{"version":1,"type":"rich","provider_name":"Libsyn","provider_url":"https:\/\/www.libsyn.com","height":90,"width":600,"title":"Who Exactly is God? \/\/ Power Unlimited, Part 3","description":"God is so profoundly different to anyone or anything that this world has to offer. His ways are so different to our ways, and unless and until we have a personal encounter with the risen Christ, unless and until we encounter Jesus in our own, personal experience, our lives simply cannot be transformed. Who or what is God? Well you go out and ask different people and what you discover is that they have a picture of God in their heads that doesn\u2019t always have a whole bunch to do with who God actually is. It\u2019s almost like we reconstruct Him in our own image, to suit ourselves, to suit our own agendas, but let me ask you something, if God is God wouldn\u2019t it be worthwhile kind of figuring out exactly who He is? IF God has the power, is the power, to transform our lives, shouldn\u2019t we get to know Him? I mean, who is He really and how do you and I relate to Him? What if God is awesome and powerful and loving and kind and we spend the rest of our lives missing out on all that because we never really went after Him to discover who He really is? So how do we discover who God really is? This week on the program we\u2019re setting about laying hold of God\u2019s power to completely and utterly transform our lives. And the place that we discover that power, the place that God the Holy Spirit has made available for us to lay hold of that power \u2013 is His Word, the Bible. I mean reading the Bible was something I would never have done in a million years. What do you think I am, some wacky fundamentalist? But you know something, reading the Bible for myself has completely and utterly transformed my life. It didn\u2019t stunt me, it opened me up. It didn\u2019t narrow my mind; it opened me up to the wonder and the possibilities of life with God, to the power that God wants to unleash in my life. Over the last twenty or so years I guess I\u2019ve spent a lot of time in that Book, in fact its 66 different books. I\u2019ve had the chance to study and to learn and to think and to mull it all over and truly, in those twenty odd years I\u2019ve really only scratched the surface. But the more I think about it, the Bible is basically about four things: Who God is, what He\u2019s like and how He reacts to things. What God\u2019s will and purposes are, what His plan is. Where my life is headed. It\u2019s about who I am, made in His image but how does He see me? Who did He make me to be? And \u2026 how I can respond to God. Some people think this last one, number four, is all that the Bible has to offer; just rules and regulations \u2026 but you know, as you read it for yourself, how to respond to God is quite simply not the main thing, it just kind of drops out at the end, it\u2019s the natural consequence of the first three. Those four things again are: who God is, what His will and purposes are, who you and I are in His eyes and how we can respond. That\u2019s what the Bible contains, it\u2019s real and it\u2019s practical, it\u2019s about life, it\u2019s awesome and it\u2019s exciting and it contains power \u2026 power unlimited to transform you, to transform your life, to heal you, to bless you, to empower you. Today I just want to look at the first one of those; who God is. I mean if God is God, shouldn\u2019t we figure out who He is? Who He says He is? Where better to do that, to search Him out, than that great love letter that He\u2019s written to you and to me, the Bible. It makes sense, doesn\u2019t it? When I first laid eyes on my wife Jacqui, when I first saw her from a distance, I was speaking at a Church and she was sitting in that congregation. As far as I was concerned, she was just another face in the crowd and had I never sought her out, I would never have come to know her and to have a relationship with her. So, I did seek her out and she responded to that. In a sense, picking up the Bible is seeking God out, it\u2019s the same thing, He responds. It\u2019s not a dead book written by men thousands of years ago. It\u2019s the living, active word of God and His promise is that when we pick it up, the Holy Spirit, God Himself, will bring it to life in our hearts. God promised that He would pour His Spirit out on all flesh and that He would write His words onto our heart. By far, the greatest reason for reading the Bible, is to encounter God Himself, to discover who He is, and how He sees things; what He\u2019s like and what He\u2019s up to. You see, it\u2019s easy to read this story or that in the Bible and say, \u201cWell that was a story about King David\u201d or \u201cThat one over there, that\u2019s the story about Moses or Peter or Paul\u201d. But so often in the pages of this great and mighty book, the great unseen player is God Himself and as I read every story, every verse, I keep asking myself, \u201cWhat does this tell me about God Himself? What\u2019s He up to in this story?\u201d Let\u2019s take just one example, it\u2019s a short story. God makes a promise to this man called Abram who is childless. You know, Abram\u2019s an old man, his wife Sarai is an old woman, they\u2019re childless and yet God has called them to go from their home on this huge journey. God\u2019s promised them children, a multitude of children, but it\u2019s never happened. It\u2019s gone on for years and years and years. Abraham\u2019s out of his comfort zone, he\u2019s on this long, uncomfortable journey and he\u2019s frustrated and this is what happens. After these things the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision, \u201cDo not be afraid, Abram, I am your shield; your reward shall be very great.\u201d But Abram said, \u201cO Lord God, what will you give me, for I continue childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?\u201d And Abram said, \u201cYou have given me no offspring, and so a slave born in my house is to be my heir.\u201d But the word of the Lord came to him, \u201cThis man shall not be your heir; no one but your very own issue shall be your heir.\u201d He brought him outside and said, \u201cLook toward heaven and count the stars, if you are able to count them.\u201d Then he said to him, \u201cSo shall your descendants be.\u201d And he believed the Lord; and the Lord reckoned it to him as righteousness. (Genesis 15:1-6) It\u2019s really easy to read this story and imagine that it\u2019s a story all about Abram. But the real question that we should be asking is What does this short little story, tell us about God? Here\u2019s Abram. He\u2019s frustrated, he\u2019s waiting for a breakthrough that\u2019s not coming. He\u2019s trying to believe in God, but it\u2019s hard. I wonder if that sounds at all familiar to you? And it\u2019s going on for years and years and years and he and his wife are old and it\u2019s just absolutely impossible. But along comes God and He does this kind of gentle and kind and wondrous and patient thing with Abraham, He takes him outside to gaze up into this beautiful masterpiece called the Milky Way. Have you ever looked up at the stars away from the smog and the lights of a big city at night? It\u2019s incredible how many stars are up there and in the middle of Abram\u2019s frustration, God says \u2018Abram, look \u2026 look at this! This is how many descendants you\u2019re going to have. My promise will actually happen\u201d. And if you read the rest of this story, Abraham ultimately has a son, with his wife Sarah, called Isaac. He never saw all these offspring happen, he never saw the rest of the promise fulfilled in his life time, but here is this good and gracious and powerful God who takes a man in the middle of his frustration and just speaks lovingly to him. It\u2019s a story about God do you get it? It\u2019s a story about how God treats those who He loves when they\u2019re at the end of their tether. the Bible is full of those stories. You pick it up and you read them and wow, you discover who God really is. Do you see the power in that? Do you see how know God, and how in our small, limited way, coming to understand Him can make such a powerful difference to us, when we\u2019re lost and frustrated and clinging onto a promise \u2026 but only just? People often say to me, \u201cBerni, you seem to be so enthusiastic about God.\u201d Can I tell you why? Because over the last couple of decades I\u2019ve discovered Him in the pages of the Bible and discovered what He says about Himself there and those things have ended up being etched onto my heart, so that I can experience Him in my life. I can\u2019t help but be enthusiastic and you know, I can\u2019t help but wonder, where would my life be? Where would I be, if I hadn\u2019t laid hold of this power \u2026 power unlimited in the living Word of God? ","author_name":"A Different Perspective Official Podcast","author_url":"http:\/\/christianityworks.com","html":"