OBJECTIVES:1. Identify ways to get back to the basics of building an abundant life and career.2. Discuss ways to embrace the challenges of practice ownership and overcome them.3. Challenge the status quo mindset and seek to inspire a paradigm shift of thinking.

AMEN 2022: Life More Abundant

OBJECTIVES:1. Identify ways to get back to the basics of building an abundant life and career.2. Discuss ways to embrace the challenges of practice ownership and overcome them.3. Challenge the status quo mindset and seek to inspire a paradigm shift of thinking.

Free sharing permitted under the Creative Commons <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/">BY-NC-ND 3.0 (US)</a> license.

Adventist Medical Evangelism Network (AMEN)

Extracting the Hurt and Filling a Need

Steve Chang

To Make Man Whole

Okay, so it's good to see familiar faces.

Some new faces I don't know, but I'm glad you guys could come.

We're starting a little late, so we probably have to go a little bit faster than normal.

Okay, so let's start with a word of prayer.

Dear Heavenly Father, thank you so much for the opportunity to serve and to be here and to glorify you.

We pray that I may die to self so that you may be glorified.

You know, there's a lot of things going on in the world right now.

I've never heard of these terms so much before in my life in the last 3 years, as you know.

It seems like the whole world's been turned upside down.

And how do we make heads or tails of anything?

I even heard today, about a month ago you might have heard, PayPal was going to fine anybody $2, 500 if you said something wrong on your social media posts.

There was a backlash and they took it down, but then yesterday they reinstated it.

So there's a lot of things happening in this world that we would never imagine would happen 3 or 4 years ago.

I mean, it's happening in other parts of the world.

If you say something wrong, your social credit score starts going down, down, down.

And the Bible prophecies are coming completely true.

There'll come a point when you cannot buy or sell.

Because if you don't toe the line, you will be on the other side.

And you know how the woke culture is starting to attack Christians and our beliefs and our faith.

You know, they're told a lie, the greatest lie ever told.

But you and I know, the Bible says, God is love.

So many things that are inundating our life.

It is a system developed in the 16th century by the Japanese.

Instead of throwing away broken pottery, they decided to take 24 karat gold, mend them together so they could reuse it.

But God sees so much value in us that he's willing to sacrifice everything to make us whole.

I like to think about that whenever I see...

Now I think they make them in China and it's cheaper than the originals, but they make them beautiful things out of these potteries.

Your eyes saw my substance being yet unformed, and in your book they all were written, days fashioned for me, when as yet there were none of them.

You know, we read many verses, maybe even thousands of times, but it never really hits home until the Holy Spirit touches you and reveals things to you.

In this, I just saw this within a month ago and I was so blown away because it is in the middle of this text it says, in your book they were all written.

So God, even before he created the universe and the earth, saw you in existence and said, I'm going to put your name in the book of life.

We always think that we're gonna put ourselves into the book of life at the end of time, or we have to work for our salvation.

We have to work ourselves out of salvation.

And your choice is to accept God's gift and live up to the expectations that he has for you.

Because it says also, you have been preordained to be saved.

So he knew you and wanted you even before you were born.

And as most of us, some of us may not have graduated from Loma Linda, But their motto, to make man whole, I really love this motto.

And I really like to use it in my office as well.

A lot of patients are looking for this holistic dentist.

Well, I try to use the word holistic in a whole different way, with a W, holistic, in terms of physical, mental, and spiritual.

So when I see new patients, I actually have a get to know process in the first appointment.

I usually set up at least an hour for each new patient.

And we sit there and we have a conversation.

So if they tell me I wanna just fix this, I'm looking at cosmetic, you know, I've had this problem all along, then I can focus on that.

And I try not to focus on things that they don't want.

It's not my agenda, but it's their agenda that I want to focus on.

And maybe later they might want to do something else and they often do.

You know, I really like what you did for me with this.

And I had a conversation this week with a patient.

Far as I can tell, he owns several corporations, very well off.

And I tell you, I was shocked when he walked in, because I assumed people with money would just take care of themselves.

But for over 20 years, he never took care of himself.

He was missing like, I ended up putting like 7 implants in him and did his whole front, all his like 20 crowns on top of that.

And I was like, and I just sat down with him today, this week actually, and I said, his name is Mike, so you don't know him, so I can say that.

Mike, you know, you're smart, and I know you probably have means, why didn't you take care of this 20, 30 years ago?

And he said, I never felt comfortable with the dentist.

And I think God directed me to your practice.

And I know that you are passionate about what you do.

And I was like, wow, that's really something else.

If we take the best interest in the heart of the patient versus your interest, they appreciate that and they will see that.

Now those there may view may misunderstand what you're trying to do for them.

But generally, the patients will appreciate the fact that you are working for them and not for yourself.

So I think our attitude about how we practice, I mean, over the years has changed.

Fred Lee

Building an Abundant Life God’s Way in the Life and the Practice

It's hard not to feel inadequate in these types of settings, but I'm going to claim the promise that says He who has called you is faithful who also will do it.

And so with that, we'll go ahead and open with prayer and begin our session.

Our loving Father in heaven, you are so good to us and as undeserving as we are and you still call us to an abundant life.

And as we seek to uncover some of the principles and the truths that you have set for us, I pray that you will continue to illuminate our minds, give us wisdom and understanding in your ways, and the courage and the power to live out the principles that you have set before us.

I pray that you'll bless our time together this afternoon, that Your spirit will impress and convict our hearts to be more faithful to you.

We thank you and pray these things in Jesus' name.

Building an abundant life, God's way in the life and in the dental practice.

When they asked me to share or have my title, I didn't exactly know what I was going to share and I tried to pick as vague of a title as I could and this is what I came up with.

But just a brief introduction, this is my family.

For those that don't know me, my name is Fred Lee.

I used to call them babies, but as you can see, My oldest is now just taller than my wife.

This is where we live, the beautiful Sequatchie Valley, what we also call God's country.

And we, Jane and I actually had the opportunity to share our story of God's leading in our lives and also in our practice in our community back in 2019 at the AEMON conference, and you're welcome to listen to that if you would like to know our back story.

But last year, God impressed both Jane and I separately to sell what we thought was going to be our forever home and start all over again and move into this.

We sold our home and bought a camper and had nowhere to go.

But by God's grace, for 6 months, we were able to stay with a church friend of ours and then God opened up an opportunity for us to purchase a hundred acres in Pikeville where we live with the hopes of developing it into some sort of ministry 1 day very soon.

We're still refining our vision and plans, but trust that God will continue to lead as he has done so in the past.

I have been a practice owner in Pikeville for 10 years now and more recently actually partnered with a friend of mine who runs a company called Crystal Dental Services Incorporated.

And our hope and desire is to build a company where we can manage dental offices.

Being able to build a company on strong values and compassionate dental care is our dream.

The theme for our conference is abundant life.

John 1010 says, I have come that they may have life and that they may have it more abundantly.

It's very clear in scripture that God's ultimate desire for us is to live, to have and live an abundant life.

But you know sometimes what that actually looks like or what God actually means may mean something different than what we naturally think.

In Luke chapter 12 verse 15 it says, take heed and beware of covetousness for one's life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses.

Further in John chapter 15 verse 11 it says, These things I have spoken to you that my joy may remain in you and that your joy may be full.

The context for that is found in the verse prior to it.

In verse 10 it says, 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.

And then he goes on to say, these things I have spoken to you, that my joy may remain in you and that your joy may be full.

You know Solomon thought that he lived an abundant life, didn't he?

After all he says that he did not withhold from himself anything that his heart desired.

But he learned in the end, the bitter truth, that our hearts are deceitful above all things and desperately wicked.

And then he concluded with these words in Ecclesiastes chapter 12 verse 13.

It says, let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter.

Fear God and keep his commandments for this is man's all.

This is the foundational truth and principle that should guide our lives and the standard by which we measure every single thing that we do.

In the book of Deuteronomy, we see God trying to establish a nation, right?

A nation that represents him, a nation that represents the principles of the kingdom of heaven, a nation by which God can use as a vessel to reach and redeem the entire world?

And what is the reoccurring message as He is trying to establish this nation, this people?

I'm going to run through a couple of them.

It's going to be repetitive, so we'll go through them fairly quickly.

Deuteronomy 5.29 says, Oh that they had such a heart in them that they would fear me and always keep all my commandments, that it might be well with them and with their children forever.

Deuteronomy 5.33 says, You shall walk in all the ways which the Lord your God has commanded you, that you may live and that it may be well with you, and that you may prolong your days in the land which you shall possess.

Deuteronomy 6.2 and 3 says, That you may fear the Lord your God and keep all his statutes and his commandments, which I command you, you and your son and your grandson, all the days of your life, and that your days may be prolonged.

Therefore, hear, O Israel, and be careful to observe it, that it may be well with you, and that you may multiply greatly, as the Lord God of your fathers has promised you, a land flowing with milk and honey." Deuteronomy 6.24, and the Lord commanded us to observe all these statutes, to fear the Lord our God, for our good always, that he might preserve us alive as it is this day.

Can you guys see and sense this reoccurring theme here?

To sum it up, we find in Deuteronomy 6, verse 5, it says, And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might, and of course, your neighbor as yourself.

The essence of the law is if we were to distill the law down into 1 word, what would it be?

Love for God, love for others is the law, which is also a transcript of God's character.

And that is to be the foundation of everything that we do, right?

How we live, how we parent, how we work, how we spend our time, how we spend our money, how we spend our vacations, et cetera, et cetera.

To further continue that thought, Jesus himself says this in Matthew 633, but seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things shall be added to you.

So here we're here talking about an abundant life, right?

And my attempt this afternoon is to try to share some of the principles and things that I have learned in my journey that I hope can be a blessing to you.

And at some point, if you want to jot some notes down, please feel free to do so.

But in order for us to do that, to build on the foundation that God has set for us, We need to establish a new way of thinking and living.

And in order to do that, how we begin is by putting first things first.

If you were to pause and think seriously about what we call the first things in your life and mine, if we were to identify 3 or 4 things, what would they be?

You don't have time to think deeply about it.

At some point, I would like for you to think really deeply about it, to be introspective, and to identify what we would consider the most important things in our life, right?

But for now, some of the stock answers would be something like this, right?

Our relationship with God and how we carry out our life and our beliefs, our family and our friends.

If we're married, we might say our relationship to our spouse.

If we are parents, we might say our children, or the salvation of our children is very important to us.

But, if we were to perform an audit of the last week, month, or year of your life, what would we find?

Would we be able to identify in how you spent your time, money, and energies, and find those 3 or 4 things that you say are the most important things in your life?

If we added up all the seconds, minutes, and hours of what you spent your time on, would what you say is most important to you and what we find match?

For example, I had the privilege, this is just 3 weeks ago, of participating in the baptism of our oldest son, and it was an incredible special moment for our family.

But as I was thinking about that, I was thinking that, you know, as parents, probably what we value above anything else is the salvation of our children.

But then if you think about it, how much time and energy and effort do we spend to nurture the spiritual growth and development of our children?

And I'm not here, this is not an attempt to brag or say anything about what I did because Lord knows, Joshua knows that I'm not a perfect parent.

But at the same time, it's an example for us to consider, to think about how intentional we must be, right, in the things that matter most to us.

But continuing on, what about how you spent your money?

If we had a record of all of your credit card and bank statements from the past year, would we be able to find in how you spent your money those things that you say matter most to you?

In other words, are these things that we say are most important in receiving the care, emphasis, and the time you really want to give them.

From the book First Things First, the author identifies 2 driving forces that dictate how we spend our time and our energies, and he calls them the clock and the compass.

The clock represents our commitments, our appointments, our schedules, goals, activities, what we do with and how we manage our time.

And The compass represents our vision, our values, mission, relationships, direction, what we feel is most important and how we lead our lives.

Oftentimes there is a battle between the compass and the clock.

And there's a battle between what is urgent, right?

What is requiring our time and our attention right now versus what is really important.

Calvin Kim

The Greatest Commodity for Success

Does anyone know what is considered to be the happiest word in the English language according to Google?

The first is laughter, followed by happiness and then love.

What do you think is the most awful word in the English language?

According to Stephen King, famous best-selling author of horror books, he believes it's the word alone.

He says murder doesn't hold a candle to it and hell is only a poor synonym.

What do you think is the scariest word that you can think of?

And it's an Islamic phrase that's used during prayer and thanks and also as a greeting.

This phrase has become so scary due to many internet videos where terrorists have yelled out this phrase at the moment of pushing a button on their suicide vest or firing a gun.

In Iran, some man yelled this phrase, Allahu Akbar, and people started running to the exits for their lives.

Most of you are probably unfamiliar with Allahu Akbar.

Here's 1 that may be more relatable for you.

According to 1 article, the 4 scariest words are, and just imagine your spouse is saying this to you, we need to talk.

What do you think are the most terrifying words?

According to Ronald Reagan, former president, he believes the most terrifying words in the English language are, I'm from the government and I'm here to help.

Words are powerful and compelling feelings.

I think most of us would agree that these are the most beautiful words that we hope to hear someday.

What do you think are the most beautiful or powerful set of words that someone could say to you?

I asked this question recently to an audience and 1 person replied, will you marry me?

I think that all depends on how you feel about the person who is asking the question.

I think the following are some of the most beautiful words I've ever heard.

I had a patient last year who was 71 years old, lovely gentleman with his fair share of struggles in his life.

I told him, I'm pretty sure on more than 1 occasion, I said, hey, why don't you do Bible studies with me?

Last year I made an immediate denture for this patient at his first adjustment visit after the delivery of the dentures.

He smiled, he was so happy because now he could smile and have teeth.

20 years ago, this would have evoked feelings of satisfaction and joy to have my patient say these words.

But this incident evoked 0 positive feelings.

The initial feeling that came over me was a feeling of being underwhelmed.

I was slightly incredulous, as in, are you serious?

I gave you false teeth and you think I changed your life?

I said to him, you think I changed your life?

My patient was so happy and content with receiving false teeth, something every single 1 of us in here would loathe to be the recipients of.

I have so much more I want to give to my patient if you would just allow me to.

I want to connect him to Jesus, who can give my patient the abundant life, and here he was satisfied with something that was so provisional.

The following month I had a 25-year-old patient text me the following, Hey, I just want to let you know how thankful I am for you.

I said yes to a Bible study and it changed my life.

This was 1 of the best text messages I've ever gotten.

This message flooded me with feelings of joy and happiness.

2 of my patients within a month of each other both tell me that I changed their life, and yet evoke such a different response within me.

1 had to do with something that is fleeting and temporal.

The other had to do with something that is priceless and eternal.

The experience with the first patient had to do with my career.

The experience with the second patient had to do with my calling.

Dentistry has been a great career for me, but everything I do for my patients while worthwhile is only provisional.

My calling in life is much nobler and higher than restoring a person's oral health.

Our calling is to restore man back into the image of God.

Series

Extracting the Hurt and Filling a Need

Building an Abundant Life God’s Way in the Life and the Practice

Transcript

Description

Parent Series

Parent Conference

Sponsor

Recorded

GYC SE 2013: International Missions

International Missions: Sacrifice or Privilege?

54m

Morning Devotional

Following the Leader

48m

Relationships and Family Life

Passion & Purity

1h 23m

Cultivating Christian Character in Children

Cultivating Obedience & Self-Control

1h

The Powerful Potentials of Homeschool

Prepare Today for Tomorrow

1h 18m

National Family Retreat (NFR) 2024

Look and Live

1h 18m

Breakout Session B

Single and Satisfied

1h

Fatherlike Giving & Childlike Living

40m

Follow the Leader

1h 5m

Testimony

1h 5m

True Education

Communion with God in Nature

1h 1m

Above and Beyond: Keys To Personal Revival And a Lifestyle of Vibrant Living in Christ!

6. Called to Above and Beyond Surrender

1h 12m

Sound Doctrine