AMEN Australia 2019 Conference: Witnesses Unto Me

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Adventist Medical Evangelism Network Australia

Tom Sliwa

Dare to be a Daniel

If you have your Bibles, I want you to turn with me to John chapter 15.

And I'm going to pick it up in John chapter 15 verse 4 and 5.

And it says, Jesus speaking, Abide in me and I in you, as The branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me.

He who abides in me and I in him bears much fruit, for without me you can do nothing." According to Jesus, what comes first, the bearing of fruit or the abiding in Him?

Notice the sequence, in order to bear fruit you must first abide in Him.

And then you think about the story, you know Peter and James, they're walking along the street in Acts chapter 3 and they see this lame man and it says in verse 6, Peter said, Silver and gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you.

In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk.

Could Peter and James give the man silver or gold?

But what they could offer the men was Jesus and why is that?

And this comes back to what was shared yesterday in Acts chapter 1, you know, just before Jesus goes he gives the disciples the Great Commission, he says go, but then just before he departs he gives them some final instructions, he says, but wait, before you go, wait.

Go, you know, spend some time in prayer, spend some time pleading for the Holy Spirit.

You see the disciples had spent 3 and a half years with Jesus.

They had participated in his ministry and his miracles, but they were not yet ready to witness for him until they had first spent time in prayer and asking for the Holy Spirit.

And again, we see Mary and Martha, you know, Jesus comes to their house and visits them.

Martha goes into the kitchen, she's preparing up a meal for Jesus.

She's sitting at his feet, spending time with him.

And so the point I want to make is it's important that we connect with Jesus before we go to serve him.

I mean, in Matthew chapter 7, you know, it talks about people at the end of time saying, Lord, Lord, did we not, you know, Did we not go on mission trips, do all these things for you, cast out demons, heal the sick?

Wouldn't it be disappointing, wouldn't it be sad if we could be talking about Jesus to our patients, giving out signs of the times magazines in our waiting rooms, having great controversies, yet how sad would it be if at the end of time we ourselves are not known by Jesus.

And so the first point I want to make is you can't give what you don't have.

In order to give Jesus, you must have him first.

You can't win souls for Jesus without first knowing Jesus and you won't know Jesus if you don't spend time with him.

And yet did he need time to go out into the mountain and pray or spend time studying scripture?

And so are we as health professionals busy people?

And how much time do we take aside to spend time in Bible study and prayer?

You know, I want to spend a bit of time looking at Daniel.

You know, are government officials busy people?

But did Daniel spend time in Bible study and prayer?

Was he an effective witness in the workplace?

How did Daniel's colleagues describe him?

In Daniel chapter 5, King Belshazzar, for example, says, I have heard of you, that the Spirit of God is in you, and that light and understanding and excellent wisdom are found in you.

Wow, imagine if people, our colleagues, our friends were to say that about us.

In Daniel, In other places in Daniel, other people say that, notice that the Spirit of the Holy God is in him.

In Daniel chapter 5, again it says that the Spirit of the Holy God is in him.

These are all descriptions of other people about Daniel.

Was he a faithful, effective witness in the workplace?

Imagine if you were to walk into a room and people just knew that the Spirit of the Holy God was in you.

When there's a problem, when there's a medical issue or something that's difficult, you're the 1 that they come to because they know that you have a connection with God.

You're connected to the ultimate source of wisdom.

And I believe we can find an answer in Daniel chapter 6.

We all know the story Daniel in the lion's den and I just want to read verse 10.

It says, Now when Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went home and in his upper room with his windows open toward Jerusalem he knelt down on his knees 3 times that day and prayed and gave thanks before his God, as was his custom since early days.

They meant so much to him that Daniel would rather die than miss his time with God.

How important is connecting with God to you?

Would you rather die than miss your devotional time with God?

Or maybe a more realistic example, how do we prioritize this time so much that sometimes we have to give up a little bit of sleep or be late to work or come home earlier?

Nevlitt said yesterday about when he figures out what things to say yes to or no to, something that he takes into consideration is how is it going to affect my time with God?

And just a little free tip I want to throw out there, that's something that I've learnt, devotions don't start in the morning, devotions start the night before.

Because if we have a bad night, if we go to bed late, if we're up late doing something, it's going to affect how early we can get up in the morning and how much time we can have for God.

But Daniel was constantly connected and constantly connecting throughout the day with God, and I believe there is much we can learn from his example.

And so I want to ask, when was the last time you had some quality time with God?

Has life gotten so busy that your relationship with Jesus has suffered?

There might be some of us here who have been struggling in this area.

Maybe you're buying into the devil's lies that God is disappointed or angry at you and doesn't love you for not seeking him.

But my Bible tells me that God is lovingly and patiently wooing you back to Him.

He's standing at the door waiting, He's knocking.

God is desperately wanting to use us to reach out to others, but He can only use us to the extent that we are surrendered and connected to Him.

If your devotions have been struggling, then why not ask God today?

Why not speak to him personally right now and ask him to help you to reconnect with him?

I wanna close by reading a quote, Ministry of Healing, page 512.

She says, nothing is more needed in our work than the practical results of communion with God.

We should show by our daily lives that we have peace and rest in our Saviour.

His peace in the heart will shine forth in the countenance.

It will give to the voice a persuasive power.

Communion with God will ennoble the character and the life, and then men will take knowledge of us as of the first disciples that we have been with Jesus.

This will impart to the worker a power that nothing else can give.

Of this power he must not allow himself to be deprived.

Daniel was so connected with God that all those around him knew it.

They could tell that he was different and that he had power in his life that they didn't have.

And I believe that this was a direct result of Daniel abiding in Christ and Christ abiding in him.

Daniel was connected with God and you and I can have that same power today and when we are in our practices, when we are meeting our patients, You can have that same influence.

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Dare to be a Daniel

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