ASI Pacific Union 2014: Building Bridges

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ASI Pacific Union

Don Mackintosh

Keeping Focused

Let's pray together and then we're going to look at a couple of thoughts.

Father in Heaven, indeed tonight we're grateful that your focus is so much on this planet that you sent your only son.

And Jesus, you came and you focused on our hood, the neighborhood, and we're thankful for that.

And it's really out of gratitude that we're motivated to be here today.

So we ask that your presence would be palpably felt.

We know that you can come through the agency of the spirit and that you are here and you've promised that we're 2 or 3 are praying together and agreeing in prayer that you can come even more closely into this place and we ask that would happen in Christ's name, amen.

Focusing Christ's love on San Francisco really is what we've been attempting to do.

And it was just really neat for me to see many of you doing that.

To see people interacting with others And to begin amidst the din and roar, if you will, within the armory, to then focus in more closely on people and really start to ask them what their issues were, really start to drill down on the take-home message was great.

And then you saw 2 or 3 people working together.

And then the focus sometimes, like we've already heard, came from outside.

I don't know if you saw the 5 o'clock news but there was a wonderful piece on the 5 o'clock news.

I hope somebody gets a copy of that from the news and we can show it again particularly here and also I looked on Google just before I came up and there's a number of articles already being written about what's happening.

And we really are thankful because the glory is being turned towards the body of Christ, his remnant church in the world today.

It was a joy to watch the dentist section all focus on those that were down in the mouth and to really focus that attention.

It was a joy to see that I don't know what corporation it was, but remember how the doctor talked about putting a crown on.

And this particular piece of machinery I think is nearly worth $100, 000.

And that was loaned to us for this event so they could make crowns right on location.

And as you look in that machine, you can see that based on some kind of picture or whatnot of the tooth, it could focus in and make an exact fit for a crown.

And as I looked at that, I said, man, that's what Jesus wants to do, not just for our teeth, but for our heads as well.

And as I was thinking about how all of us were coming together and focusing together, I too, As 1 story told us, I was drawn to that book, Ministry of Healing.

In fact, as I thought about what I should talk about tonight, I thought maybe what I should focus on would be a focus on focus.

And 3 things I want to leave with you, and I thought it would be a rather practical talk because how many of you are going to go out there again tomorrow and focus again for Jesus?

First of all, the amazing focus that Christ brought to ministry.

Number 2, what it was that allowed him to stay so focused?

Do you think that might help us if we review that by tomorrow?

And number 3, how can these principles be applied in our own ministry?

So What I did was I looked at that book, Ministry of Healing, just reading the first 2 chapters.

You know, in the last several years as I and the students there at Weimar and the health program have gone through the book Ministry of Healing, I've seen the power of that book.

And I wanted to show you a couple of phrases.

If you're wondering, how can I be an effective leader, the first chapter is really a leadership chapter?

It's 1 of the ultimate chapters on leadership.

And all of us, I believe, are leaders, even if we're leading nowhere.

So look at these phrases that describe how focused Christ's ministry was.

He was the unwearied servant of man's necessity.

Think about that phrase when you get weary tomorrow.

How many of you want to remember that phrase?

His life was 1 of constant self-sacrifice.

What, You mean to have to get up at 6 to get on the bus?

How was it that Jesus could have such focus?

Could we ever, it should be, have that kind of focus.

None came to him, none who came to him went away unhelped.

None who came, how many want that to happen?

Even though someone may not receive all the services they wanted to receive, none of them need to go away unhelped if Jesus is with us.

Did you ever feel, well, it looks like we might have failed today, we might have discouraged, or get a little discouraged.

He never failed or became discouraged in this line of ministry.

You've ever heard the expression, you really can't help everybody?

You know, today, I was impressed as I talked to some of the volunteers here.

Some folks that are volunteering maybe perhaps even in this room, They're not members of the Seventh Adventist Church.

They came from around the country with the clinicians who paid for their trip.

I talked to a number of people that were from different parts of this country who the physician or the doctor they worked with brought them all the way here.

And they are experiencing for the first time a sense of mission and purpose.

And when we think about who we're ministering to, we need to remember that it's not just the people coming off the street.

I spent time with 1 of the security guards today, and I might tell a little bit more about that as I go on.

But it was an amazing conversation, and the impact of seeing what was happening in the armory on his life was profound.

He was, look at these, read this with me.

It doesn't say he was always with the patients.

It says that he was always patient and cheerful.

How many of you know that you of yourself can't do that?

And this is what fell on Christ that can fall on you as well.

Look at this, look at this, if this is true and if we can be like Jesus, think about what the armory is.

I mean, to me, it was a study in contrast.

My students came early and they went to the wrong side of the building.

How many of you know what the wrong side of the building means.

They said, Pastor Don, this is a filming of adult material that you sent us to.

And I said, do not go in that side of the building.

But what I think is, there may be some things going on that are a ministry of hell, but on the other side of the building we can have the ministry of heaven.

And again, some of the people that work there are seeing the same thing.

Notice his life as it's described in that book, Ministry of Healing, page 20.

His was like a vital current diffusing life and joy.

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Keeping Focused

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