AMEN 2017: Are You Willing?

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Adventist Medical Evangelism Network (AMEN)

Morning Devotional

Dwayne Lemon

Prophecy and Medical Missionary Work

Our loving Father, it is truly a privilege this morning to let your spirit speak to our hearts as we silently wait to hear that precious voice.

And Lord, I know that you have mighty things to share with us from your words.

And so I am asking for a fresh endowment of your Holy Spirit.

I pray that you would truly abide with my brothers and my sisters as well as with myself.

We pray that you would truly unite our hearts, 1 with you and 1 with another.

And may we catch a clearer vision of the great work that you want to see accomplished in these very last moments of Earth's history.

Abide with us now, we pray, and thank you so much for hearing our prayer, for we do ask it with the forgiveness of our sins.

Before I begin sharing the word with all of you, I want to say thank you To all of those part of the Amen team, some of you reached out to me personally, as well as to many of you who represent different parts of this country as well as different parts of the globe, and you were lifting me up in prayer over events that took place last year as it related to my surgery, it is evident that the surgery went pretty okay.

Otherwise, I would not be standing here before you.

And so I would be remiss if I did not say thank you and God bless you to every single 1 of you who is praying for your brother.

I would like to invite you to turn your Bibles to the book of Matthew, the 16th chapter.

And I want you to see some things that Jesus is going to bring to our attention because I was very prayerful about Lord, what do you want me to say to my brothers and my sisters here at Amen, and how should we start?

And the Lord led my mind to these verses, so I trust we'll be edified.

The Bible says in the book of Matthew, we're looking at the 16th chapter.

And when you get there, just let me know by saying amen.

The Bible says in Matthew 16, we're going to consider verse 13.

And the Bible says in Matthew 16 and verse 13, when Jesus came into the coast of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples saying, whom do men say that I, the son of man, am?

And there was a nice dialogue that Jesus was having with the disciples where ultimately they acknowledged him as the son of the Living God But it was shortly after that Acknowledgement that the Bible goes on to tell us something else that Jesus mentioned as it relates to this story.

And I want you to see what the Bible says now as we go ahead and consider verses 20 and 21 of the same book and chapter.

It says in verse 20, then charged he his disciples that they should tell no man that he was Jesus the Christ.

Verse 21, from that time forth began Jesus to show unto his disciples how that he must go unto Jerusalem and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes and be killed and be raised again the third day.

You can imagine that this was very depressing news to the disciples.

And my brothers and sisters, when you have the privilege of being in the very physical presence of Christ and to look at his eyes when he speaks, I would imagine that love would just leap from our hearts as we would behold the Master.

And so it is that they're beholding Jesus and as they're beholding him they of course are hurt by the reality of what Christ just imparted.

Nevertheless Jesus knew that it was necessary to tell them this.

It was a little bit later on in Matthew 17, please turn there, that Jesus again was with the disciples.

It's a different location this time, but nevertheless, you'll find it was the same message.

Now, we're going to go ahead and consider verse 22.

And I want you to watch what the Bible says.

In Matthew 17 and verse 22, it says, and while they abode in Galilee, Jesus said unto them, the Son of Man shall be betrayed into the hands of men, and they shall kill him.

And the third day he shall be raised again, And they were exceeding sorry.

First in Caesarea Philippi, Jesus tells his disciples, the Son of Man is going to be betrayed, is going to be killed.

And again, he's telling them, son of man is going to be betrayed, is going to be killed, and then he's going to rise.

In Matthew the 20th chapter Now, let's notice again what the Bible says, Matthew 20, and now we're going to look at verses 17 to 19.

In Matthew chapter 20, we're now looking at verses 17 to 19, and I want you to see what the text says here.

It says in Matthew chapter 20, starting at verse 17, and Jesus going up to where?

Jerusalem took the 12 disciples apart in the way and said unto them, behold, we go up to Jerusalem, And the Son of Man shall be betrayed unto the chief priests and unto the scribes, and they shall condemn him to death and shall deliver him to the Gentiles to mock and to scourge and to crucify him.

I thought this was a very interesting account.

Caesarea Philippi, gentlemen, disciples, beloved.

The Son of Man is gonna be betrayed, he's gonna be killed, but on the third day he'll rise again.

Then up to Jerusalem, gentlemen, disciples, beloved.

He says the Son of Man is gonna be betrayed.

But on the third day, he will rise again.

Now, what we're noticing very clearly, very evidently is that Jesus is repeating himself.

And I had to ask the question, why is it that Jesus would consistently repeat himself, just give the same message over and over and over again?

And the Bible gives us insight to this, but it's now found in Luke the 18th chapter.

Watch this, in Luke, We're now looking at the 18th chapter.

And when you see what Luke says, he adds an element that helps us understand the need for repetition.

The Bible says in the book of Luke, we're in what chapter?

And I want you to see what the Bible says as we look at Luke 18, verses 31 to 34.

It is the same account of what we just read in Matthew 20.

But I want you to watch this little additive that Luke brings to the account.

The Bible says in Matthew, I'm sorry, Luke 18, starting at verse 31, then he took unto him the 12 and said unto them, behold, we go up to Jerusalem and all things that are written by the prophets concerning the son of man shall be accomplished for he shall be delivered unto the Gentiles and shall be mocked and spitefully and treated and spit it on and they shall scourge him and put him to death and the third day he shall rise again But the verse in 34 says what?

And this saying was hid from them, and neither knew they the things which were spoken.

Even though Jesus repeated himself, and repeated himself, and repeated himself, the Bible clearly testifies that the human mind has a tendency to forget the message.

Jesus would repeat himself over and over again.

I mean, son of man betrayed, gonna be killed, gonna rise again, third day.

I mean, he gave all the details, but yet it seems that because their minds were so preoccupied, their minds were filled with many other thought processes, even about how Christ was going to establish his kingdom, that it blinded them from being able to understand the most simple and plain words of Christ.

It is at this time that I think it is appropriate for us to remember what the Bible says in Ecclesiastes 1 and verse 9.

The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be.

That which is done is that which shall be done.

History has this incredible way of being repeated.

I wonder if we're living in a time that the very disciples of Christ, the messengers of the master, could it be that the beloved of Jesus, even in such a time as this in earth's history, have a tendency to forget The simplicity of the words of God, the simplicity and the power of the gospel of Jesus Christ, what it was raised up for, why God gave it to us, and how it is to be articulated and demonstrated in a very sinful and dying world, and in many respects, a sinful and dying religious environment as well.

There's a piece of history in the Bible that I think we would do well to consider.

The devil has always been against God's truth.

He hates the truth because the devil brings sin because it brings bondage.

Jesus brings truth because it brings freedom.

Inspiration Explains Disease and Its Causes

Our loving Father, we are grateful that today you have blessed us again with the gift of life, health, and strength.

And on this, your holy Sabbath day of rest, we know that fresh bread was brought into the sanctuary.

And Lord, we just pray that you will give us a fresh experience in your word as we meditate upon it this morning.

We know this can't happen by mere human might or power, so we're asking for this to be done by your spirit.

May he truly minister to each of our minds.

And Lord, while you bless my brothers and sisters, I'm asking that you please do not pass me by.

Grant me a fresh revelation of Jesus, even as I seek to articulate him and his love and his example to each and every 1 of us.

May we all leave here higher upon Jacob's ladder as a result of your words being heard today.

It's a very important text of scripture that the Lord brought to my mind as we are considering this journey of what we studied yesterday.

We saw yesterday that we are living in a very serious time.

It's a time where it requires strength, it requires courage, It requires focus, and it requires especially the love of Jesus.

And when we see that everything is leading to this ultimate crisis that is going to take the majority of the people in the world and in the Church as an overwhelming surprise, Those of us who are cognizant, who understand what God is doing and his movements, he wants us to avail ourselves that we might know how to stand true to God during this final phase of the investigative judgment and how to show others how to do it.

You see, when we go to these places, when I was in the hospital last year, and I'm in the cardiac care unit, and they would come to me and say, Mr.

And when you just finish having heart surgery, you don't really feel like walking.

And we started walking and I looked in every room that I passed by and I would see people who were young, Younger than me, I'm 45, but I saw people there in their 20s.

I saw individuals who were older than me.

And when you walk past those rooms, I don't know how you can walk past those rooms and see those people not walking with you, but laid out in those beds.

And your heart begins to leap out towards them.

You begin to have a deep compassion that you say, oh, Lord, if I could only be used in your hands that I could do something to help them.

And so here it is, they told me, they said, Mr.

Lemon, you're the healthiest person in our whole unit.

You know, it's imperative that we understand that today you're healthy, but tomorrow something might show up that you were not even expecting.

And this is why today if you hear God's voice, you need to harden not your heart.

And so it is that as I look back at all of that, and I reflect of how many people are in need, they need our help, and how much the more, when we see the great plan of Satan, of by which he's gonna seek to steal people's hearts away from Jesus forever, It should move the child of God's heart to say, Lord, whatever sphere of influence that you can give me, please help me to use it for your name's honor and glory and for the strength and betterment of my fellow man.

But in our work, we have to remember this very important principle.

For he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him." In every work that we do, whether we sing, whether we preach, whether we serve, God says if it is done by any other motive except faith which works by love, it will profit us nothing.

Without faith, it is impossible to please him.

Now notice that there are 2 words in the verse that are actually synonymous.

It says, without faith, it is impossible to please him.

He must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.

I began to look up the word believe according to the Greek.

And when I looked up the word believe, it says, yes, to have faith.

To have true faith in God is to truly trust God.

Because a lot of us believe in God, but very few of us trust God.

And if we don't trust God, no matter what we do for God, God will not be pleased.

Because without trust, it is impossible to please him.

And so 1 of the first things that I want to ask you is that when you do the work that you do, when you wake up every morning and you have prayer, or whatever it is that you do, the question is, do you trust the God whom you pray to?

Now the reason why I say this is because 1 day Jesus gathered together a group of medical missionaries.

Let's notice how the Bible shows us this story.

The Bible says, "...and when he had called unto him his 12 disciples, he gave them something special." What did he give them?

He gave them power against unclean spirits to cast them out and to heal all manner of sickness and all manner of disease.

Now, I want you to notice that the disciples were empowered by Christ.

Oh, I think this is a very good point to consider.

How many disciples were empowered, according to the verse?

Question, how many of those disciples were medical professionals?

But how many of them had power to heal all manner of sickness and all manner of disease.

So, the first lesson we need to understand is that you do not have to be a medical professional to be a medical missionary.

So, that's very important for us to remember.

We are not medical missionaries by default simply because we are medical professionals.

And we're gonna talk about that a little bit.

Now, obviously, I believe that those of us who are medical professionals, you should be the greatest examples of what it is to be a medical missionary.

To help those of us lay people understand these various principles of health, et cetera.

Continuing, Jesus gave these 12 disciples power.

And they had power not only to heal all manner of sickness and all manner of disease, but also power against unclean spirits, to cast them out.

It tells us a story about a father who had a son who was possessed by a demon.

And when the father's son had unclean spirits here it is that the father of course brings his child to the disciples when he brought his child to the disciples the disciples could not heal them I like what the disciples did we as medical practitioners medical missionaries we should consider this story very well.

After they failed, I want you to watch this.

After they failed, in other words, the man came to them with an expectation the same way people come to many of you with expectations.

I told you yesterday, it is very rare that a sick person comes to be treated, a sick person comes to be healed.

That's what they're believing in their minds when they talk to the medical professional.

They believe you got some way of knowledge, power, wisdom, or something, some technique that you're gonna heal them.

Well, here it is that this man came with the same expectation.

They were not successful in their work, but I love what they did and I would like to encourage us to consider this.

It says, then came the disciples to Jesus apart and said, why is it that we could not cast that demon out?

You see, it is very easy when somebody comes to us with stage 4 cancer and they have, you know, obviously it's metastasized all over their system and some of us are already convincing ourselves sometimes on how we even approach the work, this person is more than likely not going to make it.

You know, some of us might have that kind of attitude.

And here it is that we try to help them with the modalities you've been trained in.

Well, you do that and then it doesn't work.

The person ends up going down even further and it looks like they're going to die.

When they die, many a times we just say, well, the Lord's will was done.

Oh, well, must have just been what God wanted.

A Challenge to the Consecrated Physician

Loving Father, we're grateful once again to come back together this morning.

Also at the conclusion of our conference here at Amen, we're grateful for all of the things that we have learned.

And we thank you for the many challenges that you've presented to our own hearts to come up a little higher.

We ask, oh God, that that same power that has been demonstrated from the beginning of these meetings will be revealed in double portion now at its close.

It was the closing words of Jesus that was the most important to pay attention to.

This does not look too bad for the last morning meeting.

I want to thank God for the opportunity for us to study.

We reviewed Bible prophecy at the beginning of our first session together in the morning.

We saw very clearly that a time of religious aggression is getting ready to come.

You know, we can ignore it if we choose, but it would be only to our own detriment.

There's nothing that we can do to change the reality of what the Bible has already prophesied through the pen of God's spirit inspiring and touching the hearts of men and women.

There's nothing we can do to change that.

But what we can do is by His grace make sure we're ready and to help others to be ready.

And so it is that we were told very specifically, and I always appreciate that about God's words and His inspired writings, is that He does not leave us to guess.

We have a little book called Great Controversy.

And it says in Great Controversy 598 that we have a chart.

It says we have a chart that points out every way mark on the heavenward journey, and we do not have to guess at anything.

We don't have to guess what to do next or what should we be doing, or try to come up with our own ideas.

God has laid it out, and so it is, he showed us.

A time of religious aggression is coming.

It says, as religious aggression subverts the liberties of our nation, those who stand for freedom of conscience will be placed in what kind of positions?

Therefore, it says, for their own sake, while they have opportunity, we should become intelligent in regard to 4 things.

Now, I would encourage you to read this whole entire chapter because it was written to nurses and physicians.

This was written to the medical practitioners that we are to understand that a time of religious aggression is coming.

Therefore, like never before, we should be educators and help people understand these things.

We're told all those who do this will find a field of labor anywhere.

There will be suffering ones, plenty of them, who will need help, not only among those of our own faith, but largely among those who know not the truth.

The shortness of time demands an energy that has not been aroused among those who claim to believe the present truth.

And so it is we began to be obedient to this council and we started to study it out.

We remember that though there's a way that we can look at disease purely from a secular standpoint, we don't want to disregard it holistically, but We also want to make sure that it is inclusive of the inspired standpoint.

The inspired standpoint that we looked at yesterday on what is disease, we learned that disease is an effort of nature to free the system from conditions that result from a violation of the laws of health.

I remember I was going to a hospital to see someone.

And as I was there, you know, a lot of times people get confused by my eyebrows.

They think I'm like this deep, serious guy all the time.

But I will tell you, I'm a very friendly, cool, kind guy.

And 1 of these days I was in the hospital, I said, I'm going to have some fun.

Because there was a whole bunch of doctors and nurses that came in there.

So I was with a friend, and we were in the elevator, and the elevator is going up.

And I was just like, hey, I said, have you ever thought of what disease is?

You know, folks sometimes don't like to talk to each other.

And my friend was like, well, yeah, I'm just, you know, when people get sick, something.

I said, disease is an effort of nature to free the system from conditions that result from a violation of the laws of health.

And then I started looking up and you saw all the physicians and nurses go, you know, I mean it was just it was just all man's 1 of those nice laughing moments it was just you know they were just that was pretty good I never heard that before and they just walked out and you know and it's a beautiful thing my friends If we really begin to understand this, it is a deep knowledge to understand that disease is an effort of nature.

We understand this when you think of a fever.

That's why you ever heard that term, a fever is your friend?

You ever heard that term before, a fever's your friend?

Because it's an effort naturally that the body is trying to create an atmosphere that whatever that virus is or bacteria that's causing the problem can somehow be rooted out via sweating or whatever else the case may be, initiating the white blood cells to get more radical in their activity, et cetera.

The point is that this is our best way to understand disease.

So when somebody says, what is hypertension?

Yes, we're going to talk about vasoconstriction, vasodilation, et cetera.

But before that, we need to understand that hypertension is an effort of nature to free the system from a condition that resulted from a violation of the laws of health.

That is what we need to add to that pool of knowledge that we have.

Now, when this part comes up, God did not leave us there.

Because yesterday, we didn't just look at disease, but we also studied its causes.

And so it is that we're told in the continuation of the counsel, all coming from page 127, in case of sickness.

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Inspiration Explains Disease and Its Causes

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Prophecy and Medical Missionary Work

1h 1m

Inspiration Explains Disease and Its Causes

1h 8m

A Challenge to the Consecrated Physician

1h 28m

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