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On page 274 of The Divine Conspiracy, Dallas Willard writes in regards to Jesus’ discourse in Matthew 7:13-27:

You enter this kingdom community, he first points out, by a narrow gate. That is, there is a correct way to enter, and not just any approach–the “wide way that leads to disaster”–will succeed (vv. 13-14)

He then goes on to say that those leaders that are to be trusted are the ones who actually learn to do what Jesus taught was best. That in calling Jesus Lord or doing great works in his name is simply not enough.

Willard contends it’s about hearing and obeying:

• “The one who hears him and does what he says accordingly builds the house of his or her life to be totally indestructible. The house is built upon a rock, not upon sand, where the winds of life will knock it down.”
• “The narrow gate is obedience–and the confidence in Jesus necessary to it”
• “The fruit of the good tree is obedience, which comes only from the kind of person we have come to be (the ‘inside’ of the tree) in his fellowship.”
• “Doing what he said, beginning from ‘believe on him whom God has sent,’ we step into the flow of God’s ways, we ‘enter the kingdom of the heavens.’”

Willard concludes that “in actually doing what Jesus knows to be best for us, we build a life that is absolutely indestructible, ‘on the Rock.’” The Rock of course being Christ.

The narrow gate is about doing the will of the Father and not about doctrinal correctness! For all of us that spend so much time studying and debating doctrine, do we sometimes disregard discipleship and living the life we are called to live so that others can see us as continuing to be learners of what Jesus taught, so that we may be trusted? Isn’t it really about being obedient to the Father, living in the grace of Christ’s sacrifice for all, as we give ourselves to him as an act of spiritual worship?

In trying to study and learn a little more about Dave Gibbons‘ theories on Third Culture I was hit with his definition:

Third Culture is the mindset and will to love, learn, and serve in any culture. Even in the midst of pain and discomfort.

Wow, he’s preaching my language! Here is Dave sharing insight on Third Culture with Newsong Church:

And here is a link to a video of Pastor Gibbons sharing insight on Third Culture with Dallas Theological Seminary on 10/31/08:

http://www.dts.edu/media/play/?MediaItemID=c5e5bb9b-c3bb-4708-be61-3d75b2ce8f62

Here is a link to the Third Culture website:

http://3culture.tv/

I have to admit that I’ve been out of my element for quite awhile. I’m bewildered, frustrated, contemplative, hesitant, timid, uncertain, rebellious, and several other adjectives that aren’t generally used to describe me. What’s been causing this you may ask? Well, if you’ve followed this blog lately you’ll know that I am struggling with my role in ministry and what lies ahead for me. For the first time in my 4 year journey as a church planter in training I am questioning whether this is what God is intending for me. Specifically, my heart for church planting is there and my passion lies in seeing God transform the lives of those that were deemed to be unchangable. It’s other factors in my home life that have caused me to question this as I truly believe my wife and I were called as a team to plant together. That God would connect her gifts with my gifts (which are quite different) for the glory of God.

However, as I pray–sometimes fasting and praying–and waiting on God’s voice, I find that there is no response. I feel distant from God. Thus I am not acting within my comfort zone as I feel like I’ve lost the assurance I was working under previously. I do not want to go ahead of God or act in such a way that I am not seeking his will and following the path he has directed me to. Hence, the timidness, confusion, etc.

I was praying and meditating and something has been getting my attention this week. It seems that everyone God is connecting me to in ministry lately seems to be Asian-American. I’ve engaged in conversation and debate with several new friends in Asian-American ministry and without exception they all feel that there is a need to develop such ministry in the future, but I have been fighting that trend believing that God wanted me to reach out to all people, regardless of ethnicity or color, and help unite them in Christ. Now, I am questioning that…a lot! Why would God connect me with these people? Is it to keep me convicted in the vision I believe he gave me, or is it his way of speaking to me and answering my prayers for direction through these discussions?

All roads seems to be leading me to explore what my role could be in an Asian-American ministry could be, yet I hesitate and resist. Then, another incident compounded this. My senior pastor tells me last night in our bible study that he saw a comment from Dave Gibbons on my Facebook profile and that he went to seminary with, and served alongside in a church with him. Pastor Gibbons has been getting a lot of attention with what God has been doing through Newsong church and was someone that many had mentioned to me as somebody to look at as an example of multi-cultural ministry within the context of being Asian-American.

So, when all roads seem to lead to the same place, but I still feel I want to resist going in that direction, I need to stop and pause, give praise to God, and start looking into this for real and as a possible way that God is speaking to me through others. Unfortunately, I can’t jump into this belieiving it is the direction I’ve been waiting for, but I pray that this will be an important aspect of the discernment process and that this will cause some things to begin to take shape in my marriage to help us be more unified. Please pray for me in this time of listening and discernment, and please pray for my wife and I to come together and experience ministry in harmony and in love and in ways that God can use us to help see other lives transformed by the power of his gospel.

Warning: Twiter language about to be used here, so if you’re out of the loop, check out twitter.com

I’ve been following tweets from an awesome lady named Tiffany D. Smith, whose twitter alias is appropriately: @tiffany_d_smith. I follow a little over 100 twitterers on a daily basis, but Tiffany holds a special place in my life. She’s not only wise and interesting, but she tweets several quotations and scripture verses per day and I am encouraged and convicted every single time. So, in honor of her gracious inspirations, I figured I’d post a quote, show you some quotes she posted this week, and then open it up for your motivational or thought-provoking quotes in the comments section. So, read, speak up, and be encouraged

Dave: My quote is from a book I just started re-reading again this morning titled On Being a Servant of God by Warren Weirsbe…

• “Ministry takes place when divine resources meet human needs through loving channels to the glory of God.” –Warren Weirsbe

Tiffany: as tweeted on twitter <–I feel 5 years old as I type that

• Oswald Chambers: “If God can accomplish His purposes in this world through a broken heart, then why not thank Him for breaking yours?”
• John Piper: “Our church exists to spread a passion for the supremacy of God in all things for the joy of all peoples through Jesus Christ.”
• “If you spin around on your chair really fast, things around here will make a lot more sense.” (This is reflective of my week!)

PS. If you haven’t been consumed by Twitter yet, I suggest you give it a try and look me up at: twitter.com/daveingland Sphere: Related Content

When we are facing adversity, many times we just keep pushing through it hoping we can overcome it. It’s our nature to do so. It’s rooted in pride and being self-centered. Sometimes we get through the problem and praise ourselves for finding a way to deal with the problem, but is that the way God intended for it to be done? Remember what is written in James 4:6:

“he opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”

Maybe, just maybe, you’ll make it through okay on your own, but you’ll definitely make it through if you just call upon the Lord to overcome your circumstances. It could be that you need a job or your house is getting foreclosed on and you have no where to go. It may be that some things are going wrong in your church or ministry. How about trying to deal with an addiction on your own? Maybe you were viewing some pornography right before you read this and you try to stop, but you just can’t. For some of you it may be some physical illness or even something terminal like cancer. Don’t try and hang onto it and hope that it gets better through your ways. Just invite God to take over and commit to trust in him and wait on his timing. It’s called prayer and it’s something we should force ourselves to go to first in any situation. Prayer is unbelievably powerful.

James 5:13-16:

13Is any one of you in trouble? He should pray. Is anyone happy? Let him sing songs of praise. 14Is any one of you sick? He should call the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord. 15And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise him up. If he has sinned, he will be forgiven. 16Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.

In each of the 4 verses above, we see the answer is prayer. In trouble, or sick, or stuck in sin? Pray, pray, pray, pray!

Of all things to reference, I was up late last week and I came across an infomercial. A guy is selling some program to help people live a life of faith. I caught it at the exact moment he was telling a story:

A businessman was at home when he got the call that his wife was headed to the hospital to have a baby. As a businessman, he had a personal car and a company car in his driveway. His instinct was to take the personal car since it was personal business he was on. However, something caused him to stop and pray about it. So, he asked God and God responded to take the company car. The businessman didn’t understand the reasoning, but heeded God and took the company car. While he was traveling down the freeway on the way to the hospital, a car slams into him from behind. As they both pull over, the businessman wants to get out and go see how the other driving is doing. He’s concerned as any of us would be. However, something causes him to stop and pray again. He asks the Lord if he should go check on the other driver. God tells him no! So, the businessman stays in his car and waits for the police and ambulance to arrive.

Why was prayer so important during those two times? Well, it turns out that the other driver was a convicted murderer that was out on parole and could have potentially been a threat to the businessman had he confronted him at this car. As for taking the company car instead of the personal car? After being injured severely in the accident and the other driver not having insurance, the businessman received $1 million in coverage from his insurance company because his company car had a high level of insurance. This allowed him to get medical treatment and to cover expenses as he could not work any longer. His personal car only had basic liability coverage of $25,000.

When we pray, we must not only listen for God to respond, but we must be faithful to follow what he asks of us. We must put our trust in God and not in ourselves. May we purposefully humble ourselves before God in all things so that we may seek his hand and carry out his will, giving him all the glory.

In John 5 Jesus gives us an example of his healing power. However, there is more to the story if we look closely:

John 5:2-9:

2Now there is in Jerusalem near the Sheep Gate a pool, which in Aramaic is called Bethesda and which is surrounded by five covered colonnades. 3Here a great number of disabled people used to lie—the blind, the lame, the paralyzed.[b] 5One who was there had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. 6When Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition for a long time, he asked him, “Do you want to get well?”

7″Sir,” the invalid replied, “I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I am trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me.”

8Then Jesus said to him, “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.” 9At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked.

Here is a guy that has been sitting next to this same exact pool, in the same exact place for 38 years. It takes a lot of faith to keep coming back for 38 years in order to receive a healing doesn’t it? Or does it? Notice what Jesus said to the man in verse 6? He asks the invalid, “Do you want to get well?” What a question! To us, it seems the answer must be obvious. Many of us may even commend the man for his faith to keep coming back 38 years and hoping for a miracle.

It turns out that there were people that would camp out at the pool and beg for money. They didn’t want to go into the pool and be healed as they were pretty comfortable earning a living by begging. What purpose would be served if Jesus had healed someone like that? They may actually get kinda mad at Jesus for taking away their livelihood! Others were there because they just wanted to feel sorry for themselves. They weren’t believing in being healed as they would never enter the pool, choosing instead to sit on the sidelines and complain about how bad life was and how they couldn’t even get help into the pool as no one cares about them. Again, what purpose would it serve if they were healed by Jesus? None, as they would just wander off somewhere and find something else to cause them to feel burdened upon and sorry for themselves.

Now, ask yourself a question. Which one of these describes you? As much as we try to portray ourselves as strong and above it all, we each have experienced our own pity party at some point. We each have been in a situation where we have made excuses for things not happening as a way to just not keep going. A lot of us just keep doing the same old thing regardless of whether it works or not because we are such creatures of habit!

What if Jesus is asking you right now if you want to be delivered from your affliction? If you want to do what it takes to get that job and find a way to make ends meet or if you just want to keep pretending to look for a job and complain that there is too much competition so you’ll never get hired. What if Jesus is asking you to stop saying “Woe is me!” and make a decision to take a step in the right direction?

In verse 7 the invalid actually tries to make an excuse. He says no one will help him get into the pool and he is always just a little too slow on his own to make it. You know what Jesus does? It’s right there in verse 8. He doesn’t even acknowledge the excuses! Jesus hears the man, but immediately replies by telling him to, “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.” With this, the man gets up and walks away.

If we’d just look to Jesus to help us with our problems and be ready to respond immediately when he moves on our behalf, we would save a lot of wasted time and time pitying ourselves. You know, we’ve all gone through it and we’ll all go through it some more, but sometimes we just have to rise above it all and know that Jesus is asking us if we really want to be delivered and empowered and waiting for us to say “YES!” Won’t you stand up and pick up your mat and walk and say “YES!” to Jesus today?

Use it or lose it! I hear that from Obama a lot these days in response to the oil companies sitting on a bunch of land that isn’t being used for drilling for oil. Obama says use the land or the government is gonna take it back.

Is there something you have been given, such as a talent that you aren’t using? Did you think that you could just hang onto it and keep it in your back pocket forever?

Luke 8:16-18: 16“No one lights a lamp and hides it in a jar or puts it under a bed. Instead, he puts it on a stand, so that those who come in can see the light. 17For there is nothing hidden that will not be disclosed, and nothing concealed that will not be known or brought out into the open. 18Therefore consider carefully how you listen. Whoever has will be given more; whoever does not have, even what he thinks he has will be taken from him.”

This is a parable that Jesus tells to his disciples as a way of letting them know that they are to share the truth (the light) with the world, not keep it for themselves. However, in general terms we can think of the light as the talent or gift that God has entrusted us with. Should we keep that talent or gift hidden so that no one else can know it? If so, why did he give it to you in the first place?

Maybe it’s something you know needs to be shared, but you are scared or feel you aren’t good enough yet. Well, in verse 18 we see that whoever has will be given more, but whoever does not have, even what he thinks he has, will be taken away from him. If you work on the talent or gift to make yourself better, God will honor that commitment and continue to lead you to improvement and confidence. If you don’t apply yourself, then some day you may want to only to realize that it has been lost.

Have you ever been in a place where you want to kick yourself for not doing something you think you should have? I hear this a lot with people that wanted to play music when they were younger, but as they got older they don’t have the time or the patience to develop the talent and always end up wondering what it could have been like had they just played when they had the chance.

Some of you know that you can sing well if you just tried, but you keep to yourself because you think others won’t appreciate your voice. Some of you have a gift to connect and relate with strangers, but you won’t share the gospel with another because you are afraid that they may reject you because you stumble in your words. As the old saying goes, practice makes perfect so practice! Everyone has to start somewhere, and it’s never at the top.

Take a risk! Be bold! Thank God for giving you that special gift or talent and commit it to him and share it with the world. You were given the talent or gift for a reason and it shouldn’t be kept hidden. Have the faith in knowing that God wants you to share it with others so that he may be glorified. Sometimes you only get one opportunity and then it’s too late. Don’t let this pass you by. Have faith and enjoy the experience. You’ll feel much better for trying and you’ll probably please and bless a bunch more people than just yourself

Have you ever thought about how great things used to be? You know, back when you weighed less, or your joints didn’t ache or when you had more hair or when all there was in life was school and socializing? Boy, I know I have! Making money and having the world at my feet created a very easy existence for me. Sure, I was a slave to my job for many years, but the nice house and new cars every year and dinners out all the time sure seemed to make it all worthwhile. Now after serving in ministry for over 3 years with full-time hours, but no pay and often-times no reimbursement for expenses, is it right for me to ask why things used to seem so easy when I was an atheist compared to now as a Christian in ministry?

Ecclesiastes 7:10 reads: Do not say, “Why were the old days better than these?” For it is not wise to ask such questions.

Why is it not wise? Because it’s the wrong question! The right question would be why am I here in this moment going through what I’m going through and how can it be used to glorify God? Also, what can I take away from the old days that will help me get through today or avoid making the same mistakes? We go through experiences and seasons of life for reasons. Sometimes they aren’t known to us until after we go through them; other times we may never understand why we go through them.

God has placed us on a journey with a beginning and an end. We didn’t have a choice as to when our life began and we won’t have a choice as to when it will end. God will be God. Therefore, why not just embrace the blessings we have today. We all know that no matter what we are going through, there is always going to be someone somewhere that is suffering even more than we are. It’s not a competition!

Let’s not look to our past to see how good things used to be and how bad they are today and cause ourselves to lose heart or become depressed. Our past shapes who we are, but we have a legacy that we will leave behind and it will end on a positive note if we just keep our eyes focused ahead of us and do our best to learn from our past so that we may have a better tomorrow. God’s gonna get you through everything if you’ll just trust in him and be at peace with all you are facing right now.

Stop and pause for a moment. What do you hear?

• Traffic? Isn’t it funny that some of us worship our cars, yet we don’t appreciate the noises they make?
• Tv? How can we focus on what we are reading and grasp it if we distract ourselves by leaving on the tv, which we can’t even watch while we read anyways?
• Music?Have you ever thought that the music you hear while reading can impact the way you perceive the words? Happy, upbeat music won’t cause you to respond appropriately to sorrow, yet sad, downbeat music can cause you to overreact to things with sad words causing greater sadness and happy words rubbing you the wrong way.
• People Talking? We may not be paying attention to the chatter as we believe we are reading, but part or our brain is observant and receiving the perceptible conversations and keeping us from focusing on what we are reading…like this blog post
• Silence? Isn’t it strange that the thing which has no sound is something we say that we can actually hear? Remember, the question was what do you hear. Even the lack of sound or noise impacts us as something we hear. We are just that used to audible input.

Okay, what’s my point? We are so accustomed to hearing things and having auditory stimulation that we don’t even realize how it affects other things. So much so that when there is silence, it causes people to become greatly uncomfortable. Have you ever been speaking to someone and then, as you can’t think of anything else to say you pause, and then they pause, and then there is that awkward silence that makes you feel really uncomfortable? Why is that? It’s because we have conditioned ourselves to the noise. It seems so strange without it.

In radio, they call silence “dead air.” It’s a definite no-no. It’s as if the world has come to an end if there are a few seconds of silence.

I think we need a lot more dead air in our lives. Especially in our conversations. I’ve been guilty of this at times, but one of the things I hate is when I see two or more people engaged in a conversation where someone asks a questions and encourages a response, yet the person responding never has a chance to fully respond because the asker of the question keep imparting their words into the discussion. Here is a huge pet peeve of mine. Have you ever had someone ask you how you are doing, then immediately go into what they wanted to say? “Hey, how ya doin’ I was wondering if you knew the way to San Jose and did you know that the dow dropped 700 points last Thursday?” Why ask me how I am doing if you really don’t care to hear an answer? If you’re going to ask, at least pause so I have a chance to respond! Wouldn’t a few seconds of dead air be appropriate here?

I spent most of my adult life in sales and marketing. At times it was very successful and very lucrative. However, at no time did I ever sell something to someone that wouldn’t positively benefit from the product or service I was marketing. I asked questions and listened to the responses on occasionally finding myself telling prospective clients that they would be better off without what I was representing at the time. I couldn’t do that if I didn’t listen carefully and try to assess their needs rather than keep speaking and forcefully presenting features and benefits even though the benefits may not be benefits to the prospective client.

When someone comes to you and needs someone to talk to, they may actually be coming to you because they need someone to just listen to them. Your words of wisdom may not be what they need even if they say that’s why they came to you. Maybe they just need someone to hear them out and allow the wisdom to be revealed in their own voice. how empowering it would be to let them know that they knew the answer all along and it just took someone like you to help them bring it to the surface!

When someone loses a loved one, do you always know what to say? Probably not, but ever notice how we always feel like we should say something? How about just looking them in the eye and letting them know it’s okay to grieve, embrace them and let them get a little emotional, then smile and let them know it’s all going to be okay?

Many times the things we can convey in silence are much more powerful and effective than anything we could ever say. Sometimes the true meaning and relevance behind what we read could impact us far greater if we turned off the noise and committed our full attention to what we were reading.

Sometimes, it’s not what you hear, but it’s what you’re not hearing that is important. Sometimes not hearing your own voice and listening to what is being said is more important.

Something has my mind contemplating the change of seasons. It’s cold outside and leaves are dropping. It finally feels as if summer has left us and we are now into fall.

Living in Sacramento we experience very distinct seasons. Summer is hot and dry, fall is cool and breezy, winter is cold and rainy, and spring starts the cycle all over again with mild, sunny days and blooming flowers everywhere. I’ve talked to people about how I enjoyed my brief period living in the Los Angeles area. I spent about 6 months in Redondo Beach and loved it. It was generally around 70 degrees in the day, about 50 degrees at night and very little rain. I lived one block from the beach and used to walk there almost daily. No smog, no traffic, no glaring displays of wealth…for me it was great! Many people I talk to though have a different experience. They hate it because everyday is like the same to them. They need to experience changes in season. As I think about this I wonder how these people feel when they experience changes of season in their own personal lives. Not changes in weather, but changes in their lifestyle, finances, relationships, etc. It seems that many want to go through changing seasons of the weather, but not of their lives. We are creatures of habit and don’t like being made to feel uncomfortable.

As it gets colder outside, I have the luxury of being able to add another blanket to the bed or turning the heater on rather than feeling cold. I don’t need to complain as I have things I can do. What about in life though? When things get uncomfortable do we seek to change the situation for the better or do we complain about the situation? Think about it.

As fall is here I sense a season about to change in my life as well. Actually, this year has been filled with changes. Some things are being forced upon me that I’m not happy about, but through my faith I know that God has a solution if I open my eyes and ears and seek it rather than sit around and complain about it. Even with some potentially uncomfortable things about to happen and even with the weather turning colder and rain about to come I am having a positive outlook on the future. I’m willing to face the challenges and deal with them knowing that it will make for a brighter future and renew me and prepare me to blossom in much the same way the rain comes to prepare the flowers to be renewed when the spring sun comes and invites them to shine brightly under the warm skies.

Seasons change. This time I’m gonna be ready.