What do you suppose a traveling evangelist like Paul might see and decide he needed to preach if he were to come to your city? There are several evangelists who come to Dallas who do not live here and do not know our culture or our people. What would you think they might preach when they come? Do they come because they see that Dallas is a good religious market for traveling preachers? How do they know what to say?

Suppose the evangelists landed at Dallas/Fort Worth Airport and took one of our major freeways into the heart of the city. What would they see, which would help them get some insight into who we are and to what we are committed? Would they get some idea of the God or the gods we worship?

Paul had not been to Athens before to preach. He was impressed by the number of idols and altars in Athens. The city even had "an altar to an unknown god." He was impressed by this and argued with them about it. Most of them wondered what "this babbler" would say. They accused him of speaking of other divinities because he spoke of Jesus and the Resurrection. The word for "resurrection" is "anastasis." They thought that was another divinity.

We do not have idols or altars like you might have expected to see in Athens. What would a modern-day Paul see, which could help him understand what our needs are? What kind of message ought he to bring which would speak to our needs? What would he see that would help him understand the things to which we are already committed? Would he see the tall buildings, the major industrial and business developments? Would he see the big banks? Would he think he ought to talk about money and to take some offering? Would he see something non-material and sense the drive for financial success or for social prominence? Would he learn about the Cowboys or the Dallas Mavericks? All of these represent something we adore.

An idol, according to Webster, is "an object of passionate devotion." That simply means that anything or anyone to whom we give passionate devotion can become for us an idol or a god. Would you want to argue with me that there are not people in Dallas who are more passionately devoted to being financially successful than they are to being faithful to God? Would you recognize that there are people who are willing to pay $75 to $300 a ticket to see a play-off game because of their devotion to athletics and celebrities, but who whine when you ask them to make a pledge to the budget of the church? Would you argue with me that there are not people who would do almost anything, regardless of sleet, snow or rain, to get to a certain social event? There they might be seen, see the right people and make the right kind of connections, but will use almost any excuse for not being in worship. Let your own perceptions be your response.

The evangelist might say, as Paul did, "I perceive that in every way you are very religious." We have many churches in Dallas. We have some of the most beautiful architecture anywhere and I dare say we have a larger average attendance on Sunday than in many other parts of this country. So, what do you think the evangelist would see? What would he say? It might be a sermon like Paul’s. If he is sensitive to himself and to the sermon he wants to preach, but is sensitive to God and to the people, he would acknowledge that God has put in each of our hearts a desire to know God. In every place, in every city, regardless of the external evidence, which might support the contrary, there are also people who have "a hope of finding God."

The good news is "He is not far from each one of us, for in him we live and move and have our being. Indeed, we are his offspring." Would the evangelist then offer God to us rather than using God to beat us over the head? God is not "an unknown god." God is not one "who lives in shrines made by men." God is not "like gold, silver or stone, or representation of the art and imagination of human beings." God is a real, personal, knowable God.

Can I support that? I think I can. I can support the claim with logic. We use logic in other areas of our life. There are three questions, which serve as criteria. Are there many persons who support the claim that they know God? Yes. Are these persons otherwise reliable and dependable? Can they be trusted to tell the truth? Yes. Are their reports and witnesses mutually consistent? Yes. Even though they are divided by centuries in time and by half a world in space, the witness is consistently true. You can know God. If the evidence supports the claim that you can know God, that God is not unknown, the question becomes how and whom can we know?

If you want to know God you must acknowledge that it is not God who needs you; you need God. "Nor is God served by human hands as if he needed anything, since he is the one who gives to all life and breath and everything" necessary for life. If you want to know God, you can know God only through a genuine desire and an honest commitment to know God through prayer, study, worship and fellowship with others who believe.

Then you can know that the God you seek to know already knows you and has revealed himself to you in Jesus Christ so that you might know God. All other images, all other descriptions and characterizations of God must be examined by this one, for the God we worship is the God of Jesus Christ.

What are some of the characteristics of the God in whom we believe and say you can know? Jesus revealed to us by his life and in his teachings that God is a God of love. God is a God of compassion who does not seek our condemnation because of our sins but our salvation from them. God does not seek our hurt, or desire our hurting. God desires our healing. God does not desire our hunger. God desires that we may be filled with food and with the fullness of life. God does not desire our alienation. God desires our reconciliation to God and to one another. God does not desire our death. God desires that we might have life everlasting. The Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper is a constant reminder of the extent to which God would extend himself to show how much God loves us and wants us to have life in abundance and forever.

Can any idol offer as much or do as much for you? If not, ought then the God our Lord Jesus Christ be your God? Ought not God be the One who receives our ultimate worship and more of our immediate devotion and commitment?

Do you want to know God? You can meet God as he comes to you and is present saying, "If with all your heart you truly seek me, you shall surely find me." Then you can say, "I know whom I have believed and I am sure."