“‘So if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift.’” Matthew 5:23-24 (ESV) In yielded worship before the Lord, your sensitivity to the things of God is heightened. Your awareness of God’s holiness and your personal sin becomes elevated when you are consecrated before the Lord in worship. If during the act of offering your gift at the altar of worship God brings to your mind the reality of a strained relationship, leave your gift and diligently go and be reconciled. God values unity in the body. God expects us to protect the vitality of our relationships with others. You cannot have a right relationship with God, even in worship, if you are not in a right relationship with others. Living in a fallen world perpetuates the litter of strained relationships. Make reconciliation your “first” response to God in worship. You have been reconciled to God through the finished work of Jesus upon the cross so that you can be an intentional reconciler on this broken planet. Your gift becomes acceptable to God at the level of your relational purity with God and with others. Guard your relationships. Seek immediate reconciliation! Exhibit humility and brokenness! Ask for forgiveness! Extend forgiveness! Do whatever it takes to make things right between you and God. Do whatever it takes to make things right with others. Drawing Near, Stephen Trammell Lead Pastor Follow me on twitter at: http://twitter.com/stephentrammell
Category: Conflict Resolution
Categories
Making Your Home an Oasis
“My people will abide in a peaceful habitation, in secure dwellings, and in quiet resting places.” Isaiah 32:18 (ESV) Do you dread going home or do you look forward to it each day? Is your home a war zone or an oasis? Does your home drain the life out of you or impart life to you? Is your home characterized by conflict, tension, and chaos or meaningful communication, refreshment, and peace. What’s your home like? God desires that our home be a peaceful dwelling place. Don’t you just love that word, peaceful? It is so soothing and so inviting. God’s portrait for our home includes security. Our home is to be a place of refuge and safety from the venom of our fallen world. Our home is to be an undisturbed place of rest. That opens a whole new level of living. How far off is your home compared to the home God desires for you? The environment in which you call home is so much more than brick, stucco, and paint. Home is all about relationships and how we interact with each other and how we treat each other. Home is all about how we do life together as a family. Make personal spiritual growth a priority. Model what you want to multiply in your home. Mobilize your family to radiate God’s love beyond your home. My prayer is that your home will become a holy place where Jesus is honored and spiritual maturity is nurtured so that the population of heaven will be increased and the population of hell decreased. Drawing Near, Stephen Trammell Lead Pastor Follow me on twitter at: http://twitter.com/stephentrammell
Categories
Conflict Resolution
“Finally, all of you, live in harmony with one another; be sympathetic, love as brothers, be compassionate and humble.” 1 Peter 3:8 (NIV) Families that resolve conflict together stay together. If the devil came to you for counsel on how to destroy families, what would your advice entail? Perhaps you would recommend the weapon of mass destruction, unforgiveness. Harmony is poisoned and trust is eroded by unforgiveness. Unforgiveness perpetuates suspicion and fertilizes bitterness. As a result of living in a fallen world among fallen people, conflict is inevitable. In other words, motion causes friction. It is not a matter of “if” conflict will happen, but a matter of “when” conflict will occur. Conflict is a natural part of life on a broken planet. Conflict is the normal confetti of living in a fallen world. Every relationship at some point will hit the wall of conflict. As my pastor, Dr. David Fleming says, “Every wall of conflict has a door which leads to conflict resolution, meaningful conversation, and intimacy.” Unfortunately, we often react to the wall of conflict by withdrawing or attacking. Instead of patiently pursuing the door of conflict resolution, we take a short cut and forfeit the potential on the other side of the wall of conflict. What if we were willing to risk the pursuit? What if we were willing to allow God to navigate us through the process of locating the door positioned at every wall of conflict? What if we decided to resolve conflict together as a family? Could it be that revival would come to the home through the doorway of conflict resolution? Forgiveness unlocks the door! Pursuing God, Stephen Trammell Executive Pastor Follow me on twitter at: http://twitter.com/stephentrammell
Categories
Conflict Resolution
“Finally, all of you, live in harmony with one another; be sympathetic, love as brothers, be compassionate and humble.” 1 Peter 3:8 (NIV) Families that resolve conflict together stay together. If the devil came to you for counsel on how to destroy families, what would your advice entail? Perhaps you would recommend the weapon of mass destruction, unforgiveness. Harmony is poisoned and trust is eroded by unforgiveness. Unforgiveness perpetuates suspicion and fertilizes bitterness. As a result of living in a fallen world among fallen people, conflict is inevitable. In other words, motion causes friction. It is not a matter of “if” conflict will happen, but a matter of “when” conflict will occur. Conflict is a natural part of life on a broken planet. Conflict is the normal confetti of living in a fallen world. Every relationship at some point will hit the wall of conflict. As my pastor, Dr. David Fleming says, “Every wall of conflict has a door which leads to conflict resolution, meaningful conversation, and intimacy.” Unfortunately, we often react to the wall of conflict by withdrawing or attacking. Instead of patiently pursuing the door of conflict resolution, we take a short cut and forfeit the potential on the other side of the wall of conflict. What if we were willing to risk the pursuit? What if we were willing to allow God to navigate us through the process of locating the door positioned at every wall of conflict? What if we decided to resolve conflict together as a family? Could it be that revival would come to the home through the doorway of conflict resolution? Forgiveness unlocks the door! Pursuing God, Stephen Trammell Executive Pastor Follow me on twitter at: http://twitter.com/stephentrammell
“‘Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to your brother; then come and offer your gift.’” Matt 5:23-24 (NIV) In yielded worship before the Lord, your sensitivity to the things of God is heightened. Your awareness of God’s holiness and your personal sin becomes elevated when you are consecrated before the Lord in worship. If during the act of offering your gift at the altar of worship God brings to your mind the reality of a strained relationship, leave your gift and diligently go and be reconciled. God values unity in the body. God expects us to protect the vitality of our relationships with others. You cannot have a right relationship with God, even in worship, if you are not in a right relationship with others. Living in a fallen world perpetuates the litter of strained relationships. Make reconciliation your “first” response to God in worship. You have been reconciled to God through the finished work of Jesus upon the cross so that you can be an intentional reconciler on this broken planet. Your gift becomes acceptable to God at the level of your relational purity with God and with others. Guard your relationships. Seek immediate reconciliation! Exhibit humility and brokenness! Ask for forgiveness! Extend forgiveness! Do whatever it takes to make things right between you and God. Do whatever it takes to make things right with others. Pursuing God, Stephen Trammell Executive Pastor Follow me on twitter at: http://twitter.com/stephentrammell
Categories
Making Your Home an Oasis
“My people will live in peaceful dwelling places, in secure homes, in undisturbed places of rest.” Isaiah 32:18 (NIV) Do you dread going home or do you look forward to it each day? Is your home a war zone or an oasis? Does your home drain the life out of you or impart life to you? Is your home characterized by conflict, tension, and chaos or meaningful communication, refreshment, and peace. What’s your home like? God desires that our home be a peaceful dwelling place. Don’t you just love that word, peaceful? It is so soothing and so inviting. God’s portrait for our home includes security. Our home is to be a place of refuge and safety from the venom of our fallen world. Our home is to be an undisturbed place of rest. That opens a whole new level of living. How far off is your home compared to the home God desires for you? The environment in which you call home is so much more than brick, stucco, and paint. Home is all about relationships and how we interact with each other and how we treat each other. Home is all about how we do life together as a family. Make personal spiritual growth a priority. Model what you want to multiply in your home. Mobilize your family to radiate God’s love beyond your home. My prayer is that your home will become a holy place where Jesus is honored and spiritual maturity is nurtured so that the population of heaven will be increased and the population of hell decreased. Pursuing God, Stephen Trammell Executive Pastor Follow me on twitter at: http://twitter.com/stephentrammell
Categories
Family Spats (7)
“My people will live in peaceful dwelling places, in secure homes, in undisturbed places of rest.” Isaiah 32:18 (NIV) Do you dread going home or do you look forward to it each day? Is your home a war zone or an oasis? Does your home drain the life out of you or impart life to you? Is your home characterized by conflict, tension, and chaos or meaningful communication, refreshment, and peace. What’s your home like? God desires that our home be a peaceful dwelling place. Don’t you just love that word, peaceful? It is so soothing and so inviting. God’s portrait for our home includes security. Our home is to be a place of refuge and safety from the venom of our fallen world. Our home is to be an undisturbed place of rest. That opens a whole new level of living. How far off is your home compared to the home God desires for you? The environment in which you call home is so much more than brick, stucco, and paint. Home is all about relationships and how we interact with each other and how we treat each other. Home is all about how we do life together as a family. Make personal spiritual growth a priority. Model what you want to multiply in your home. Mobilize your family to radiate God’s love beyond your home. My prayer is that your home will become a holy place where Jesus is honored and spiritual maturity is nurtured so that the population of heaven will be increased and the population of hell decreased. Now that’s the family business! Pursuing God, Stephen Trammell Executive Pastor
“Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.” Matt 7:3-5 (NIV) You always find what you are looking for. If we want to find fault in someone, we won’t have to look far. It is so easy to discover inconsistencies in others. When it comes to examining the lives of others, we have the eyes of an eagle. Detecting defects in others has a way of boosting our self image and stroking our ego. We tend to look through the microscope to view others and then choose to view ourselves through rose colored glasses. Jesus lobbed a major teaching on the value of proper introspection. He uncovered our human tendency to view others critically while viewing ourselves gently. Jesus even used the explosive word, hypocrite. When we critique others unfairly and then hide behind a mask that conceals our authentic current reality, Jesus exposes our hypocrisy. What if we began viewing ourselves in light of the holiness of God? What if we began to view ourselves in light of God’s Word? Our response would be like that of Isaiah, “Woe to me! I am a man of unclean lips!” (Is. 6:5). Remember, man looks at the externals, but God looks at the heart (I Sam. 16:7). Let’s deal with the gigantic log in our own eye and stop judging others for the speck in their eye. To help us find what God wants us to look for, consider praying daily through the Ten Commandments (Ex. 20:3-17) and praying daily through the fruit of the Spirit. “Moses said to the people, ‘Do not be afraid. God has come to test you, so that the fear of God will be with you to keep you from sinning.’” Ex 20:20 (NIV) “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.” Gal 5:22-23 (NIV) I think God is calling me to be a logger so that the fruit of the Spirit will be evidenced in my life and through my life for His glory. Pursuing God, Stephen Trammell Executive Pastor
Categories
Family Spats (5)
“Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.” Eph 4:29 (NIV) Our words have such power. With our words we can encourage and comfort or we can shatter hearts and dreams. God wants our words to benefit others. “A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.” Prov 15:1 (NIV) “The tongue that brings healing is a tree of life, but a deceitful tongue crushes the spirit.” Prov 15:4 (NIV) Let’s talk about the wheel of conflict. Now, let’s imagine that conflict enters your path. You experience hurt feelings which may lead to anger. Someone has wounded you. You have a choice to make. You can flee and withdraw which leads to isolation and unresolved conflict. Or you can choose to face the conflict. Once you make that decision, two more options arise: fight or invite. You can go head-to-head with that person and launch a verbal assault and fight. Or you can take the better option: invite the person into dialogue. Simply say, “Let’s talk.” In fact, practice saying that right now. Then be willing to extend or receive forgiveness. When you respond to conflict this way, you experience growth in your relationship. The very conflict that could have destroyed the relationship actually takes the relationship to the next level based on how you respond. Would you be willing to allow the wheel of conflict to roll in a healthy direction? Ask God to give you the wisdom to make proper decisions to navigate through the tunnel of conflict and come to the place of healing, restoration, and growth for His glory. Pursuing God, Stephen Trammell Executive Pastor
“John said to the crowds coming out to be baptized by him, ‘You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. And do not begin to say to yourselves, “We have Abraham as our father.” For I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham. The ax is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.’” Luke 3:7-9 (NIV) When conflict arises, we can choose to react or respond. John the Baptist confronted his hearers with the reality of their spiritual condition and exhorted them to product fruit in keeping with repentance. Of course, this created a major conflict for the hearers to resolve in their own lives. They could react to the conflict or respond to the conflict. Fortunately, they responded with an appropriate question: “What should we do then?” John instructed them to share what they had with others including food and clothing. To the tax collectors, John exhorted them not to collect more than required. To some soldiers, John told them to stop extorting money and accusing people falsely and to be content with their pay (Luke 3:10-14). What kind of conflict are you wrestling with in this season of your life? Have you been confronted by a message that brings deep conviction? Is there a strained relationship that needs attention? How are you navigating the conflict? You have a choice. You can react in the flesh or respond to the conflict God’s way. If God has allowed conflict to enter your domain, then God will use it to conform you into the image of Christ and to strengthen your faith. God will use the immediate conflict you are confronting by giving you the grace you need to experience a personal breakthrough. Are you teachable? Are you willing to hear from God in the midst of your circumstances? Is your heart tender enough to ask God, “What should I do?” God knows what you are dealing with. God knows what you are feeling. He is in tune with every fiber of your being. Remember, before you were even born, God knew you (Jer. 1:5 & Ps. 139:13). How will you respond to the conflict in your life? Pursuing God, Stephen Trammell Executive Pastor
“Finally, all of you, live in harmony with one another; be sympathetic, love as brothers, be compassionate and humble.” 1 Peter 3:8 (NIV) Families that resolve conflict together stay together. If the devil came to you for counsel on how to destroy families, what would your advice entail? Perhaps you would recommend the weapon of mass destruction, unforgiveness. Unforgiveness poisons harmony and erodes trust. Unforgiveness perpetuates suspicion and fertilizes bitterness. As a result of living in a fallen world among fallen people, conflict is inevitable. In other words, motion causes friction. It is not a matter of “if” conflict will happen, but a matter of “when” conflict will occur. Conflict is a natural part of life on a broken planet. Conflict is the normal confetti of living in a fallen world. Every relationship at some point will hit the wall of conflict. As my pastor, Dr. David Fleming says, “Every wall of conflict has a door which leads to conflict resolution, meaningful conversation, and intimacy.” Unfortunately, we often react to the wall of conflict by withdrawing or attacking. Instead of patiently pursuing the door of conflict resolution, we take a short cut and forfeit the potential on the other side of the wall of conflict. What if we were willing to risk the pursuit? What if we were willing to allow God to navigate us through the process of locating the door positioned at every wall of conflict? What if we decided to resolve conflict together as a family? Could it be that revival would come to the home through the doorway of conflict resolution? Forgiveness unlocks the door! Pursuing God, Stephen Trammell Executive Pastor
“The LORD God said, ‘It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.’” Gen 2:18 (NIV) God created us for relationship. The first “not good” in the Bible is connected to aloneness. God created us for companionship. We do better together. God designed us to be relational, not robotic. God’s desire is for us to be rightly related to Him and rlghtly related to each other. God created Eve to complete Adam. Adam transitioned from “me” to “we” and from “mine” to “ours” in response to God’s gracious creation activity. God knew what Adam needed most! Adam needed companionship. As you read God’s Word, you will discover that the Bible is the story of God’s relationship with His creation and their relationship with each other. “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) “Finally, all of you, live in harmony with one another; be sympathetic, love as brothers, be compassionate and humble.” 1 Peter 3:8 (NIV) Satan is anti-relationship. Satan is anti-companionship. Satan is anti-family. The devil does not want you to be in a right relationship with God and he does not want you to be in a right relationship with others. Don’t allow the enemy to keep you from enjoying a loving relationship with God and with others. You are made for relationship. If you are battling aloneness, ask God to bring some life-giving relationships into your life. Pursuing God, Stephen Trammell Executive Pastor
Categories
Family Spats (1)
“You said in your heart, ‘I will ascend to heaven; I will raise my throne above the stars of God; I will sit enthroned on the mount of assembly, on the utmost heights of the sacred mountain. I will ascend above the tops of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.’ But you are brought down to the grave, to the depths of the pit.” Isaiah 14:13-15 (NIV) Every conflict has pride at its root. Before God created man in His own image, God had to resolve conflict that erupted in heaven. Pride infused Lucifer (Satan, the devil), the angel of God. In pride, Lucifer sought to lead a rebellion against God and thought he could dethrone God. However, God is holy and does not tolerate sin. Thus, God “de-heavened” Lucifer. Jesus spoke of this fall and John recorded the fall of Satan in Revelation 12:9. “He replied, ‘I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven.’” Luke 10:18 (NIV) “The great dragon was hurled down–that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him.” Rev 12:9 (NIV) Pride causes us to think of ourselves before thinking of others. Pride causes us to embrace selfishness and self-centeredness. In pride, we forfeit God’s agenda and become absorbed in our own personal agenda. Pride is evidenced by our pursuit of gratifying our sinful nature (Gal. 5:16). If pride seeps into your home, your family will experience major conflict. Pride corrupts and erodes relationships. Satan is the mascot of pride. He does not want your family to operate in peace, unity, and trust. Examine the weeds inside your home. Don’t try to cut the weeds off at ground level by dealing with the symptoms of pride. Get to the root of the conflict within your home. As you trace the origin of conflict, you will find the root of pride. Pursuing God, Stephen Trammell Executive Pastor