Whose choice was it really?

I am new to the art of blogging, so don't kill me if this doesn't look right. JJ and I have been getting up every Saturday for the last month and meeting at the Serene Bean for coffee and the word. We already talk about the subjects of God and the lifestyle of following him. But, we agreed it would benefit us to change the scenery.

This blog will serve as an outlet for us to vent our discoveries and our zeal for all that encompasses the knowledge of God. We want to get to the heart of problems the modern followers of Christ deal with and come up with simple, applicable answers. This blog is not about going over scripture but actually living out the scripture we read. And on using the broad field of Apologetics to help the average joe defend his faith in Christ.

This weekend I pondered this question. When I make the choice to give my life to Christ, do I in turn deserve to get glory and praise for doing so. In the sense that out of my free will I chose to accept that He forgave me, that He died for me, and that He loves me, yes and no. Choosing to be accept that God chose to forgive you is not in anyway something to brag about. Without God being in the equation there would be no forgiveness in the first place. That's like bragging about the car your parents gave when you did nothing to get.
The question we must ask ourselves is what can we do apart from God the has any real value to it? Nothing. With God we are still the same sinner that was bought only he has polished us up. In the end we are only men with or without God just the same, but as Christians we are men that God has helped. We can make the choice to live according to his word and the promises it includes, or we could just do our thing. Even when we decide to live accordingly we still could not do it without Him.

Thinking about this has helped me realize how humble I should be to the Lord and to others. We should not abuse the fact of our salvation by lording it over unbelievers, but get them to realize that we are the helpless that the Lord helped.

I am a man and am nothing except what the Lord makes me.

-- CoffeeCupApologetics --

"I go out to preach with two propositions in mind. First - every person ought to give his life to Christ. Second - whether or not anyone else gives Him his life, I will give Him mine." - Jonathan Edwards

What's CoffeeCupApologetics.com About:

-- I'm reading a chapter on "Teaching The Word of God" for my GCLI Leadership Course, and I ran into the quote above. I also read these awesome verses and quotes that hit it on the money on what Coffee-Cup-Apologetics (CCA) is founded on...

"...Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up." - 1 Corinthians 8:1b (NIV)

The foundation for our zeal of God's Word is "Love."
- Love for God and His Living Word (The Bible)
- Love for others so as to see all come to the knowledge of His saving Grace.

Jeremiah 20:9 (NASB) - But if I say, "I will not remember Him Or speak anymore in His name," Then in my heart it becomes like a burning fire Shut up in my bones; And I am weary of holding it in, And I cannot endure it.

"A message from the head will reach the head. A message from the heart will reach the heart." - Leanard Ravenhill (Wow!)

"I love those that thunder out the Word. The Christian world is in a deep sleep. Nothing bout a loud voice can awaken them out of it." - George Whitefield

"I preach as never sure to preach again, and as a dying man to dying men." - Richard Baxter

"We must preach as to jeopardize our future, our ministry, even our life itself. We must make God responsible for the consequences and speak as one who will not have long to speak before being called to judgment. Then the people will know they are hearing a voice and not a mere echo." A.W. Tozer (Oh God, give me that kind of passion!)

1 Timothy 4:13-15 (NASB) - 13) Until I come, give attention to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation and teaching. 14) Do not neglect the spiritual gift within you, which was bestowed on you through prophetic utterance with the laying on of hands by the presbytery. 15) Take pains with these things; be absorbed in them, so that your progress will be evident to all.

1 Corinthians 2:1-2 (NASB) - 1) And when I came to you, brethren, I did not come with superiority of speech or of wisdom, proclaiming to you the testimony of God. 2) For I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified.

"You can mark it down. If there is a message going out that is powerful, someone has paid a price somewhere in sweat, tears and heartbreak." - Jerry Falwell

Psalms 111:10 (NASB) - The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom; all who follow his precepts have good understanding. To him belongs eternal praise.

"According to this verse, understanding comes through following God's precepts. For that McCheyne said, 'Above all cultivate your own spirit. A word spoken by you when your conscience is clear and your heart full of God's Spirit, is worth 10,000 words spoken in unbelief and sin.'" - John Hopler (Great Commission Association, Columbus, Ohio)

CCA - This project, Blog, or call it what you will, is the outcome of two guys that are in love with God and have a zeal for His Living Word the Bible! Kyle and I dreamed up this little blog (web site) as an outlet to our zeal. Like the quotes and verses state above, the foundation for our desire to grow in our apologetic skills is "love."

-- Kyle and I have been meeting at a coffee shop for a few weekends now and we caught ourselves discouraged and complaining about the lack of zeal for God, His Word and for Radical Christian Living all around us... So we decided to stop the whining and start living out this passion we have for our God.

-- Now, Kyle for some time has been wanting to start an "apologetics" news letter for our church and friends, so he brought it up again and I mentioned the idea of starting a blog on apologetics. He liked the idea and we began to brain storm... After a few minutes of going back and forth with ideas He came up with "Coffee Cup Apologetics" - Being that we meet for coffee every week and linking the theme of down to earth relaxing environment of a coffee shop, and our discussions on God's word (apologetics), he came up with the name... "CoffeeCupApologetics.com." We're all about the "meat and potatos" of apologetics like Kyle likes to call it. We want to us apologetics not to put down other's wrong beliefs, but to show others that God loves them and through our knowledge of our faith, lead others to the knowledge of God's saving Grace (the gospel). We want the foundation and the motivation of our zeal to preach the gospel to be rooted in a genuine love and compassion for others...

Ephesians 4:15 (NASB) - but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ,

"I do not expect to live long... therefore I speak very plainly" - Robert Murray McCheyne

Ephesians 4:29 (NASB) - Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for edification according to the need of the moment, so that it will give grace to those who hear.

"If you have not me us, you have missed little. If you have not met our Savior, you have missed everything."

Invitation: Kyle and I invite you to join us for a cup of coffee and God's Word Saturdays at 9:30am at our favorite coffee shop The Serene Bean (http://www.theserenebean.com). Or you can come back to this blog and be a part of "CoffeeCupApologetics.com"

(_)D God Bless

CoffeeCupApologetics

4) Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice!
5) Let your gentle spirit be known to all men. The Lord is near.
6) Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.
7) And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
8) Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things.
9) The things you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.

- Philippians 6:4-6

"Defending our faith not only with words, but with our lives"