Transcribed by Beluga AI.
I don’t want to pressure the other two boys to share testimony, so there’ll be plenty of chances to share even, even afterward.
Please turn with me to Luke 6:43-49. These are some of the verses we covered this week at Yugo and some of the verses that I looked in the surrounding context. Keep praying for some possible changes ahead. We are… When I see Timothy, when I see these young people coming back from a month-long mission, I see the fire, and I feel like Paul laying hands on Timothy. This is Timothy to fan into flame this young generation.
Like I had a chance, I had my turn. Now it’s how do we, how do we support this young generation? And it will be so tragic if they had such a great experience with God on a short-term mission. They come home, they start a 9 to 6, and it’s just a grind, and slowly that fire dies and lukewarmness sets in. And then you gotta get married, and you gotta start a family, and then there’s so much inertia that fights against the spiritual momentum that has been building. And so I want to come alongside and do what I can to fan these young people and to serve their generation.
So part of that could be some substantial changes for us. Maybe we do a Saturday night service. Young people are more available in that time slot. Just doing some testers among Timothy’s friends, many of whom graduated and are living in the area, shows that so many people want to gather on a Saturday night. Their churches don’t have a young adult ministry that targets their age. These people were so active as college students, serving every week on their campuses, and then suddenly it’s like all their friends are gone. The church can’t really meet their needs, and there are no opportunities to serve.
So, Saturday night could be that kind of a meeting. And, of course, all of us, that would be our main service.
Then Sunday, I would like to release myself and all of us to see what’s out there in the body of Christ and partner and just pray over and bless the body of Christ in Southern California. And when we’ve all done that in different places, different churches, then we can still gather, if you like, on a Sunday night. And that’d be more of a simpler service, not a full service like this, but it’ll be more of equipping and training and so a different feel. But that’s what we’re praying about. Please pray with us and please talk to me if you feel like that is an inspiration from the Lord that we want to pursue more. But I feel this thing is beginning to snowball, and please pray with us.
Luke 6:43.
43 “For no good tree bears bad fruit, nor again does a bad tree bear good fruit, 44 for each tree is known by its own fruit. For figs are not gathered from thornbushes, nor are grapes picked from a bramble bush. 45 The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil, for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks. 46 “Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do what I tell you? 47 Everyone who comes to me and hears my words and does them, I will show you what he is like: 48 he is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock. And when a flood arose, the stream broke against that house and could not shake it, because it had been well built. 49 But the one who hears and does not do them is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. When the stream broke against it, immediately it fell, and the ruin of that house was great.” (Luke 6:43-49, ESV)
And obviously, the verses 46 to the end of what I read, that was the focus of the Yugo chapel times throughout the week. It makes sense because we are building a house on a concrete foundation, and it makes sense why this was the text. But I was more curious about the verses that preceded about a good tree and a bad tree.
My reflection on this trip: First of all, the family is Ram Selini are the parents, and Nahomi is an 11-year-old girl; Christian, I think he’s about 6 or 7; and Aerith, he’s 4 years old. When I met the family on the first day, Christian, the older boy, came to me, and in his Spanish, and I’m trying to understand what he said. He said one word that I understood. He said Spiderman. And I knew, okay, he’s expecting a Spiderman toy. And I felt, well, I don’t have Spiderman, but I really want to meet the needs of this boy. And so it was just kind of a background prayer topic. I don’t know how this is going to happen. But on the last day it turns out one of the Canaan Church members had bought a Spiderman toy, and that was part of the furnishings and the gifts that were in the house.
And right away, the kid, he runs out to me and Jackie, thinking that I’m like Santa Claus and I just snapped my fingers and it came out. But I received that hug, and it was a beautiful thing.
And as Jackie shared, Ram’s father, I think, is the reason why we, we came to Mexico because he is an elder of Pastor Oscar’s church. He’s a praying person. I know that because every time that we’re praying, we’re praying in English and it’s being translated to Spanish, or someone’s praying in Korean to translate to English, then Spanish. And the whole time, the grandfather, he’s ignoring our prayers, and he’s just praying on his own. And so you know that he really is a prayer warrior. He’s such a bright person. The whole family was living in, his son’s family was living with him. And so Ram’s father, the grandfather of the children, really stood out to me.
Also, Pastor Oscar, he lost his leg in a traffic accident. He has pancreas issues, diabetes, and he’s losing his eyesight. Two years ago, his eyes were fine, so his health has been declining. The pastor’s wife was a lot more bright and joyful, but I think the financial burden and the health burden were weighing her down. She was very quiet and not so talkative.
But after I shared at the church about Jesus being your best friend, she lit up. After the service, she came to me and said, you know that front row of children that you were talking to, they’re from a Catholic family. She was in tears, so grateful that I was able to introduce Jesus as the best friend of these children. So I saw amidst the discouragement of health and the church situation, you know, just such love that she could share, shed a tear for this, these children who don’t even go to your church, and you’re so thankful. And I was impressed by this pastoral couple.
The Canaan brothers and sisters also, very impressive. There’s one elder who was good friends with Daniel Lim’s father, and they had been in this church for decades. And he looks so fit, and his skin is, like, glowing, and he’s joyful, and he’s working hard, and he’s 77 years old. And we got to talking, and he says, yeah, I run marathons. And he’s run, like, 45 marathons in the last few decades. And he said his fastest time is like three hours, three and a half hours or three hours and 50 minutes. And he said the last marathon he ran, out of his age group 75 to 79, there’s 15,000 runners, and he was 33rd.
He said, we saw him this morning in the parking lot. He said, I just ran six miles before coming to church. And when I saw him, I said, okay. He is my role model in terms of health. I want to be like him when I’m 77 years old. Now I have a firm picture of what I need to, I need to start running. It is not optional.
I saw Pastor Felipe, the pastor we served at his church last year. And it’s just so good to see he’s back. He has another family. He’s serving every day, serving faithfully. I’m impressed with these pastors who have nothing. Their offering baskets must be empty and still just out of a love for the Lord and love for His people, they are out there serving.
I got to meet a pastor from Virginia, and this is another prayer topic. One of the ladies, she sought us out, and she’s an older lady. You could tell she’s very evangelistic. She saw some Asian people and needed to talk to us. And so she’s getting to know my children, getting to know some of the mission team members. And we got to talk to her, and then we got to eventually meet the pastor. He was such a bright, joyful pastor. If I were living in Virginia, I would want to attend his church. He’s that kind of a person. And just right away, just sharing his story.
And he shared about a ministry that he partnered with. It’s ISI, International Students Incorporated. I had never heard of them, but when I looked at their website, it’s very established. They’ve been around, and they have presences in cities across America.
He shared his testimony of nine professors from China visiting UVA, and his church is near UVA. He welcomed these nine pastors. Oh, actually, maybe 18 pastors. He welcomed them to do a Bible study, and nine of them, half of them, agreed. And over the course of that time, two of them came to faith in Christ, and he baptized them. Then they went back to the country, and he heard that they kept on meeting. They kept on growing in the Lord, and seven more people came to faith.
He was encouraging me that the missions don’t have to go abroad to impact the world. They’re coming to cities near us. And so that’s another prayer topic.
A lot of us, we have college ministry experience, but we’ve done it in a traditional sense to English speakers. But maybe it’s time, if we want to reach the world, to target and partner with these international ministries that target these international students. And maybe we can reach the world that way.
International Students Incorporated. And they have also positions. You can do self-funding. You can become area coordinators, campus ministers, you can be church mobilizers. There are many different ways for churches to participate. So put that on your prayer list as well.
Okay. Short term missions, I think, is just a jump start. Like when your car is dead, you pull up another car with a full battery, you connect the cables, and you jump start the engine. To me, short term missions is a jump start. And now that the engine is moving again, we need to ask the Lord, how do we keep this engine running?
Our distiller was broken for four or five months. We had no water, and we just had stale water in our container, no fresh water coming in. And so, and then yesterday, just finally, the part arrived. With Timothy’s help, we finally got it working again. And so I think that’s a metaphor. Okay. The engine is running, the water is flowing. Let’s keep this, let’s keep this going. And so that’s why I looked at the verses prior to the ones that were covered at Yugo, and we all call Jesus Lord, but do we do what he says?
And then I was looking at the verses prior. There’s a good tree that bears good fruit, and then there’s a bad tree that bears bad fruit. And the source of the goodness or the evil is the heart.
43 “For no good tree bears bad fruit, nor again does a bad tree bear good fruit, (Luke 6:43, ESV)
With that as the background, the Lord led me to John 15. So let’s look at that, and then we’ll close. John 15. Because in these short little messages, they’ll just say, Jesus is the foundation. Now let’s go build a house. And that’s about as deep as it gets. But how do we fix our heart? How do we become a good tree? To me, these are the questions that I’m asking as I listen to this message. What they said is true, but it’s so surface level. I want to go deeper in God’s word. And so, how do we become a good tree with a good heart and producing good fruit?
In John 15:9, it says,
9 As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. 10 If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. 11 These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full. 12 “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. 13 Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. 14 You are my friends if you do what I command you. 15 No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you. 16 You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you. 17 These things I command you, so that you will love one another. (John 15:9-17, ESV)
As Jackie shared, there was a family at Pastor Oscar’s church. We were not there, but two years ago, Canaan Church brothers were there, and they built a home for this family. This family, as we heard afterward, had not been attending church. You could see in the eyes of the wife the hopelessness setting in. Just building a house doesn’t accomplish much if the heart doesn’t change. What is this fruit that Jesus is talking about?
He says, if you obey my commandments, you’re like a house that’s built on a solid foundation. That’s from Luke 6. And then again he says, obey my commandments and then you will go and you will bear fruit, and this fruit will last. It cannot be ministry because sometimes ministry fruit lasts and it’s eternal. And that person, you will see him a year later, two years later, and they’re still fired up for the Lord, still serving people.
But in our case, we have no idea. The house we built last year, that family in Pastor Felipe’s church, are they going to run the race and finish their race to the end? I have no idea.
This new family, I’m very hopeful because they have a father and a grandfather, Ram’s father, who prays and he’s ministering to the family and he’s a faithful elder of the church. I have a lot of faith that this family is going to make it to the end, but of course, I have no idea.
Even people here, we see little, we see people getting fired up from a short-term mission. We see people being encouraged at the ranch and at Hill Community Church, but we have no idea a year later or 10 years later, are we going to be fired up? Are we going to become lukewarm?
This faith that comes through these ministry experiences and these short-term missions may last and be eternal or may not last. But the fruit that He’s talking about here, I think, is internal. It is the heart. If the heart shifts and you, and you love Jesus, and you become a friend of Jesus, and you stay close to Jesus, then you are the friend who is the tree, the good tree, and you will bear good fruit.
And He says, Luke 6, build a house on a foundation is the one who hears the words and obeys them. Here He says, obey my commandments, remain in my love, abide in my teachings. And here is the teaching. He sums it up in one statement: Love one another.
And so a simple way to evaluate the kind of fruit that’s coming from our heart is, are you becoming a loving person? Are you becoming a loving spouse? Because let’s start local, let’s start close. If you can’t get the spouse and marriage down, then that is your main homework. You must get that down first.
Okay, let’s say you got that down. Now let’s move to children. Can you raise up children in the discipline and instruction of the Lord? The way that you love your spouse, the way that you love your kids is different. The way that you love your parents and honor them is different. There is a specific way that we should love a spouse. A specific way—discipline and instruction—that we should love our children. A specific way we should love our parents, honoring them.
Let’s say you got that down. You honor your parents, you love your spouse, you love your children. Are you still? Does the love go from Jerusalem to Judea to the ends of this earth in concentric circles? Are we becoming a loving person? Not just a one-week mission trip or a one-month mission trip across the border or in another part of this world. Are we becoming a loving person?
So when you meet a stranger, do you love that person, or do you ignore that person? Are we, do we become so focused on me and my needs and my small sphere of influence that the Great Commission is so far from your prayers that I’m not really interested in discipleship? I don’t really care to see people get saved. I don’t, I don’t really care beyond a small set of people. Like, if you’ve done your family, like, how well do we love here? Like, do we talk to every single person on a Sunday, at bare minimum?
I hope we do. I hope we’re curious. I hope we care enough to check in with every single person. I know I do. It’s not because it’s my job. It’s because I want everyone to feel like their presence here matters, that I value them, that they are more important than me. I can put aside my concerns for an hour and really just ask questions that show that I care that you’re here, that I remember what you shared last week, and I’m going to ask about that.
At the very least, have we prayed for one another throughout this week? If not, are we growing in love? Are we, are we not? How can we say we love each other if we don’t pray for each other?
We can pray for every single person here, starting with me. I can be a lot better praying specifically for the specific needs of every person. And I can show my care and concern that I will talk to each person, not just “Hi, how are you,” but ask a question that I’m interested and I’m curious. Like you’re curious about your son who went to school and they visit you, ask all questions because you love that person. Do we do that here and then beyond the church walls? Do we care about these missionaries who came back, that there’s potentially an opportunity to really fan into flame what God did over this summer?
We don’t want this to be lost by just the grind of life, making money, losing our way, and all the distractions because they didn’t have a phone. How can we build upon that momentum so that they don’t need to be distracted? How do we fill their time with good sources of encouragement, service to the community, and outreach? And let’s not lose this opportunity to love the people who went on this mission trip.
And then Bellflower and college campuses in LA. How can we reach these people? Because maybe in our 50s, maybe we’re maxed out. And I understand. I feel in many ways maxed out by just cares of the family and things at home and aging parents and cousins and uncles and aunts. There’s just a lot. As you get older, life gets more complicated because there’s more people involved.
And so I understand that as a 50 year old, it’s really hard for a 50 year old to make a friend unless you’re part of a large church and it’s just like there for you. It’s built into the system that there’s small groups and events. How do we just make friends at our age? It’s very difficult. I understand that. So maybe, maybe that’s not where we should put our focus. Maybe I shouldn’t be guilting us of how come we’re not making friends at our age. Maybe I should say, okay, that boat has sailed.
But I remember when I was in my early 20s, how easy it was to make friends. Just how many friends I had who were in the area, and we were serving together. How much zeal I had, how much time I had, how much capacity I had because I didn’t have a lot of burdens and responsibilities.
And what if the older people here, we just come alongside the younger people and say, okay, you go do it, and we’re just gonna bless you? We’re going to pray for you, we’re going to support you, and we’re going to mentor and do that kind of stuff because we’re not reaching our 50-year-old friends because they’re not around. They’re busy, and we’re busy.
But the college students who have friends, who have needs like ISI ministry, they reach out to these international students from picking them up at the airport, making a friend that way, not a same age peer, but a 20-year-old from another country, an 18-year-old, a 24-year-old. Why don’t we invest in the next generation? If we’re not going to reach the older generation or our generation, why don’t we come alongside young people and reach this next generation?
Because God, Jesus says in His word, obey what I say. And He says a simple statement: love one another.
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, (Galatians 5:22, ESV)
There are many fruit of the Spirit, many fruit of Jesus: His peace, His joy, His patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. There’s many fruit of Jesus that we hopefully have, comes out of the heart because we were close to Jesus. But the first one is love. We lead with love. We are known for our love.
And so over our lifetime, shouldn’t it be that our list of people we love and we pray for, it’s so long? Wouldn’t that be a beautiful thing? Wouldn’t that be a sign that we’re actually becoming a loving person? Because we have a long list of people that we’re curious about, that we care about, we check in with, we pray for, we love.
And if it’s not our age, I say let’s fan into flame this next generation.
Okay, let’s pray. Jesus, we want to be closer to you than we have ever been before. We know that no, we can’t do anything apart from Jesus. We can’t do anything apart from you, Lord, we can do nothing, absolutely nothing apart from you.
So we don’t want to get ahead of you. We want to check in with you. You are Lord and we want to do what you say. We want to start by just being close to you, remaining in you. We’re just a branch connected to the vine. You are the source of life. When we’re close to you, our heart changes. And from there you give us a commandment. One simple commandment. Love one another. Become a loving person.
Whether it’s our spouse, our children, our fellow brother and sister at Hill Community Church, whether it’s evangelism to international students, whether it’s to young people in the Bellflower area or Southern Cal area, whether it’s to come alongside another ministry, another church and partner with them and pray for them and to share the different gifts that they have and we have, we come together and unify under the headship of Christ, and we accomplish more together than we could individually. Lord, these are different ways that we can become loving people. And we can love Bellflower, Southern California, California, to the ends of this earth. We want to be known for our love, Lord, not for our theology, not for our knowledge. We want to be known for nothing except that we are loving people.
Change us, Lord. Forgive us for our indifference. Forgive us for our hatred. Forgive us for our unforgiveness. Forgive us for not caring. Forgive us for being too busy, for being too self-centered. Forgive us, Lord.
We want to take our eyes off of ourselves, fix our eyes on Jesus, and look at the harvest field that is plentiful, but the workers are few. Please send out a few of us as good workers for this harvest field. Thank you, Lord.
Pray that you minister to us as we close out this service. Thank you for Your Body that was broken, Your Blood shed. In Jesus’ Name we pray, Amen.
After you’ve spent some time praying, if the Lord allows you, please partake in the Lord’s Supper. It’s up here as a sign, as a symbol of our unity in Christ.
