Obeying Christ’s New Commandments Answers our Prayers

For instance, we might be praying for Robert. “God, please help him. I am troubled about him. He’s going through a lot right now. Would you help him, Father? Please bless him…”

We want God to answer our prayer. But our perception of where God answers from, and how He answers is askew. We think that our Father is separate from us, that He is apart, like our earthly father is. By our words to God, in our prayer we approach Him as if He is an entity that is away from us. Like we are here standing on earth, and He is far away in the heavens somewhere.

Conversely, when we receive the Spirit of truth within us, we now have our Father inside of us, inside our hearts. The Father “is a Spirit,” and “God is love.” When we obey Christ’s New Commandments, the Father loves through us. Obeying His New Commandments exercises His love, thus manifesting God in human form once again, and thus fulfilling His purpose of reproducing Himself—Agape Love.

How Does This Work?

The answer to our prayer for Robert lies in obeying the New Commandments. The answer to the prayer above is answered in the application of agape love through keeping the New Commandments. Christ commanded us to forgive. Let’s say that Robert has rejected our witness to him in the past. So we now forgive Robert. We don’t judge him. We wipe the slate clean through the power God has given us. Christ commanded us to “give.” So we give to Robert—our time, our acceptance, our help, money. Like the Good Samaritan we offer our assistance to Robert and help him.

The point: Obeying the New Commandments exercises the Spirit within us. It takes agape love to forgive. Many think that receiving the Holy Spirit in their lives is for them to have joy and peace. No. We are to be channels of the Father’s love, conduits of the Spirit’s care and mercy. It is all for Him and others. One of Christ’s commandments is “Pray for them who spitefully use you.”

The Spirit of truth is the answer to all prayers and all our problems. For it is the Spirit within us that obeys Christ’s New Commandments. When they are obeyed, the Spirit within us is doing it. The answer to our prayers is the Spirit inside us. God answers prayer by His Spirit within us forgiving, giving, not judging, believing in the meaning of His name, abiding. This is how agape love is formed within us; this is how God grows inside us unto the “fullness of Christ,” unto the “manifestation of the sons [and daughters] of God.” Kenneth Wayne Hancock

Ordering My Free Books in Paperback

I am now able to send you a copy of my books absolutely free with free shipping.  Please specify which one.

Yah Is Savior: The Road to Immortality explores the deeper meaning of our Savior’s Hebrew name Yahshua, which means Yahweh is the Savior.

The Unveiling of the Sons of God explains how the whole creation is waiting and longing for the manifestation (the unveiling) of the sons of God for these latter days. Christ will be totally formed in His elect as they will have grown and matured spiritually into His likeness and power.

The Royal Destiny of God’s Elect. It explores God’s vision for us, to be kings with Christ and how He will use us to reproduce His nature of Love.

My latest book is The Apostles’ Doctrine. Their doctrine was Christ’s teachings. And the early church walked in those teachings. This book reveals just what they are and how to walk in them.

Send your request, specifying which one of my books you desire, to my email address:  wayneman5@hotmail.com  Include your name and mailing address. For those outside the United States, or who may prefer a pdf copy of the last two books mentioned, please specify.  Also, you may read the first two books online at my website Immortality Road found here:   https://immortalityroad.wordpress.com

God bless you and your family, and thank you for taking a stroll with me on Immortality Road.

 

“Yahshua”–Believing in the Meaning of His Name

Immortality Road

The  disciples are looking up into the serene face of the risen Savior.  They have been with him for forty days now—witnessing the glory in His every word and movement.  He has taught them precious things “pertaining to the kingdom of God.”  He has also instructed them to stay in Jerusalem and “wait for the promise of the Father.”  He has told them to wait for a spiritual baptism in which they will be immersed in God’s very own Spirit.  No water like John’s baptism—this time the power from on high will come upon them.

This promise to them must have been difficult to believe because instead of asking questions about it, they ask a question concerning the kingdom.  Thinking He was talking about a political government, they ask, “Wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel?”

He responds by saying that the times and seasons of…

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Obeying Christ’s New Commandments

The teaching on the spiritual growth of “much fruit” is so profoundly ephemeral that we all must “put ourselves in remembrance of these things.” The following is not mindless repetition, but rather a stirring up of our minds for the vision ahead. The Spirit of truth knows our foibles of memory. Thus, He teaches us a new concept, laying it upon a sure foundation of rock.

To comprehend why we are here on this planet, we must know of our Creator’s purpose. His purpose is to reproduce Himself in human beings. He is Agape Love, and His will is to fulfill His purpose. He has a plan to accomplish this multiplication of Himself.

It is through this knowledge that light is shed on His plan. He has chosen His apostles, teachers, and prophets to expound on His plan to accomplish His purpose. And He is now revealing His plan to any who have an ear to hear and eyes to see.

The apostle John records Christ’s last major discourse in chapters fourteen through seventeen of the gospel of John. These teachings are for those chosen by Him to be used to fulfill God’s purpose. Christ calls this bearing “much fruit.” He likens the elect to being branches of Himself, the Vine.

To bear “much fruit,” we must abide in Christ and Christ in us. To abide we must obey Christ’s New Commandments. Bearing much spiritual fruit is called many things in scripture: the “manifestation of the sons of God,” “Christ in you, the hope of glory,” 100 fold fruit bearing found in Matthew 13; the remnant; the elect; the apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers.” They all lead to the fulfillment of His purpose—the reproduction of Agape Love in us.

Knowledge of the New Commandments

Christ gave several new commands to His elect. The New Commandments are not to be confused with the Ten Commandments. They go far beyond the Ten Commandments in spiritual depth. The Ten Commandments are a schoolmaster to bring us to the awareness of sin and our need for a Savior and His Spirit within our new heart. But Christ came to magnify the law. With His Spirit in us, we now are equipped to reproduce His love. And we do this by keeping His New Commandments. They are for His elect, His first fruits who will be exactly like the Seed/Son. They will be the first in this last generation to fully bear much fruit. I.e., the remnant in our day will bear the same spiritual fruit as the early apostles and Christ Himself. He said as much: “Greater works shall you do…”

These New Commandments serve as landmarks on the road to immortality. As we by faith in Him begin to first understand them and then obey them, we grow up spiritually, and His Spirit manifests Himself in us. For example, Christ commands His elect, “Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me.” This is a commandment. He explained it by saying, “I and My Father are one.” The elect will see the oneness of God and will believe Him (John 14: 11).

He commanded, “Abide in Me.” This means stay and remain in Him, like the branches stay in the Vine and do not detach themselves. Abiding in Him means staying in His teachings, purging out all of the false doctrines and concepts that challenges the truth of God. If we stay in the false doctrines about God, we cannot abide in Him and He in us. But if we keep this commandment, we will bear much fruit, which is 100 fold spiritual fruit bearing.

Here are some of Christ’s New Commandments: 1. Abide in Me; 2. Believe that the Father is in Me; 3. Don’t judge others; 4. Forgive; 5. Give; 6. Love your enemies and each other; 7. Pray for others; 8. Do good to your persecutors; 9. Turn other cheek; 10. Seek first Kingdom of God; 11. Don’t think about tomorrow or earthly things; 12. Lay up treasures in heaven—Mt. 6: 20; 13. Resist not evil; 14. Be merciful like He is merciful.

Keeping the New Commandments Grows Love in Us

Keeping His commands exercises the Spirit of Love within us. God’s nature of divine agape love grows within our hearts. All of His commands are facets of agape love. These new commands set the parameters. When they are obeyed from the heart, our actions show that God is in us of a truth. For only God can obey them.

Christ commands us many times. Each command reveals another aspect of His nature of agape love. He commands us to “forgive.” When we forgive those who have hurt and betrayed us, agape love grows within our hearts. Only God can forgive like this, and He is manifested in us when we obey His command to forgive. We are His offspring; He forgave, now we forgive. Each seed bears its own kind.

We can only forgive like this when we fully appreciate Christ’s forgiveness toward us. We love Him first because He first loved us, and gave Himself for us. We first forgive God for allowing the hurt and sufferings to take place in our lives. Then we forgive the one who hurt us. And through this crucible, the fire of God’s love melts our cold hearts, and what is left is a diamond crystal of agape love.

The addition of manifested agape love radiating out of our hearts happens when we obey Christ’s New Commandments. This is how we grow spiritually. This is how God’s purpose is fulfilled. This is how the love-from-above flows down into us and through us to the world. And this understanding leads to the abiding, when the Holy Spirit takes up residence in us and remains in us, or abides in us.

Kenneth Wayne Hancock

Steps of Knowledge to Get to Christ’s New Commandments

How can I pen mere words that will serve as a key that unlocks the vault where knowledge of the Creator’s holy things are stored? What audacity! To think that we can access the treasures of the Almighty.

And yet, our Creator has already moved on holy men of old with words—words that plainly map out directions to the vault, and instructions for the treasures of wisdom found there. They expound on God’s purpose and plan. It is already written in plain English (or your mother tongue) in the Holy Bible.

But the Bible is in riddles and much mystery. You can look right at the words, yet its true meaning eludes the reader. You can stand right over the vault and not be aware of His treasures hidden inside. For most, it remains a sealed book that collects dust on a lonely shelf. Isaiah put it beautifully: “The whole vision has become to you like the words of a book that is sealed” (29: 11; Rev. 5: 1). The hubris of mankind brings spiritual blindness and confusion. Consequently, the book of truth remains sadly closed to most. But now is the time for those seals to come off the book.

So, help me, Father, to explain clearly how and why your Spirit of love grows within us to full fruit production.

First: God’s purpose in creating us is to reproduce Himself. It is not about us, per se. Life is about Him using us to reproduce Himself. That is why the earth and everything in and on it exists.

Second: “God is love” (I John 4: 8). Agape love. His purpose is to grow this divine Spirit of love to its fullest extent in human beings.

Third: He is sovereign. He is in complete control of the operation of the production of His nature of love in us. He chooses whomsoever He desires to use, to fulfill His purpose. It is all Him and for Him.

Fourth: Humans are the garden that He plants His seed of love in. It is planted in us through faith when we believe the testimony of the Father’s Seed/Son. Belief in His resurrection springs to life a new seed of love inside us. As we are touched by the love that Christ showed, we receive a new life of love that begins to grow within our hearts. “Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins” (I John 4: 10).

Fifth: This little light of love wants to grow. But it is fed nutrients that stunt its growth. Christ, His apostles, and His prophets warn us of false teachings fed by false teachers (Mt. 24: 11; Jude 1; II Peter 2: 1-22). We will know them by the fruit in their followers’ lives. If the flock is still floundering in sin, then that is bad fruit, stunted fruit.

Six: Young Christians begin bearing the fruit of love, and then the Father begins to purge or prune them so that they can bear “more fruit” (John 15: 1-2). These purging can be severe. Many are taken aback with the sufferings they go through, the worst of which are the betrayals endured. Many cannot understand why God would let “bad things” happen to them. This knowledge is crucial: God is the Giver of “good things’ in our lives; He is also the Instigator of the “bad things” that happen to us [Just think of Job]. Without this knowledge, many walk away and stop trying. Most do not know that all sufferings are a part of God’s plan for our perfection/maturity. Our perfection fulfills His purpose of reproducing full blown agape love within us.

Seven: Our perfection is the maturity of God’s divine nature with us. I.e., it is full grown agape love in us and manifested out to others. “Christ in you, the hope of glory” is His goal for those chosen for this honor: To fully house LOVE. To be just like the Son of God Himself. Nothing less. He calls this bearing “much fruit.”

Eight: To accomplish this high growth in human beings, God showed Peter that we need to add seven aspects of God’s divine nature to our faith. Hence, the title of this new book is The Additions to the Faith (II Peter 1). The first six additions lay a foundation for the seventh, which is agape love.

Nine: When we bear “much fruit,” agape love will be fully reproduced in us.

Ten: Abiding in Him, and Him in us, produces “much fruit” (John 15: 5).

Eleven: Obeying Christ’s New Commandments leads to the Abiding. Christ said, “If you keep My commandments, you shall abide in My love…This is my commandment, That you love one another, as I have loved you” (John 15: 10, 12).

Summary: God’s purpose is to fully manifest Himself (agape love) in us. He has a plan to accomplish this goal. To get there we must add seven aspects of His divine nature to the faith. The seventh is agape love, God’s divine nature. To add agape love, we must obey Christ’s New Commandments; this leads to the abiding. And the abiding produces much fruit. [Note: Nine through Eleven above sound so simple, yet they are so profound. It takes a quiet mind through much study to grasp their meaning.]

What are these New Commandments? Here’s two of them: “Love one another as I have loved you” and “Continue in my love” (John 15: 9, 12).     Kenneth Wayne Hancock

To be continued…

Christ’s New Commandments and the New Promised Land

The following is for those who, like Joshua and Caleb, are saying, “The giants are not too big. We can take the land, the land of promise.” In their Old Testament story, God promised to give them their own literal land, land occupied by the Canaanites. In that land, in Jerusalem, they built a temple for Him to dwell in. In our day He has promised to dwell–not in temples made with man’s hands–but in us, the temple that He created for Himself to dwell in. One of Christ’s greatest teachings is how we become His temple in a reality, just like the apostles and prophets.

In this last generation before Christ’s return to earth, after winning a spiritual war, those called and chosen will receive God’s promise for these latter days. What exactly has our Father promised us? He has promised that if we walk in His teachings, we shall spiritually grow up to become—just like Christ when He walked this earth. The Promised Land for our day is the vision God has for us, His sons and daughters.

If we will get rid of the false teachings and walk in His true ways, He will grow in us—Christ the Vine and us the branches. If we stay in Him and He and His teachings remain in us, then we will abide in Him and He in us. And if we abide in Him and He in us, then He has promised that we will bear “much fruit.”

“Much fruit” is 100 fold fruit; it is the fruit that the manifested sons of God will bear at the end of this age. These offspring of the Almighty shine forth in the pages of the New Testament. “Much fruit” is seen in the actions of Christ and His apostles. They are coming. That is His promise to His elect. “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). Receiving Him and His power is the first step in bearing “much fruit.” That is a promise.

The Promised Land

In a word—we are the modern day “Promised Land.” Yes, of course, there is an extremely important geographical fulfillment of this. But the spiritual fulfillment is just as important.

Our bodies are made of earth and are divinely supported with breath and water and nutrients. When these earthly bodies expire, they go back to dust. They become part of the land where they are buried. When His Spirit fills us, God fulfills His promise to “dwell in us,” His temple. He has promised us (I Cor. 3: 16; II Cor. 6: 16).

God has chosen by His grace and mercy a few to manifest Himself in. They will be the first fruits, the first humans to bear ultimate spiritual fruit. They will walk in a high growth of the Spirit within them. Christ calls this “much fruit.”

Little children of God who never grow up spiritually will bear “fruit.” He will prune these Christians to purge out impurities so that they can bear “more fruit.” This is 60 fold fruit. In this growth we learn to “abide in Him and He in us” to the point that we bear “much fruit” (John 15: 1-8).

When we abide in Him, and He in us, then we may ask what we will, and He will do it. Why? Because we will have had all the old leaven false doctrines purged out of us. Then He can trust us and will fulfill His promise to fill us with His agape love. It will be “Christ in you, the hope of glory.” Through this process of spiritual growth, we become the New Promised Land.

So What Do We Do Now?

Since bearing “much fruit” is God’s promise to us, how do we grow to that point? How is it done? One of Christ’s new commandments to us is this: “Abide in Me, and I in you…He that abides in Me, and I in him, the same brings forth much fruit” (v. 5). We see here again “much fruit,” the ultimate growth level.

It is here that Christ makes this promise: If we abide, stay, remain, and continue in His teachings, unfettered by false doctrines and claims—if we continue in His teachings, He has promised us that we will bear “much fruit” (vs. 4-7).

Bearing “much fruit” is the only way to glorify our Father. “Herein is my Father glorified, that you bear much fruit” (John 15: 8). In the next verse Christ gives us the key. He gives us this command: “As the Father hath loved Me, so have I loved you: continue ye in my love” (v. 9). We are to continue loving the way Christ loves.

The word “continue” is translated from the Greek word meno. It is also translated “abide, remain, and dwell” [1]. So, abiding, remaining, dwelling, and continuing in His love will lead us to bearing “much fruit.” But how do we abide and continue in His love? Christ answers us in verse 10: “If ye keep my commandments, you shall abide in My love…” Keeping Christ’s commandments. Someone is thinking, “I thought it was just the Ten Commandments we are to be concerned with.” Keeping them is just our duty. He wants us to bear much fruit, which is going beyond the call of duty.

Christ’s New Commandments

Christ magnified the law and gave many new commandments for those answering the “high calling.” We have seen already a couple of Christ’s new commandments: “Abide in Me” and “Continue in My love” (John 15: 4, 9).

In fact, His promise to us is wrapped in the understanding and keeping of His New Commandments. Christ promises: “He that has my commandments and keeps them, he it is that loves Me, and he that loves me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him and will manifest myself to him.” One of the disciples asked him how He will make Himself known unto us and not unto the world. He answered, “If a man love Me, he will keep My words [commandments], and My Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him” (John 14: 21-23). This is the abiding. This is where Yahweh, our Father and Creator, will truly live in us, and He will abide and remain in us. This is the promise; this is the spiritual “promised land.” So, what are Christ’s “New Commandments”?     [To be continued…]

Kenneth Wayne Hancock

[1] https://www.blueletterbible.org/lang/Lexicon/Lexicon.cfm?strongs=G3306&t=KJV

The Sovereignty of God and the Addition of the Knowledge of Good and Evil

When we really believe that the Creator of the Universe, our Father, is in complete control of every one of the human beings that He has created, it takes the burden off of us. We have been told that life on earth is a complete train wreck, an Edenic experiment gone terribly wrong. But the scriptures of truth say that “He does all things well.” God did not make a miscalculation in the Garden of Eden. Things went down just like He planned it. When we believe this, we do not feel the need to go out there and take personal responsibility to make sure that every person in the world “gets saved” before it is too late. That is such a heavy burden.

But Christ said that His “burden is light.” When we truly believe that the Father is in control and that everything is going according to His plan and purpose, then the burden becomes much lighter. There was a hit song back in 1957 called, “He’s Got the Whole World in His Hands.” It  was #1 on the top 40 songs of the nation. (This shows us how far U.S. culture has slidden toward the pit). It is all in His hands. “He’s got you and me, brother, in His hands. He’s got you and me, sister, in His hands…”

It is not that we do not care about the lost. We, the elect of God, indeed do. But God has not given us a mandate at this time to save every person that we meet. Many “on fire” Christians tear out with evangelistic fervor, literally huffing and puffing, and they burn themselves out. They seek for numbers of souls brought to Christ, thinking that without their effort, the lost will stay lost. “So then it is not of him that wills, nor of him that runs, but of God that shows mercy.” And who gets the mercy from above? It is to whomsoever He chooses to be merciful to. “Therefore, He has mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom He will He hardens” (Rom. 9: 16-18).

We need to come to grips with this fact, that God, the Hebrew God, is in charge, and that He “rules in the kingdom of men” (Dan. 4: 25; Psm. 103: 19). Vengeance is His but also mercy. We should hold Him in reverential awe, for He can harden our hearts in unbelief, or He can shower mercy upon us to satisfy His good pleasure. He is that much in control. We just think we are.

What Should We Be Doing Then?

We should first give thanks to Him for His mercy in revealing to us His plan and purpose of reproducing Himself, and including us in it. We then need to “study to show ourselves approved unto God,” that we could be conversant with His doctrines, the teachings of the early apostles. We need to add to our faith seven qualities that characterize the “divine nature,” found in II Peter 1. In a word, we need to “wait on our ministering.” Our time as His elect is in the near future when the “manifestation of the sons of God” sweeps the earth.

Right now God is dealing with His remnant. They will be His cadre of sons and daughters that He will use in the retaking of this earth from the clutches of Satan. He is calling and choosing His overcomers for this last generation. They are the first fruits of His harvest. They will be the first to receive immortality upon His return to earth. They will be the first people that He will use to reproduce Himself in.

These who have a position in the “manifestation of the sons of God” are at present awakening to this holy calling and election. They will see that now is a time of preparation for the spiritual battle that is coming. Now is the time to sharpen our spiritual Sword and check our armor to see if it is complete and in order. Right now God is allowing the adversary to be in charge of the kingdoms of men. But after His spiritual army of sons prepare and receive their immortal orders from the King, they will rise up and fulfill their destiny to be that “royal priesthood,” to be kings ministering love and healing to the inhabitants of the earth during the 1,000 year reign of Christ. The point: He is sovereign and is bringing it all to pass, for it is His will.

All of this should be studied in a matrix of faith—His faith—now “once delivered to the saints.” For we now live “by the faith of the Son of God,” not our puny faith in Him. And besides, there is only one faith (Eph. 4: 5). Christ’s faith, now imputed into our spirit, is a faith that believes in the sovereignty of the Father. He talked about it all of the time.

Without a firm grasp of what His sovereignty means, the scriptures will not open to our understanding. We will remain partially blind, our white cane feeling its way along, bumbling and bumping into a brick wall of false doctrines.

God Planned It All Out—Good and Bad

The sovereignty of God means that everything is His baby. The universe and all that is in it are the work of His miraculous hands. He has meticulously planned everything out, and He is executing His plan and purpose in every detail.

This is what we have to believe in order to continue walking on the road to immortality. But there is a sticking point. It is here that many will turn away from the deeper walk. He is the Creator of every “good” thing that happens, and He is the Creator of every “bad” thing that happens. The Spirit said, “I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD (Yahweh) do all these things” (Isa. 45: 7).

Everything that we humans deem as “good” emanates from His mind and heart. And everything we humans deem as “bad” or evil, He instigates it—for our perfection/maturity. He administers good and evil into our lives, as it is needed to further His plan and purpose—not ours. Go back into your memories when you were hurt the worst; it is usually a betrayal of some kind. It may seem like a curse to you, but it is an opportunity to forgive the betrayer. This develops agape love within us. This is God love, not our puny human love. For only God can forgive the unforgiveable. That is why Christ said to love your enemies.

But our minds fight this kind of love. This is why we must keep His plan and purpose of reproducing Himself in us –we must keep it foremost in our minds. He is reproducing Himself in a group of people that He calls His elect, or chosen ones. They did not earn this right to be in this first fruit company. It is total grace on His part. You cannot buy a spot in the elect, nor can you earn it. It is all His doing. The elect will be the first group to grow to full maturity in His likeness.

Many of you reading this now have been called to this honor. We all need to make our calling and election sure. You may have an indifferent spouse or other family member who is steeped in the things of the world. They may think you are crazy for following this way; they may withstand you at every turn. Just know that God has placed them in your life. Resistance builds strength and patience, two good qualities of the divine nature that God is putting together in your life. Forgive them and you will be loving them with agape love. He is in control of both you and them.

Finally, believing in His sovereignty is believing that our God is doing what is necessary to effect His purpose. He will use both good and evil to do this. That God uses both good and evil in our lives is essential knowledge to be added to the virtue that He gave us at the beginning of our walk with Him. This knowledge helps us to grow and not sit there spinning, wondering why God allowed all of the “bad” things that happened to us. He does it for our good. This is a big part of the addition of knowledge.        Kenneth Wayne Hancock

[Thanks to Garrison Russel and his book Son-Placing, for clarity on the “knowledge of good and evil.”]