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Living Hope SDA Church

Christian Martin

When God Fills the Void of Your Life

And when 1 reads the stories of Jesus in the Gospels, They paint a beautiful picture of the character of God.

He was a gentle healer who encountered empty people but filled them.

My message today is entitled, When God Fills the Voids of Your Life.

I invite you to bow your heads with me as we begin with the word of prayer.

Our Father in heaven, as we come before your presence today.

We come, Lord, from various walks of life, yet we come for a single purpose, and that is to have an encounter with you, to meet you, to see Jesus.

And at this time, Lord, to hear your voice, speak to our hearts.

We're so thankful that you have welcomed us here today.

There's an instance in Jesus' life when he was broken-hearted.

He had just been informed that John the Baptist had been beheaded.

Matthew writes in his Gospel that when Jesus heard it, He departed from there by boat to a deserted place by Himself.

All Jesus wanted was to be by himself in a deserted place to grieve.

Not only had John been a fellow preacher who proclaimed the same message of repentance that Jesus would.

But he was also related to Jesus for an angel had called Elizabeth a relative of his mother Mary, A general term meaning of the same family.

And now John, his relative, his fellow preacher, a friend, was dead.

It's not recorded in this story, but believe me, Jesus wept.

True were the inspired words of the prophet Isaiah when he described Jesus as a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.

So Jesus and his disciples departed on a boat to spend time alone.

But it was only a matter of time When a multitude of people, we don't know how many, but it was a multitude, evidently several dozens or a few hundred people, if not more, heard about his whereabouts.

It didn't take too long to find out where Jesus was because people kept their eyes on Him.

The Gospel of Mark records that, and I quote, they ran there on foot from all the cities in search of Jesus.

Now, put yourself in the circumstances that Jesus finds Himself in.

How would you react if all you needed was to be alone?

After all, when 1 is in need, the last thing they are compelled to do is to give of themselves.

And when 1 feels empty, They have nothing left to give.

If this sounds like your life today, well, I'm here to tell you that you're not alone.

When it seems like you lead a pretty meaningless life.

You're not happy, but you're not particularly sad either.

Another might ask you, what can I do to help?

Yes, empty people today, as in the days of Galilee, seem to be running on foot from all the cities, but getting nowhere Fast.

Running from 1 place to another in search for purpose, in search to be filled, to be filled.

Running, running, running from 1 political rally to another, looking to be filled with hope, but walking away empty.

Because they feel unimportant or uncared for.

But they end up looking for acceptance in all the wrong places.

You know, people will tell you about how high they were, but they won't tell you how empty they felt when the high was gone.

You know, we were created by God to be social beings.

Social beings so we could press together and be a community.

Social beings, so we can connect with 1 another.

But what has happened in the 21st century?

Social beings invented social media, which often leads to not to community, but to isolation.

Studies have shown that among college students, for every 10% rise in negative social media interactions a person experienced, the risk of depression rose significantly by 20%.

And I don't know about you, I don't know if you've noticed, but for the last, what, 10 months or so, Negative social media interaction has been unprecedented.

In another survey, this 1 conducted by Common Sense Media, 35% of teens were worried about getting tagged in unflattering photos.

27% felt anxious about how they look in posted photos.

And 22% felt worse about themselves if their posted photos were unnoticed.

You might be quick to think that these percentages may seem kind of low, but in reality they represent millions of teens, millions.

And should I say millions of empty teens?

You know, it was a rhetorical question asked to the weeping prophet that speaks to us today in the 21st century.

Jeremiah 23-24 says, can a man hide himself in secret places so that I cannot see him?

Do I not fill heaven and earth, declares the Lord.

I wonder, does emptiness characterize your life?

Things seem to easily get out of control.

What if, what if, What you're looking for, what you're craving for, is within faith's reach.

What if, what if God literally created a framework of time that reminds us of an ultimate reality that He is the Creator who fills the void in your life.

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When God Fills the Void of Your Life

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