TRANSFORMATION FORUM

Shame is a powerful emotional response to our sense of personal guilt. There is a sense of shame when we realize our choices, behaviors, aspects of our lives are unholy in the presence of our most Holy God. Today, I speak of profound shame, a shame born of a maturing awareness of the Holiness of God. There have been times in my life when I give serious thought to the whole of life I find pockets of deep embarrassment regarding things I have done or things left undone. Often when looking backward, looking to my past, I still feel deep shame. The older I become, the more I discover of the beauty of the Holiness of God, I find myself captured in my shame. As a Christian, I am very confident that God has forgiven me of every iniquity in my life; there is not a single sin that God has not, is not or will not forgive. I am confident in God's forgiveness for my hope is in the merciful Christ as expressed in the crucifixion of Jesus for me. And while I am confident, I find mysel...

God Turns Up In All the Wrong Places at Christmas It’s easy to miss how strange God’s ‘perfect timing’ is in the nativity story. KRISH KANDIAH | DECEMBER 20, 2017 My notes: I was deeply moved when I read this excerpt published in Christianity Today.  I want to share this excerpt with as many people I know especially to day December 25, 2017. Krish Kandiah has reminded me of the essential of Christmas...I mmanuel , God with us... This essay is adapted from his latest book,  God Is Stranger: Finding God in Unexpected Places  (InterVarsity Press). R ecently, at a Christian men’s breakfast that I wasn’t excited about attending, I was surprised to make an unlikely friend in an elderly man named John. At the age of seven, John had been evacuated on the Kinder transport program just before the Holocaust began in Germany. John’s parents were among the 6 million people living in the wrong place at the wrong time, caught on the wrong side of Hitler’s fanaticism. ...

      There are many challenges facing men today.  It is difficult to be a man of God in an environment that demands compromise as the measure of worldly civility, tolerance and community.  Too much of humanity is seeking accommodation for all expressions of living without regard for what is right, for what is wrong.  Herein, this “accommodation”, is the foundation to the spiritual anarchy we are experiencing in the Church in American today.  Ultimately, the root of this spiritual anarchy is in our ignorance; ignorance of what constitutes for men Godly character.  In every aspect of life, men do not know how to respond to the challenges that are demanding us to compromise, to accommodate every social/political hurricane blasting across our lives.  Men find themselves buffeted by storms of worldly compromise at every turn.  Without a proper understanding and pursuit of Godly character to many men collapse from the beatings of the s...

“…to express our attachment to him in every way possible…” Confessing Christ, What does it mean?     Recently, I have read articles where notable Christian leaders are telling us that Donald Trump is a Christian because they heard that another Christian leader “personally led him to the Lord.”  I have not heard or read anything where Mr. Trump has personally and publicly acknowledge Christ as Lord and Savior.  Is the issue of what others say really important to the election, not really; yet it is to the degree that national Christian leaders are using Trump’s new relationship with God to justify voting for him in this election.       As I was weighing the significance of this issue, I began to ask myself what does confessing Christ look like in the scriptures? Do I really understand the call to “confess Christ before men” in my own personal life?  While wrestling with all this about someone else, I began to study the issue of confe...

My intent here is to help the body of Christ to act with more discernment in our personal lives and to live more fruitful lives.  I have heard this statement many times and even I have relied on these same words when unsure of a person’s character or motives.  It really is true in so many circumstance in life.  I do want to bring a word of caution regarding solely relying on this statement as an excuse for glossing over the character of people. First, let me state I do not believe we should judge people blindly.  Nor should we use this truth about judging to avoid testing people.  Evaluating and discerning people is a reality within the body of Christ.  It occurs all the time.  In fact, scripture exhorts us to test people and the statements they are making.  Consider the following passages: ·          1 John 4:1 Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: beca...

Becoming Less… We live in a world where" becoming more than we are" is a measure of success.  We strive for personal improvement, for labor that reflects achievement.  Every aspect of life is filled with a drive to "increase."  Now let us add to that the issue of sustainability.  How long do I remain relevant and useful?  How do I compete with a generation right behind me, nipping at my heels for my position?  We define success on prestige, accomplishment and gain. But is there ever a time we intentionally become less in order that another may become more.  This is the very situation John, the Baptist is realizing as Jesus ministers in the same region, preaching, teaching and baptizing people.  John's disciples are becoming desperate; their leader has competition in in the person of Jesus.  As the one called to "prepare the way of the Lord", John experience great popularity, John was very successful in his ministry.  John was faith...

Who is this God who loves me so much?  Why do I think I know Him yet His vastness escapes my comprehension?  With each day of living, I experience so much of His love only to discover how little I know of him.  My love for Him is so minimal in contrast to His love for me.  If love is about shared lives, I am receiving so much more than my God receives from me.  I struggle to love Him and He pours love, His love into my spirit.  I love through worship and adoration; in contrast, this is so much less than how He loves me.  When I contemplate how He loves me, I am humbled.  To be His created, to be the desire of His heart, even as a man, God’s intimacy captures me as if I was still a child.  He encourages me, how do I encourage Him; He strengthens me, how do I strengthen Him; He expends even unto death for my sake, what can give of value to Him; He speaks to me and life is transformed, what can I say to Him that transforms His being? ...