“Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.” – Matthew 7:13-14

“For many are invited, but few are chosen.” – Matthew 22:14

“For I tell you the truth, many prophets and righteous men longed to see what you see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it.” – Matthew 13:17

This past Sunday was so refreshing! In the morning I preached to the church in Eugene a lesson entitled “The Way, The Truth, And The Life” (from John 14:6). There were disciples there from Portland ICC visiting us and the house church and bible talk from Salem and Corvallis also worshiped with us. There were some new friends and family there – and the fellowship afterward was electric, spilling out from the cafeteria into the parking lot at the Willagillespie school and then into various homes and eateries as we spent time loving one another and sharing a meal together. Later that day in the afternoon, the bible talk leaders met together in Jesus and Crystie Rios’s home for a charge called “Making The Most of Every Opportunity.” My points for this charge were: “Crucifying the Coward” (1 John 4:16), “Persuading The People” (2 Cor. 5:11) and where it all starts – “Calling Out To Christ” (Luke 10:2). The charge was to challenge AND inspire our hearts to go after evangelism this week! All of us need to be ready for the oncoming throng of nearly 4,000 new freshmen coming to the University of Oregon campus. The Spirit was felt deeply in the singing and after our charge we split up into men and women and paired up disciples in our leadership group to go “two by two” evangelizing this week!

That evening, right after our leadership meeting, four carloads of disciples from Eugene drove up to the newly formed Portland International Christian Church’s service at James and Jennifer Haynes’ home in Vancouver Washington. On our arrival, we were greeted by pizza and powerful fellowship with some very special guests – Victor and Sonia Gonzalez! Victor and Sonia were in Portland spending time with the newly formed Portland ICC Spanish speaking ministry. Vic preached a stirring lesson to a living room full of almost 40 people! His lesson was entitled “Open Your Eyes.” It was a deep study on how a way can seem right to a man, but in the end it leads to death (Proverbs 16:25) – and how we need to have our spiritual eyes open (Ephesians 1:18), and never forget that we must remain in the vine (John 15:1-8). (You can listen to the sermon here on the portlandicc.org website.) Vic preached how remaining in the vine is not just “reading and praying” everyday – but that the vine is Jesus, and Jesus himself later in John 15 explains how to remain in the vine – “If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father’s commands and remain in his love.” In order to remain in the vine, to even be considered Jesus’ friends, we must obey Jesus’ commands! Of course, Jesus commands that we need to love each other as he loved us – one of the most challenging truths in Jesus’ word. It was awesome to hear from Vic and to have fellowship with him and his wife Sonia.

Jesus taught that only a “few[a minority] find it” – the narrow road that leads to life. In the United States of America, the concept of the “majority rule” is how our land is governed. Therefore – this is a concept applied too often to spiritual truth. Jesus did not get the “majority vote” at the end of the day; he got erected (on a cross) – not elected. When the crowds came to Jesus he challenged them to the core – to thin the majority, not to win the majority – with such statements as “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters—yes, even his own life—he cannot be my disciple. And anyone who does not carry his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple” and “In the same way, any of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple.” (Luke 14:25-27,33) These days, like those days, few are truly seeking the Jesus that is “the way, the truth, and the life” – they seek to put their own Jesus into God’s Word to suit their own ideologies and lifestyles. Many simply ignore the scriptures teachings on discipleship, repentance, and baptism for the forgiveness of sins altogether, and are selective in the scripture they teach – wrenching the word of God out of context. It is akin to a typical table with four legs. Each leg is like a scripture that needs the other three to be accurately understood (c.f. Acts 17:10-12). Often, in our pride we can hold to only one scripture and insist that we understand all of God’s will. Clearly there can be no “feast in the Kingdom of God” on such a furnishing – just a theological mess!

We are so inspired by those that God has brought to our fellowship recently to walk in the footsteps our Lord and savior Jesus Christ! The first is a young campus student named Gabe Reed – he was met on University of Oregon campus by Iyonna St. Gerard who leads our campus ministry alongside her boyfriend Ryan Keenan. Gabe was originally brought up in an ICOC in the south as a preteen with his mother who was a part of the church there. When he was a teenager and thinking about his salvation and studying the bible to find that narrow road, his mother sadly decided to leave her congregation after the turmoil of 2003-2004. He always had in mind the “narrow road” even though in his own disillusionment decided he could not pursue it where he was at. God worked and moved him to Oregon knowing that Gabe was still looking for the truth and a movement that not just preached the word – but called each other to live it. I remember meeting Gabe a couple of months ago and speaking with him after his first service with the Eugene church. It was moving to hear him say “I remember this, this feeling of the Kingdom of God…I want this. I’ve been looking for this all my life.” Our brother now, Gabe studied the bible with Ryan and the campus brothers and they baptized Gabe at the Jubilee in Los Angeles this year.

God never quits on people. In late 2006 the brothers reached out to Neil London, a bright 16-year-old musician and talented videographer. Neil was visiting our Campus Band Bible Talk and our Campus/Teens devotionals. After studying the bible he decided it was not what he wanted to do and he moved to live in eastern Oregon. The Eugene church kept in touch with him off and on for a couple of years. He came back to Eugene in June of 2008 to see our teen ministry leaders, Jenny and Stephen Rydstedt, get married. The Rydstedt’s wedding demonstrated the power God through their pure lives in Christ. This helped Neil see the joy of the Kingdom and the truth and he began studying the bible again and is now a baptized disciple!

God worked on Manuel Meza for over a year. Dustin Miller initially invited him to church almost two years ago, before Dustin moved from Corvallis to LA to train for the New York City church planting. The brothers in Salem and Corvallis picked up where Chuck Hess and Dustin left off and through love, persistence, and apologetically preaching the truth – Manuel confronted his sentimental nature and repented of his sins and was baptized. He faced the battle with prayer and the brothers never stopped loving him and calling him to the truth. To God be the glory that he is now born again through baptism and a true disciple of Jesus!

“Do you think I came to bring peace on earth? No, I tell you, but division. From now on there will be five in one family divided against each other, three against two and two against three. They will be divided, father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law.” – Luke 12:51-53

Jesus makes it clear that he is controversial in nature and did not come to bring peace. This is one of the challenges anyone faces when deciding to become a true disciple of Jesus – will God’s word really be the standard or will what people in our families and circle of friends think be the standard? This was evident when Mike Jung first came to church. He brought his daughter Melissa and his son-in-law Alex Cuanas out to a church event a couple of years ago. Alex and Melissa began studying the bible with Chuck and Elizabeth Hess and other disciples from Salem, Corvallis, Albany and Eugene. A couple of months later, God moved, as Melissa and then Alex were baptized into Christ. However, Mike was battling for the heart to put God above ALL. The battle lasted a couple of years – but recently Mike turned himself in and was set free from all his sins at his baptism in July of this year (2008). It was such an amazing joy to see this family united in Christ and it has brought a new zeal to Mike’s teenage grandson Adrian Cuanas to go after his own relationship with God.

With the majority of the large crowds following Jesus – his laser-focused preaching thinned out the crowds and confronted the most likely things that would influence people to no longer follow him. These days there is a false teaching that has crept into far too many hearts of those who lay claim to following Jesus. This false teaching is that a disciple’s priorities are to be “God, Family, Church, Job, everything else…”. This is absolutely not what Jesus Christ taught nor what the bible says. Jesus himself defines his family in Mark 3:33-35 saying “’Who are my mother and my brothers?’ he asked. Then he looked at those seated in a circle around him and said, “Here are my mother and my brothers! Whoever does God’s will is my brother and sister and mother.” Jesus’ “family” were the disciples around him who were doing the will of God. Jesus also teaches “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters—yes, even his own life—he cannot be my disciple” in Luke 14:26. When you put the King and His Kingdom and Righteousness as your first priorities – there will be conflict. (Matthew 6:33) The biblical priorities then are “God, Church, Family, Work, etc.” When we have this deep conviction as Jesus did we will see our families impacted, truly, for Jesus. This is exactly what happened to Jesus, at the end of his ministry his mother and brothers became his disciples (Acts 1:14). No soul can be won to Christ through compromise.

Jason and Julie Hogue knew this – and they were reaching out to Jason’s aunt Kathy Reed. There were many challenges Kathy faced in her life and in her past – but to God be the glory she repented and totally changed her heart and her life. Jason and Julie along with Steph Hackett, Amy Ciaramella, and several other sisters were determined to love and preach to her. To God’s glory, she was baptized just the other week. Her turning to God has encouraged Jason and Julie’s faith, as well as inspired Jason’s younger teenage sister Anita to pursue her relationship with God! It was also powerful to see all of Julie Hogue’s sisters and her mother and father there to celebrate Kathy’s baptism!

God is moving – even through the minority, the few. The few disciples sent to New York City and to Washington DC in August at this past Jubilee had their inaugural services. The Lord brought together 134 people at the service in DC and 78 at the service in NYC. We are so grateful to be a part of these plantings as a fellowship being able to send out Chuck, Elizabeth Hess and Folake Soetan to DC and Dustin and Amanda Miller to New York City (and of course our brother David Rydstedt to Hawaii). The minority in Jesus’ day were the true disciples – and as the scriptures reported, they turned the world upside down in their day. With Prayer and loving obedience, our God will use us today as he did then and the minority report in the 21st century will be the same as the 1st century! To our God be all the glory!

Jeremy Ciaramella
Evangelist/Cyberevangelist
Eugene Oregon/UpSideDown21.org
[print_link]