Be Transfigured Ministries

Love as the Samaritan Loves

When confronted with the question, “What do I must do to have eternal life,” Christ challenges the lawyer to answer the question for himself? Realizing the lawyer had been caught, He again tries to trap Jesus. “And who is my neighbor?” Christ offers the Parable of the Good Samaritan. After realizing that the Samaritan was the example for eternal life, Christ says, “Go and do likewise.” If we want to have eternal life, we must learn to love as the Samaritan loves.

Become an Unmercenary

Each of us have received special gifts from God, not for us to keep to ourselves, but to help others. In the Parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus, we learn what happens when we horde our blessings for our selfish desires. The time has come for us as Christians to become unmercenaries and offer our gifts and talents to others without charge. Whether are doctors, lawyers, accountants, teachers etc., when we offer our gifts to those in need, we will become known like Saints Cosmas and Damian the Unmercenary Doctors. This is our moment for God to look at us with joy and to say, “Well done good and faithful servant.”

Three Life Lessons

In the single story of the healing of the man with legion demons, we are blessed with three life lessons. First, when we feel that we are totally consumed and overwhelmed by the struggles and temptations of life, we can always find enough power to come to Christ for healing. Second, although demons are in fact real, they have no power over us unless God Himself or we give them power. Third and finally, we learn that God does His work and blesses others through our offerings. When we embrace these three life lessons, we receive God’s blessings.

Bible Study on 1st Corinthians Session 3

A Bible Study on St Paul's First Letter to the Corinthians, inspired by the Homilies of St John Chrysostom. This session was originally live stream Tuesday, October 13, 2020, in Tarpon Springs, Florida.

God Sends His Message of Hope to the Entire World

As we learn in the Parable of the Sower found in Luke 8.5-15, we are told that God is the Sower and the Seed in the Word of God. We are told that sometimes we hear the word of God when our hearts are too hard to accept His Word, and the demons come and steal it away. We are told that sometimes our hearts are like the rocks or the thorns, and we hear the Word of God but never bear fruit because of the struggles and temptation and pleasures of life. We are even told that sometimes we are like the good soil and hear the Word of God and it grows deep in our hearts, but the most beautiful part of the Parable is hearing that God sends out His Word no matter who is there to listen, whether or not we are ready, whether or not we are worthy. The best part of the parable is understanding that maybe our heart isn’t actually ready to hear the Word of God, because now we can change and prepare our heart for the next time we hear the Word of God

Hope for Nothing in Return

As Christians living in the world, we must understand that God has given us His expectation on how we are live with others. In the so-called “Golden Rule” we learn, “And just as you want men to do to you, you also do to them likewise,” (Luke 6.31) God makes is quite clear that we are do good expecting nothing in return because even sinners do good expecting good in return. God loves us, He blesses us, He forgives us, whether we or not we deserve it. The least we can do is the same, if we want others to love us and be kind to us, and pray for us.

Bible Study on 1st Corinthians Session 2

A Bible Study on St Paul's First Letter to the Corinthians, inspired by the Homilies of St John Chrysostom. This session was originally live stream Tuesday, September 29, 2020, in Tarpon Springs, Florida.

Ready and Willing for God

Every Christian is called by God at any moment to be ready and willing to follow Him, and to go where He calls. God expects us to be both physically and spiritually ready to accept the calling of God. In the Gospel of Luke (Luke 5.1-11), as we hear Christ calling a few simple fishermen to become His disciples, we are reminded that when we live our life reading the Holy Scriptures and waiting for Christ, when He calls us, we will be ready and willing to following Him, and God will use our willingness to bring others to Christ. The disciples were not perfect. They were not well educated. They were not always even successful, but they lived their lives ready and willing, and God blessed them.

Bible Study on 1st Corinthians Session 1

A Bible Study on St Paul's First Letter to the Corinthians, inspired by the Homilies of St John Chrysostom. This session was originally livestream Tuesday, September 22, 2020, in Tarpon Springs, Florida.

Get Over Ourselves

When Christ invites us into heaven He says, “Whoever desires to follow Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross, and follow Me.” This invitation can only be accepted when we are willing to deny ourselves, or as we would say in our contemporary language, we must get over ourselves. Our American way of life teaches us the lie that we can do, have, and be whatever we want. In truth, we cannot have anything just because we desire it. We will never take up our cross, and therefore never enter heaven until we get over ourselves. It is the life of the Cross.