10 BOCNEWS.com JUNE 2018 "But when He saw the multitudes, He was moved with compassion on them, because they fainted, and were scattered abroad as sheep having no shepherd. — Matthew 9:36 There is no question that hospitals, clinics and other medical facilities save lives and even help people to live longer and better. However, we might be surprised to know that other facili- ties and even peoples homes can play a role in helping to prolong life and even help people to live longer and better. In fact, doing health screening outside of a medical setting can be beneficial. Let me explain further. You can work in in a church, a local community cen- ter such as a YMCA and do health fairs and health education. If you do this, you might at times see people who have not seen a medical provider for in inordinate period of time. You may see people who have health conditions they are not paying attention to and be at risk of having a catastrophic illness. Let me explain in detail an experi- ence I have had. I work as a volunteer in the community for many years since returning from the mission field in Ethiopia in 1987. My wife and I have been going to local barbershops doing free blood pressure readings for patrons of a barbershop, working with other volunteers. We started first in my own barbershop that I have frequented since I was a high school student: Wright's Barbershop on York and Bruce Randolph Way in Denver. I started doing this because I went to a black medical conference in in 2008 in Atlanta, Georgia. There they pre- sented a funded program in Texas to do blood pressure screening in barber- shops to continue an initiative begun in 2007 by Podiatrist Dr.Bill Releford to help prevent amputations in African Americans due to hypertension and diabetes. This program began in Los Angeles and has spread across the nation. The program started in 2008 in Texas did not last long. We decided to bring the program to Denver and started doing screening for hyperten- sion in 2009. We did this about quar- terly or so. This program has grown far beyond anything we could imag- ine with multiple schools, a coalition of volunteers and local universities participating. In 2012, we became part of the Colorado Black Health Collaborative and we have a robust health program that involves numer- ous people in a program that is free to the community and involves hair salons as well as barbershops. Next month I will explain more about what this program is doing in the Denver Metro area. Now I want to focus on health benefits of community health outreach. One day a few years ago, I an other volunteers were doing free health screening at Wright's Barbershop. I saw a man who told me he had not seen his doctor for years. He had his blood pressure taken and it was 180/110. This is an alarmingly high blood pressure as it should have been about 130/80 or less. We spent a lot of time talking to our client about his blood pressure and lifestyle measures he could take to lower his blood pres- sure. Most importantly he needed to see his doctor finally, as he was on no medications. We gave him his blood pressure reading on a card to take with him. On our next trip to the bar- bershop in about a month, we hap- pened to see the client with the much elevated blood pressure noted before. He told me that: "I just want you guys to know that you saved my life!" He was very grateful for his encounter with us and so were we. His doc- tor put him on medication and now his blood pressure was normal. This shows the kind of benefit community health screening can have. He had no symptoms of any kind prior to being treated for his hypertension. Let me just share some important information that can help save your life, and help you live longer and better: You can have severe blood pressure elevation with no symptoms whatso- ever and end up having a stroke, heart attack, or kidney failure and other health issues. We can diagnose high blood pressure only by measurement. You can even check your blood pres- sure at home with a portable machine. You can have diabetes with no symp- toms until you have a catastrophic ill- ness. You have to have a blood test done, and please do not wait to have symptoms like excessive thirst, exces- sive urination and unexplained weight loss until you see a doctor. You can learn to check your blood sugar at home as needed. Monitor your weight and remember obesity can have serious health con- sequences Remember that one of the worst things you can do is to be sedentary and not exercise-this predisposes you to a multitude of health issues If you smoke: Quit, and do not just "cut down". Also avoid excessive alco- hol use: more than one drink for a woman and two for a man daily. Do not put doctor visits off to long. See your medical provider when you should and as instructed Get any screening test you were advised to get such as Pap smears, mammograms, colon tests, and pros- tate screening. Get blood tests as ordered. Take medication as directed and prescribed. Don't stop medication or reduce it without telling your physi- cian Do not ignore your family history. If certain diseases such as various can- cers, diabetes and heart disease run in your family, get screened as needed even if you feel well. This is the kind of information we share in our community screening. This information can actually save lives! The next time you go to a salon or barbershop and someone offers free screening for hypertension or diabetes- --say Yes! May God help you to live longer and better. Saving Lives in Our Community Dr. Conner By Byron E. Conner, M.D. HEALTH You can have diabetes with no symptoms until you have a catastrophic illness. You have to have a blood test done, and please do not wait! You Are Righteous – Part 1 Matthew chapter 6 verse 33 says Seek ye first the kingdom of God and the righteousness. Very important, the understanding of righteous- ness will change a whole lot of things in your life. I want to say to you like I started on Friday I want to start the same way. Our God is a God of dispensa- tions. Did you hear me? God is a God of dispensa- tions, he’s a God of seasons, he’s a God of times. In Revelation 22 verse 13 the bible says God calls himself the beginning and the end. He says I am the Alpha and Omega the beginning and the end the first and the last. What does that mean? God said when the begin- ning began in the beginning of the beginning I was there in the beginning. He was there and when any- thing is coming to an end he will still be there. And in Ecclesiastes chapter 3 verse 1 the bible says there is time for everything. To everything there is a sea- son. A time for every purpose under heaven. There is a time to be born, a time to die, a time to plant, a time to pluck what is planted. And so on and so forth. Now watch this when you study the bible you discover three dispensations. There is in the Old Testament the dispensation of God the Father. So, you find the dispensation of God the Father starting from Genesis to Malachi and in this dispensation, God showed himself as God the Father. There was not much activity of the Holy Spirit in terms of tak- ing permanent residency in the life of God’s people. Now, after the dispensation of the Father then we enter into the dispensation of God the Son, Jesus. As we read the book of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John we realize that was the dispensation of God the Son Jesus. And everything as you read in the gospel revolves around the Son. The Son warned us that it is to your advantage that I go. Because if I don’t go you will not be ushered into the next dispensation which is the dispensation of the Holy Spirit. And so, from the book of Acts to Revelation we see the third dis- pensation of God the Holy Spirit. Now that dispensation is still on, it’s not ended. And it’s not coming to an end until the rapture. Now, as we see that we are operating today in the dispensation of God the Holy Spirit and we are operating in the dispensation of faith. Now watch this. In the dispensation of God, the Father he makes himself visible to them. Even though they may not see him face to face they hear his audible voice. Are you hearing me? Now today God is still speak- ing to us, but he doesn’t speak to us all the time and most of the time, in fact 99.9% of the time he does not speak to us audibly and yet he’s a speaker. God speaks, God loves to talk. In fact, he loves to talk so much he calls himself the Word. That’s how much God speaks. If you are not hearing him it’s because you are not listening. He’s a God that wants to talk to all his children. Now, within the dispensation of the Holy Spirit there are several messages that God is sending to the church. God is sending so many messages. And we can trace it from the begin- ning. When you study the bible, you realize that God continually sends messengers. God told me many years ago 2006 he said son, stop preaching sermons and start delivering messages. Remember I said that to you. God said to me stop preaching sermons, a sermon is informational, a Message is transformational. Because a message is not for everybody. A Message Ade Ajala By Bishop-Elect Rev. Dr. Ade Ajala SERMON Continued on Page 20