AMEN Australia 2012: Right Arm, Right Approach, Right Now

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Adventist Medical Evangelism Network Australia

Skip Dodson

Tim Howe

Rediscovering the Right Arm

Well, let's begin our message tonight by just looking at Acts chapter 3 and chapter 4.

This is a very significant narrative and we've entitled the message the 4 R's of medical evangelism.

At least, we in times past in the school system, they talk about the 3 R's.

I don't know if they have that here in Australia too, but reading, writing, and arithmetic, as they used to call it.

But in medical evangelism, in this narrative, we see 4 R's.

Now, this is a significant narrative in the New Testament.

When we think of the book of Acts, though, typically our attention is drawn to which chapter?

Because that's Peter's Pentecost sermon, you know, you have the 3, 000 people baptized in a day and it's just an amazing, an amazing exhibition.

The fire falling from heaven and the gift of tongues and all of that, I mean it's just spectacular stuff.

But Acts chapter 3 and Acts chapter 4 actually are very paradigmatic as well.

Because you see here, especially because they're placed right in conjunction with the events of Pentecost.

And also they give us a significant window into how the New Testament ministry was carried forward.

And the, believe it or not, Acts chapter 3 and 4 soak up more spiritual bandwidth in the book of Acts than Acts chapter 2 does.

And we'll see later that the results of Acts chapter 3 and chapter 4 outshine Acts chapter 2, interestingly enough.

So let's look at the ministers of healing in Acts chapter 3 and Acts chapter 4.

Peter and John, they go up significantly together to the temple.

That's what we're actually trying to promote here in AMEN Australia and AMEN US.

We're trying to promote working together.

Health professionals working together with ministers.

Nurses, physicians, dentists, pastors, other people that are interested, lay people that are working to try to bring the message of health to others.

And Peter and John approached it that way as well.

They also went up significantly at the most opportune time for the work to be done.

They went up at the ninth hour, the hour of prayer.

You're allowed to, we're going to do this a little bit like a Sabbath school class, not quite, but you know, why did they go at this time?

Because that's when the people were there.

The people were there and they were there to pray.

And so this was the most opportune moment to reach them.

I'd like to suggest, friends, just from some of the things that I've heard about Australia, there's an interest in health here, I'm told.

I don't know a lot about Australia, it's my first time here, I love it so far.

But If there's an interest in this, boy, what an opportune moment to capitalize on that.

You know, when I went to college many years ago, 30 years ago, Tim, can you believe that?

You know, when I went to college, there was no soy milk in the cafeteria.

And nobody would have touched it if it had been there.

But, you know, the fact that you can buy some of this stuff on the supermarket shelf now, here in Australia, that's great.

It signals that God is ready to do something here.

So we have a ninth hour, hour of prayer opportunity, I believe.

It says a certain man was lame from his mother's womb.

He'd been that way a long time, from his mother's womb.

Now I don't know about you, but in my practice I've met some people that were scarred from childhood.

Some of you know about people that carry so many scars, abused, misused from childhood.

Of course Melbourne I know, since it's the best place in the world to live, you don't have any addictions here, right?

It's tough dealing with people who have struggled all their lives, decades and decades.

But this was the kind of person that was here, and he was at the great beautiful.

And he was there, and then he caught a look at Peter and John.

And he said to himself, Wow, we've got 2 people here, I think I'm going to ask them for some money.

And there he is, he says, "'Who's seen Peter and John about to go into the temple?

"'Ask, and alms.' And Peter fastening his eyes on him with John said, "'Look on us.'" As we look in on the scene, we see the beginning of what appears to be the usual encounter that we'd expect under such circumstances.

Peter and John, They look intently at the patient.

They're evaluating you do this I do this when I'm seeing patients Often I'll watch the patient walk down the hall into the exam room and I've got the diagnosis before they even open their mouth just in the way they walk.

There's no need at this point to take a history.

The man was very willing to look on him because he wanted some money.

But in verse 6 we come to a major transition in the story.

This is actually the first of the 4 R's of medical evangelism.

This is a really pregnant passage I think for us, for Seventh-day Adventists.

I believe you'll see what I mean as we move through it.

First thing out of Peter's mouth, silver and gold have I what?

I'm positive that this man was shocked when he heard Peter speak these words.

He was expecting what everybody else was offering him.

He was expecting something that would have sustained him in his condition, but not substantively changed him.

In contrast to that, Peter says boldly, "...such as I have I give to you." In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk.

God uses Peter and John to offer this man not that which he expects, but that which he could only dream about.

Instead of sustaining him in this forlorn negative condition, Peter and John become the human instruments in the hand of the Almighty to offer this man not simply a handout, but an escape, a total escape from his condition.

There is a lot here for us to consider, isn't there?

Those words, Such as I have, give I thee.

Those words need to ring in the ears of every Seventh-day Adventist Christian.

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Rediscovering the Right Arm

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