C.S. Lewis, in his book “Miracles,” wrote that there are two types of people in the world: naturalists and supernaturalists. We will be exploring the righteousness of Christ as illustrated through His miraculous healing ministry within the gospel accounts.

AMEN 2019: Christ in You

<p>C.S. Lewis, in his book “Miracles,” wrote that there are two types of people in the world: naturalists and supernaturalists. We will be exploring the righteousness of Christ as illustrated through His miraculous healing ministry within the gospel accounts.</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)

Plenary

Brian Schwartz

Us in Christ and Christ in Us

Amarachi Nwankpah

Six Words Every Physician Should Know

Kianna Simmons

Evaluating the Final Impressions

John Shin

A Case Study in Faith

Adrien Charles-Marcel

Reflecting Christ in the Match

Sebastien Braxton

I Believe in Miracles

Mark Finley

God’s Glory Revealed

Father in heaven, we are overjoyed to be in your presence this morning.

The Bible says that we should enter your gates with thanksgiving and your courts with praise.

Father, we are not here to hear the words of a man.

Our interest is not in political speeches, pontificating, or simply discourses, but Like those Greeks of old that came to Jerusalem around the time of the Passover.

And Lord, it is not that physicians and healthcare providers are excluded from a need of Jesus.

We all want to be touched by his spirit and that is why we bow our heads now and pray that you would use this man who is but dust in your sight.

Father, it is our prayer that you would speak through me and you would speak to me.

This is our prayer, and we trust that you will help this to be our experience.

As we offer this prayer from our hearts, Let all of God's people say, Amen.

I entitled my sermon in the booklet, I Believe in Miracles.

You know I was told I've worked in a lot of hospitals and with a lot of different medical staff and 1 of the things that I used to hear oftentimes in these medical facilities is that doctors make the worst patients Is that true?

Okay, just wanted to make sure Doctors make the worst patients and So I wanted to speak to an audience of health care providers across various specialties as if you are the patient.

That is my intention this morning, is to shift from being the provider to the 1 provided for.

And so if you would for a minute, put your doctor hat on the shelf, put your physical therapy hat on the shelf, your nursing, your dentistry, your ophthalmology, whatever specialty it is, put it aside, you are the patient this morning.

Lewis, in his book on miracles, he believes that there are only 2 types of people in the world Naturalists and Supernaturalists He says naturalists believe that nature is all that there is.

But you see a supernaturalist, they believe that nature is not all that there is.

Now that seems like a very simple definition to divide them but there is an understanding that nature and what it is is critical to understanding the difference.

And so we have to explore what do we mean by nature, or that which is natural.

And since most of us are healthcare providers and practitioners, you're probably not wordies or lovers of rhetorical art like myself.

Allow us to use some basic sentences where you might hear this word and arrive at a certain sense of what nature is by definition.

So let me phrase this in terms of some statements or questions where we might use this word.

Perhaps you might go up to an individual and ask the question, Are those your natural teeth?

I didn't say you should, I just said if you did.

Now a dentist, maybe you could ask that question, but I would never ask that question.

Another thing you might say is the dog in his natural state is covered with fleas.

Or another thing you might say is I love to be in nature and to be refreshed from the week.

Maybe something else you might hear is a girlfriend going to meet a guy, going to meet his girlfriend's father for the very first time.

God have mercy on the man that comes to my door.

She turned to him and said, just be natural.

Now, what can we draw from all these statements about nature?

Nature is what we will get if we take no measure to stop it.

It is something that comes from its own self.

Thus, in each statement, this definition is plainly understood.

You see, when we say, Are those your natural teeth?

Here we mean that the teeth that grow of their own cells.

We're not talking about dentures designed by someone outside of your body.

Taking any measures to stop it, your dog will be covered with fleas.

If you go to a place in nature, what you mean is not just the garden in the back, but a place that is untouched by a gardener or any outside influence or hands.

And when the girlfriend tells her boyfriend, just be natural, what she's saying is, I want you to behave as if the fact that you're meeting my dad for the first time does not influence who you are.

Just act as if you're not meeting my dad.

Just be who you are when my dad is not around.

Thus, A naturalist believes that everything that happens in the universe, everything that happens inside of a human being, everything that happens in the ocean or in the sky or in the Andromeda galaxy happens of its own self.

There are no events in the universe by which an outside power a mind or influence is required in order to bring about a change but a supernaturalist believes that some things require an outside Influence a mind a power that is greater than nature in order to bring about a specific result.

You see a naturalist believes in a world without windows.

A world where There is no thing and no 1 beyond nature that can influence the universe as we know it.

In other words, a world without miracles.

All things that happen, happen of their own selves.

At these things we admire, we study, we seek to understand, but we do not necessarily wonder, which is what the word miracle means essentially in its Latin roots, mirari, to wonder.

The gospels are filled with experiences that don't happen naturally.

Things that we would not say that happen of their own selves.

For example, if a man is paralyzed for 38 years, he doesn't just get up and walk because a Jewish rabbi says so.

Another example is dead people don't return from the grave 4 days after being buried by invitation or calling the dead person by that name That's not natural.

You see a supernatural list believes in miracles Experiences that show a power above and outside of nature Coming into nature to bring about something that nature could not accomplish of its own self I don't know about you, but this sounds a lot like the gospel to me.

This sounds curiously like Ellen White's statement on righteousness by faith to testimonies to ministers.

In the heavenly courts there will be no song sung to me that loved myself and washed myself.

Redeemed myself unto me be glory and honor blessing and praise.

But this is the keynote of the song that is sung by many here in this world.

It is the work of God in laying the glory of man in the dust And doing for man that which it is not in his power to do for himself You see if you believe in miracles then you believe in the supernatural and if you believe in the supernatural then you are a supernaturalist and if you are a supernaturalist then you believe that there is a power above and outside of nature outside of the universe especially humanity that can do what it is not in our own power to accomplish.

And if you believe that, then you believe in the gospel.

And the gospel can be the best and most clearly illustrated through miracles.

Particularly, miracles that involve people For these miracles reveal Jesus's ability To do something In the human being in the human soul that the soul could not do for itself Namely as our theme states Christ in you You cannot do that I cannot do that.

I want you to take your Bibles and turn with me to the book of Ephesians chapter 3.

It is actually in your program booklet as well.

Ephesians chapter 3 in verse 17 the Bible says, this is the prayer of Paul that Christ may dwell where?

Faith tells us that Paul's prayer, an expression of the Holy Spirit's desire for all believers and readers of scripture is that Christ would dwell in our hearts.

The Gospels reveal especially for a conference that gathers those who have dedicated their lives to healing the simplest and clearest expressions of faith.

You see, I want to use 3 examples this morning, this afternoon, that reveal what sincere faith looks like to allow Christ to dwell in our hearts.

It's 1 thing to talk about Christ dwelling in your heart, how to set up your waiting room, how to Go about asking people to pray, but I don't know about you, but I've had some people offer me prayer who weren't very Christlike before They weren't trying to pray with me because they were sincerely concerned for my soul They were trying to pray with me to influence me in a certain direction.

Or sometimes we use prayer as an excuse of gossip.

And so I want to walk you through just 3 brief encounters of human healing and explore the lessons that they can teach us about faith that leads to Christ dwelling in your heart and in mine.

If you have your Bibles I want you to turn to me to the gospel of Mark chapter 10.

We're going to begin in verse 46 of the story of blind Bartimaeus.

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Series

Plenary

I Believe in Miracles

Transcript

Description

Parent Series

Parent Conference

Sponsor

Recorded

IMPACT Scandinavia 2012: Plenary Sessions

Immune to the Gospel

1h 10m

Nothing Undone

34m

Hostages No More

40m

Healing and Hope in His Wounded Hands

58m

The Answer Was Created

The Answer Was Created 9

39m

God in Harm’s Way

39m

The Plan of Salvation

05 God’s Part Our Part

1h 1m

Autoimmune Diseases and the Last Day Church

41m

Engage

1h 16m

Restoration 2006: Prepare Me

A Ransom for a Rebel: Bloody Business of the Beasts

49m

From Pews to Priesthood

47m

A Leader You Can Trust

35m

Sound Doctrine