Today at 7:30PM Calvary Chapel Cartagena had their first ever official service. With LIVE worship and so much more. The teaching was focused on Luke 15:11-32, the turnout was over 90 people for the first service and here are just a few sneak pictures to experience what God is doing in Cartagena, Colombia. Continue in prayer for us, so much more work yet to be done, but the Lord is the God of this city.

...and so it begins. This past weekend a team of missionaries departed to Cartagena, Colombia to officially start Calvary Chapel Cartagena. Santiago who is now on the grounds will be leading the first church service, with Worship, Missions, a teaching, and over 40 people to start. Please keep the team in prayer, God is doing incredible un-explainable things. God said "GO" and so they went. Please stay tune for more updates. Pictures, updates will be coming very-very soon.

Over 50 Young Adults Praying for Santiago Amin at Tuesday Nights as he prepares to leave for Calvary Chapel Cartagena in Colombia in just a few weeks. 

2 Corinthians 5: 16-21 NIV Part 3

18 All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: 19 that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation.

So we regard everyone with an eternal perspective, and in Christ We are a new creation leaving the old behind and becoming new; now what?
Well, verse 18 tells us that that all this is part of God’s master plan to reconcile His people to Himself and He does it by paying the price of our sins with the sacrifice of His blameless son in the cross and then committing ALL of us to the message of reconciliation.

Every time I go to make a bank transaction using the “Drive threw” I find interesting how I put the receipts, money, checks, etc. on a plastic bottle and as soon as I push the send button the bottle and its contents make it to the teller in less than a second. That always reminds me that if the sole purpose of our surrendering our lives to Christ was for us to get eternal life we would be rapture to Heaven at the very moment we commit our lives to Christ, however we know that is not the case and in the second half of verse 19 we see why: “And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation.” Or in other words: now that we have been reconciled to God is time for us to join Him in bringing others to reconciliation.

Now that we have a new perspective in life, now that we are a new creation is when we become useful for the glory of God, so lets get on with His program, who do you know that is in need of a savior? Who do you know that needs to be made new? I am sure we all know people like that so let’s make sure they meet our Redeemer because we can only call Him ours due to somebody’s commitment to our redemption. Time to pass it along.

Come back tomorrow to read verse 20 with me and learn how serious is our involvement in the master plan of evangelism.

2 Corinthians 5: 16-21 NIV Part 2

17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!

One of the most empowering verses in scripture is found on 2 Corinthians 5:17 where we are reminded that regardless of how bad our past is we are nothing short than a new creation; not a better and improved one but a “Brand new” creation. How amazing is that? How powerful is that statement? 
The simple yet powerful opportunity of another shot at life but this time with the standard of our Lord Jesus Christ as the example to follow; that should give hope to everyone of us for no matter how hard we try or how much we think we got it, we remain empty and vain until we allow the redemptive power of God to make us new. “The old has gone, the new is here!” our old life on the flesh is gone and a new life in Christ is now here. 

I would like to encourage us all to embrace this truth today, and become All that God created us to be by leaving the “old me” in the past and allowing the “new me” we have in Christ to be at work in our lives, so that we can see what God has for us in verse 18.

Blessings

PART 1 | 2 Corinthians 5: 16-21 NIV

16 So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. 17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! 18 All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: 19 that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. 20 We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. 21 God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

Today we start to go over this beautiful and hope loaded section of scripture by highlighting verse 16 where the apostle Paul call us to “from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view”; so can we really do that? Can we look at the mean teller at the bank and see in him or her a child of God? Can we think of a criminal in today’s news as our brother or sister in Christ?

On our own flesh most likely we can’t do these things, however verse 14 and 15 tell us how can we accomplish this impossible mandate: “14 For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. 15 And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.” In other words we are to die to ourselves and live in Christ as a living sacrifice that brings Him glory, for only in Him we find the ability not only to get eternal life but to have an eternal perspective in this fallen world, then and only then can we regard everybody else from an eternal point. To me this represents to think of my fellow Colombians in Cartagena: victims, perpetrators and those that are just indifferent to the needs and horrors that their own people are suffering as “Children of God” who are in need of Christ’s love so that they can die to themselves and live for Him. Only through the miracle of Jesus’ sacrifice can we bring change to a community like Cartagena.

How about you? Who are the people on your life that you have to start regarding from an eternal perspective? 

If you are doing this already with everybody around you how about you give us a hand bringing change to Cartagena, Colombia? Just let me know you are in and I can give you ideas to get involved.

God bless you all and be looking for part two of this message tomorrow.

Santiago

“I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me” -Philippians 4:13

We all love to quote this beautiful verse from time to time, especially when we are faced with difficulties and challenges that seemed to be beyond our ability to overcome, because it reminds us that the God we serve is all powerful and that if He is on our side we would be able to achieve anything that we set ourselves to do, However We tend to overlook the verse right before it in Philippians 4:12 “ I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want.” In this verse the apostle Paul talks about the principle of “contentment” and he calls it a secret, I personally don’t think he calls it a secret because is hidden information but because of the lack of contentment among all people.

Even as Christians we all struggle with “contentment” to certain extent. In my case it was the fact that I was too content with my current life as a husband, dad, minister, etc. I was too content with where I live and how I live so when God came with the message of “Go and make disciples..” I gave Him all kind of excuses including the fact that I wasn’t qualified to do the job but then He brought me to these two verses where He reminded me that my satisfaction is to be found on Him and that when I do He makes the unqualified able by His greatness.
I want to encourage us all to learn and embrace the secret of being content in ANY and EVERY situation whether in plenty or in want, here or there, for when we do we allow our mighty God to be at work in our lives and as I was reminded today: “when all we have is God we discover that all we need is God.”

After re-visiting the amazing sufficiency of our God, and His instruction through the apostle Paul about contentment lets say it again but now with the understanding that if it is within His will for our life and that we are ready to give up everything:

“I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me” 

Santiago

Hey Family join us as we continue to raise funds for Calvary Chapel Cartagena, bring your entire family to Tradewinds Park on Saturday, April 13th starting at 11AM...

“...Go, I am sending you out like lambs among wolves” -Luke 10:3

How many times do we question ourselves about what God’s will for our lives is? For my wife this was a very critical question back in the summer of 2012, you see she heard a voice, got counsel and every verse she read was telling her to GO, and for her that meant back to Colombia. But one day she said to herself “maybe my mind is just playing tricks on me” so she decided to pray with supplication and then ask the Lord to please guide her to a scripture where He would definitely guide her and give her a command on what was His will for her life. After doing that she closed her eyes, opened her bible, placed her finger on a random scripture and read, “Go, I am sending you like lambs among wolves” at that point she didn’t let a single question out of her mouth, just a very sincere “here I am, send me”.

By no means am I recommending anybody to do such a thing as my wife did for it is the equivalent of using the Bible as a “crystal ball” but what I do encourage you to do is seek God diligently with prayer, supplication, and thanksgiving just as Philippians 4:6 tells us for our God is a loving God who made us for an specific purpose and is simply waiting for us to surrender the wants and desires of our flesh to live as a living sacrifice, so that in Him we can be more than conquerors, in other words die in our flesh and live in the Spirit.

Living by the Spirit for Christ glory, it sounds easy but due to the fact that we live in a falling world this principle is very challenging to follow, for us this means that we will leave the place that we called home for the past 18 years, and to move back to the country we were born; however we are to go to a city where we don’t have any family or friends, a city where there is a few rich and many are poor, where family brokenness and the absence of God gave way to the horror of “Human trafficking” that prays on the children as its primary victims and there among this people plant a church to bring hope, salvation, and a revival to all for the glory of God; so we are going “as lambs among wolves” good thing we have a “Good shepherd” with us.

Let us seek our Lord again today and surrender our will to His, for His plans for us are always better than our own. God called us, just like He called Moses, David, Paul and so many more who for His glory left everything they knew to pursue God in the deep waters. Is God calling you to …GO?