Who can separate us from the grace of God? You will be inspired by his story of how God’s grace touched the heart of a young medical student and led him to follow Jesus for the rest of his life.

AMEN Conference 2025: Touched By Grace

<p>Who can separate us from the grace of God? You will be inspired by his story of how God’s grace touched the heart of a young medical student and led him to follow Jesus for the rest of his life.</p>

<p>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.</p>

Adventist Medical Evangelism Network (AMEN)

General Sessions

Josianne Bailey-Abesamis

From Breakdown to Breakthrough: A Journey of Grace

Roger Seheult

Grace at Work: How Faith Transforms Physicians, Patients, and Practice

Christine Han

The Blessing of Brokenness and Grace

Brent Sherwin

Laura Sherwin

Instruments of Healing, Witnesses of Grace

Anthony Baca

Mark Finley

Touched by Grace: Heaven’s Revelation of Jesus - Sabbath School Discussion

Daniel Jiao

Touched by Grace

John Shin

Amazing Grace

I'm really privileged to be here this morning or afternoon as we're getting into the afternoon to share with you as Pastor Finley just introduced.

I'm going to share with you a bit of my own story and then a little bit of my parents' story because time is short.

It's impossible to share everything, but I believe that as Pastor Finley just said, every life, every individual, including every 1 of you who are sitting here today, We are all touched by grace.

As I was here since Wednesday evening, I've been listening to the testimony and stories of different individuals who were standing on this stage sharing their testimony.

What I'm going to share is not just about me.

I'm not special in any way, but I want to praise God's name because it is him who brought me to this world, and it is him that gave me this life to serve him.

That's my mom and me when I was a little boy only still in my mother's arm as as I remember when I start to understand things My parents told me a story that they told me that they said, Daniel, don't ever think that your life belongs to yourself.

I was born in Qinghai, in the place that has beautiful scenery and beautiful flowers.

But as I was beginning to understand things in life, they told me this story.

They said that when I was a little boy in the crib, they said 1 day my dad was chopping firewood outside.

I was just laying in the crib and my dad chopping firewood outside.

As he was chopping away, suddenly he's the head of the axe flew off and he looked around and he couldn't find it and the door was open and he couldn't find the axe outside and he thought maybe the hat flew inside the house.

So he came in and he looked, he couldn't find it anywhere either.

And then he came to my crib, he saw that axe just laying beside my head.

And he said, Daniel don't ever think that your life belongs to you, because in the moment when you were still a little baby, God has already spared your life because he wants you to serve him.

And I remember that as I grew up, as I ponder on the question of my life.

I grew up in the city, When I was in the high school, I was in the city of Shanghai.

And I'm going to tell you a little bit story backwards, but right now I'm going to share with you the time that when I was graduating from high school.

I was in Shanghai, this is the picture that I found on the internet in the year of 1989, a street shot in Shanghai.

If you remember what happened in 1989, you know that across the country at that time there were demonstrations in different cities.

I was in Shanghai, There were also demonstrations that happened in the city because students they were carrying banners across at different places and I was looking at these students on the street demonstrating, wanting to find what is the meaning for their life.

I remember looking at people on the street for a few weeks that there were buses lying on the street corner and no public transportation was running because all the students they were demonstrating on the street.

As I was looking at these students, I was thinking, I'm better than these students because they were looking for meaning in their life, but for me, grew up as an Adamtist, in the Adamtist family, I thought that I know about life, I thought I know that what does it mean to be a person living on this earth But in the year 1988, I just graduated from high school.

In China, when you finish high school, if you want to go to college, you take the entrance exam.

Some other countries in Asia also do that.

And since I was a little boy, I have been keeping the Sabbath.

Because I have kept Sabbath, but when it's time for me to take that entrance exam, because I want to go to medical school.

Quite a few of you shared that you're going to go into Loma Linda, you became a doctor.

I also want to go to the very famous medical school in Shanghai to be a medical doctor.

But I kept the Sabbath, I did not go and take that exam.

For me it seems to be very easy decision to do, but my parents they told me that all your life you have kept the Sabbath, but right now you can't make a choice.

If you want to go to take the exam on Sabbath, we will be okay because it is your choice.

We have told you what to do since you were small, but right now you face a life decision you can make that choice.

But for me it was just really not anything to choose from because I have already used to keep Sabbath so I said no no I will not go and take that exam.

It was very easy for me to make that decision.

But that decision result was that I had to stay home because my score was very low.

I could not go into universities, I could not go into the medical school.

So from the summer of 1988, I stayed home.

That was the first time in my life I started to question my belief in God.

Many of you, I see young people here, you grew up in a Christian Adventist family.

I remember when I was small, I memorized Bible texts, we sang hymns, we go to church on Sabbath.

All the Christian or Adventist lifestyle became part of me.

I never questioned my relationship with God.

But in 1988, when I Graduated from high school when my score was so low.

I start to question Should I really believe in God?

I asked the question if I believe in God if God is my God if God is the 1 who's leading my life, why doesn't he provide me with the opportunity to go into medical school, to be a doctor?

But I know that is the time that God wants me to find the answer myself.

Do I, me, as an 18 year old, do I really want to believe in that God that in the Bible, according to the Bible, really loved me, according to the Bible, had created me, according to the Bible, had laid out plan for my life?

Because I had nothing to do, I couldn't go to university, so I stay home.

I said, my dad, dad, I have a lot of time.

My dad said, why don't you make a pledge to read the Bible over in 1 year?

I said, Dad, I have read the Bible several times.

But he said, let me give you a challenge.

This time when you read a Bible, instead of just read a chapter a day or chapter 2, 2 chapter a day, please do make a concordance yourself." I said, what kind of concordance?

He said, this is a picture, if you can see, it's writing in Chinese.

He said, I will give you a list of topics that you can put Bible texts along this topic.

And you, as you read a Bible, you will find the answer of your question.

As you read a Bible, you will find the answer of your relationship with God.

This is more than 30, 40 years ago, but I still have that in my library.

Every time when I look at this, I think about that time, that how God showed himself to me through his words.

So I, every day I was very excited, even though I had been reading the Bible, I had read the Bible from front to the back several times, but every day I start in the morning, I had the heading, I go through from Genesis all the way to Revelation.

When I see a certain Bible passage in a certain category, I put in that category.

So by the end of that year, to 1989, I had a very thick notebook with all the different headings with all the different Bible texts fit into that heading.

But in that year was the year I stopped praying.

I began to understand, really, God, if you are the God, as you said, as you promised in the Bible, you know from the beginning to the end, surely you know my life.

So as I start to pray, as I read a Bible, I start to understand this God which in the past I really only got from my parents.

It's not me having that relationship with God.

So as I start to pray, start to ask God, God, maybe I shouldn't make plan for myself anymore.

Maybe I shouldn't say that I want to do this, I want to do that anymore.

Maybe I should start to pray to God, God, what is your plan for my life?

At that time, I read a story of David Livingstone.

It was on the back cover of the Science of the Time magazine.

We received, somebody brought some English version of Science of the Time magazine.

Every issue, the back cover, they talk about missionary story.

So I read this David Livingstone's story, and in that story he said, I'm prepared to go anywhere provided it be forward.

And then David Livingstone dedicated his life to Africa.

As I read this story, suddenly it came to me as if God was speaking to me, if I can use David Livingstone, I can also use you.

So as soon as I begin to surrender myself to God, as soon as I let go of my own ambition, let go of my own thinking, let go of my own plan." God start to put things into motion.

In the July of 1989, That was just a year after the demonstration.

Anybody wants to leave the country, not only you have to get a visa, you also have to go back to the public security bureau to get a stamp on your passport before you can leave.

As I told you, I pray to God, God, I want to surrender myself to you and whatever you plan for me, I want to follow." And God started to put things in motion.

Suddenly I received an invitation from Southern College or Southern Adams University right now.

They want to sponsor 2 Chinese students to go there to study theology.

Series

General Sessions

Touched by Grace

Transcript

Description

Parent Series

Parent Conference

Sponsor

Recorded

How To Study the Bible and Know God’s Will For Your Life

1h 25m

The Danger of Good Things

46m

Morning Devotional: It's War Time

It’s Wartime - Part 8: Marching Orders

53m

ASI Southern Union 2013 Plenary Sessions

No Strings Attached

44m

Filled by God's Spirit

03 Filled by God’s Spirit

1h 8m

How to Avoid Disappointment

37m

Plenary Sessions

God Invented Sex

1h 34m

Power of the Everlasting Gospel

An Unwanted Guest: Jesus at the Door

1h 25m

Excellent Service

2h 2m

May I Help You

1h 1m

Plenary

In Love, and Lost

50m

Gardening, Mission, and the End

Gardening, Mission, and the End- Part 1

1h

Sound Doctrine