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MAKE EVERY EFFORT TO ENTER THROUGH THE NARROW DOOR

 Luke 13:24 "Make every effort to enter through the narrow door, because many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able to."

The Los Angeles 2016 Spring Bible conference was held on March 25th-27th at Pine Crest Retreat Center in Big Bear.  The title of the conference was, "Make Every Effort To Enter The Narrow Door."  It comes from Lk. 13:24.  There were 4 messages: 1) Friday night opening message: He Got Up (Lk. 15:11-32 KV 20, "So he got up and went to his father.  'But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.") delivered by Terry Lopez.  He emphasized that God the Father is waiting with open arms to completely forgive and restore us as His children, but we must make the decision to repent and return.  Afterwards, Jeff Zellinger gave a testimony.  In it he shared that he was like the Prodigal Son, who even while in the ministry had gone "far away" in sin and rebellion, but since coming to daily bread faithfully at 5:30 at the center, he repented and experienced God's forgiveness and restoration.  Next there were two life testimonies.  

1) Lucia Ochoa-she shared how she could overcome unbelieving family environment and grow in faith by God’s grace and through 1:1 bible study. She and Isaiah struggled to find faith together. She is happy to establish house church with Isaiah in this year by God’s grace. 

2) Andrew Cuevas-he shared how his father's continual criticism caused him to have extreme low self esteem and to be frustrated he could not live up to his own expectations.  But after meeting Jesus he could experience God's love that saw him as precious and also through Jesus he could be set free from condemnation and guilt and low self esteem.

Saturday morning we had group Bible study on the key passage Luke 13:22-30.  Many coworkers shared that the Bible studies were extremely helpful and gave a chance for everyone to prepare themselves for the main message and to think about how they should practically apply making every effort to enter the Narrow Door.  2) The 2nd message was the main message and was delivered by Robert Fishman.  He taught us that Jesus Himself is the Narrow Door and in order to enter through Him we need to meet Jesus deeply and personally and struggle to know Him.  This is at the heart of making every effort to enter through the Narrow Door.  Afterwards, there was a testimony by Peter Lopez.  In his testimony he confessed he had not been making every effort to enter through the Narrow Door.  Instead, he had been making every effort to get his dream job.  But after this preparing this testimony he made a decision to make every effort by being a good coworker, no longer giving his left overs, but his best and being a good example to the other 2nd gens in our chapter.  After the message we had testimony writing and sharing in groups.  In the evening, we listened to the 3rd message by William Larsen from Jn. 3:1-21.  In his message, he asked two questions: a) How can we have eternal life? B) And how can we be sure?  He taught us that Eternal Life is found only in Jesus.  There is no other name under Heaven by which we are saved.  After his message, there was a testimony by Samia Holman who shared how she met Jesus personally.  She was raised a Muslim.  But after meeting her future husband, who was a Christian, she began to doubt her Muslim faith and she prayed to God to reveal who is the True Messiah.  In a dream she saw Jesus.  She immediately decided to become a Christian and her family persecuted her.  She was welcomed by her boyfriends family and eventually they married.  They wanted children, but somehow it was impossible.  Finally, the church prayed for her and her husband Frank, and miraculously Samia became pregnant.  Her testimony is that faith in Jesus gives life.  Next were two life testimonies, 1) Timothy Cho-he is a second gen, but who betrayed his parents and God's love to him.  But he could clearly see God's love through his parents patient, faithful and gracious love that was never taken from him, despite his rebellion and putting his parents through much suffering.  He was ashamed of himself.  He made a decision to return back and enter through the Narrow Door. 2) Frank Holman-shared how he began Bible study with his shepherd, but went back to his old life and was arrested and almost became a felon.  But through the prayers of many coworkers all charges were dropped.  He also shared that God's grace and mercy did not stop there, God heard his prayer for his wife to become pregnant and she is now in her 7th month.  He made a new decision to enter through the narrow Door.  After the two life testimonies, there was a special dance and a joint worship and prayer time.  These two programs were completely led by our native shepherds and 2nd gens.  We were all greatly encouraged by their taking leadership and initiating these programs.

 Sunday morning we heard the final message by Msn. Philip Lee from Mt. 28:1-10, "He Has Risen!"  He taught us that only Jesus rose from the dead and we need to put our faith in Him, that we too can experience this resurrection and live a new life as His coworkers and disciples.  After the message, everyone was given the opportunity to come and share what they learned from the conference.  But first all newcomers were brought onto the stage and given a chance to share what they learned.

 Through this conference we were greatly moved by the messages and testimonies and how God answered our prayers.  We had been gathering together at 5:30 every morning for 9 months to pray for this conference and God answered our prayers!  The messages were simple, but moving and the testimonies were extremely heart moving.  We were also very happy to see our growing disciples and our 2nd gens take responsibility and initiative in many programs.  It gave us great vision that they will continue to lead our ministry forward into the future. 

Terry Lopez on behalf of John Kwon