The Cross, Repentance from Sin, and the New Birth

You are a Christian. You want to win souls to Christ. But what is the exact message that you need to deliver? Christ is our example. What did He say to them?

Christ did not mince words. The first words out of His mouth were these: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” Abrupt, perhaps. Straight to the point. Yet that short message is packed with meaning. He is saying, You must repent of your sins because God’s kingdom is right here, right now, waiting for you to enter. But you must make a spiritual entrance. If you do not change your old ways, you will miss this opportunity to be with Me in My kingdom, for I am its King.

The Spirit of Christ in the apostle John continues explaining what He is talking about. Unless you are born from above—born again—you cannot see nor enter the spiritual kingdom of God. This is being born of the Spirit. Except a man be born again [born from above], he cannot see the kingdom of God…Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. John 3: 3-5.

Everybody has heard that, but few know what it means. In order to be born of the Spirit, thereby guaranteeing your entrance into His kingdom, there must be a dying of the old seed within us. And that old seed is the old heart, the old Adamic sinful nature. “Except a grain of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abides alone. But if it die, it brings forth much fruit” (John 12: 24).

Our old sin nature is like a bad seed that keeps producing sinful actions. And there is only one way to rid ourselves of it, and that is to surrender it to the death of the cross with Christ. That will bring the change of heart when we believe that He plants a new righteous seed in our hearts. This new seed germinates by faith in His resurrection. It sprouts forth love, joy, and peace. This is the born again experience. It comes out of repentance from sin. When a man gets this right, then he will have seen and entered the kingdom of God.

The Cross Experience

Many preachers speak about Christ suffering and dying on the cross for us. They say that He was our substitute; they say to just believe in His death and resurrection and you are saved. Many speak of this, but few explain what God requires of us concerning the cross. Just acknowledging Christ’s death is not enough to get rid of the old sinful nature. The old nature that we are born with has to die, or it will keep sprouting up. That’s why so many people back slide into sin. They back slide because their old sin nature is still there.

What the preachers fail to realize is that when Christ died on the cross, mankind’s old sinful nature died with Him. We are to examine ourselves. God is now asking, Has your old sin nature died on the cross with Christ? As professing Christians, have you laid down willingly your old sinful life, letting it die with Christ? Or have you just felt sorry for your sinful ways and “walked the aisle” like they encouraged you to do? Most mistake this experience as being “born again.” It is good to feel sorrow for the sinful way we have lived. “Godly sorrow leads us to repentance.” However, it is not repentance from sin (II Cor. 7: 10).

To the Cross

Godly sorrow leads you to the cross, the spiritual place of your repentance, which is the first of the apostles’ doctrine. Next, you must realize that Christ took upon Himself the sins of all mankind, and He died as a lost man. For He has made Him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. II Cor. 5: 21.

When Christ died on the cross, the sin of all mankind died with Him. In God’s eyes, everyone’s  old sinful self died when He died. He could take all the sins of the whole world on Himself because He is the only man in history who was perfect–a perfectly sinless human being. He was the only One pure enough to be the sacrificial “Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world” (John 1: 29). He was the only One pure enough to wash away your sin and mine.

This is how the shedding of His blood cleanses us of all sin. The life is in the blood. When Christ bled out on the cross, the life of sin, the strength of sin, the force of sin died. That is the power of the blood of Christ—because sin’s life force, sin’s blood, drained out, leaving sin lifeless within us. God just requires us to believe it, to believe His word about it. It is through belief that we become new creatures whose life force is restored by the power of His resurrection.

Our old nature died with Him on the cross. It is a spiritual death, not a physical one. Our old selves are already dead in God’s eyes. Why would any one knowing this continue to go on sinning? “Light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.” And they won’t come to the light lest their “deeds should be discovered” (John 3: 19-20).

But I Am Baptized

Yet, some believe that after they are baptized in water, somehow mystically they are okay. But baptism is an outward symbol of a spiritual event called the cross experience. Do you not know that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into His death? We are buried with Him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. For he that is dead is freed from sin. Romans 6: 3-6.

Our sin nature died on the cross. We are free! Free from the guilt, the shame, the mental torture, the indignity, the pain, and the fear. Free!

Sin is the breaking of the Ten Commandments, and it is the written record of what the old sinful nature can and will do (I John 3: 4). Sinning is the old nature still manifesting itself through actions that break the law. “And we know that He was manifested to take away our sins; and in Him is no sin” (I John 3: 5). By dying with Him, we are freed from the bondage of sinning!

Free! Free from sin and sinning! Free now to grow spiritually to the point where we will bear much fruit like Peter, James, John and Paul. Free! Are you kidding me? Believe this truth in Christ, and you’ll be walking in a new life, freed from sin, for He has given us a new heart (Ezek. 18: 31).

This is true repentance. This is being born again of His incorruptible seed, the word of God (I Peter 1: 23). By faith we have to reckon our old self dead and gone with Christ on the cross, and also reckon ourselves alive unto God by faith in Christ’s resurrection. He said it; we believe it, and now we walk in its light. He gave His word on this. He is way ahead of us. He already sees us as righteous before Him. He is just waiting on His elect to believe His word, to believe like He believes. He with great patience waits for His chosen ones to awake unto righteousness, thus fulfilling His purpose of reproducing Himself.

This freedom from sin and sinning is the fruit of repentance wrought at the cross. It is the key to being born again and entering into His kingdom. This is why, to win souls, Christ spoke these words: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”      Kenneth Wayne Hancock

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Reconciliation and the Abiding/Continuing

We must continue to believe that Christ through His death has reconciled everyone and has made peace between God and mankind.

That is the truth. The Father is the Spirit of truth. There is one Spirit, and He dwelled in the Son and did miraculous works (Eph. 4:4; John 14:10). Christ promises that the Father “shall be in you,” also (14: 17).

This promise is astounding! But what is the catch? What activates this promise of the Father taking up residence in us? What knowledge brings the promise into a reality in our Christian lives?

We need to know that it is a conditional promise; it sets up like this: If you do this and this, then He will abide in you. The promise is that the Father, who is this invisible Spirit, will come and dwell in us—if we continue in the faith. If we abide in the faith. If we dwell in the faith. If we remain in the faith. If we continue in the faith.

Faith. Belief. In what exactly? There is a whole lot of invisible action going on here. It takes faith to believe that the invisible Creator Spirit God would take up residence inside our bodies. But this is what He is asking us to do—trust Him. To maintain the Father’s presence in our hearts in a powerful reality, we must “continue in the faith.”

We see “continue in the faith” in Colossians 1:23. “If indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard…” The thing we must continue to believe is that Christ through His death has reconciled everyone and has made peace between God and mankind (Col. 2:20-22).

That sounds wonderful, but Christ’s death and the reconciliation involves so much more. The question becomes: How does His death bring about reconciliation with God? Reconciliation comes through our old sinful self dying on the cross with Christ. Then we are buried with Christ, and then by faith in His resurrection “we are raised to walk in a newness of life.”  Our sin has died with Him. “The soul that sins must die,” the law says. We fulfill that at the cross.

The Spirit through the apostle Paul lines this out clearly. “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 may live a new life. For if we have been united with him in a death like his we will certainly also be united with him in a resurrection like his. For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin–because anyone who has died has been set free from sin” (Romans 6:3-7 NIV).

Christ the Lamb of God took on the sins of everyone. “He was made to be sin for us who knew no sin that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Cor. 5:21). Our sins died with the sacrificial Lamb, for He carried our guilt and sin to the cross, and when He died, our old sinful self died, was buried, and—Praise Yah—was resurrected with Him!

[Someone reading this will say, “I knew that about the cross.” Yes, many have experienced the cross, but can they teach it to others? Is your belief of Romans 6 strong enough to weather the storms and trials both past and future?]

Back to the beginning of this article: Reconciliation with God is when we are at peace with Him, when there are no doubts and worries about our relationship with Him. For it was the sin nature that separated us from Him. When we realize that our sinful old self has already died on the cross with Him, things begin to clear up. The scriptures open to us. Things make sense.

This clarity He honors and reveals more of His truth. Reconciliation with God happens if we “continue/abide in the faith.” If we continue believing what He did for you and me at the cross and walking in that truth as seen in Romans 6: 3-12, then we will be ready through reconciliation to go deeper by adding His “divine nature” to the faith. [The Additions to the Faith is my latest book. Peter talks of seven additions that are vital to our growth in Christ (II Peter 1:1-12). If you have read this far, I know that this book is for you. The book is free with free shipping. It is my offering to God. Instead of money in an offering plate, I give a book to you…Please share your testimony in the comments section. It is very edifying to hear how God has touched your life.  Be sure and share this and give us a “like,” if we have edified you].    Kenneth Wayne Hancock

In the Beginning Was the Seed—Part One

(Every garden begins with a seed. The Spirit is saying, Come with Me and dig deep in the garden of God)

We must “dig deep” because the garden holds a secret. But the garden gate is locked; we need the key. Christ is the key to the mystery of the locked garden gate. Christ’s words enfold this truth: “The parable is this: the seed is the word of God” (Luke 8:11).

Seed = Word. Word = Seed. Therefore, “In the beginning was the Word [Seed]…And the Word [Seed] was God” (John 1:1). And the Seed was God. In the beginning of all things was the Seed. And those that are His have been “born of that incorruptible seed, the word of God” (I Peter 1:23).

We now believe that the Seed, the Son of God, died, was buried, and was raised from the dead. Our belief in Him generates a new birth of that same Seed/Word in our hearts. We have that same seed in us. We are created in His image–both physical and spiritual. Like a garden seed is programmed to die, be buried, and spring to life, so it is in the spiritual realm.

What do seeds do? They grow. They are designed to spring to life and grow. Be it animal, vegetable, or spiritual, we are all designed to grow from a seed. In the Holy Bible, Christ and his apostles have commanded us to do certain things to spur on this growth.

The book The Additions to the Faith deals primarily with one of His commandments: “Add to your faith” the seven additions of the divine nature (I Peter1:5). Your faith is really His faith. There is only one faith (Eph. 4:5). Faith is the seed-beginning of all potential spiritual growth. It takes believing the word/seed faith, having not seen the physical evidence.

We should pause before exploring the seven additions to our faith. We must hold this truth tightly. The faith we have now from God is Christ’s actual faith/belief system. Christ believes  His own plan to spread agape love all over the earth in human beings.

God’s purpose is the reproduction of Himself, which is Love. He does this by using the age-old Law of Harvest: Each seed bears its own kind. “Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap” (Gal. 6:7 NASB). Spiritually speaking, we reap what we sow. But this sowing and reaping has nothing to do with Christians giving money to evangelists and believing that they will gain a return of money “one hundred-fold.” This prosperity doctrine is insidious. It preys on desperate people who fall into the trap of always looking after the flesh, thereby missing the Holy Spirit.

The Law of Harvest has to do with spiritual growth, as well as physical. Christ said, “The words I speak they are spirit and they are life” (John 6:63). There is no spiritual growth except through a germinated seed. The seed is the word of God. Then the word, like Christ, is made flesh in our mortal bodies. But the seed must be sown in good ground, in a “good and honest heart.”

Spiritual growth is how much of God’s Spirit of love grows in our hearts. He wants us to bear the peaceable fruit of righteousness in a fully mature growth which Christ calls bearing 100-fold fruit. To bear this amount of spiritual fruit, we must “know him that is from the beginning,” the beginning of all things. “Beginning” is from the Greek word arche. This “arche/beginning is not a recent, little beginning. It is big and deep and goes back before the worlds were framed by the word of God. The same word is used in John 1:1: “In the beginning was the Word.” Or, we can now say, “In the beginning was the Seed.”

This study gives us the key to the garden gate. This study about the Seed/Son opens it. And it gives us knowledge on how to enter the 100-fold fruit bearing growth. For knowing Christ from the beginning is the key.      Kenneth Wayne Hancock

[Order your free copy of The Additions to the Faith, with free shipping. Just send your name, the name of the book, and your mailing address to my email: wayneman5@hotmail.com ]

Thoughts on Death and Life–He Is Trustworthy

(From a journal entry, 5-30-19)

Humans are the only beings that contemplate their fate after death. Even the self-described atheist fears death. If it is not a door to another destination, why fear death?

Of all the living, it is mankind that wonders about eternity and their place in it. Where do I fit in, he asks himself. Why did I as a youth believe I would live forever and never die? Why did I act like I was an immortal one—only to splash down into the mud of mediocrity?  This dethrones our high thoughts—thoughts of a Christless immortality, which come from the good/bad cycle and the wretched throes of war and peace and abundance and famine.

Of all the living, only humans ponder eternity. The human is the only species that is wired with waves of eternity’s thoughts. The singsong cadence of the lives of mortals—living today, dying tomorrow—confuses them when clothed in their first earthen body. They do not know when mortality’s final trip is scheduled.

But we who have died and have risen with Christ have taken the first step on the way to immortality. He has promised us passage into His immortal kingdom. He has promised us a new spiritual body, free from the physical decay of our weakening “mortal coil.” HalleluYah! Praise Yah for His “way, truth and life.” He is the answer to all questions.

The Father plans to “gather together in one all things in Christ.” That means things in the heavens and earth. He has predestinated you and me to fulfill His purpose of spreading His love in a sublime oneness. He is working it all out through His will (Eph. 1:10-11).

It is all Him, brothers and sisters. Christ is the head; He is running the whole shebang. It is His feast and festival; we are the invitees. He is “the feature; we are just the trailer.”

All Human Beings Should Trust Him

The earth we stand comfortably on is hurling through space around the sun at 67,000 miles per hour. We are spinning at about 1,000 miles per hour (How fast is Earth moving? | Space). Yet we do not feel it; we do not see nor hear anything about these astronomical speeds. It is a well-planned miracle that our Creator has done for life on earth. He has provided the perfect amount of gravity to counterbalance the speeds we travel. We trust Him to continue providing for us.

Death and eternal life. There is no death without first a life being taken. And there is no eternal life without death being conquered. Christ is the “resurrection and the life.” He is trustworthy. It is our honor to serve Him. 

Kenneth Wayne Hancock

Eating Christ’s Flesh—Pre-requisite to the Abiding

Eating Christ’s flesh? Uh, that is some heavy stuff, Wayneman. Especially when you use the verb “eat.” That word triggers my mouth into getting involved with ingesting food. But eating Christ’s flesh? And drinking His blood? Really? How are we supposed to do that?

Well, Christ does say, “Except you eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink His blood, you have no life in you” (John 6:53). It is this everlasting life that defines Christ’s abiding in us. He promised that He would abide and dwell in us if we ate His flesh and drank His blood.

Some people today will react to this statement the way many did 2,000 years ago. It was this very teaching that separated the sheep from the goats. “From that time many of his disciples went back and walked no more with Him” (6:66). How serious was this situation? After witnessing many miracles and just being with Him, they could not handle the eating of His flesh and the drinking of His blood. They thought that He had gone too far with His mysterious sayings.

What was their problem? Christ said that it was their unbelief (6:64). But unbelief of what exactly? It was unbelief in anything that their eyes could not see. All they saw was the flesh of His body. They were looking after the flesh and not after the spirit. To understand this enigmatic passage, we must look on his “flesh” and “blood” after the spirit. Christ said as much: it is the spirit that quickens” (6:63). We must catch the “spirit of the thing” to understand it.

What spiritual action is taking place with His earthly body and blood? Ironically, we must look at Christ’s flesh body and blood after the spirit. The spirit makes His teachings come alive. Eating His flesh and drinking his blood are metaphors, not literal, material things to do. We must look to the spiritual applications of what His flesh and blood did on the cross.

The Flesh and the Blood—What Did They Do at the Cross?

Christ made an extremely important statement. “Except you eat my flesh and drink my blood, you have no life in you.” Obviously, we cannot consume the flesh of His physical body cannibalistically. What then does his “flesh” signify? It is a metaphor for the final act that His physical body performed. That act was Christ laying down his physical body unto death. The eating of his flesh is us believing what the sacrifice of His body did for us all. It is believing that His death on the cross and His subsequent resurrection of that physical body, served to take our sins totally away. His flesh dying as a sacrifice for the sins of the whole world is the bread of life. It is what we are to take in/eat/and digest—spiritually.

Christ is called the Lamb of God for this very reason. All our sins were laid upon His body. Our sins were placed upon the Lamb. He was our scapegoat offering. When His flesh body died, our sins died with Him. When His blood was shed, the life of sin died that day on the cross.

“Without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins” (Heb. 9:22). “He was made to be sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him” (II Cor. 5:21). He was our pure Passover Lamb, crucified, and with his crucifixion, sin died that day. All we must do is just believe it. When His flesh body died, our old sinful selves died with Him. And “he that is dead is freed from sin.” The lifeblood of our sin is drained away with Christ’s blood.

When we were baptized in water, “we were baptized into His death.” When Christ’s sacrificial flesh and blood died, our old sinful self died with Him, “that the body of sin might be destroyed.” We are free! We are new creatures in Christ (Romans 6:1-12).

When we believe what the death of His flesh body and the shedding of His blood did for us, then we will have eaten and drunk His blood. These figures of speech mean that we have taken into our hearts the love that He expressed to us. We must not corrupt the “simplicity that is in Christ” (II Cor. 11:3). Beware of those who would beguile you to follow the path of transubstantiation. God is Spirit, not material and physical. He does not live in a lifeless wafer and a sip of wine.

[What are your thoughts on this subject? Please leave them in the comment section. Subscribe and give us a “like” if we have helped you. May Yah continue to enlighten your steps.] Kenneth Wayne Hancock  

Enduring the Dark Night of the Soul

(from Journal entry, 10-3-22)

At our weakest moment, God will allow Satan to present a panorama of memories and recollections of our sordid past sins, weaknesses, and spiritual failures. This is our passage through the valley of the dark night of the soul.

It issues from many sources. Betrayals and the pain that may linger from them may come. Or our thoughts may take a journey once again into the night’s memories of yesteryear’s shortcomings.

In this weakened state, spiritual trouble comes with our thoughts about how destitute of love we were. We begin to see our selfish naked egos, stained with pride, justifying our use of others, of those who our Savior died for. It is as if we are peering into the screen of a time machine, a mirror that reflects just how we really were. We peer into the fruitless past, and that same panic of being lost in the maze of life, grips us as we look back and long and lament our adolescent idiocy and our selfish egoism.

We must fearlessly look at the images and believe that they are mere relics of our past life. Remember how Christ was tempted? Satan offered up full control of his kingdom to Christ if He would play ball with him. Christ resisted all the temptations. Now Christ in us resists them as well.

Christ with great mercy has promised that He would “never leave us nor forsake us.” Especially when Satan thrusts in our face our sins and faults of yesteryear. He is the “accuser of the brethren.” But it is the great mercy of our King that reigns supreme. He has our backs. He allows us to think these fleeting thoughts to show us more clearly the magnificent deliverance from sin that He has wrought in our lives. For that is what it was—not is! We remember that we are His, bought with His blood. And He leads us through this moonless trek, this suffocating remembrance of what we once were.

Through this experience, however, we learn that we have been forgiven much. Therefore, we will love much, which fulfills His purpose of reproducing Himself (Agape love) in us. Christ said, “Her sins, which are many, are forgiven, for she loved much. But to whom little is forgiven, the same loves little” (Luke 7:47 NKJV). These trials whereof we speak shows us that we have been forgiven much. A painful trudge down the “valley of the shadow of death” during our “dark night of the soul” shows us that. Those of us who see the reality of our shameful pasts and receive His forgiveness will love much. Those who do not see that they have been forgiven all that much—they will love only a little. “Her sins—and they are many—have been forgiven, so she has shown me much love. But a person who is forgiven little shows only little love.”

Finally, Satan tries to use these memories to condemn us, but God uses them to show us a clearer picture of just how evil our old nature was. Through this trial, we see more clearly just how much we have been forgiven—how much selfish ungodliness we have been delivered from.

For in the end, only those who see and realize how much sin they have been forgiven will love much. Only those will bear much fruit, thus becoming more like Christ and His apostles. That is His goal and purpose: our maturity, which fulfills His purpose of multiplying Agape Love, which is Him.

The “dark night of the soul” experience is part of His plan to fulfill His purpose: to reproduce Agape love in us, thus reproducing Himself till Love be “all in all” (I Cor. 15:28). His plan is to keep on perfecting until all that is left is Love.     [Would you share your “dark night of the soul” in the comments section? The testimonies of the Father’s sons and daughters are so important. “Likes” are nice and appreciated, but a comment fashioned by the Spirit with words from the heart—that is what moves us. That is what edifies and helps us mature. That we may grow “unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ” (Eph. 4:12-13). For it is the “power that works in us” (Eph. 3:20). Your comments will be read all over the globe. Reach out and share your story?]      Kenneth Wayne Hancock

…With Me from the Beginning

(from journal entry, 12-8-21)

It was early morning, and I was still in bed. I opened my eyes, and the first thought that crystalized out of the foggy dream mind was – “The Beginning.” The “beginning?” Why was I thinking that? Then another thought came that answered the question: “… with Me from the beginning.” With ME. I was with Christ. I knew that it was the Spirit speaking to me through thoughts. I began then to ponder these cryptic words. What did the Spirit mean?

So, I looked the word “beginning” up in the Greek. The “beginning” comes from the word arche, #G746 in Strong’s. It means “the origin, the active cause, used absolutely of the beginning of all things.”

Christ said, “I am the beginning and the end.” Christ is the “active cause.” He is our origin (Revelation 1:8-11,17-18). “In the beginning was the Word.” Christ is the beginning. Therefore, in Christ was the Word. Word = Logos [the purpose and plan of God]. Christ is the “active cause” in the creation of heaven and earth. “All things were made by him; and without him was not anything made that was made” (John 1:3).

Our Savior, the “Word made flesh,” came to earth to bear witness to the truth, that He is the truth. And we, too, are to bear witness to the truth because we were with Him in the beginning. Christ said, “And ye also shall bear witness, because ye have been with me from the beginning” (John 15:27). This is not speaking of the beginning of Christ’s earthly ministry. The Greek word arche is used for the beginning of all things. It is used as such in this verse: “In the beginning was the Word…” (John 1:1).

 We are a part of the record in heaven of the things that will occur on earth. We were with him in the beginning. He knew us before because He created us as a member of His body in heaven before the earth was formed. Then He dipped us into the earth as we slid out of the matrix of our mothers’ wombs, and then we were cast out into the sea of lost mankind.

We, who had once basked in the glorious light of our Father in heaven, were now left to grow up, barely afloat in the treacherous rip tides of sin. Sin was our task master, and we obeyed his desires. The bondage to sin weighed heavily to the point of us drowning, and then we cried out in anguish and disillusionment, and then a hand reached down, a strong hand of love, and He pulled us up out of the quagmire.

He cleaned us up at the cross. He allowed us to identify our sinful selves with the Lamb, the sin sacrifice, and we died with Him. With the death of our old man, we believe that we are now buried with Him and raised with Him, now to walk in a “newness of life.” We now know and believe that “he that is dead is freed from sin.” We now spiritually step out on the water and walk in the Spirit (Rom. 6:1-11).

And then our earthly past died, and we began to grow as a seedling, tasting its first rays of light. Through study and communication with the Spirit, we grew and grew until He showed us that we had a special calling to fulfill, a special job to do. We are to share the love that saved us, by telling others the story of deliverance through His great love.

As we grow, we become a part of the witness in the earth of the record in heaven. God already knew that we would respond to His voice. He knew us and knew what we were made of. He made us, before the things we can see with our earthly eyes were made. For we were with Him in the beginning. And He has chosen us and given us a destiny way back there at the “Beginning.”

“…God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. For those God foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son…  And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified” (Rom. 8:28-30). Yahweh predestined us, not to just be saved, but to be “conformed to the image of his Son.” At Christ’s return to earth, He will change our weak, earthly body, “that it may be fashioned like unto His glorious body” (Phil. 3:21).

We are talking about being like Christ and His apostles! Nothing less. But before this greatest of honors is bestowed upon us, we must “arm ourselves with the same mind.” We must know and do the apostles’ doctrine and add to our faith seven spiritual attributes of Christ.

We have so much knowledge to receive. Knowing His mind will finally drive out every thought that is contrary to His purpose and plan. The mind is the battlefield where we conquer the enemy’s errant desires for us. Amid the battle, it is easy to forget that we have already won, for “we are more than conquerors through Christ.” In Him lies our power, strength, and will.

O, let us shower Him with thanks for granting us the exit visa at the cross. Repentance from sin comes when we realize that we “are dead and our life is hid with Christ…” We are a part of His body now, unencumbered by that spiritually corrupt old life. We now believe that we are a part of Christ, and the Father’s heart of love dwells within us. All this happens because He mercifully allowed us to be with Him in the beginning.     Kenneth Wayne Hancock

Sowing the Seed, the Word of Our Testimony

Several of my readers have wondered, “How do I get this truth out into the public square? How do I find the sincere seekers of truth? The most effective and exhilarating is face to face. One on one is fine if you’re not fighting the cell phone and other interrupters. There is another way, a way that I have witnessed as an observer and a testifier.

This is something you can do. How do we personally reach those who are hungry for this light, famished for the deeper walk? We go to where they are. We go to the church houses who have an “open mike.”  They will ask for testimonies. This is where you stand up and tell them your testimony. That is what Yahshua and His apostles did. They went to the synagogues and spoke.

How does this work? Which churches do we visit? Usually in charismatic, “full gospel,” Assembly of God, Pentecostal, and “Bible” independent churches do you see this “calling for testimonies.” The goers have left the mainstream denominations, and a few are looking for a deeper walk with the Savior.

He has given us much knowledge. So, what do we share during our two minutes? Christ is our example. Christ’s opening message was always, “Repent.” Of course, to stand up and just say, “Repent,” will not do it. It is better to give a testimony of how repentance has worked in your own life, how your sins and sinful heart died with Christ on the cross, and how you were buried with Him and how by believing in His resurrection, you now have been raised to walk in a newness of life. You are telling them that you are a living example of repentance found in Romans 6:1-12.

“For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin because anyone who has died has been set free from sin…” (6:6-8 NIV). “For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God…” (Col. 3:3).

You have seen “Romans 6” in many of my writings. It contains the cross message, which is what the world needs. The cross is where the old selfish heart dies; it is the end of the sinful road for mankind. The message of the cross is the first of the apostles’ doctrine. It is what our Savior wants us to share. He will convict the heart that is ready. Our job is to deliver the message. The cross message is the powerful contact point for those seeking more than a religious social club. The cross and the resurrection walk [the second doctrine, Faith toward God] is the message.

Just tell them your story, your trip to the cross. And watch the miracle of another’s conversion come to you. For after you speak and the after the service, they will come and shake your hand. That is where you give them links to the reading material, perhaps a copy of one of the Immortality Road articles on the cross. Perhaps you would want to order your own business cards with your contact info along with the website address, etc. All avenues are open to you when you are doing the Father’s business. Yahshua said, “I must be about my father’s business.” and so should we be about His business. This is what He is doing. He is calling out His people to enter through the narrow gate. He is doing it through us, thus fulfilling his purpose of multiplying Himself.

Note: Most in the church houses do not want to go to the cross and let their old heart die. It is not a popular message. That is why the preachers don’t touch it. But when that one or two respond, a true ecclesia is born, as in where “two or three are gathered together in My name, there I am in the midst.”

The next step after gaining a portion of His knowledge is to share that knowledge. We do this by sowing the seed, the word, into the good ground, into the “good and honest hearts” of His people. And in so doing, we become an active part of His body, known as the Sower, who went forth to sow (Matthew 13).

This vessel is sowing right now. Through Yahweh’s grace, I have a song to sing that rushes down the corridors of light, illuminating the hearts of those He knew before the world began. “And they that impart wisdom shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars forever and ever” (Dan. 12:3). That is our destiny and our calling, brothers and sisters. We just need to step out on the water.  Kenneth Wayne Hancock

Secrets of the Sabbath, Part Two

In Part One, we saw what man’s conception of the Sabbath is not. Reviewing, the sabbath commandment is not made for a righteous man (I Timothy 1: 8-9). This goes for the other nine commandments called the Law. [Much more on this in my latest book, The 11^th Commandment. Yours free. See end of article for ordering info.]

The sabbath is not a hoop to jump through to prove that we are righteous before God. Trying to keep the sabbath day holy is not the way for us to become righteous in God’s eyes.

Yet, an awakening Christian keeps on trying to keep the sabbath, always looking over their shoulder at the guilty conscience lurking close by, never knowing for sure if they have sinned or not. “Will it be a sin if I don’t go to the sabbath meeting?” many have wondered.

But God sees all; He sees the trepidations, but He is weary and tired of the lack of faith/belief. He sees those struggling in vain to obey the law that only His Spirit can keep.

He cries out to us through Isaiah: “Bring no more futile sacrifices; Incense is an abomination to Me. The New Moons, the Sabbaths, and the calling of assemblies—I cannot endure iniquity and the sacred meeting.” Yahweh considers the sacrifices of “trying to keep the sabbath” of no profit. All the physical accoutrement that man uses in trying to keep the Law is an abomination in His sight (1:13-15).

As our High Priest, we thank Christ for obtaining for us a better covenant that has purged our “conscience from dead works to serve the living God” (Heb. 9: 9-14). No more recriminations, nor guilt, nor shame. No more guilty consciences, for He has wiped the slate clean. We are new spiritual creatures in Christ.

What the Sabbath Is

And with new clarity, we now see what the sabbath really is in God’s sight.

First, the sabbath, as we know it in this earthly dimension, is a shadow. This is mankind’s conception of the sabbath. It is not the reality. It is a physical metaphor for a spiritual reality. The sabbath day was instituted under the Old Covenant, which is a physical representation to lead us to the spiritual reality.

The sabbath is a shadow. It has never been the real deal.  Shadows are made from a lack of light.  Shadows are in the shape of things or people, but they are not the real thing; they are not a part of reality. Shadows merely imitate reality; they simulate what is real; they intimate that which is true; they suggest obscurely as to what or who made their image possible. But they are not the real thing.

The Spirit of truth tells us that the sabbath is a shadow. After believing our cross and resurrection experience with Christ, the Spirit says to us, “Let no man therefore judge you… in respect of a holy day, or of the new moon, or of the Sabbath days: which are a shadow of things to come…” (Col. 2:11-17). They will judge you concerning the feasts of Yahweh and for using or not using the lunar calendar. And they will judge you for keeping or not keeping the seventh day sabbath (the way they would have you keep it). Pay them no mind. The sabbath is a shadow. [See more about this here: Feasts, New Moons, Sabbaths–Mere Shadows of Christ in Us | Immortality Road (wordpress.com)].

So, What Then is the Real Sabbath?

The real sabbath is Yahweh’s sabbath. “Sabbath” means “rest.” So, the true sabbath is Yahweh’s rest. We first see His rest in Genesis 2:1-3. “And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had made; and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had made.”

And He has promised us that we can enter into His sabbath rest, too. However, we must not do what the children of Israel did. They could not enter into His sabbath rest because of their unbelief. Christ appeared several times to them, led them, performed many miracles, and yet their hard heart of unbelief prevented them from joining God in His rest (Heb. 4:1-2).

We keep Yahweh’s Sabbath when we believe the gospel good news that Christ’s sacrifice has washed away our sins. Gone. And that only happens when our old self dies with Christ, is buried with Christ, and is resurrected with Christ (Romans 6:1-12). When we believe that, then “there remains therefore a rest [“a keeping of the sabbath,” a sabbatismos in the Greek] for the people of God. For he that is entered into His rest, he also has ceased from his own works, as God did from His” (Hebrews 4:9-10).

Yahweh entered into His sabbath rest after completing His work. We enter into Yahweh’s “rest” when we “cease from our own works, as God did from His” (v. 10). We “cease from our own works” when we complete the cross, tomb, and resurrection experience IN OUR OWN HEARTS. That was our old sinful selves up there on that cross. Christ took our sin upon himself. And when He died, we died. “And he that is dead is freed from sin” (Rom. 6:7).

Many professing Christians believe that Christ died, was buried, and was raised from the dead. But in order to be like Him, we have to do what He did. And that is to “present our bodies a living sacrifice.” We “are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who has raised him from the dead” (Col. 2:12).

We cease from our own works when it is “no longer I that lives but Christ that lives in me.” We must let it go and surrender to the cross experience. That is the key. And that is the message to both Non-Christians and Christians. The cross experience is where the old self ends and where Christ’s Spirit begins to reign in our hearts. Ceasing from the actions of self and then entering into the dimension of His rest and peace—this is walking with Christ. This is doing His will. This is holding His hand and walking through this corrupted earth. This is us crying to Him, asking Him to lead and guide us and speak through our vessels the Word of life. This is entering into His Sabbath Rest. This is one of His precious secrets. Embrace it. Never let it go.      Kenneth Wayne Hancock

[To further study this, I recommend my second book The Unveiling of the Sons of God, pp. 1-20. It is free with free shipping to all seekers of the truth. Ordering info below.]

[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 books are The Apostles’ Doctrine and The 11^th Commandent. Their doctrine was Christ’s teachings. And the early church walked in those teachings. These books reveal 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

Secrets of the Sabbath, Part One

Men have fought and died over which day is the Sabbath day and how to keep it holy. They died not knowing the spiritual secrets of the sabbath.

Most denominations say it is Sunday. Several claim that it is on Saturday, most notably of which are the Jews. Saturday is the 7th day of the week, after all. But their angst is misdirected; sadly, they are all missing the boat.

Most Christians will tell you that the Sabbath day is important, for God gave the 4th Commandment to men: “Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy” (Exodus 20:8). Christians endeavor to keep all Ten Commandments the best they can. But they fail, and by their own volition declare that after their conversion to Christ, they still sin, which is breaking the Ten Commandment law (I John 3:4). God, of course, knew that natural man could not keep the law; He made him that way. And yet, spiraling down through the centuries, sincere men and women have tried unsuccessfully to keep the law in their own strength.

The Law Is for Lawbreakers

Nevertheless, despite all their ruminations, there is a curious passage of Scripture that the followers of Christ have not discovered nor understood: “The law is not made for a righteous man” (I Tim. 1:8-9). The Ten Commandment Law was given by God to man, to reveal the sin in his heart, to show man his sin. “The law is not made for a righteous man, but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and for sinners…” It is just like the law against murder in the natural sense; it is for murderers, not you and me. The Sabbath is for sinners–to show them, along with the other nine commandments, of their sins and their need for the Savior.

The Law, the Ten Commandments, is a good thing, if it is used lawfully and properly (v. 8). The way that we use the 4th Commandment lawfully and properly is to know that it was instituted for sinners. The Sabbath commandment is not a hoop that we are to jump through to prove that we are righteous before God. Nor is it a way for us to become righteous in God’s eyes. Believing Him is the only way. Believing His word that says our old sinful nature has died with Christ and that now we have a new heart that beats in concert with the rhythm of the Spirit of truth now residing in us (Romans 6:1-12).

Ironically, every denomination says that they believe every word of God. But do they believe the previous paragraph. But “without faith (belief) it is impossible to please Him.” Us working keep the sabbath law in order to please God is a bondage wrapped in a cloak of well-meaning. And it is work, not rest.

Being Made Free from Sin

Understanding the secrets of the sabbath weaves together three threads: the Ten Commandments which includes the sabbath commandment; sin, and the cross of Christ. One who has died with Christ on the cross, been buried with Him, and have risen with Him by believing in His resurrection—is “freed from sin” (Rom. 6:7). We are resurrected with Him. We believe His promises that by faith His Spirit now lives within us, and our faith in Him is counted for being right with Him.

“Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness” (Romans 4:3). Yahweh imputed, reckoned to Abraham the ability to live in an upright manner, keeping Yahweh’s laws and not sinning, by just believing His word! God accounted righteousness to Abraham because of his belief–before he was righteous. This is how our old nature is put to death on the cross. We must “reckon also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin but alive unto God” (Romans 6: 11). [See pp. 154-159 in my book Yah Is Savior: The Road to Immortality available free with free shipping. See details at the end of this article.]

We have seen what the sabbath commandment is not, and how it is impossible to keep through man’s own strength. In Part Two we will see scripturally just what the sabbath is and how to enter God’s sabbath rest. It is a beautiful secret that will make the chains of worldly wisdom drop to the stone floor of the Sure Foundation.

[I know that this is new wine for many of you. Christ said that one who drinks this new doctrine will at first say that the old teachings are preferred. I implore you: Go by the scriptures of truth. Study these truths out. They will make you free.] kwh

[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 books are The Apostles’ Doctrine and The 11^th Commandent. Their doctrine was Christ’s teachings. And the early church walked in those teachings. These books reveal 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