Category: Certainty

Categories
Certainty Discipline Temptation

Continue in Him

“No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God’s seed remains in him; he cannot go on sinning, because he has been born of God.” 1 John 3:9 (NIV) Continue to live in Him so that you will not live in sin. As a child of God, when you choose to yield to temptation you are no longer acting consistent with your new identity in Christ. To practice sin is to operate out of character as a person redeemed by the blood of the Lamb. If you are born of God it means that you have experienced the divine transaction of transferring your trust from yourself to Jesus alone for salvation. To be born of God means to be regenerated. Your sins have been removed and you received the imputed righteousness of Christ. Christ is now in you and He is the hope of glory! John is not referring to occasional acts of sin. You will periodically step into a pothole of sin as you live in this fallen world. However, as a child of God, your life is not to be characterized by sin. There should be no established and continual patterns of sinful behavior present in your life. You cannot abide in Christ and choose the way of sin simultaneously. You cannot walk in the Spirit and embrace sin at the same time. As a follower of Christ, you have to deliberately choose to rebel against Jesus in order to facilitate even a fraction of sin. Continue to live in Him by anticipating His return, by starving the flesh, by feeding the Spirit, and by practicing His presence. Choose to bring honor to God by living in alignment with your new identity in Christ. Continue to live in Him by making no provision for the flesh, by confessing sin, and by guarding your heart. God’s seed remains in you! Pursuing God, Stephen Trammell Lead Pastor Follow me on twitter at: http://twitter.com/stephentrammell

Categories
Atonement Certainty Devil

Walk in Victory

“He who does what is sinful is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work.” 1 John 3:8 (NIV) As a fully devoted follower of Christ, you combat three enemies. You combat the devil’s agenda, the world’s appeal, and your flesh’s appetite. The devil’s mission is to get you off mission. His goal is to get you to drift from God’s will and to dilute your devotion to the Lord. The world seeks to entice you with pleasure that pollutes your purity and dilutes your passion. Your flesh seeks to unleash a gravitational pull to get you to succumb to the cravings of your sinful nature. Jesus appeared to destroy the devil’s work. Jesus vacated the glory of heaven in order to come to this sin infested earth to destroy the work of the devil. Here’s the wonderful life-changing message: Jesus has defeated your enemy. The devil has no jurisdiction over your life as a child of God. When the enemy attacks you, he is trespassing on your Heavenly Father’s territory. You are a child of the Living God and your life is now hidden with Christ. As a child of God, you longer have to walk in the way of the world. You no longer have to yield to the promptings of the flesh. You have been delivered from the grasp of the devil. You have been set free to walk in victory! Jesus has defeated the devil, sin, and the grave. In Christ, you are the recipient of the victory declared by the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus. Are you walking in victory? Claim the promises of God and the completed work of Jesus on the cross. You are who God says you are and you can do what God says you can do! Pursuing God, Stephen Trammell Lead Pastor Follow me on twitter at: http://twitter.com/stephentrammell

Categories
Certainty Forgiveness Identity

Embrace Your New Identity

“But you know that he appeared so that he might take away our sins. And in him is no sin. No one who lives in him keeps on sinning. No one who continues to sin has either seen him or known him.” 1 John 3:5-6 (NIV) Jesus established your new identity by removing your sins. Jesus willingly left the glory of heaven to come to earth in order to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins. He lived a sinless life and died a sacrificial death to pay the penalty of our sin. “The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, ‘Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!’” John 1:29 (NIV) “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” 2 Cor. 5:21 (NIV) There’s hope for every person who turns from their sin and to Jesus alone for salvation. Jesus has already done all the work to provide the gift of eternal life and to establish our new identity. Are you living in light of your sins being forgiven? Have you experienced the renewal that comes through the total cleansing of sin? In Jesus there is no sin. To become a follower of Jesus is to take on His nature and to reflect His character. Jesus lives in you to produce His life in you and through you. Embrace your new identity by surrendering to the Lordship of Christ and giving Him total access to every area of your life. If there is unconfessed sin in your life, don’t hesitate to confess your sin specifically and instantly. Uncover any fraction of sin in your life and choose to walk in alignment with your new identity in Christ. Pursuing God, Stephen Trammell Lead Pastor Follow me on twitter at: http://twitter.com/stephentrammell

Categories
Certainty Glorification Purity

Pursue Purity

“Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. Everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself, just as he is pure.” 1 John 3:2-3 (NIV) Since your birth, your body has been in a perpetual state of decay. Your physical body is only a temporary tent for life on this broken planet. You will not take your body with you to heaven. On that great and glorious day as a child of God, you will get to trade-in your body for the glorified body God has designed for you. When Jesus appears, we shall be like Him. As a child of God, you can live with absolute enthusiasm and excitement because of the hope produced by the future appearing of Jesus. You will see Jesus as He is. The One you have come to know personally, the One you have trusted as your personal Lord and Savior, and the One you have communed with and prayed to all of these years will be visibly before you. You will see Jesus and you will receive the glorified body designed specifically for you. Aren’t you excited about your future? There are some accessories that will not be featured in your glorified body. The glorified body God has for you does not have cancer, congestive heart failure, asthma, macular degeneration, AIDS, arthritis, Parkinson’s disease, or a fraction of sickness. Your glorified body will be adorned with the glory of God and saturated with the absence of sin. Your battle against Satan, the world, and the flesh will be eliminated! Pursue purity. Be holy just as Jesus is holy. Run from sin and run to Jesus until He comes again! Pursuing God, Stephen Trammell Lead Pastor Follow me on twitter at: http://twitter.com/stephentrammell

Categories
Anticipation Certainty Rapture

Anticipate His Return

“And now, dear children, continue in him, so that when he appears we may be confident and unashamed before him at his coming.” 1 John 2:28 (NIV) Did you know that Jesus is coming again? It is so easy to settle into the cadence of a busy life and become numb towards the reality of the return of Jesus Christ. Being absorbed by the cultural current and distracted by the tugs of life can impair our vision and dissolve our attentiveness to the activity of God. Your appointment has been confirmed. There is a specific time and date by which Jesus will return. No one knows that exact moment established by God. We are to live in the ready-mode! Live with expectancy. Jesus is coming again! Will you be confident and unashamed before Him at His coming? What will Jesus find you doing upon His return? It matters how you live and how you allocate your time and energy. What are you giving your life to? “So we make it our goal to please him, whether we are at home in the body or away from it. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive what is due him for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.” 2 Cor. 5:9-10 (NIV) Anticipate His return. Live with a heightened awareness of appearing before Jesus one day to give an account for your life. Focus your life on pleasing Him! Eliminate distractions and remove obstacles that hinder your faith. Make the smile of God the passion of your life. Nothing matters more than living to bring pleasure to God. Live in light of the return of Jesus. Continue to walk with Him and continue to serve Him. Be ready for your appointment! It has been confirmed! Pursuing God, Stephen Trammell Lead Pastor Follow me on twitter at: http://twitter.com/stephentrammell

Categories
Certainty Discipline Temptation

Continue in Him

“No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God’s seed remains in him; he cannot go on sinning, because he has been born of God.” 1 John 3:9 (NIV) Continue to live in Him so that you will not live in sin. As a child of God, when you choose to yield to temptation you are no longer acting consistent with your new identity in Christ. To practice sin is to operate out of character as a person redeemed by the blood of the Lamb. If you are born of God it means that you have experienced the divine transaction of transferring your trust from yourself to Jesus alone for salvation. To be born of God means to be regenerated. Your sins have been removed and you received the imputed righteousness of Christ. Christ is now in you and He is the hope of glory! John is not referring to occasional acts of sin. You will periodically step into a pothole of sin as you live in this fallen world. However, as a child of God, your life is not to be characterized by sin. There should be no established and continual patterns of sinful behavior present in your life. You cannot abide in Christ and choose the way of sin simultaneously. You cannot walk in the Spirit and embrace sin at the same time. As a follower of Christ, you have to deliberately choose to rebel against Jesus in order to facilitate even a fraction of sin. Continue to live in Him by anticipating His return, by starving the flesh, by feeding the Spirit, and by practicing His presence. Choose to bring honor to God by living in alignment with your new identity in Christ. Continue to live in Him by making no provision for the flesh, by confessing sin, and by guarding your heart. God’s seed remains in you! Pursuing God, Stephen Trammell Executive Pastor Follow me on twitter at: http://twitter.com/stephentrammell

Categories
Atonement Certainty Devil

Walk in Victory

“He who does what is sinful is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work.” 1 John 3:8 (NIV) As a fully devoted follower of Christ, you combat three enemies. You combat the devil’s agenda, the world’s appeal, and your flesh’s appetite. The devil’s mission is to get you off mission. His goal is to get you to drift from God’s will and to dilute your devotion to the Lord. The world seeks to entice you with pleasure that pollutes your purity and dilutes your passion. Your flesh seeks to unleash a gravitational pull to get you to succumb to the cravings of your sinful nature. Jesus appeared to destroy the devil’s work. Jesus vacated the glory of heaven in order to come to this sin infested earth to destroy the work of the devil. Here’s the wonderful life-changing message: Jesus has defeated your enemy. The devil has no jurisdiction over your life as a child of God. When the enemy attacks you, he is trespassing on your Heavenly Father’s territory. You are a child of the Living God and your life is now hidden with Christ. As a child of God, you longer have to walk in the way of the world. You no longer have to yield to the promptings of the flesh. You have been delivered from the grasp of the devil. You have been set free to walk in victory! Jesus has defeated the devil, sin, and the grave. In Christ, you are the recipient of the victory declared by the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus. Are you walking in victory? Claim the promises of God and the completed work of Jesus on the cross. You are who God says you are and you can do what God says you can do! Pursuing God, Stephen Trammell Executive Pastor Follow me on twitter at: http://twitter.com/stephentrammell

Categories
Certainty Forgiveness Identity

Embrace Your New Identity

“But you know that he appeared so that he might take away our sins. And in him is no sin. No one who lives in him keeps on sinning. No one who continues to sin has either seen him or known him.” 1 John 3:5-6 (NIV) Jesus established your new identity by removing your sins. Jesus willingly left the glory of heaven to come to earth in order to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins. He lived a sinless life and died a sacrificial death to pay the penalty of our sin. “The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, ‘Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!’” John 1:29 (NIV) “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” 2 Cor 5:21 (NIV) There’s hope for every person who turns from their sin and to Jesus alone for salvation. Jesus has already done all the work to provide the gift of eternal life and to establish our new identity. Are you living in light of your sins being forgiven? Have you experienced the renewal that comes through the total cleansing of sin? In Jesus there is no sin. To become a follower of Jesus is to take on His nature and to reflect His character. Jesus lives in you to produce His life in you and through you. Embrace your new identity by surrendering to the Lordship of Christ and giving Him total access to every area of your life. If there is unconfessed sin in your life, don’t hesitate to confess your sin specifically and instantly. Uncover any fraction of sin in your life and choose to walk in alignment with your new identity in Christ. Pursuing God, Stephen Trammell Executive Pastor Follow me on twitter at: http://twitter.com/stephentrammell

Categories
Certainty Glorification Purity

Pursue Purity

“Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. Everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself, just as he is pure.” 1 John 3:2-3 (NIV) Since your birth, your body has been in a perpetual state of decay. Your physical body is only a temporary tent for life on this broken planet. You will not take your body with you to heaven. On that great and glorious day as a child of God, you will get to trade-in your body for the glorified body God has designed for you. When Jesus appears, we shall be like Him. As a child of God, you can live with absolute enthusiasm and excitement because of the hope produced by the future appearing of Jesus. You will see Jesus as He is. The One you have come to know personally, the One you have trusted as your personal Lord and Savior, and the One you have communed with and prayed to all of these years will be visibly before you. You will see Jesus and you will receive the glorified body designed specifically for you. Aren’t you excited about your future? There are some accessories that will not be featured in your glorified body. The glorified body God has for you does not have cancer, congestive heart failure, asthma, macular degeneration, AIDS, arthritis, Parkinson’s disease, or a fraction of sickness. Your glorified body will be adorned with the glory of God and saturated with the absence of sin. Your battle against Satan, the world, and the flesh will be eliminated! Pursue purity. Be holy just as Jesus is holy. Run from sin and run to Jesus until He comes again! Pursuing God, Stephen Trammell Executive Pastor Follow me on twitter at: http://twitter.com/stephentrammell

Categories
Anticipation Certainty Rapture

Anticipate His Return

“And now, dear children, continue in him, so that when he appears we may be confident and unashamed before him at his coming.” 1 John 2:28 (NIV) Did you know that Jesus is coming again? It is so easy to settle into the cadence of a busy life and become numb towards the reality of the return of Jesus Christ. Being absorbed by the cultural current and distracted by the tugs of life can impair our vision and dissolve our attentiveness to the activity of God. Your appointment has been confirmed. There is a specific time and date by which Jesus will return. No one knows that exact moment established by God. We are to live in the ready-mode! Live with expectancy. Jesus is coming again! Will you be confident and unashamed before Him at His coming? What will Jesus find you doing upon His return? It matters how you live and how you allocate your time and energy. What are you giving your life to? “So we make it our goal to please him, whether we are at home in the body or away from it. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive what is due him for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.” 2 Cor 5:9-10 (NIV) Anticipate His return. Live with a heightened awareness of appearing before Jesus one day to give an account for your life. Focus your life on pleasing Him! Eliminate distractions and remove obstacles that hinder your faith. Make the smile of God the passion of your life. Nothing matters more than living to bring pleasure to God. Live in light of the return of Jesus. Continue to walk with Him and continue to serve Him. Be ready for your appointment! It has been confirmed! Pursuing God, Stephen Trammell Executive Pastor Follow me on twitter at: http://twitter.com/stephentrammell

Categories
Certainty Christmas

For Christmas (5)

The Christmas story is rooted in God’s nature and character.  “The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.”  Luke 2:20 (NIV) God’s story is the story of redemption. In His grace and mercy, God has come to us in order to rescue us from our sin and our eternal damnation. God’s redemptive activity is an outflow of His holiness and compassion. God became like us so that we could become like Him. The shepherds responded to God’s invitation by going into Bethlehem to see Jesus lying in a manger. They shared their angelic experience with Joseph and Mary to affirm their belief in Jesus as the savior of the world. The shepherds returned with an attitude of praise and adoration for all that God had done in their midst. They identified that their personal experienced lined up with God’s revelation. God keeps His word. When God speaks, you will know that His activity is just as He said. The shepherds anchored their faith in the certainty of God’s revelation. You can trust God to do what He says He will do. There isn’t a fraction of error. God speaks so that we can know Him, serve Him, and make Him known throughout the earth.  Pursuing God, Stephen Trammell Pastor of Leadership and Pastoral Care