"Sanctification" - Religion VS Relationship (Continued)

"It's NOT about making Jesus Christ Lord OVER my life, but about making Him Lord OF my HEART. Many do the first, but few do the latter." - JJ

Let me explain…

I believe that many well meaning Christians after trusting in Jesus Christ as their Savior begin to put a good effort into changing their lives. We go to church, we try to read the Bible every day, we try to obey the Bible, we try to get as involved as we can in "ministry" serving the church, and so on... This is all good, but I believe as Christians, we have neglected and lost focus in our discipleship of new believers in the most important area…

“But sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence.
- 1 Peter 3:15

Let me break down this verse and then continue to explain my thought above…

Step 1) Sanctify Christ as Lord in your heart (Surrender and brokenness before the Lord; total Surrender of all your life. Trusting God in all areas of your life, not just your eternal destiny)

Step 2) Be ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you (your testimony and sharing the gospel)

Step 3) YET with gentleness and reverence. (Showing love, compassion, kindness and gentleness, and demonstrating God’s love to others, not just “Bible Beating.”)

Ok, so what I was saying before… I believe that our Christianity has become all about religion and we have neglected the most important process of becoming truly broken before the Lord in total and complete surrender of our hearts (lives). When someone accepts Jesus Christ into his/her life, we quickly get that person plugged into the church, we start giving them Bible studies, we begin to train them in how to share their faith with others (Step 2,3) and we complete bypass the most important step, “Sanctification of Jesus Christ as Lord in our hearts.”

I believe that the church is doing great at sharing the good news of eternal life. The Great Commission is being obeyed. God’s church is growing, but I think that not enough real true, DEEP healing is occurring in the lives of those we disciple. Don’t get me wrong, I think the healing process is occurring. God begins that process the moment we open our hearts to Him and we accept Him as our personal Savior, but I think that the Healing process has been neglected when it comes to discipleship of new believers. Why do I think so, because of my own experience, because of this NEW place in my life of brokenness before my God and King, because of the amazing healing that has occurred in my heart, because God has been showing me what the process was in my life, because as my heart has been healed, and because I now can see past my own wounds and hearts. Before, I was neglecting “step 1” because I was wounded and hurt myself. I could not see past my own insecurities, sins, hurts, pride, etc. So as I gave of myself and shared my life with others, as a man who still needed healing, I could not help others in that process of healing in them. As I stand now, healed, I look about me and I see SO MUCH hurt within the walls of the church. Yes, church is a place for those who need healing, but I find the ratio of those who are healed enough to help others in that process to those who need healing to be way off! The pastors cannot do it all...

My prayer is that God continues to do the Miracles (as He has been doing in me) and that more believers may come to that place of 100% brokenness before Him. That they may be healed to the point where they can turn around and help lead those around them to that same place of brokenness before God.


Disclaimer: Don’t miss-understand, One ONLY needs to believe in Jesus Christ and put their trust in Him for eternal life in order to be saved (Titus 3:5, Eph. 2:8-10, John 3:16, II Cor. 5:21). I just think that God as our Heavenly Father wishes to heal our broken hearts, so that we may better serve Him. God wants to do great things in us and through us (Eph. 2:10). Again, we first need a Savior, we then choose to make Him our Lord. But we ONLY need to "Believe in Him." - If you do not know how you can be 100% sure you are going to Heaven the day you die, click here and find out how you could know. I serve God, not for my salvation, but out of gratitude for what He has done for me. I serve God because I love Him!...

Disclaimer 2: The growing process is on-going. God is still working in my life. Though I find myself in an amazing place of surrender before my Lord, surrender is something that must occur daily as we make choices and continue to grow closer to God.

“For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.” – Philippians 1:6

“Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us…” – Hebrews 12:1-3

Continuing: I know that for me, I continued to put a big effort into “growing in Christ” and I put a big effort into reading the Bible, and in serving, but in my heart, there were many areas that I had not surrendered 100% unto the Lord. I was trying to obey God, and I was giving Him most of my heart, but I had areas in my Heart that still needed healing and areas in my life that I was not putting my complete trust in God. I had desires I was not surrendering before the Lord. I did had a desire to serve Him, but in my own terms. I had insecurities that I was not surrendering to the Lord and trusting Him. I appeared “healed” on the outside. If you asked anyone, I have been a “model” Christian all my life, but on the inside, there was still much hurt, shame, insecurities, etc. and it took God a long time to heal me. I was “image managing” my life. Today, I am a broken person before my loving Heavenly Father. To quote Mercy Me’s song “No More No Less” …

“I'm not trying to hide anything
I wear it on my sleeve
I'm not trying to be something I'm not
This is all I've got
I'm not trying to re-invent the wheel
Just trying to be real
I'm not trying to say follow me
I'm not the one who leads

Let me introduce myself to you
This is who I am
No more, no less
I am just a man who understands
Because of [God] I'm blessed
No more, no less

I'm not trying to prove anything
It's all about the change

I hope you stare just long enough to see
The heart that's beating here inside of me
Beyond all the things you may think you know
I'm just a kid trying to make it home, that's it
No more, no less”

You know, the world does not need more religion. Most people (if not all) are religious in some way or another. This is what God calls pure and undefiled religion…

“…to visit orphans and widows in their distress…”

Religion is good, but God wants our hearts, not just our good deeds.

Friend, if you do not know where you are going the day your die, TODAY is a good day to find out. We do not know what tomorrow may bring, but I know beyond a shadow of a doubt, that the day I die, I will go to Heaven to be with God. You too can be 100% sure that you will go to heaven... Click Here and learn more. Don't wait till tomorrow, Today is the day you can put your trust in God as your personal Savior.

to learn more click here: www.jjsierra.com/theanswer

If you have any questions, if you don't understand something I said above, please feel free to send an email at: jj@coffeecupapologetics.com

I leave you with these last two quotes…

“We must give God and others their rightful place in our hearts.” – John Ortberg

“We trust God with our eternal destiny, but we have a hard time trusting Him with the rest of our lives.” - JJSierra

Religion VS Relationship

"It's NOT about making Jesus Christ Lord OVER my life, but about making Him Lord OF my HEART. Many do the first, but few do the latter." - JJ

There are ONLY TWO kinds of people in the end...

"Those who say to God, 'Thy will be done,' and those to whom God says, in the end, 'Thy will be done.' "
- C.S. Lewis "The Great Divorce"

Wow...

"The Great Divorce" is a short but VERY insightful fiction book - I recommended :)

Announcement:
We are currently meeting at "It's A Grind" coffee shop at 4:00pm on Saturdays. Please contact us for more information. We don't always announce if we will not meet. For the most part, if I'm in town, I try to always meet. See you next Saturday!

Website: http://www.itsagrind.com/location/?c=152

"Relational NOT Religious"

"When sharing our faith, its like introducing a friend (Jesus Christ) to another friend." - Josiah Fernandez

:: Hope ::

The difference between the world's hope and Christian hope...

"The world hopes in their deeds with uncertainty. We hope in Christ's deed with certainty!" - JJ

Dictionary.com
Hope  - noun: the feeling that what is wanted can be had or that events will turn out for the best:

We have a "better hope!"
"...(for the Law made nothing perfect), and on the other hand there is a bringing in of a better hope, through which we draw near to God." - Hebrews 7:19

Hope in The Living God:
"Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance." - Roman 5:1-3

"And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us." - Romans 5:5

"For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope." - Romans 15:4

Overflow with Hope - By The Power of The Holy Spirit!

"May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit." - Roman 15:13

Hope until the end!...

"we desire that each one of you show the same diligence so as to realize the full assurance of hope until the end." - Hebrews 6:11

"God Worth" NOT "Self-Worth"

GotQurestions.org's last email gave me insight into a more correct way to define my worth as God's creation... Very cool...

"What does the Bible say about self-worth?"
"The Bible actually has many passages that tell us what God has to say about our worth and our value in His eyes. Genesis 1:26-27 says we are made in His image, the very image of God. Psalm 139:13-16 says we are fearfully and wonderfully made, and all the days of our lives were written in God’s book before we were ever born, confirming God’s prior knowledge and plan for our lives. Ephesians 1:4 says God chose His children before the foundations of the earth were ever formed, and in Ephesians 1:13-14 we’re told we are God’s own possession chosen for the praise of His glory, and that we have an inheritance in heaven with Him as His children

But notice the wording in each of the above phrases: "are made," "are fearfully and wonderfully made," "were written," "God chose
His children," "we are God's own possession," and "we have an inheritance." These phrases all have one thing in common: they are things
done to us or for us by God. These are not things we have done for ourselves, nor have we earned or deserved them. We are, in fact, merely the recipients of "all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ" (Ephesians 1:3).

Therefore, we can conclude that our worth is not really of the "self" at all, but rather it is worth given to us by God. We are of
inestimable value to Him because of the price He paid to make us worthy—the death of His Son on the cross."

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Thus, it's not about "my self-worth" but of my ."God-worth" ;)
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I encourage you to go check out GotQuestions.org and sign up for their email.

"Sanctify Christ as Lord in your heart"

"We trust God with our eternal destiny, but we can't trust Him with the rest of our lives." - JJ

- Romans 8:31-32

More thoughts on this coming soon...

"Mere Mortal"

"You have never met a mere mortal" - C.S. Lewis

Time Change

T.I.M.E. = "Temporary Independence Before Leaving Earth" - Marcus Garcia

We have moved our CCA meetings to 4:00pm - This is a permanently change for now.
We are planning to meet tomorrow (5.16.08) at the Serene Bean like usual.

...See you there!

"The Main Thing"

"The main thing in life, is to keep the main thing the main thing."
- L. Acoca

Announcement: We will be meeting tomorrow as usual...

Serene Bean
5:30pm

...Be There or be square ;-)

"The Funk" - Comment/Followup

So much of the Bible seems utopian, because we fail to TRUST GOD with our all. We want to believe in His promises, but we also want to do things our way and in our time...

The problem with our Christian walk (AKA, "The Funk") is that we don't trust God.

Fear, complacencies and the everyday affairs of this life "entangle" us so easily sometime (Hebrews 12:1-3).

"thinking to much" - "...It's too easy to get so caught up in the paralysis of analysis that we fail to act." - Brother Andrew "The Calling"

"My Mind is Made Up"

Unfortunately, this is the mentality of many today when it comes to their position. This old age adage describes it very well...

"Don't confuse me with the facts; my mind is made up."

Announcement: we will be meeting tonight like usual at the Serene Bean at 5:30pm - We will have Mikey from Miami join us, so you don't want to miss tonight :) Come ready to have a good time of encouragement where we discuss our lives and our Christian Faith...

God Bless -

Our FIRST News Letter - Dec. 2007

We finally finished our December 2007 News Letter. This is our first of many, God willing...

To Read (Download) The PDF of our News Letter click the link below...

CCA December 2007 News Letter (PDF)
File Name: cca_2007-12.pdf

Well, this is our first, if you have any comments, if you have anything you would like to share, feel free to write them here...

Psalm 119...
124) Deal with Your servant according to Your lovingkindness And teach me Your statutes.
130) The unfolding of Your words gives light; It gives understanding to the simple.

- God Bless

Light Unto The World

"Preach at all times, and when necessary use words." - Unknown

In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven. - Matthew 5:16

"Ian Can't Help You"

There is one fundamental difference between Christianity and all other religions...

You can remove Buddha from Buddhism and you still have Buddhism.
You can remove Muhammad from Islam and you still have Islam.

You CAN NOT remover Christ from Christianity and still have Christianity.

"If you remove Christ from 'Christian' you get Ian, and Ian can't help you." - Rabi Zacharia

The center of my faith and Christianity is the person of Jesus Christ and His resurrection...

12) Now if Christ is preached, that He has been raised from the dead, how do some among you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? 13) But if there is no resurrection of the dead, not even Christ has been raised; 14) and if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is vain, your faith also is vain. - 1 Corinthians 15... Click Here to Read Chapter

One Solitary Life --

Here is a young man who was born in an obscure village, the child of a peasant woman. He grew up in another village. He worked in a carpenter shop until he was 30, and then for three years he was an itinerant preacher. He never wrote a book, He never held an office. He never owned a home. He never had a family. He never went to college. He never put his foot inside a big city. He never traveled 200 miles from the place he was born He never did one of the things that usually accompany greatness. He had no credentials but himself.

While he was still a young man, the tide of public opinion turned against him. He his friends ran away. He was turned over to his enemies. He went through the mockery of a trial. He was nailed to a cross between two thieves. While he was dying his executioners gambled led for the only piece of property he had on earth, and that was his coat. When he was dead, he was laid in a borrowed grave through the pity of a friend. Nineteen centuries wide have come and gone, and today he is the central figure of the human race, and the leader of the column of progress.

I am far within the mark when I say that all the armies that ever marched, and all the navies that ever sailed, and all the parliaments that ever sat, and all the kings that ever reigned, put together, have not affected the life of man upon this earth as has that ONE SOLITARY LIFE.

- Anonymous (from the Bible Study Book "Beginning In Christ - Book 1")

I say it again - "If you have not met me, you have missed little. If you have not met my Savior, you have missed everything."

Today, the guys and I began to look into the core of our faith, Jesus Christ and the Gospel...

We have started our study with Romans 3:23 - For me to understand that I needed salvation, I first needed to understand that I am a sinner and that I needed salvation. A Doctor can only heal someone who is willing to be healed. It is a proven fact that it is much harder to help a sick person who does not want to get well then someone who does. Many say that they are "seeking the truth." But the question is, are they REALLY seeking? Are they willing to follow the truth where ever it leads? So my challenge to you the seeker, is that if you are truly seeking, then ask God to reveal Himself to you to lead you to the Truth. Then do YOUR PART and open the Bible and read the Book of John in the New Testament and see for yourself. Do not take our word for it on what we write in the blog. I challenge you to follow up on all we write and find out for YOURSELF.

-- What we want to do next is look at obstacles of other world views that hinder others to recognize there need for salvation and to recognize that they are sinners (not perfect) and that there is a moral standard set by God...

We will started with "Post-Modernism." Next, we will look into other world views. Now, I want to keep things to the basics, and just to what matters in the life of someone who is truly seeking the Truth...

"Therefore Pilate said to Him, "So You are a king?" Jesus answered, "You say correctly that I am a king For this I have been born, and for this I have come into the world, to testify to the truth Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice." - Jesus Christ

...Pilate said to Him, "What is truth?" - Post Modernism has existed since the time of Jesus Christ. This is nothing new.

Until Next Time, I leave you with this...

Jesus said to him, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me. - John 14:6

-- 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