Asia Conference - Day 1 - Session 3

Dr Kong - Culturally Savvy Christian

3 crippling mentalities:
a) Cocooning: Withdrawal, Isolation
we preach insulation but practice isolation
b) Combating: Fight, Resist, Oppose
we fight against everything of the world with our "righteousness"
c) Conforming: Compromise
"Gospel-lite"-compromise to the world.
*To be Gospel's Light, not 'Gospel-lite'"

Upward Mobility - we're called to be excellent, Daniel was ten times(Prov 22:9) better than everyone. (Dan 1:4) - King Nebuchadnezzer required all citizens of his kingdom to:
i. Learn the culture of Babylon
ii. Learn the culure of Babylon
iii. Learn the fashion of Babylon
iv. Change/Adapt Babylonia names
v. Take the jobs of Babylon
-Daniel did all the above but he did not compromise or give him his Consecration.
therefore its important that we be both Savvy in Culture and our Faith.
1) Counter Culture like aliens - don't be against it!
2) Communicate in Culture like ambassadors
3) Create Culture like Artists - be christianly-creative!
*keeping faith even its hard.

all said, today, with the cultural mandate released, sometimes we grow overly contemporary. culturally-savvy that we forget our roots. remember balance is the key although we all know it can be close to impossible to meet the equilibrium, yet to constantly move to the center-stage. Both Contemporary and Consecrated. whereby we build our lifes in spiritual disciplines.

Spiritual Disciplines (Bible-reading/meditation, Prayer, Fasting, Praise/Worship/Thanksgiving, Solitude w god, Confession/Repentence/Forgiveness, Faithfulness to the church) - these disciplines keep us consecrated, to influence and not be influenced. All successful ministries embraces consecration + Contemporary.

Consecration - Learn spiritual disciplines
Contemporary - Engaging the world.

our attitude determines our altitude. with status/promotion. what takes one to stay there is your character and therefore, those spiritual disciplines are the very cornerstones that we need to heart upon but so often neglected. We go up and without a strong character/foundation, we breakdown.

i was praying couple of days ago, i felt that an area in my life found lacking. i found myself uttering the words "god, i want more wisdom and that i would heart wisdom so that wisdom will heart me".

couple of weeks back, i was spending my time in solitude because i felt discouraged about certain things and in my despair, i felt stupid about myself. i decided to go into the book of wisdom - Proverbs. in the very beginning, king solomon wrote that we shoudl pursue wisdom for it is more precious than anything. these words kept revolving in my mind as i meditate on these words. with these words, i felt reminded about expectation management, being open and more flexible. the very next day, the preacher spoke a word that set my discouragement flying in all ways and this was the very 1st time in my life i had a light-speed revelation. and just as i was about to give up hope, i was strengthened again to have faith, be patient, trust and pray.

one of the beautiful things is that when we least expect it, good friends are just around the corner to give us a helping hand. choosing the right kinds of people to be with will really determine the type fo person you'll become. in crisis(s), our relationships are purged and the real ones stay by you. i was blessed to take the train with a nice lady today to school despite the heavy rain and although the conversation was not really in depth, once again, i was reminded of something beautiful last year Oct which made me felt so blessed that i wanted to bless those that were there last year. Good people come in all sorts of packages, shapes and sizes and it can in the walls and out of the walls of the church. love all just as the same and you'll find yourself moving into culturally-savviness.