalityroad.wordpress.com/2008/04/17/baptismempty-ritual-or-symbol-of-death-of-self/ ).  Paul taught that it was symbolic of being immersed into Christ’s death.  “Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into His death?” (Romans 6: 3).

Just How Are We Immersed into Christ’s Death?

     Just before Christ died, this perfectly sinless man took upon Himself the sins of the whole world, past, present, and future.  Sin was transferred onto this sin offering, and He died with all our sins upon Him.  Consequently, when He died, my old self died.  When He died that day, our old selfish egos died.

     When He was literally buried in the tomb, our old lives were buried.  Gone.  Over with.  And when He rose from the dead, we rose from the deadness of our sinful existence, into a brand new wonderful life, energized with God’s Spirit now within (for more on this, see “Introduction” of my book The Unveiling of the Sons of God  at http://www.yahwehisthesavior.com/sonsintro.htm ).  All this has already been done for us by God.  We have to only believe it when we read it in Romans 6: 3-7 :

     “Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?  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.  If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection.  For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin.  Because anyone who has died has been freed from sin.”

     We are now free from sin–if we really believe it.  Free!  We are no longer slaves to the pulls, urges, and demands of that old spiritual nature that held us in bondage to do sinful acts!  I’m talking about revolutionary freedom here!  We were dead to sin, but now we live unto God by faith in the Spirit that He has given us.

     Water baptism is just the symbol of this immersion into Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection.  Believing and walking in this truth is the reality.  But God has promised his sons and daughters more and greater baptisms–the baptism of the Holy Spirit and the baptism of fire, which takes us into the very presence of God’s transformative power.     Kenneth Wayne Hancock

Repentance from Dead Works–The First Apostles’ Doctrine

True repentance is the first apostles’ doctrine or teaching.  It is the first stone to be laid in the foundation of the LORD’S (Yahweh’s) house, us.  The first thing we are told to do by Christ and His apostles is, “Repent.”  Because without repentance, the other teachings cannot be done.

It is the foundation upon which the rest of the Christian walk is built.  That foundation is comprised of (1) repentance from dead works, (2) faith toward God, (3) doctrine of baptisms, (4) laying on of hands, (5) resurrection of the dead, (6) eternal judgement, and (7) perfection (Hebrews 6: 1-2).

Repentance from Dead Works

“Repentance” is from the Greek word metanoia, meaning “a change of mind.”  Thoughts originate from the heart, then on through the mind, and then out through the mouth and actions of the body.  So when Christ and His apostles tell us, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand,” they are saying we must have a change of heart and mind.  The selfish heart of mankind must go, and then we can talk, Christ is saying.

Every thought and action of natural, unregenerated man and woman is in God’s eyes a “dead work.”  It is an action void of spiritual life.  A disciple said to Christ, “Let me bury my father.”  But the Master told him, “Let the dead bury their dead.”  Christ equated those doing the burying with those being buried.  In God’s eyes, both were lifeless, without the Spirit.  Without God, our little plans and dreams are lifeless, vain, unprofitable.

So God cannot live in the midst of all that selfishness—a lawlessness that is called sin, for the breaking of the ten commandments is sin.  And God hates sin because it is so against His nature.  He wants to live in man and woman, but He can’t because when man is full of himself, then there is no room for God.  Selfish action is a selfish spirit and  is  the  opposite  of  God’s  Spirit,  which  is the action called Love.

So there again is man’s problem; he wants to live forever, but wants to live his own selfish life forever, and this thinking breeds mortality, the way of death.  In order to gain immortality, man must have God’s Spirit living within him.  But the Spirit of God will not dwell in temples (bodies) that are unclean (have actions done in them that are sinful in breaking the l0 commandments).  Mankind that comes as far as this knowledge on the road of life comes to a fork in the road.  He must chose to either remain as he is and how he has been living, or he must seek a way to repent, to change the error of his ways.

God has provided a way for us to repent; it is the cross.  Not that Christ died on the cross.  Everyone has heard that story.  But that we must surrender our old self and let it die on the Cross with Christ.  This is how to repent from dead works.  It is the “baptism into His death” (Romans 6: 1-6).             Kenneth Wayne Hancock

{For more on this subject, go to the right hand column, and under “Categories,” click “Repentance.”}

Baptism: Empty Ritual or Symbol of “Death of Self”?

     “Why were you baptized?”  a survey taker asks, cornering us with his microphone and camera.  Most of us would have to say, “Because they told me I should do it.” 

     Question 2: “What does baptism mean exactly?”   Here most of us would scratch our heads and say, “Well, I’m not sure.  The minister and congregation were very supportive, and I feel that it was the right thing to do.”

     But the right thing for us to do is to “dig deep and build our house on the rock,” as Christ admonished us to do.  We dig deep by digging into the letter that He has left us, the scriptures of truth. 

     Baptism is an outward symbolic action of an inward, spiritual, and transformational happening.     The meaning of baptism is laid out in Romans 6:3-11.  “Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into His death” (v. 3).  We are immersed into His death.

     Water baptism is a symbol of us identifying our old self dying with Christ, being buried with Christ, and being raised up with Christ.  It is where we identify our old sinful self with the Lamb of God, our sin sacrifice.  ”He was made to be sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him.” 

     When He died, my old self died.  When He was buried, my old evil nature was buried.  When He was raised from the dead, I  was raised from the dead!  Hey, this is not just my testimony; it is all of His children’s testimony. 

     And baptism in water is a symbol showing the world and God how we are regenerated. 

     How is this transformation done?  By faith, which is having assurance of its reality before we actually see it with our own eyes.  We have to reckon it so through God’s power.  “Reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God” (v. 11).  God has already reckoned the death of our old self and our resurrection with Him.  Why shouldn’t we reckon it so?

     Baptism is a symbol of our transformation into being right with Him.  We are now free from sin.  “For he that is dead is freed from sin.  We are now the children of the light, having escaped darkness.

     God’s sons and daughters, His princes and princesses, shall see through the empty rituals of Churchianity.  They will shine forth as lights “in the midst of a wicked and perverse nation.”  Their clarity of vision will help them sift through the barren sands of man’s traditions to ultimately find the “one pearl of great price.”     Kenneth Wayne Hancock

{If this has been helpful, make a comment and/or pass it on to someone you care about.  I would love to hear from you.  You can read more about this in Yah Is Savior: The Road to Immortality, Ch. 28.  Click the Blogroll “Yahweh Is the Savior” link to your right]