I Have Chosen You

Chosen to Be Free from Sin

As Christians, God has chosen us “to proclaim liberty to the captives and the opening of the prison to them that are bound” (Isa. 61:1). That is our goal.

“I have chosen you.” These are Christ’s very words. And we need to decide right now if we believe these words. If we do not believe them, then, like in The Matrix, we can go back to the inevitable, heart-sickening drone of our old lives, never to sniff the sweet air of freedom…

Somebody just squeaked up in back. “I am already free,” they say quite indignantly.

Really? Free? Everybody quotes John 8:32: “You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” But very few know what the “truth” is or how it frees you. Everybody seems to have their own “truth” and their own definition of “free.” So, I must ask: Free from what exactly? What was Christ talking about here?

He answers our questions two verses later. “Whosoever commits sin is the slave of sin” (8:34). [Sin is breaking the Ten Commandment law [1 John 3:4]. He who sins is the slave; he is the one who is not free. He is the one who obeys the old sinful nature’s commands.

The truth that makes us free from sin  

Christ is talking about being made free from sin and sinning. Sin is the slave master of him who sins. And, “No man can serve two masters…” (Matt. 6:24).  It is the truth that shall make them free.

So, what is the truth that frees someone from sinning? Christ said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life” (John 14:6). He is the Truth, the Deliverer and Savior, and He has provided the way to put an end to sin in a person’s life, thereby making them free. That is good information. But how does Christ make us free from sin?

Through either ignorant or uninformed preachers and pastors, the church has foolishly perverted the truth that will deliver the sinner.  Preachers proclaim that they “sin every day”! They say, “I am a sinner saved by grace.” And, sure enough, they continue sinning. Worse yet, they teach their congregations that they will always sin. According to Christ’s words, which they claim to go by every word, they are telling them that they will always be in bondage to sin, that they will always be a slave.

Pastors need to teach their flocks this truth

Here is the truth that “makes us free,” written down for us by our apostle Paul: “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 (Romans 6:6-7  NIV).

When Christ died, our old self died! When He was buried, our old self was buried. And when He was raised from the dead, so were we. And Christ gave us a new heart, a heart that is free. We are freed from sin and sinning, folks! It is already done; we just need to believe it! This truth will transform your life. It will slay the old dragon Sin and place Christ seated on the throne of your heart. This is the truth that Christ was talking about, the truth that makes us free! “Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him” (v. 8).

The Missing Ingredient

What is the missing ingredient that makes all this happen? It is faith. Belief. Believing without concrete visible evidence. It is believing His word when He says that our old sinful life is dead and gone. Our belief starts when we reckon it so. We must reckon our old spiritual nature dead. This is not a natural death of the earthly body. “Reckon you also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Rom. 6:11).

To complete our initial spiritual transformation, we count (reckon) ourselves to be “buried with him in baptism, wherein also you are risen with Him through the faith of the operation of God, who has raised Him from the dead” (Colossians 2:12). HalleluYah!

This is the truth! But they will not believe this truth that frees them from sin and sinning. They do not believe that anyone can do what Christ and his apostles say we can do! They don’t understand that it is the Spirit of Christ that lives within us now. We could not walk a righteous life before. Now it is Christ who lives within us. This is repentance from sin, the first of the seven doctrines of Christ and His apostles. [Order my book The Apostles’ Doctrine, free with free shipping. You need it. It gives much more information. Info here: https://immortalityroad.wordpress.com/donate ].

Oh, that the pastors and preachers all over the world could get this message! Then they could free the precious members of their congregations, who are slaves and don’t even know it.

But a few will respond. Would you help me get this message out to a preacher or pastor or someone hungering for the truth—truth that will make them free from sin? You can share this article with anyone and everyone on any platform. Let us become the “fishers of men” by casting the truth out into the sea of mankind, thus giving the people a chance at freedom.

I’m talking about freeing the slaves with the truth. The truth is Christ’s life now residing in our hearts. There’s no greater calling than to be used by Christ to free the captives.

“I have chosen you.” He has chosen you to share the truth that will make the people free from sin. And he has “ordained (appointed) you, that you should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain” (John 15:16).

What kind of fruit is He talking about? It is the good fruit that we bear after our cross and resurrection experience. (Matthew 7: 18).

“I have chosen you and appointed you to bear fruit”

Understanding His message in Romans 6 is believing Him when He declares, “I have chosen you.” His chosen ones are not slaves to sin. They have been made free by knowing the truth of Christ’s death, burial and resurrection in us.

One caveat: The people do not believe they are slaves to sin, and they will fight you all the way. But they are really fighting Christ. So, “do not be dismayed at their faces”.

Kenneth Wayne Hancock

[What do you believe Romans 6 to mean? What are your thoughts about the truth that Christ spoke of? Make a comment, share and hit that like button if you appreciate the content.]

Chasing Your First Experience with Christ

Many young Christians get entangled in the trappings of the first flush of Christian love that they experience. Christ’s amazing, selfless love many times overpowers them. They experience tremendous joy and love. And then, a bit later, the rush of that first, fine feeling of the love from above subsides and seemingly leaves them.

Instead of seeking more of His plan and purpose and seeking the “unsearchable riches of Christ,” the babe in Christ stays there in that congregation or circle, glued to a belief that if they stay right there, the Spirit will return and give them that same feeling again, just like what happened before. It is as if they are a prisoner of their own experience with God; it is just the first step.

I am not putting anyone down here. I speak from personal experience. A babe in Christ is like the thrill seeker going after that first high. But that first experience with God is when He calls us. The second will not be like the first. They don’t realize that spiritually young children of God are mostly alive to what they can receive of the Father. It is not about us feeling good. It is about His Spirit growing in us and manifesting His love through us. The rest of the journey is about how God works out His growth within us

In the above scenario, we see a picture of a child of God, a “babe in Christ.” They are held in the “play pen” of the music and activities of the church house or the study group. The pastors and teachers do not feed them with “the sincere milk of the word that they may grow thereby.” They learn about Christ having existed and some of the things that He did. They are not taught about how His Spirit grows and lives in us. They are not taught the “cross experience” (Romans 6) whereby we are crucified with Christ, which allows our old sinful nature to perish through belief in Christ’s death and resurrection. This is the seed beginning of His growth in us. And without this knowledge, “babes in Christ” will wither on the vine. Their pastors and teachers will be held accountable.

God wants us all to grow, and we cannot grow like He wants us to grow spiritually if we persist in trying to recapture those first few experiences that God called us with. Paul said that we must leave them in order to grow to full potential. “But this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus” (Phil. 3: 13-14). The “high calling” is not being a child of God; it is becoming a manifested son and daughter of the living God.  God wants us all to grow up spiritually and become like the early apostles and prophets.

Kenneth Wayne Hancock

The Theme of Yahweh’s Prophets—The Kingdom

Yahweh’s prophets wrote about His Kingdom coming to earth. They spoke of a time when the righteous King would replace all of man’s governments. Christ and the early apostles heralded the same message.

They warned us about the corruption in man’s attempt to rule himself—how the rich exploited the poor, how justice had left town, how judgment languished, how evil clothed in shiny black robes ravaged the land, how all governments, “legal” and illegal, would be reduced to a crust of bread.

The prophets showed us how the rich wax richer, how the wealthy pass laws that insured their plans of piracy, how the rich suck men into a vat of promises that will not come true because they are false.

The prophets wrote about the King returning to earth to cleanse it from all evil and to make things right, thus bringing in everlasting righteousness.

They wrote of a time when the Messiah would bring back His love. But this time He comes with a fiery hand, a hand to deliver us from the evil that permeates the earth. And all we need to do is stop what we are doing for a moment. We need to stop all selfish, worldly thoughts. And let the mind of Christ enter our minds and hearts. Let us think on His things, His Kingdom, His government, His peace that passes all understanding. We must make a conscious effort to bathe our minds with his thoughts about our future on planet earth. This is all spelled out in the writings of Yahweh’s prophets.

Bathing Our Minds

To bathe our minds with His thoughts, we first must know what He is thinking about. He is thinking about His Spirit in us sowing His word like seed into a field. When it comes to harvest, He will have fulfilled His master plan and purpose: To reproduce Himself and us. And thus, you will become the word made flesh, dwelling among the inhabitants of the earth like Christ and His apostles. For “each seed bears its own kind.” Love is the answer. God is love, and He will with great irony decimate the evil on this earth, which will create a fertile plain for Him to sow His seed. His Kingdom is the gospel, the good news. And He will eventually “plant the heavens with a righteous seed.” And so the cycle continues on and on throughout all eternity.

The onus is on us, those whom He has called. His chosen are scattered throughout the earth, in every province. They will answer the call. They may be poor in this world’s goods; they may travel by foot or burro through jungles and mountains, but they will get to their brethren and share this very vision of Christ our King, our exiled King. They will take these writings and read it to others who are hungry for truth.

[If you enjoy these writings, help me get them to more people by hitting that “Like” button and making comments and sharing posts. Sow the seed. Thank you.  Kenneth Wayne Hancock]

Perspective on the Degradation of Our Society

Seventy-five years on the planet gives me perspective on the nation’s decline into darkness. I have seen the degrading of almost everything in our society.

Take music. Secular love songs from 60-70 years ago were about the pains and joys of the heart. Now they are of the “lusts of the flesh.”

Economics? Our dollar is worthless. The dollar used to be a 90% silver coin containing about an ounce of silver. It was real money. That same silver dollar is worth $30 in today’s paper currency. That silver dollar would buy 20 candy bars or 20 bottles of Coca-Cola. For my dad a silver dollar would buy three gallons of gasoline with a silver dime in change. My dad paid me one silver dollar for sweeping up hair at his barber shop on Saturdays back in 1955 when I was eight years old. Imagine a little kid running around with precious metal in his pocket and an American dream in his heart.

Now things look grim as the Federal Reserve Bank has absolutely ruined our economy. I share this to give you some perspective on how low we have been brought and how serious our current financial disaster is.

Back in the 1950’s, we Americans were still living by the standards of Protestant, Puritan values. But the darker influences had by then been let out of Pandora’s box. The lustful rhythms of the nations stirred a specter of passion. Most young women were chaste, held in check by the fear of society’s shunning of them for having babies out of wedlock. When a girl got pregnant out of wedlock, she simply disappeared, hurried off in shame to a willing aunt hundreds of miles away. There the girl would have her baby in seclusion and often give it up for adoption. Today she will parade her new fatherless baby up and down the high school halls. Dating was going to the movies back then. And if a boy got too fresh, he would have to face her World War II veteran father. [We were truly scared of those fathers]. But now, dating is a euphemism for having sex.

Today, the world has lost all restraints to bad behavior. Decorum is dead. Dignity is an orphan under a bridge. We see a society where thieves boldly ransack and steal armloads of merchandise while “security guards” passively look on. In the 50’s the thief would have been wrestled to the ground, arrested and prosecuted for grand larceny.

But age gives us perspective. I remember as a lad, I heard old-timers talking about how society was going downhill because of the federal government’s policies. They were right.

“Something wicked this way comes,” said the poet. No, it is already here. Conservatives on the right say that we can rise up and change this scary downward slide, that we can restore our society to what the Founding Fathers envisioned. That is a nice dream. But that ship has sailed. The cat is out of the bag, and no one will be able to put him back in again.

Why do I say that? I know that it sounds pessimistic. It is because of this: “This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves [not God], covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers… (I Tim. 3:1-7; II Pet. 2; Jude 1). The apostles warn us of our day, a day of spiritual darkness, “perilous times.” Spoiler alert: It is going to get much worse, a la the Great Tribulation. And we Christians are going to be in the big middle of it. But that’s another story that I have written at length about [rapture | Search Results | Immortality Road (wordpress.com)].

The leaders of the countries of this world have caused this denigration of which we speak. “For the leaders of this people cause them to err; and they that are led of them are destroyed” (Isa. 9:16).

But that is not true of God’s offspring. We have been restored, for we have “been with Him from the beginning.” Consequently, we know that “all things are of God.” We know that He is in charge. His law of harvest is in effect and cannot be broken. Whatever a nation sows, that shall it also reap. Pride goes before a fall. Through much hubris nations are brought to their knees. And so it is with the USA and all the other nations of the world.

Our Father’s Plan

The time of the end is upon us. And it is all part of the plan–that we would become so frustrated with the ways of the world, that we would finally seek our Creator. “For the creation [us] was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God” (Romans 8:20-21 NIV).

It is God who has subjected us to frustration. It is His doing. He allowed us to be bound in the chains of sin. We were held captive by our dark and selfish actions that brought the demise of our earthly bodies. And we were frustrated by having to live in clay vessels that grow old, die, and decay. But now we realize that we have returned to Him and have embraced His hope for us. His hope is that we will receive everlasting life. And now we see that all of creation is waiting for Christ’s return to this earth, when He will bestow upon us a new, glorious, spiritual body, which will enable us to serve the King throughout all ages (8:19).

It is our great and glorious privilege, therefore, to serve Him in His government, the Kingdom of God, which is coming very soon to fill the earth with his righteous judgment. For He is the Answer to all questions, the Solver of all problems, and the Teacher of all parables. He is Yahshua, the King of kings, our Creator (Col. 1:16). And “of the increase of His government and peace there shall be no end…” (Isa. 9:2-7).

We are blessed to serve Him together. Spread the word.   Kenneth Wayne Hancock 

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Intercession and Spiritual Growth

Someone in your life is hurting. You feel that you cannot help them. You know that they are going the wrong way but find it difficult to alter their direction. You have tried telling them that Christ is the answer. But they will not listen. You have prayed for them, of course. You have held on helplessly, as you see time running out–for them and for you as the one who wants to help them.

You feel depleted, empty of sustenance that will, like chicken soup for the flu, comfort and lift them out of their spiritual disease. Then one day you realize that you have just not gotten down and asked God to intercede in your loved one’s condition. It’s not like you haven’t mentioned them in your communications with God. You have mentioned them, but have you asked the Father, like this: “Father, would you please help them to know that You love them? Father, would you reach down and show them Your wondrous love? Would You reach out Your hand to them and draw them into Your joyful bosom?” Or was your prayer a statement: “Father, I ask that you help them in their time of need.”

As you ask your Father for help, your heart begins to soften. You realize that He is not going to block His ears to your cry for help. In fact, He has been waiting for you to ask Him—not tell Him—what you desire of Him. Christ said, “Ask and it shall be given.” He continued, And if your son or daughter asked you for something to eat, would you give them a stone? If you know how to mercifully give good things to your children when they ask you, “how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him” ( Matthew 7:7-11).

And so, you ask Him, “Father would you please help them? Would you let your love embrace their fears? Would you show them that you are real and that you care?”

And then, something wonderful begins to happen in your heart. It is a realization that, yes, the Father is going to answer your prayers, but He wants to do it through you. He wants His Spirit of love to be magnified and multiplied in you. He wants to love the one you are praying for–the one that you’re concerned about—through you. You begin to realize that He will answer your prayer, in showing His love for them, through you.

This is intercessory prayer–real prayer that changes us.  God gives grace to the humble. Humility knocks on His door seeking help for someone else. God can work with that. And so he begins a change in our hearts, preparing us to be used as a vessel for his Spirit of love to work through. This is how we grow; this is actually how He grows in us.  Intercessory prayer is the process by which the Father fulfils his eternal purpose, which is to reproduce Himself in a body of many human beings. This is how He multiplies His love for his people.    

And it all starts with, “Ask and it shall be given.” But it is not selfishly asking for both physical and spiritual things. Rather it is asking the Father to touch someone else.

You love someone that is hurting…

Kenneth Wayne Hancock