AMEN 2011: Center of Influence

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Adventist Medical Evangelism Network (AMEN)

AMEN 2011 Plenary Sessions

Phil Mills

Two Men Went Up

Well, the theme of our conference tonight is centers of influence, and we want to look at 2 men who were centers of influence.

Both men changed their world, but only 1 is worthy of emulation.

Dear Father, we'd like to bring an additional word of prayer to you.

We're going to be opening your word, and we're unworthy to hear your word and to have the lovely Jesus presented before our eyes.

And so tonight we pray that Jesus can be seen, our hearts can be touched, and we can be changed.

I love the introductions to Jesus' stories.

"'Two men went up into the temple to pray, the 1 a Pharisee, the other a publican.

This evening I am only going to look at the first 4 introductory words, 2 men went up.

Jesus would take our minds back to 1 of the great stories of all times.

Recently, I received an email from a friend of mine who is living in Kansas, and apparently in southeast Kansas and actually down south into Texas, they're having a drought that's the worst since the Dust Bowl days.

If it goes on for another year, it will actually surpass the drought of the Dust Bowl.

And it is even worse in Texas with dust storms now occurring from what I've seen.

But Kansas and Texas are not the only areas in the world that have droughts.

The Bible shows the land of Canaan not only as a land flowing with milk and honey, but as a land of frequent droughts with resultant famine.

In the days of the patriarchs, every generation of patriarch faced a drought.

The drought at the time of Abraham was so severe that it threatened the lives of his household and it took them into Egypt.

His son Isaac lived through a drought that was so severe it took him to the land of the Philistines.

And Jacob faced a drought that was so severe, for 7 years, Joseph had predicted it, that it said there was no bread even available.

The droughts did not end with the patriarchs.

In the days of Ruth, there was a drought with a famine that took her family into the land of Moab.

In the days of David, there was a drought with a famine.

Sometimes Christians are surprised when their life faces drought and loss, famine, they face difficulty, they face perhaps even the end of their careers.

But the Bible record is clear, at some point in our life, every Christian faces a time of drought.

Understanding drought and famine is essential for us to be medical evangelists, and that's why I want to talk about it tonight.

Although Israel had many droughts and famines, the very worst drought on record occurred during the evil reign of King Ahab.

I remember a little child's book that we would frequently read to our children when they were small, The Time of No Rain.

Land of Israel was suffering from spiritual heart failure.

And during the reign of Ahab, the condition had taken an ominous turn for the worst.

1 Kings 16.30, Ahab, the son of Amorai, did evil in the sight of the Lord more than all who were before him.

To treat Israel's life-threatening spiritual illness, God raised up Elijah, a physician of the soul who would carefully administer a very potent treatment.

Notice how Ellen White describes the man.

Prophets and Kings 119, while he came to the people as a reprover of sin, read me the next part.

His message offered the balm of Gilead to the sin-sick souls of all who desired to be healed.

Elijah's prescription for Israel and their spiritual heart failure was short.

I suppose you could call fluid restriction a form of hydrotherapy.

Now Elijah the Tishbite said to Ahab, As the Lord, the God of Israel lives before whom I stand, there shall be neither dew nor rain these years, except by my word.

The doctor's orders had been written, and it was immediately and faithfully followed.

For 3 and a half years there was not 1 cloud that appeared in the sky.

There was neither the smallest drop of rain nor the finest bead of dew in any part of northern Israel.

The description of the land after Only 1 year of this horror is striking.

The scorching heat of the sun destroys what little vegetation has survived.

Streams dry up and lowing herds and bleeding flocks wander hither and thither in distress.

Once flourishing fields have become like burning desert sands, a desolate waste.

The groves dedicated to idol worship are leafless.

The forest trees, gaunt skeletons of nature, afford no shade.

Dust storms blind the eyes and nearly stop the breath.

Once prosperous cities and villages have become places of mourning, hunger and thirst are telling upon man and beast with fearful mortality.

Now there's some interesting consequences of drought.

Number 1, during a drought, the work is much more difficult.

Without rain to soften the soil, even early in a drought, plowing is very, very difficult.

Secondly, during a severe drought and famine, even though the work is harder, the solution is not simply to work harder.

It doesn't matter how hard you work, your efforts are for naught.

It doesn't matter how much you plant, there's not going to be a harvest.

It doesn't matter how much you fertilize, it won't help the plants to grow.

You don't have to worry about weeding, since not even weeds can grow, so I suppose there is some comfort.

All the usual methods And secrets for a successful farm fail in a drought.

There's a third consequence of drought that is important in medical evangelism.

In a time of famine without food or water, there is no effective medical treatment.

What if God brought a climate change to North America, and it became like Australia with the center all desert?

The only useful ground located in a strip around the coast?

And that's what happened in northern Israel during this time without rain.

Now, what do you think the people in Israel tried to do as the drought became prolonged?

Many of them would try to leave the land of Israel just like Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Ruth.

They'd go to a place that was still watered.

Some may have gone down to southern Israel.

Some may have gone north to Syria or Phoenicia, but most would have no place to go.

And there would be the others who could simply stay and hope the drought was going to end pretty quick.

But the fluid restriction treatment continued.

Notice the description, the effects of year 2 for those who have no place to go and had to remain in the land of Israel.

There, notice that next word, devastation throughout the kingdom.

Fathers and mothers, powerless to relieve the sufferings of their children, were forced to see them die.

The most sensitive indicator of drought is child mortality.

In the well-studied Great Famine of China in 1959 to 1961, children under the age of 10 years old were particularly vulnerable.

This is the very hardest part emotionally to see happen.

I remember my second surgery to observe was an orthopedic surgery when I was just first year, actually 3 months into medical school.

I saw a little seven-year-old being operated on with the And I began to feel squeamish, and I began to feel faint, and I had to leave the operating room as that knife cut into the hand.

And you know this was not an easy treatment for a God to administer, but it was necessary.

God's fluid restrictions begin to bring change in Israel.

With destitution, poverty, and starvation, people's priorities begin to change.

Instead of trying to decide between which entertainment they would have this weekend, instead of trying to decide, well now, which movie are we gonna watch, what fancy clothes are we gonna wear to church, they had to decide where they were gonna find water just to carry it back to their families to drink and forget about washing.

If they could get perfume, it would have to do.

Stephen Bohr

Our High Calling, Part 1

Father in heaven we thank you for the privilege of being here.

There's no better place to be at this moment than in this worship to praise your name and to hear your voice speaking to us through the ministry of the word.

Father we ask that as we open that word this morning that your Holy Spirit will be with us, guide our thoughts, open our hearts.

I ask Lord that you will make us more and more like Jesus each day.

We thank you Father for the privilege of prayer And we know that you have heard this prayer because we ask it in the precious name of Jesus.

As we begin this morning I would like to read a statement that we find in the book Education, page 18.

The theme that has been given to me for the 3 devotionals that I would share with you is Our High Calling.

Now that's an interesting name, that's an interesting theme, because actually there's a devotional book written by Ellen White that has that name.

This is a short statement but it will set the tone for what we're going to talk about in the next few mornings.

Higher than the highest human thought, higher than the highest human thought can reach is God's ideal for His children.

I think you've probably read this statement before.

And then she puts dash, godlikeness dash, is the goal to be reached.

So basically she's saying that godliness is godlikeness.

Now the question is, what is God likeness?

The fact is that we could never know what God likeness is unless we know God.

And so we have to know God to know what God is like.

But the Bible tells us that there's a problem and that problem is expressed in a text that states that God dwells in unapproachable light whom no man has seen nor can see.

So we have a dilemma And the dilemma is God wants us to be like Him, but we have to know what He's like.

So how can we know what he's like so that we can copy the pattern?

There's 1 member of the Godhead, Jesus Christ, whom the Bible calls God, who has undertaken the task of revealing what God is like.

In John 1 verses 1 through 3 we find clearly stated that Jesus is God.

You're well acquainted with this passage that says, In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the Word was God.

So irrespective of what many are saying even inside the church that Jesus was a created being, He's kind of a lesser God, The Bible makes it very clear that Jesus is God in the fullest sense of the word.

And of course, we know that the way in which God reveals himself, because he dwells in light unapproachable.

In fact Ellen White once had a vision where she asked Jesus if his father had a form like himself and Jesus said yes he does have a form like mine, but if you should once behold the glory of his person you would cease to exist.

So we can't approach God the Father, that's the reason why Jesus God the Son who is God in every sense of the word, decided to take upon himself human flesh to veil his divine glory so that he could reveal what God is like without destroying us.

And that's the reason why in John chapter 1 and verse 14 we find this statement.

And the Word, who is God, became flesh and dwelt among us.

Glory in scripture is the character of God, we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father full of grace and truth.

And so God reveals himself without destroying us by Jesus Christ taking human flesh and veiling His divine glory and revealing the character of God.

Now a little bit later in John chapter 1, actually in verse 18, we find a very interesting statement which shows that there's no 1 who could ever reveal the nature of God like Jesus could.

It says there, and no 1 has seen God at any time, and now comes the portion I want to underline, the only begotten Son who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him.

Do you know if you look up the word bosom in scripture it's an expression of the closest that you can be to a person.

We're told here that Jesus is in the bosom of His Father.

In other words He is the closest of any being in the universe to His Father, therefore He can reveal fully and completely and totally what God is really like.

And I believe that this is the reason why when Philip asked Jesus to show them the Father we find the following words in John chapter 14 and verses 7 through 9.

If you had known me you would have known my father, and from now on you know him and have seen him.

Philip said to Him, Lord show us the Father and it is sufficient for us.

Jesus said to Him, have I been with you so long and yet you have not known me Philip?

And so the way in which God reveals Himself without destroying us is in the face of Jesus Christ.

We see the glory of the Father in the face of Jesus Christ, but there's more to the story than this.

As Adventists we believe that the final controversy in this world will have to do with God's holy law.

In fact, Revelation 12 verse 17, 1 of the best known verses in the Seventh-day Adventist Church, states that the dragon was wroth with the woman and he went to make war against the remnant of her seed.

Those who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.

The fact is folks that Jesus revealed the Father, but in revealing the Father Jesus revealed in His person the law, because the law is a reflection of the character of God.

Notice Psalm chapter 40 and verse 8, this is a very significant verse.

Here Jesus is speaking messianically a thousand years before His birth And I want you to notice what Jesus prophetically says.

I delight to do your will, O my God, yea, your law is within my heart.

You see what Jesus revealed to human beings was the law in living color, the law in human flesh, The living law if you please.

Now I found this statement from Ellen White in the volume 5 of the Bible commentary page 1131.

Hopefully we're not like Peter, we speak and then we think.

But here it says what speech is to thought we think and then we speak what we think.

She continues saying so is Christ to the invisible Father.

Jesus is the speech of God, the Father thinks and Jesus speaks what the Father thinks.

So if we can know how Jesus speaks we know how the Father speaks.

What speech is to thought, so is Christ to the invisible Father.

He is the manifestation of the Father and is called the Word of God.

God sent His Son into the world, His divinity clothed with humanity, that man might bear the image of the invisible God.

So that we could bear the image of the invisible God, so that we could have God-likeness.

He made known in His words, His character, His power, and majesty, the nature and attributes of God, divinity flashed through humanity in softening, subduing light.

It means that he was the law in bodily form.

So she says he was the embodiment of the law of God, which is the transcript of his character.

It is over the law of God, but there's something deeper than that.

It is over the character of God, because the law of God is a reflection of His character.

It's God in written form and Jesus is the law lived.

So if you really want to understand the spiritual nature of the law you have to see Jesus, because he's the law in living color.

So the final controversy is not simply over 10 rules written on tables of stone, it's about 10 rules written in the tables of the heart that is translated into the life.

Now the big question is, yes we see God-likeness in Christ, we see the character of God revealed in Christ, we see the law revealed in Christ, but the question is how does that translate to us?

Well the fact is folks that the only way that we can reflect the character of Christ, that we can truly have the law written in our hearts, is by spending time with Christ, time in prayer, time in Scripture, because that's where we catch a glimpse of Christ, and also time in witnessing to other people which I call the triangle of sanctification.

I had the privilege of teaching theology for about 6 years in our Seventh-day Adventist University in the city of Medellin, Colombia.

My parents went to South America when I was 4.

And I still keep my Spanish up because I preach a lot in different Latin American countries.

But when I taught there, I had a student that went through my classes, he actually was my student for 3 years because I left before he's finished his theological degree.

This individual was just a phenomenal student.

He would come into class and he would sit on the front row, first thing he would do would be open his Bible, take out his notebook, and from the time that the class started till the time that the class ended, The only time he took his eyes off of me was to write in his notebook what I was speaking in class.

Tim Howe

Every Practice a Lifestyle Center

I thought I'd start out with some case studies.

We could title this lecture, How to Rob the Surgeon, especially if they're a vascular surgeon, but I didn't do that.

You could go to Weimar and get similar results or to Yuchi Pines or any of those, but you can do this in your own practice.

And that's really the take home message of this first part.

These are people that just walked into my practice.

And unfortunately, not all of them listened the first time.

I don't always listen to my wife the first time either.

Though they suffered from not listening to me, and I suffer from not listening to her.

An 83-year-old woman with hypertension, coronary artery disease, hyperlipidemia.

She had an abdominal aortic aneurysm repair in 1970, four-vessel coronary artery bypass grafting in 1980, and aortofemoral bypass in 1998.

You might say that she has vascular disease.

She developed type 2 diabetes in 2004, complicated by stage 3 chronic renal insufficiency in 2007.

In 2008, she presented with severe intermittent claudication, maximum tolerable walking distance before rest less than 100 feet.

Her meds were as follows, metoprolol 50 BID, atorvastatin 80, rather major dose there, aspirin 81 isosorbide, 60 milligrams a day, glipizide 5 milligrams daily, nitro, and she was still having chest pain when she walked, if she could tolerate her leg pain.

I said, well, we could do, you know, surgery again maybe, But your kidneys wouldn't stand it very well.

She said, I'd rather do anything than have surgery.

Now, a reversal diet is the same thing that Esselstyn and Ornish and those guys use, only mine, I do allow a few nuts.

Diet and health, that's the chapter if you want to look it up.

September, 2 months later, She was walking 3 miles a day without chest pain.

She came in back in 2 weeks and she said, I want you to know I walked for 2 miles today.

That's the longest she had walked in years.

October, just saw her before I came down.

I had to put her back on more blood pressure medicine, as you can see there as a result of that.

But then she got the idea that maybe she should get back on it when her legs started to ache, and now she's doing better.

Yes, she still has renal insufficiency, but it's better than it was in 2008.

If you thought the previous 1 was a mess, look at this 1.

G.H., 76-year-old man with coronary artery disease, congestive heart failure.

Diabetes militus type 2, actually it's type 2B, he's on insulin.

Stage 3 chronic renal insufficiency, coronary artery bypass grafting in 1992, right coronary artery endarterectomy in 1998.

That right carotid was actually done twice.

They'd repeated it, and then it occluded again.

He has severe peripheral vascular disease with right subclavian, bilateral femoral and right renal artery stenosis.

The carotid artery had completely occluded on the right in 2000, but in 2010 I did another duplex scan which showed greater than 70% stenosis of the left carotid and again, total occlusion of the right.

He was admitted in July to the ICU with non-Q-wave MI.

After evaluation by cardiology, he was told that his coronary artery disease was small vessel diffuse disease for which there was no therapeutic options other than meds.

Back to Menu

Series

AMEN 2011 Plenary Sessions

Reformers Once Again

Transcript

Parent Series

Parent Conference

Sponsor

Recorded

Parts

Two Men Went Up

57m

Our High Calling, Part 1

34m

Every Practice a Lifestyle Center

42m

Vacation Centers of Influence

55m

Our High Calling, Part 2

48m

The Office as a Center of Influence for Health, Healing and Hope

52m

Radical Apostleship

33m

Reformers Once Again

1h

Our High Calling, Part 3

39m

Sound Doctrine