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Free Indeed! ( Aug 14, 2023 )
Have we really been set free from sin? Is that possible?
The truth is, God has done far more for us than most Christians have ever heard of. We may have difficulty feeling free or experiencing freedom from the things that endlessly derail us (e.g. contempt; anger; lust; pride; self-rejection; regrets; unforgiveness; the list goes […]
Why Practical Matters of Doctrine Truly Matter ( Jun 14, 2023 )
Understandably, many laypersons are reluctant to take the deep dive into theological discussions. If highly educated theologians cannot agree on many of the most basic concepts of Scripture, then what would be the point of the average layperson trying to sort through all that? Not to mention that many theological discussions are downright boring!
At […]
Paul’s Wretched Man in Romans 7 ( Jun 28, 2022 )
I can’t seem to do what I know is right; and I keep doing what I know is wrong! (Rom.7:19, PAR).
The great debate over Romans 7 – whether Paul is describing the experience of a saved or unsaved person – really misses the point. Paul’s real concern is the danger of placing our hope […]
Chosen By God, For God ( Jun 28, 2022 )
It is easy to breeze over Paul’s great declaration in his letter to the Ephesians where he says, “He chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world to be holy and unblemished before him in love” (1:4). We hear that God created a “plan of salvation” so we could all go to heaven. […]
Objections to Spiritual Formation? ( Jun 25, 2022 )
There are still quite a few Evangelicals who are unsure about whether or not spiritual formation is a biblicallly sound approach to the Christian life. Their concerns come in several forms.
Steve Porter is a professor at Biola University who has been studying spiritual growth and development for a very long time. He has written […]
Faith and Works ( Jan 6, 2022 )
What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but do not have works? … faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead. (Jms.2:14,17)
James was a “no nonsense” kind of guy. In this rather well-known passage, he gets right in our faces and tells us he does […]
Forgiving a Difficult Person ( Jun 9, 2021 )
How would I know when I have fully forgiven someone I dislike greatly?
We must be careful here, because we are quite capable of convincing ourselves we have forgiven someone with whom we no longer have any interactions, or one toward whom we have become rather indifferent. Perhaps it would help to think of meeting […]
Faith vs Good Works ( Jun 7, 2021 )
Christians have often disputed as to whether what leads the Christian home is good actions, or Faith in Christ. I have no right really to speak on such a difficult question, but it does seem to me like asking which blade in a pair of scissors is more necessary. A serious moral effort is the […]
C. S. Lewis on Spiritual Formation ( Jun 4, 2021 )
A man far ahead of his time, Lewis understood the difference between Christian lifestyle and Spiritual Formation.
“After a man has tried his level best to practice the Christian virtues, and found that he fails … he discovers his bankruptcy. Now, once again, what God cares about is not exactly our actions. What he cares […]
To Believe ( Jun 2, 2021 )
To Believe … is to see (what cannot be seen) and to place my confidence in my unseen Lord and His love for me.
Words to ponder.
Savior of the World ( Jan 10, 2021 )
When Jesus was in Samaria (John 4) the people of the town realized at some point that He was indeed “the Savior of the world!” Not just a moral teacher or even the Jewish Messiah, but One who would rescue the entire planet.
Our world NEEDS saving!
Just look around. Although there are many who […]
Regarding Renunciations ( Nov 27, 2020 )
Over the years we have seen a lot of confusion around the issue of renunciations. Do they actually work? If so, how? And when should we use them?
To be sure, a full review of this would take a small book. But let us offer a few guidelines.
First, a few verses:
Not one of […]
Making My Job a Sacred Place ( Jul 24, 2020 )
For nearly 30 years I worked as a software engineer. It was a surprisingly creative and enjoyable career, and there were times when I couldn’t believe they paid me to have so much fun. In fact I would go so far as to say that my very identity became wrapped up with my work in […]
Discernment in Difficult Decisions ( Jul 14, 2020 )
COVID-19 brought us an incredibly confusing array of opinions, questionable “facts” and dozens of decisions to make. Many good Christians hold very strong ideas about what should be done, what makes sense, and how they will or will not respond, and they can be very different from what others have concluded. How do we sort […]
Listen … Until It Hurts ( May 31, 2020 )
A friend of ours from church said something this morning that struck me as both profound and incredibly appropriate for this day, May 31, 2020. She said, “We need to listen until it hurts.”
She was speaking, of course, about our horrendous problem with race in this country.

So I beg you, my white friends, […]
Good News for the Head-Heart Tug-of-War ( May 22, 2020 )
All my life I have heard about the conflict Christians experience between their head and heart. The story usually goes something like this: “In my head, I know what is the right thing to do. But my heart wants to do something else.” I have said this sentence myself.

In practice, this works out in […]
The Cascading Riches of His Grace! ( May 2, 2020 )
“Since we are now joined to Christ, we have been given the treasures of redemption by his blood—the total cancellation of our sins—all because of the cascading riches of his grace. This superabundant grace is already powerfully working in us, releasing within us all forms of wisdom and practical understanding.” (Eph.1:7-8, Passion Translation).
Blessed Are You Who Seek ( Mar 29, 2020 )
“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled” (Mt.5:6).
Blessed are those who ache for purity.
Who long to be free of evil.
Whose desire is for heaven to come down and fill the earth with the glory of God!
Blessed are those whose heart is for life, love, […]
Priestly Blessing from God ( Mar 26, 2020 )
What God were to speak over us the Priestly Blessing He gave to Aaron?
“Let me bless you and keep you.
Let me shine my face upon you and be gracious to you.
Let me lift up my face unto you
and give you my shalom.”
— Num.6:24-26
It’s Not About What We Deserve ( Mar 16, 2020 )
Christians often express gratitude for their salvation in terms such as, “I am so grateful that God saved me even though I did not deserve it.”
I get what they mean, and I understand that they are truly grateful for God’s salvation. I might even wonder about them if they were not grateful.
But the […]
Our Multi-Faceted Spiritual GPS ( Feb 10, 2020 )
Imagine being lost in the woods, trying to find your way out day after day without any way of being sure of where you are going.
Then someone shows up with a GPS and suddenly you not only know where you are, but in what direction you can find the nearest town, what town it […]
Psalm 23 as a Celebration of Covenant ( Nov 4, 2019 )
An uplifting message and a fresh look at Psalm 23.
See our Audio Recordings at: https://kingdomformation.org/upcoming-events/recordings/
This is also available on YouTube with images that add even more to the message.
Revisiting Our Healing Moments ( Oct 9, 2019 )
Engaging with God over life issues can be one of the most life-giving experiences we can have, as God shows us what we have missed and what we need in order to move on. But we need to stay teachable, because these issues often have more than one layer to them.
For example, during one […]
The Answers to Life ( Jul 5, 2019 )
In the Introduction to The Divine Conspiracy, Dallas Willard makes a rather startling observation about the gospel as it was preached and received in the first century after Christ. The basic idea here is that prior to the Incarnation of Jesus, Greek philosophers (and others before them) had been wresting for several centuries with four […]
How Christianity Has Changed ( Apr 9, 2019 )
The following is from the Preface in J. B. Phillips (1906-1982), Letters to Young Churches.
“The great difference between present-day Christianity and that of which we read in these letters is that to us it is primarily a performance, to them it was a real experience. We are apt to reduce the Christian religion to […]
Why Do Christians Still Sin? ( Mar 8, 2019 )
If we have been set free from sin as Paul says, then why do we still sin?
See more here.
Why Not Hate? ( Feb 14, 2019 )
Sometimes we are hurt or betrayed in ways that seem unforgivable to us. We might experience moments when we wish we could forgive, but the obstacles are way too big and we don’t get very far in letting go. We might even feel justified in hating certain people because they deserve to be hated. And […]
About Time ( Feb 8, 2019 )
We keep trying to put more things into less time.
Perhaps we should consider putting more time into fewer things.
A Sad Day for New York ( Jan 30, 2019 )
The government of New York has gone too far. On Monday of this week the politicians of that state went to great extremes to showcase their depravity for all to see — and to celebrate their assault on life with all the gusto of throwing a party. Details will of course be altered and nuanced […]
The JOY of Obedience? ( Jan 12, 2019 )
Seriously?

Can obedience really be joyful? Is that some kind of attitude I’m supposed to add to my dutiful submission? Most of the time the word ‘obedience’ calls up images of drudgery, have-to’s, and a lot of determination.

Here’s a thought. Imagine that on a given Sunday morning at church, a resurrected Dallas Willard shows […]