Virtue—Why We Must Add It to Faith

Because “all things are of God,” the very faith that we have now as Christians is not innate. We were not born with a belief in Him and His plan and purpose. It did not come up into our consciousness one day after we heard of the gospel. We received it from Him. We have “obtained like precious faith.” For the Christian life is lived “by the faith of the Son of God” which He has given us. We are now believing what He believes. He calls many, but chooses [elects] a few to fully walk in His faith (2 Cor. 5: 18; 2 Pet. 1: 1; Gal. 2: 20; Mat. 22: 14).

He has promised us through His faith now in us that we can walk with His “divine nature” coursing through our spirit. But we are admonished that we must diligently add to our faith seven aspects of His divine. By adding them we will make our “calling and election sure” (2 Pet. 1: 10). The first one to be added is virtue, or moral goodness.

But why do we need to add this moral goodness? When we first come into God and His ministry on earth, we are like babes. We do not know how to come in (to God’s plan and purpose) or go out (to do His will). We are, nevertheless, elated. We feel great joy and immense gratitude for the way our Father has with open arms welcomed us back into His presence.

By faith we have taken the plunge and have renounced our old life by submitting our selfish lives to the death of the cross with Christ (Rom. 6: 1-12). It is a stepping out there into the unknown, trusting our Father to protect us and sustain us on our new pilgrimage.

As we begin to walk in our new spiritual life with Christ, we experience a lifting of the burden of sin-guiltiness. New freedom flows in and around us. We exult in the liberty as Christ breaks the chains from off of our hearts.

It is here in this spiritual child’s playground that young Christians want to stay. They reason, “Why leave a good thing? I have always just wanted peace and love and joy, and Christ has granted me that. I am happy in this new life.”

And they stay right there. But God wants us to grow. So the joy and the elation begin to wane. And so at Christian gatherings pastors and church leaders try to drum up the spiritual reverb to simulate the initial joy that the “babes in Christ” first felt.

And so what started as God’s deliverance into His new way of living with joy and peace, turns into habit and ritual. Worship services turn into attempts to recapture that first moment of euphoria when they came into Christ. And the new flush of freedom becomes a carte blanche to act on whatever thought comes to mind. But spiritual children cannot discern which thoughts are from God and which are not. They do not “have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil” (Heb. 5: 14).

Because they have taken the faith of Christ and in the end used it to secure more joy for themselves, they must be admonished to “use not your liberty as an occasion to the flesh.” And because the child of God seeks a church house where members are like minded, there is no one to guide them away from the pitfalls of that kind of fellowship. They do not know that this spiritual environment just enables young Christians to stagnate and not grow. Ironically, the flow of the Spirit is blocked.

Some may be wondering, “Well, what else is there? I have given my life to Christ and have walked in the joy and freedom that He provides. So, what more is there? What do we need to do?

Peter gives the answer. We are not to remain spiritual “babes in Christ” forever. We are to grow and become full grown men and women of God like the early apostles. To remain as little children of God always seeking more stimulation in order to receive more joy is not the plan of God for any of us. He wants us all to grow spiritually. He wants us to “make our calling and election sure.” And to do that, we must add to our faith these seven attributes of the Spirit’s divine nature (2 Pet. 1: 3-12).

This is so crucial for our growth unto full maturity. Let me put it another way. If we do not heed what the Spirit is teaching us through Peter, we will remain children, “tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive” (Eph. 4: 14). Little children will be deceived by false teachers, thereby stunting their growth.

So the first step to spiritual maturity is to “add to your faith virtue [moral goodness].”

[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.]   Kenneth Wayne Hancock

Kenneth Wayne Hancock

How the Spirit Abides in Us

Christ gives us a staggering promise of power in exchange for just believing Him about Him and the Father. We are to believe Him when He says that the Father abides or dwells in Himself. “He who believes in Me [believes His word that the Father dwells and abides in the Son], the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do…” (John 14: 12). The Father will dwell in us and do the same miracles that the Son of God did—if we believe Christ’s words about the Father/Son relationship.

The Abiding is when the Father, who is the Holy Spirit of Truth, comes into us and walks around in us and performs the works that He has always done.

Moreover, Christ promises that the Spirit of truth “shall be in you.” We see a correlation here. The Father dwells in Christ and does the miraculous works. And then Christ says that He will send the Comforter, which is the Holy Spirit, and that Holy Spirit is the Father, for the Holy Spirit will dwell in us and do the works just like the Father dwells in the Son (John 14: 17).

This is the abiding, and it is our belief of the Oneness of God that engages all these promises. If we can’t believe that Yahweh dwelt in the Son Yahshua, then Yahweh will not dwell in us like He dwelt in the Son. If we obey His commandment and believe that it was the Father dwelling/abiding in the Son, then He will dwell in us, too. And with the Father in the form of the Holy Spirit inside us, nothing shall be impossible for us to accomplish. He calls this bearing much fruit (John 15: 7-8).

This is where it is at. This is the apex of the Christian growth cycle. You few who are reading this: This is rarefied knowledge that only a few are privy to. Study it out. Reread it again and again. Clutch it to your heart and cleave to its principles. Christ spent many hours expounding on these things. The apostle John got it down on paper for us.

The precepts and teachings about The Abiding have been ignored for centuries. Blathering voices on TV don’t teach it. Their desires do not reach to the higher realms of heaven. Most of the local pastors all over the world will not comprehend what John wrote about The Abiding. God ordains a spirit of slumber over the masses, and He will open the eyes of a few. He chooses to show mercy to a few, and He will harden whomever He chooses (Rom. 9: 18).

Only the few who are chosen will understand. The Spirit speaks about the few: Mat 7:14 “Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leads unto life, and few there be that find it.” Mat 9:37 “…The harvest truly is plenteous, but the labourers are few.” Mat 20:16 “…For many be called, but few chosen.”

If this teaching about the abiding makes your head to start reeling, I understand. I am there with you. It is because we have not heard it before. Yet His words are couched in the “simplicity of Christ.” It is difficult to wrap our heads around these truths because of all of the old leaven false teachings that we have been subjected to.

It Is About Understanding the Godhead

To understand the Godhead, we need to see it as an equation. It reads: The Comforter = the Spirit of Truth = Holy Spirit = the Father = who dwells/abides in the Son. Christ promised us that “another Comforter” would be sent to help the disciples. The first Comforter was the Father/Spirit that dwelt in Christ. The Father abode/dwelt in the Son. But the Son was being called back to heaven. And we know that by Christ’s own words, the Father dwelt in the Son. That is what Christ commands us to believe.

This is not a happy little Sunday school song that we sing and then go about our merry way. No. This is the real deal. This is what determines our spiritual Christian destiny. Will we remain “babes in Christ” always looking for a blessing from the Father? Or will we bear much fruit by believing and receiving the Father, in the form of the Spirit, coming down into our vessels and performing the miraculous works and thereby glorifying the Father. We are talking about the great Creator/Spirit named Yahweh coming down and dwelling and abiding in us (John 14: 16-17).

“And I will pray the Father, and He shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you forever.” [This should be our prayer—that the Spirit would be given to our brothers and sisters. The laborers are few with this access and knowledge. Our prayers should be for them, that the Father would abide in them.]

The Comforter = the Spirit of Truth = the Holy Spirit. Christ said, “But the Comforter, which is the Holy Spirit…” (John 14: 26). We know that the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob is the Father Yahweh. And we know that “God is a Spirit.” Christ was speaking to the woman at the well about how we all should worship the Father. “True worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth…God is a Spirit.” So we have to worship the Father in a spiritual and truthful manner (John 4: 23-24).

Consequently, the Comforter = the Spirit of Truth = the Holy Spirit = Father = who dwells/abides in the Son and the members of the Son’s body—us!

How He Dwells/Abides in Us

When the Father sends us the Holy Spirit, He is sending Himself to take up residence in us, His temple. For He is an invisible Spirit. Faith and belief of these precious truths activates His Spirit within us. We begin to grow. Faith, like water, resurrects a dead seed, causing us to spring up toward the light of truth.

Obeying His New Commandments shows that we love Him. Christ’s own words, which are the Father’s words, say as much. “If you love me, keep my commands…Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. The one who loves me will be loved by my Father…Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them…[This is The Abiding.] Anyone who does not love me will not obey my teaching…” (John 14: 15, 21, 23-24).

He will abide in us by us taking in and obeying His words to us. And there is a beautiful conditional promise to us. “If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you shall ask what you will, and it shall be done unto you” (John 15: 7). His words are His new commandments; if we obey them and they remain/abide/dwell in our thoughts, then we are in. We are in His will; we are doing His will. And He will show us what to ask for to accomplish His works in this earth. He will give us what we need and ask for to fulfill His plan and purpose. Of course He will. He will not send us out to battle without the proper armor and training.

We only need now to “continue [abide, dwell, remain] in the faith” (Col. 1: 21-23). All of this agape love and belief and the Father dwelling in us, and the abiding—all of this is a whole lot of invisible action going on. Consequently, it takes a lot of faith to believe that the invisible Creator Spirit God would or could take up residence inside our bodies. But this is what God is asking us to do—trust Him and His word and promises and walk in it.

The Key That Opens the Door (“I am the Door,” Christ Said)

The key in doing all of the above is to believe that it is not our puny faith in Him, but His powerful faith in us. It is the Son of God’s faith that will see us through to the end. It is not about us mustering up enough faith to believe the word of God. But rather it is His faith/belief in His own power to fulfill His own plan.

Sometimes we forget that we are dead and our life is hidden “with Christ in God” (Col. 3: 3). The following says it all: “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me” (Gal. 2: 20). These words of the Spirit through His apostle Paul is speaking to us. I died with Christ on the cross. But I am still living. Yet it is not the old me that is walking around, but it is the Spirit of Christ that lives in me. And this new life now that I am living in this earthly body, I live by Christ’s faith, “who loved me, and gave himself for me.” It is Christ’s belief in His resurrection that gives birth to our own resurrection with Him now inside our hearts.

This is how we will “abide in Him.” And He abides in us by His Spirit (I John 3: 24). He abides in us through us believing His word about all of the above.

And we will really need faith/belief when we arrive at the next step in abiding in Him, and He in us. Who is it that will dwell in Christ and Christ in them? Who will abide in Him, and He in them? Christ gives this direct yet enigmatic answer. “He that eats my flesh, and drinks my blood, dwells [abides] in me, and I in him” (John 6: 56). Man’s religions have totally butchered the meaning of His statement. “When the Spirit of truth is come, he will guide you into all truth,” and “He shall teach you all things…” (Jn. 16: 13; 14: 26). I am excited to see what the Spirit has to say about this mysterious subject called Holy Communion, the Eucharist, or the Lord’s Supper. Eating His flesh…drinking His blood. What a mystery that is about to unfold…         Kenneth Wayne Hancock

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“Believe Me that the Father is in Me”—Important New Commandment Leading to the Abiding

We have seen that the Father’s purpose is to multiply Himself (Love) in human beings. He is “bringing many sons unto glory.” He has a plan to accomplish this. His plan centers on His Son known as Jesus Christ to most English speakers (Hebrew name Yahshua).

Christ is the Seed/Son that through His sacrifice of the greatest love, many will receive immortality. In fact, the way to the Father is through the Son. If one rejects the Son of God, he rejects the Father because the Father is in the Son. It is how Christ did the great and mighty works; it was the Father inside of Him doing it (John 14: 9-10).

We have also seen that Christ has given His disciples, including us, New Commandments for us to keep. And it is here in John 14 that He instructs us, “Believe Me that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me” (v. 11). This is a commandment! A new commandment! A New Commandment with precious and powerful promises.

He says to believe Him that the Father is in Him. You won’t find this commandment in the Ten Commandments expressed like this. This commandment is new and is given to help us know the Father, the mysterious Yahweh.

The Promises after Obeying This New Commandment  

When we obey and keep this commandment to believe that the Father dwells in the Son, three great powers are promised. First, He has promised that we will do the same works and miracles that He did, and even greater works. Second, if we ask any thing in His name, He will do it.  And third, He has promised to give us the Spirit of truth who will “abide with you forever.” Christ even gives a prophecy concerning those who keep His New Commandments: The Spirit of truth “shall be in you” (John 14: 11-17).

After reading John 14, we realize that the Father Yahweh is none other than the Holy Spirit that dwelt in the Son. And Christ is simply teaching His disciples the next steps in receiving the Father’s Spirit into us. When Christ promises that He and the Father will “make our abode in” the believer, He is showing us how we are able to grow spiritually. When He abides and remains in us, much spiritual fruit will be produced in us. And that means that the Spirit of truth, the Father, will come into us literally and will remain and stay and grow in us.

All we have to do is believe and obey Christ’s New Commandments. He is the great Teacher; everybody says that He is. So now He is teaching us in John 14, 15, and 16, how to grow up to be like the Son of God. This is a key understanding of how God reproduces Himself. The key is us doing what Christ tells us to do: Believe that the Father was in the Son (among many other New Commandments).

Many of us have read these chapters in John so many times that we are coaxed into a complacency, built upon immature concepts. I am asking each of us to look into these passages with urgent and fresh eyes.

If we do this right, Christ has promised us a marvelous thing, a position with Him that every serious Christian has pondered: “He that believes on Me, the works that I do shall he do also, and greater works than these shall he do” (John 14: 12). Some may think, Oh, that sounds easy enough. Just believe that the Father is in Christ, and boom, the power comes. The key point is this: Your belief in Christ is measured by your belief of His words about Himself.  And He said that the Father was in the Son.

But most have been taught that the Father and Son are two distinct personages. This is old leaven teaching. How does one get rid of it? Understanding the “Vine and Branches” metaphor shows us the way.

Christ likens our spiritual growth to the growth of a grape vine—what it goes through in order to bear much fruit. Christ likens Himself to the “true vine,” and the Father is the husbandman. We are the branches of the Vine. If we are not bearing any spiritual fruit, He will cut us off of the vine to wither without the life-giving sap, which is the Spirit. If we are bearing a little fruit, He will prune and purge us that we may bear more fruit (John 15: 1-2). This pruning and purging is when He delivers suffering into our lives. These are in the form of betrayals, heartbreaks, and hard times that prompt us to seek God in a more fervent way.

This pruning is a cleaning process. In John 15: 3, He says, “Now you are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you.” Cleaned from the stain of sin first, yes. But then we must be cleansed from all old concepts about the invisible Father and the Son, who is the express image of the Father. It is Christ’s words that cleanses us “with the washing of the water by the word” (Eph. 5: 26).

His promises, when believed, are overwhelming. He commands us: “Call unto Me, and I will answer thee, and show thee great and mighty [hidden] things which you know not” (Jer. 33: 3).

Believe. He commands us several times to believe. First, believe in His resurrection. Then believe that our old self is dead and that we are walking in a new life now with Him and Him in us. Next, we believe that the Father is in the Son and not sitting beside the Son. When we get this and do this, then we can be trusted to do the greater works that He promised we would do (Jn. 14: 12).

We show our love of the Savior by keeping His New Commandments. For He said, “He that has my commandments, and keeps them, he it is that loves Me…If a man love Me, he will keep my words [His New Commandments], and My Father will love him, and we will come unto him and make our abode with him” (Jn. 14: 23). This is the Abiding; this is when He grants that His Spirit remains in us!

This is so profound that it strains our credulity. This is a conditional promise made by Him who created us and loved us and saved us. He will abide in us if we believe Him—belief shown by us keeping His New Commandments. This is the abiding; this is the key to spectacular spiritual growth. Christ calls this “much fruit.” And this spiritual growth is the development of His divine nature of Agape Love within us. This fulfills His purpose of reproducing Himself in us.     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.

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

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

Thirty Fold Understanding of the Seven Teachings of the Early Apostles

The early church “continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine,” which was Christ’s doctrine or teachings (Acts 2: 42). This truth is greatly neglected in the churches because they fail to recognize that the teachings of the early apostles were Christ’s doctrine, found in Hebrews 6: 1-2.

Seven doctrines are mentioned. Each of them are seen in three levels of spiritual growth. This mystery of three levels was inserted in the parables, insuring that only those who were predestined to understand the truths hidden therein, would. The disciples asked Christ why He spoke unto the masses in parables. He replied, “Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given” (Matt. 13: 11, 1-10). And now He has given them to you and me.

In the Parable of the Sower, He mentions the three levels of spiritual growth—30 fold, 60 fold, and 100 fold (v. 8).

Tying the two concepts together, we have seven doctrines with three levels of understanding in each. The seven doctrines found there in Hebrews 6 are “repentance from dead works…faith toward God…baptisms…laying on of hands…resurrection of the dead…eternal judgment…perfection.”

In each of these there is a knowing (30 fold), a doing (60 fold) and a being (100 fold). Right now I want to touch on the 30 fold “knowing” in each of these doctrines. I say “touch on” because we are dealing with the unsearchable riches of Christ here.

1. The first teaching of Christ is repentance from dead works. The 30 fold fruit of that doctrine in one’s life is the crucifixion of the old self on the cross with Christ. It is the getting rid of the sin nature we are born with. Our old self is dead already in God’s eyes. We must reckon it so. This is true repentance from sin and sinning; it frees us. “For He that is dead is freed from sin” (Rom 6: 6-11). This speaks of a spiritual death of our old sinful nature. When we really believe this way down deep in our hearts, then we will experience the chains of sin falling off of us. Before we are slaves to Sin; now we are free. Why? Because our old sins died with Christ the sin sacrifice. This is the cross experience. The early church continued in this teaching. We should be doing the same.
2. “Faith toward God” is the second apostles’ doctrine. In the 30 fold child-of-God context, we then believe that Christ was raised from the dead, and that we are raised with Him. He had faith that He would be raised. Now we have faith that we are raised up along with Christ—raised from the death that sin had held us in. [For much more on these first two doctrines, read online Chapters 26-32 of Yah Is Savior: The Road to Immortality found here: https://immortalityroad.wordpress.com/book-yah-is-savior-the-road-to-immortality/  Or better yet, order your free hard copy with free shipping by sending your mailing address to wayneman5@hotmail.com Mention the book]
3. “Doctrine of Baptisms” is the third teaching that the apostles stayed in. There are several baptisms, but for a 30 fold child of God it is their immersion into Christ’s death. When He died, our sin nature died with Him. “Don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death” (Rom. 6: 3-4)?
4. The Laying on of Hands is the fourth doctrine of the early church. There are many instances where hands of the righteous are laid upon people. What would constitute the 30 fold level of growth in this teaching?

To answer this, we must cross connect other things we know about the theme of “being children” in the faith. “Becoming a child of God” is an extremely important milestone in a Christian’s life. It is when Life enters into our hearts. Before, we are one of the “dead” burying our dead.

So 30 fold fruit in this context would tie in with “laying on of hands.” Hands are laid upon a person at the baptism into water, symbolizing being immersed into “Christ’s death.”

There is also the concept of “putting one’s hand to the plow.” In the passage, our Master says, “Follow me.”

The first one said, “Let me go bury my father.”

Christ replied, “Let the dead bury the dead.”

The next man said, I will follow you, but I need to go home and say goodbye to the family.

To which Christ said, “No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God”  (Luke 9: 57-62).

These two men could have become children of the kingdom. They could have begun their new Christian lives as 30 fold children. But they looked back to their earthly family. To be worthy of our new life in God, we must lay our hands to the plow and not look back to the old earthly life. Christ also said for us to take His yoke upon us. The world is the field in the parables. And this field needs to be plowed up and then planted with the see, the word of God. We are His yokefellows. We are to be equally yoked together with His Spirit intent to do his plan to accomplish His purpose. We need to be working with Him to accomplish Christ’s goal. When we pull together with Christ we will bring in the Kingdom of God (Matt. 11: 29-30).

5. The Resurrection of the Dead is the fifth teaching. 30 fold understanding is a child of God believing that Christ was raised from the dead and that we also are raised up with Him into a new life with His Spirit now living within our hearts (Rom. 6).
6. Eternal Judgment is the sixth doctrine that the early church continued in. We need to reckon our new life in Christ as a done deal, secured eternally with Him as our Savior and King. We must judge it so and not look back. “Remember Lot’s Wife.”
7. And the seventh doctrine is “Perfection.” This word in the Greek is “maturity.” Thirty fold is the knowledge about this maturity concept.

Of course, there is so much more to all of these as the Spirit leads us into the 60 and 100 fold understanding. I know that some of these things are new. I offer these thoughts to you as a jumping off place in your own studies. We all have the responsibility to study Christ’s teachings. A teacher sent from God plants the seed in the  hearts and minds, but to grow, it must be watered through study and prayer.

After doing all that, most importantly, His children will have earned God’s approval and a promotion. He will look upon us no more as spiritual children, but as young men and women. We will have grown to be trustworthy heirs of the King, ready for more responsibility, ready to not just know about his purpose and plan, but to “be strong and do exploits.”

This is our calling and election, brothers and sisters. He has chosen a few to reveal the whole shooting match to. Christ is passing out his goods, His truth, to us. Will we hide it? Or will we use it to become “fishers of men”? Will we hear Him say to us, Well done thou good and faithful servant. You were faithful in a few things; I will make you ruler over many. Or will we hear a doleful and heartbreaking rebuke like the one He gave to him   who was afraid and hid the pound that was given to him? (Matthew 25: 15-30).

Kenneth Wayne Hancock

THE ROYAL DESTINY OF GOD’S ELECT—The New Book in a Nutshell

Many have asked me, “What is your new book about?”

1. It tells of God’s eternal purpose of reproducing Himself.
2. It speaks of God’s plan to accomplish this. He is Love, and Love shares itself and gives of itself.
3. So God planned it out and created mankind to reproduce Himself in. He will use human beings as the medium for the multiplying of Himself. God’s kingdom is wherever He rules.
4. His plan uses the Law of Harvest. Whatever is sown, that is what shall be reaped. Since God is Love, He will sow the seed of Love into the human being, His spiritual garden. Each seed bears its own kind.
5. And the seed of Love is God’s SEED/SON, the Word made flesh dwelling among us. No greater love exists on this earth than to give up your life for another. This the Son of God did. And this great display of love for you and me bought our ticket of deliverance from the sin we were in. For Christ, the Anointed One for this honor, said this: “Except a grain of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abides alone. But if it die, it brings forth much fruit.” He was that grain, and the much fruit is you and I.  After we receive the seed of Love into our hearts, He helps us grow spiritually to harvest.
6. In the present dispensation of time, some humans will bear 30 fold, some 60 fold and some 100 fold fruit (Matt. 13: 1-23). Some will remain children of God; some will grow to young adulthood spiritually, and then there are some who will grow to full maturity, becoming just like the original Seed/Son and His apostles.
7. Right now God is calling many. :Many are called, but few are chosen” by Him to come to full maturity during this age. These are called “the elect,” the remnant, and the first fruits. They will be the first ones to become like the early apostles.
8. Moreover, they will be the first to be granted immortality. These over comers of all things are the manifested sons of God and will do the “greater works” that Christ spoke about.  They will sit with Christ on His throne (Rev. 3: 20-21). In a word, God will have reproduced Himself in them.
9. This is the royal destiny of God’s elect. Hence, the title: The Royal Destiny of God’s Elect. Who knows? You may be one of them. Perhaps we can walk together and help each other and love each other on this road to immortality. Kenneth Wayne Hancock

***This is the preview. If this book intrigues you, there is only one place on the earth to get it. Here’s how: For your free copy with free shipping, merely send your mailing address to my email: wayneman5@hotmail.com   And I will get it right out to  you. God bless you and yours***