July 27, 2007

One Another Partners

Our Mission:

OneAnother exists as a commitment between believers’s to let God sharpen us as we confess, pray, dream, and study the Bible with one another

As Iron sharpens Iron, so one man sharpens another.
Proverbs 27:17(NIV)
 
Our Story: 

The idea of people meeting to keep one another accountable to Jesus has been going on for centuries.  This is an essential to growth in Christianity.  The questions that need to be asked is, why doesn’t it happen more often?  Or why do so few do it?  Personally, I didn’t want to let anyone know me that intimate because they would see the real me and would think that I’m a terrible Christian.  In reality, everyone is sinful and has a terrible side in God’s sight.  The Bible says our righteousness is as filthy rags to God.  The good news is that God knows that and makes us righteous through our faith in Jesus Christ.  The Bible says we being the saved are the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus.  It’s all about our faith in Jesus.  This is huge for me because it’s not about what I do, it’s about what He did and continues to do in my life.  The OneAnother journey began in the heart of Gary Fonseca in October of 2006 when he felt the need to meet with another brother in Christ to help grow his relationship with God.  Gary was at a crossroads and he felt the call of God to go to a deeper level in relationship with Jesus Christ and he knew it was going to take a deliberate step on his part to be in an accountability partnership.  So the last week in October of 2006 Gary Fonseca and Joey Escarsega met for the first time.  They have been meeting for the past eight months and have grown tremendously in their walk with Jesus Christ.  They are so excited about OneAnother that they invite people all the time to join them for their meetings on Tuesday night.  Through this partnership, they have created a pamphlet with the OneAnother Steps to help people who desire to start a OneAnother group.  Gary and Joey recommend every believer in Christ to be in an OneAnother partnership and are confident in the Lord that if they take up the challenge, they will see God do great things in them and through them.  

Our Strategy:

• Step one – Confess our sins to one another.  This is a big step in growing in our relationship with God and with our one another partner.  In order to get to this point, we must build trust and believe that in confessing our sins to one another, we will be free from these habits that hinder our growth in our relationship with Jesus.  The Bible says in James 5:16 “Confess your trespasses (sins) to one another and pray for one another that you may be healed.”

The word of God is teaching extremely important truths in this verse.  We are taught to confess our sins to one another.  It’s not a good idea to keep our sins to ourselves.  In keeping them to ourselves, we get weight down by them and they become habits that are fueled by keeping these sins to ourselves.  God never intended for us to bear the weight of sin alone.  Jesus died for our sins and He gives us brothers and sisters to help us overcome our sins by confessing them to one another.

• Step two – Praying for one another.  A powerful event takes place when we confess sins and pray for one another.  The event is our healing.  This is specifically teaching about healing from physical sickness but no matter what type of healing we need, God will bring the healing as a result of confessing sin and praying by faith for healing be it physical, mental, emotional, or spiritual.

God will bring healing when we confess our sins to another person and have them pray for us.  God wants us to be whole and a major part of this is our healing through prayer.  The praying and confessing work together to release God’s power for healing and restoration in our lives. 

• Step three – Dream with one another.  These dreams are things that God has put on our hearts to accomplish for Him.  These dreams help us fulfill the vision God has for our lives.  The vision is what God has called us to do with our lives. 

Maybe God’s vision for you is to teach, be in ministry, be in business, or something I have not mentioned.  The main goal here is to dream so your vision starts to become a reality.  The Bible says in Proverbs 29:18, “Where there is no vision, the people perish; But happy is the man who keeps the law” (KJV).  King Solomon said these words some 2700 years ago and they ring true today.  Solomon is teaching the people that in order to succeed in life, you must be a person of vision. 

When you have a vision, you will know what your purpose on earth is and how to accomplish that purpose.  One quote that I heard and try to live my life by is, “If you fail to plan, you plan to fail.”  I heard this quote from a friend and I never asked who said it but it impacted me in away to get me to start planning to accomplish my vision by dreaming.  

Another way of thinking about dreaming is in the form of action steps.  When one another started, a big factor was Gary Fonseca sharing the need to have action steps to accomplish one step at a time until we ultimately fulfill our vision.  Keep in mind our vision will take our entire lives to accomplish.

Gary showed me how he learned about action steps during a men’s retreat we both attended in the fall of 2006.  Gary shared with me that he felt like God calling him to preach shortly after the retreat and he mentioned that he needed some action steps in place to help him see this vision become a reality in his life. 

One of Gary’s first action steps was to get his high school diploma by passing the GED test.  He needed his diploma to one day go to Bible school to get his degree to be a pastor.  I am proud to announce that Gary passed his GED and is one step closer to his vision of being in full time ministry. 

Before I go to the final step, I want to personally challenge you to dream big and go all out for Jesus because He is going to do more in you then you could have ever dreamed of.  He is a big God and He will fulfill the vision that he called you to in this life. 

• Step four – Study the Bible with one another.  The goal is to apply the Word to our lives that we may live a life pleasing to God.  The Bible says in Hebrews 4:12, “For the Word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is the discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart,” (NKJV).  The Bible is teaching that the Word of God is sharp and will cut off that which is useless, the fluff, and will sharpen that which is useful, the life changing Word that makes us more like Jesus.  The Bible is God’s Word therefore reading and studying it will build us up for whatever we encounter in this life. 

The Bible says in Psalm 119:11, “Your Word I have hidden in my heart, that I might not sin against you” (NKJV).  When sin becomes an overwhelming issue in life, hide the Word in your heart because in doing so, you will overcome sin.  As the trials and temptations of life come against you, the Word of God will be your light to live prosperously in a dark world. 

As you meet in your one another group, make it a high priority to spend time reading and studying what God is saying to you through His Word.  Share it with one another that you may empower one another to be all you can be for Jesus in this life.  As you read the Word personally, ask the Holy Spirit to inspire you so that when you meet during one another, God will give each of you revelation from His Word to build one another up to please God in all that you do.

The Journey:

As we embark on this journey called life; God never intended for us to do it alone.  We have God leading us by His Spirit and He gave us one another.  The Holy Spirit is the captain of our ship and along with our self and our one another partner as ship mates.  God has called us to Himself to be in relationship with Him through Jesus Christ.  He gave us the church to build us up to be like Jesus and the church is made up of people made in the image of God who are purposely put in one another’s lives to love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength and to love our neighbor as ourselves.  We believe this can happens best as we partner up in a one another partnership by God’s design.  One Another is in the Bible countless times because at the heart of our relationship to God is our relationship to one another.  As we excel at our relationship to one another, our relationship to God will excel and we will become more and more like Jesus and that is what this journey is all about. 

The Challenge:

We challenge you to ask God to bring you a partner of the same gender to start up a One Another Partnership with.  We emphasize the same gender because men are able to be more open with men and women are able to be more open with women.  Use the steps and see God exponentially grow you and your partner in your relationship with Him.  God is able to do immeasurably more then you could have ever imagined and we believe the spark that is needed will come as a result of a One Another Partnership.  

Be Blessed as you partake in One Another for His Glory,

Gary Fonseca & Joey Escarsega, founding partners of One Another

PS:   If you need prayer, write you requests in the comments section of the blog.  Let us know when God answers your prayers by sending your praise reports. 

If you haven't received Jesus Christ yet and you want to, pray this prayer.  Dear God I admit I am a sinner in need of a Savior and I believe that Savior is Jesus Christ.  I confess Jesus today as my Lord and Savior and commit my life to Him.  I pray this in the name of Jesus Amen.  Let us know if you received Christ so we can rejoice with you because it’s the greatest thing you will ever do in this life.

Also, if you feel God calling you to start a One Another Partnership, email us and we will do all we can to help you.  Respond with your email so we can get back to you promptly.