Good Morning Everyone,
Our theme for this month: “Confidence”
Our Bible verse for today: “Now what you worship as something unknown I am going to proclaim to you.” Acts 17:23 (NIV)
Our thought for today: “We must confidently tell people about Jesus.”
I once read a very provocative statement about man’s search for God which has stuck with me for many years. The writer claimed that, “Every man lying in the arms of a prostitute is really searching for God.”
What he meant was that there is an empty place in the human heart which can only be filled by God. It’s what King Solomon was referring to in Ecclesiastes 3:11 when he wrote, “He has set eternity in the hearts of men.” God created us as spirit-beings designed to live forever. Eternity is in our DNA. That’s why virtually every person who has ever lived has had a sense that this life is not all there is. It’s why every culture that has ever existed has always had a theology of an afterlife and worship practices designed to help them to connect with the spirit world.
God has created us for eternity and deep in our heats we know it. There is a space in the human heart, an emptiness that longs to be filled. But in our human nature we try to fill that place with everything except God. We try to fill it with achievements and possessions, with earthly relationships and sex, and often we end up relying on addictive substances such as drugs, alcohol, or food which all provide a temporary (and false) sense of fulfillment.
I love the scene in Acts 17:23 where the Apostle Paul was in Athens. As he looked around he noticed that the Athenians had images and altars of worship for multitudes of false gods. Clearly these were a spiritual people; observably they were seeking after spiritual fulfillment; and Paul recognized this for the opportunity it was. He immediately began explaining to them that although their spiritual yearning and searching was a good thing, they were looking for God in all the wrong places. He then went on to tell them about the One True God.
People all around us today are seeking after God, and most of them don’t even know it. What they think they’re yearning for is the next promotion, a big raise, a new car, the next meal, or physical satisfaction in the arms of a prostitute. But what they’re really yearning after is God. They’re trying desperately to fill the emptiness in their heart with the things of this world when in fact that place can only be filled by God Himself.
Like Paul, this presents great opportunities for us to tell people about God. We can do so with confidence because even if they don’t realize it, God is who they’re really looking for. I encourage you to be confident as you tell people about Jesus today. He is who they need, and He is who they’re really looking for.
God Bless,
Pastor Jim
Oak Hill Baptist Church 