Forgiveness Creates a Living Sacrifice

God is reproducing Himself in His elect. That is what it is all about.

This is His “eternal purpose,” to magnify His nature of agape love through a body of consecrated human beings. God’s elect are the ones He has chosen for this honor, long before the worlds were created. “He has chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world…having predestinated us” for this honor (Eph. 1: 4-5; 3: 11). One cannot work for this honor of being used by God for His self-reproduction. One can only respond to the calling and election.

To expedite all this, He has forgiven us our sins and trespasses and has commanded us to walk in the Spirit that He has given us. The “Spirit of truth” will lead us into all truth about this process and will take us to a spiritual place where His eternal purpose takes center stage in our earthly sojourn.

Since “God is [agape] love,” and since He desires to reproduce Himself in us, then it is evident that we need to manifest agape love. Actually, we are given a command to add to our faith agape love.

We the elect are to add seven attributes of God’s “divine nature” to our faith. These are lined out in II Peter 1. We call them the additions to the faith (vs. 5-7). Adding them is being “partakers of His divine nature” (v. 4). Adding them is how “to make your calling and election sure” (v. 10). Adding them ensures an entrance “into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ/Yahshua (v. 11). So, yes, they are extremely important.

The greatest of the seven additions is agape love. If we do not have this one operating in our lives, we will live in vain. Our words about God to others will be just a “sounding brass and a tinkling cymbal.” Why? Because we will have come up short, having not done what was needed in order to add agape love, thus fulfilling God’s purpose of reproducing Himself. But if we are part of His elect, we will respond. He has a way of getting what He wants out of us. He knows how to tighten down the screws. Just think of the prophet Jonah, who was chosen and sent to Nineveh, but refused to go. Look what he suffered. And, yes, he finally went after his ordeal.

How to Add Agape Love

When we suffer wrongs against us, God has provided an opportunity to forgive the person who wronged us. Only agape love—God, in other words—can forgive a betrayer. Only the love that God is can forgive someone who has destroyed your reputation with lies. Only God-is-love can forgive them for being Adamic old nature men and women.

In order to grow agape love within our new heart, He asks us to forgive…everyone. All seven billion of them. Every human being on the face of the earth, and some who are under six feet of earth. He is asking us to forgive everyone who hurt us in any way, and forgive those who we imagined had hurt us. I am learning to just pre-forgive everyone who I might meet today. That changes me and alleviates the problem that I create when I do not forgive that person for just being a flawed human being. Love alleviates the problem. For the problem is me—when I do not forgive [1].

By forgiving, we sacrifice our old self, letting it die on the cross with Christ. To forgive is the principal power that God has given us. If we do not forgive others their trespasses against us, precious little other powers will be entrusted to us.

By forgiving others, we “present our bodies a living sacrifice” thereby adding agape love to our walk in Christ. When we deliberately go about our day forgiving our parents, our spouse, our children, our siblings, our friends (oh, yes), our acquaintances, we will have an opportunity to “love our enemies.” What? Yes, our enemies. Christ warned us that “a man’s foes shall be they of his own household” (Matt. 10: 36; Micah 7: 6).

Furthermore, as we practice forgiveness, we become more like Him, for He forgave us all. In so doing we become that living sacrifice and a servant to others. Christ is our example and we are admonished to have the same mind. He did not make a reputation for Himself. He became a servant and humbled Himself and became “obedient unto death.” He has given us the power to be that “living sacrifice,” to be dead unto our old self, but alive unto God.

He urges us to “present [our] bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is [our] reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind…” (Rom. 12: 1-2). This places Christ’s mind within us—when we forgive.

Kenneth Wayne Hancock

[1] Russell, Garrison. Son–Placing, pp. 364-390.

Forgiveness: The First Part of Agape Love

Those of us with ears to hear the “high calling” to be the sons and daughters of the King of the Universe—nothing less—have a “calling and election” to be made sure. To be the offspring of a King, it is understood that we must have the same spiritual DNA as the King Himself. Why? Because the children of kings are expected to grow from being princes and princesses into kings and queens, wielding the same power as their Father.

This, brothers and sisters, is where we are in the Father’s plan and purpose. He is so big and magnificent and grand that it is difficult to begin to wrap our tiny minds around the concept of who He really is. He is behind everything and in front of everything. His omniscience is staggering, even to knowing how many hairs we now have on our heads. He even knows when a sparrow checks out and becomes permanently grounded. And He knows our hearts, what we think and do or don’t do. Hey, He wrote the book of life and knows every jot and tittle of our thoughts. He even knows our futures and how we will get there—things we are clueless about—He knows.

He knows what each of the elect needs to fulfill our calling. We must remember: “The LORD gives and the LORD takes away; blessed be the name of the LORD.” That quote does not just refer to the life and death of our current earthly lives. It means also He gives into our lives both “good” things and “bad” things. He takes the good away from us when we have had too much, like us monitoring how many sweets a child needs. And He supplies pain and sorrow when it is needed to effect the outcome that is written in His book about us. He has said, “I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things” (Isa. 45: 7).

If you have ever found yourself in a spiritually dark place, a place of grief and sorrow, Yahweh did it, for He has created darkness and evil. If you came out of the darkness, even temporarily, into a peaceful lull of tranquility, then Yahweh did it. For He is the Creator of peace. It is He who prescribes the exact right amount of “good” and “evil” that we need in order to grow. Too much glorious sunshine will dry up and kill the plant. Too much rain will drown it. He is the husbandman; He knows how much we can take of each, to make us grow up into Him

Understanding by Books

The body of Christ grows as its members supply nourishment one to another. “…Every joint supplies…[and] makes increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love” (Eph. 4: 16). He has created us to be givers and sharers of His truth to each other.

A book called SonPlacing by Garrison Russell has supplied a much needed truth in order to help this vessel to continue growing. He describes agape love, how it is the full maturity that we all need to fulfill God’s purpose in our lives. Agape Love is God. It is what we are to love mankind with. But how do we do this? How do I love mankind like Christ did? What do I do to place agape love into my life? [1]

To forgive any slight is a big first step. For He forgave and has commanded us to forgive those who have harmed us in some way. To be His child, we must do what He did and does: He forgives. We have all forgiven slights and oversights by those we love. But when God sees that we are ready for the big time, when He hears our prayers asking Him for more and deeper truths, then He will administer pain so deep that we will at first run from the very thought of it, like Jonah ran from going to Nineveh. We must remember that He is the Creator of both good and evil, and He will use both to accomplish His will. Just ask Job.

To enable growth, He allows “bad” things to happen to us. For it is only the act of forgiving the “bad” thing done to us that will cause agape love to grow within our hearts. I am learning that forgiveness is agape love.

The production of the fruit of agape love within us is only realized by forgiving those who sin against us. This is heavy stuff; someone has wronged you, hurt you, shamed you, ridiculed you, abused you, mocked you. These sorrows produce an aching hole in your heart. These sorrows are wounds found deep within your breast. The wounds of betrayal will be so deep that they create a cavern of dry tears. It is in that suffocating sorrow that you must choose a path out of the torture. Either you swear vengeance, or you run out of that cavern and seek an elixir to make you forget the pain, or you sink back into the darkness and give up…

…Or, you forgive the perpetrators of your betrayal and sorrow. For there is no power given except it be given from heaven (John 19: 11). God gave your perpetrator power, and He has also given you power to forgive them and thereby overcome them with love.

Look, all of us have been run over and left for dead. But one thing is certain. All the sorrows and pain and anguish and heartache and tears—all of these trials and tribulations of life will be utterly and completely in vain if we do not forgive those who trespassed against us. For all the betrayals and slights and injustices are really only God’s preparations for our future perfection, which is to become like Him. Forgiving is the first step.            Kenneth Wayne Hancock

 

[1] Russell, Garrison R. SonPlacing; pp. 78-137. Xulon Publishing: Juneau, Alaska. 3933 Old Garvey Road/Colville, Washington 99114

 

The Power in the Meaning of the Savior’s Hebrew Name

Getting the Creator’s name right is a big thing. I say this not to throw out a bone of contention among fellow Christians, but as a teaching to help us all get closer to Him. For His name has many powerful promises for us.

First, names in the Hebrew tradition hold much meaning and understanding.  It is not just a meaningless name tag. “Jacob” means “Supplanter.” Later God changed his name to “Israel” when Jacob had a big spiritual growth; he was renamed “Prince with God” after wrestling with Him all night. All the way through the scriptures we see names meaning something.

So we must ask, Does the Son of God’s name have meaning like all those who came before Him? Yes, His name does have meaning. His Hebrew name does. The first time the word “name” appears in the New Testament, it refers to the infant Son of God. “The angel of the Lord” spoke the child’s name. I am sure that the angel did not speak Latin or Greek or English. He spoke the Son’s name in Hebrew and said that you will call Him this “for He shall save His people from their sins.” He is the Savior and His name reflects this meaning. There is a footnote in my KJV Bible that says, “Saviour.”  Referring to Joshua and the Israelites going into the Promised Land, the apostle says, “For if Jesus had given them rest…” Most versions, appropriately, have this as, “For if Joshua had given them rest…” (Heb. 4: 8). This shows that the names were equal.

In Strong’s Concordance we see that the patriarch Joshua’s name comes directly from two Hebrew words meaning “YHWH Is Salvation” or “YHWH Is Savior.” One must eventually recognize that the Son’s name and the patriarch Joshua’s name are one and the same (H3068 and H3467).  Yahweh through His prophet Isaiah says many times that He is the only Savior (H3467).

This is where it gets sticky for many. The King James Version and many other translations have the angel saying, “Thou shalt call His name JESUS: for He shall save His people from their sins.” But “Jesus” is the English rendering of the Latin “Iesus,” which in turn comes down from the Greek “Iesous.”

Someone Will Ask

Someone will ask, What difference does it make? I have prayed “in Jesus’ name” for years and have received answers. Yes, God is merciful. He dwells with us according to the knowledge He has given us.

God has promised that “as many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons (and daughters) of God, even to them that believe on His name” (John 1: 12). Big, important promise. We see here that those who “received Him” are those who “believe on His name.” And to “believe” anything, we must agree with its meaning. To “believe on His name” is to agree that the meaning of His name is true. The Savior’s name has a meaning, and when one believes that that meaning is the truth, then they are empowered to become the very offspring of their heavenly Father. The meaning of the Savior’s name is Yahweh (the Father) Is the Savior. “God was in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself” (II Cor. 5: 19)… “He that hath seen Me hath seen the Father (Jn. 14: 9).

[Some readers may not see this at this time, and that is okay. Pray about it. Don’t depend on the old leaven teachings of the churches because they don’t have “it.” If they did, their megachurches would not exist, for “few there be to find this way of truth.”]

Working With “The Meaning of His Name”

Now you know what the Savior’s Hebrew name is, and you know what it means. Knowing its meaning is the key to unlock many passages with the word “name” in it, as it refers to the Son of God. Very powerful stuff He is sharing with us now. Find a passage with “name” in it (the Son’s name) and in your mind substitute this phrase for “name”: “the meaning of His name.”

For example, you know the story after Pentecost where John and Peter have just healed the lame man at the temple. They could see that the people who had seen this mighty miracle thought that they had done it by their own power. And then Peter said, You have “killed the Prince of life, whom God has raised from the dead…and His name through faith in His name has made this man strong.” And the meaning of His name through faith in the meaning of His name has made this man strong. What is the meaning of His name? Yah Is the Savior. They had faith in the meaning of His name, for they believed what His name means: that the Son of God has come to save, both physically and spiritually, His people (Acts 3: 16).

You try it on some passages with “name” in it, and see if it gives a revelation about the power found in the meaning of His Hebrew name.         Kenneth Wayne Hancock

God’s Elect Will Overcome the Tyranny of Technology

The realm of God’s government and kingdom is not found in a sound bite universe. Rather it is a  spiritual space filled with eternal themes, expressed in “thoughts of peace.” God speaks not in the quips and bits and memes of 21^st Century technology. Far from it. His words ring down through the ages with instructions and corrections, and wisdom and knowledge.

The impatient, short attention span of the masses of human beings is not a strange phenomenon to those who see what is developing in the present world system. As technology provides more and more brevity of thought, the masses fall quickly into a mindless milieu that exposes their desire for self-gratification.

The whole world is marveling at the new technology. The desire for more “likes” and “selfies” fuels a tawdry self-aggrandizement. Electronic mail with its instant letter delivery, though revolutionary, is rarely used the way it could be; it “takes too much time.” And so the masses accept the idea that they are not worthy of the writer’s time to compose a decent account of sentiments and ideas to be shared with another human being. When we read in Revelation how the “whole world wondered after the beast,” we have to ask, Is technology that beast? What other thing on the planet captures the mind of the masses so thoroughly?

All this notwithstanding, this is not happening to the masses by accident. It is choreographed by the great Creator Yahweh. He is in charge and in control. He is the author of the book of life. Yours and mine. The sooner we settle it that He is totally sovereign, the sooner we will be able to make some sense of this world and find our place of peace within it.

We mentioned the masses stuck in the mire of technological wonders. In this age, He has designed our world where only a few human beings will look past the tech glitter. They will be awakened out of the sleep of carnal desires. These are the remnant, the elect, the ones who God has chosen to have the vision of what their Father is doing—which is this: The Creator is reproducing Himself in and through a few human beings. That is the secret that the masses are not privy to. This information has been “kept secret from the foundation of the world.” Until now (Matt. 13: 10-17).

Who Is His Elect?

God has already chosen a few in Him “before the foundation of the world” (Eph. 1: 4-5). Some are predestined to be like Him, to come to full spiritual growth just like the early apostles and the Son of God Himself. This is His purpose (1: 9-11). But how will we know who they are?

Extremely important question. In every era there has been a remnant, a small number of people who followed Him and His plan. While the Israelites rushed headlong into idolatry, the patriarchs and prophets walked in God’s purpose. They were given eyes to see and ears to hear. Their story fills the pages of our Bible. The same story goes for the early apostles in the gospels. And the same story is holding true for our era. God has chosen a few, the elect, just like he did with the “great cloud of witnesses” who went before us (Heb. 12: 1). The elect sees God’s vision and purpose and hears His words as to how to accomplish it, “and the rest were blinded” (Rom. 11: 7).

The elect are on a treasure hunt and are digging deep. They won’t find the spiritual jewels chasing the next great breakthrough in technology. For their destiny was written down in the book of life long before this earth was ever formed. Our Father knew us by name. As Moses once sang, “Lord, thou hast been our dwelling place in all generations” (Psalm 90: 1).

The elect of God are like that. They go way back before time began, way back in the Father’s heart. And once called to this walk, they will slow down and take time to savor His thoughts. For the Savior is saying to us, “Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest” (Mark 6: 31). We will enter His rest when we believe His words about His purpose. He has promised to “lead us beside the still waters,” even though we “walk through the valley of the shadow of death.” But His soothing words to us are being drowned out by the hustle and bustle of technology. We need to go to His “quiet place,” a spiritual space filled with eternal themes, expressed in “thoughts of peace” (Jer. 29: 11).       Kenneth Wayne Hancock

[For more information, send for my book, The Royal Destiny of God’s Elect. It will help you on your quest. It is free with free shipping. Just send your mailing address to my email: wayneman5@hotmail.com Mention the title of the book]