[Faith-talk] Good Night Message for Sunday, October 28 2012

[Paul]

Well folks, praise God, we're here with yet another good night message.  Those of you who get the daily morning quotes, well, we'll just have to see about that.  How was your day today, and especially your day in the Lord with fellowship with Him and others? Mine was good, though it could have lasted a bit longer.

Frana Hamilton is back with us once again with an article entitled "Beautiful But Empty," rendered as follows:

She was an extremely attractive young woman with the kind of good looks that make you smile and take a second look.  She was sophisticated, wealthy and elegant, but empty inside.

>From outward appearances, she seemed to have it all, but on the inside she was consumed with longing for some elusive something--she knew not what.  It was that inner barrenness that drove her to a nearby Bible institute.  She signed up for an evening course and then sought inside herself for the courage to attend the first evening session.

Her name was Jo, for Josephine, and she related to me after we became friends how she stopped by a cocktail party on the way to her beginning class.  With a brand-new Bible in one hand and a cocktail in the other, she took quite a ribbing from her partying friends.  "I'm on my way to a Bible class," she told them, undaunted.  Her determination to find out about God outweighed any discomfort from their teasing.

She was hoping "those Christians" could answer some of the gnawing questions inside her.

After the first class she went back again and again until finally the wonderful gospel gripped her heart.  Enthralled, she gave herself to the Lord Jesus Christ.

"Those Bible school students were afraid of me," she told me.  "They didn't know what to make of me because I didn't look like them.  After I became a Christian, two of the young women approached me and told me they had a brother, Whit, who was unsaved but who would not listen to them.  Would you go talk to them? they asked."

Jo did go talk to Whit.  Later they fell in love and married.

Jo's story gave me pause.  I could not help realizing that those of us who have been saved a long time can easily develop preconceived notions of what a "seeker" should look like.

We are rather like the followers of Jesus who were offended by the company He kept.  They did not realize our Savior could look right into the heart of any person and see the need.

We do not have that ability, but we can ask the Holy Spirit to open our spiritual eyes so that we can look beyond the outward appearance and perceive the emptiness of those around us and who seem to have it all together but do not know Christ.  Looks can be deceiving.

My, but isn't that true! I can remember on more than one occasion traveling to work in the morning by bus and having a very pleasant conversation with a black lady who was herself a Christian.  When she got off at her stop, a so-called "know-it-all" white man proceeded to graphically tell me about how she looked, her clothes, her misshapen (according to him) body and other things.  To this I replied that, while that may have been true, we had a very pleasant conversation.  To this the guy replied, "Well, Paul, have it your way, but I'm just trying to give you some advice." He meant not to hang around with people like her, of course.  Well, if I took his advice, I wouldn't be hanging around all you beautiful people.  I hope that you think I'm beautiful, and not just in a physical kind of way, but one who truly loves the Lord and people.  And what about this lady? She happened not only to be a Christian, but was fairly well off financially.  It was just a birth defect that made her body misshapen and her facial features not acceptable to some.

And now may the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob just keep us safe, individually and collectively, throughout this night or day and especially in these last days in which we live.  I might tell you a rather unusual thing that will happen here in Baltimore tomorrow.  All public transport will come to a complete halt, including bus, our Metro underground system and the light rail.  Although the Metro and light rail trains in the past did not operate because of weather conditions, buses weren't stopped from running.  This is extremely unusual.  I'm sure the same thing will occur in other eastern seaboard and New England cities as well.

Lord willing, we will present another good night message tomorrow evening if we still have power and I haven't been evacuated.  I've got my emergency bag packed in case me and Michelle have to leave at a moment's notice.  It goes without saying that those of us to be affected by the storm thank you for your prayers.  Paul