The God I Wish You Knew

There are many questions you are faced with every day. We are all searching for answers that will make a real difference in our lives. It’s hard to imagine that these answers might be right in front of us. Get ready to discover answers in the Bible with Bayless Conley. You know, so many people have a twisted idea of what God is like. I’m going to talk to you for the next few minutes about the God that I wish you knew. I hope you invest the time and sit down with me and listen about the God that I wish you knew. I wish you knew the God that responds to hungry hearts. In James 4:8 the Scripture says, “Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you.” Now the context there, if you read it, is repentance from sin. But the statement, itself, is a brilliant revelation of what God is like. He is not distant, aloof, and unknowable. He eagerly responds to those whose hearts turn toward Him. You know, I had lived in the nation of Mexico before I was a believer. And then I had moved back after I got saved and was involved in Christian work down there. And while I was there, I got wind of a crusade that had been organized by a particular denomination here in the states. A number of churches in that movement were backing it. I didn’t know them, wasn’t affiliated with them, but I decided because it wasn’t that far from where I was... I was staying near the coast, and it was inland maybe about 15 miles from where I was staying. And so they had it one evening. And I remember driving out in my old Volkswagen van. The road was not paved. It was full of potholes and boulders, and I bottomed out a few times getting out there. And eventually, after driving the 15 miles or so out there, in this very, very rural area there was something that must have been a soccer field... you know, a makeshift soccer field that the locals had sort of hewn out of the side of a mountain there. And they made it into sort of a little stadium. They had gotten boards and stones and cinderblocks and had all these seats. And several thousand people showed up from this rural area, all the neighboring villages. They walked to get there to come to this crusade. So I’m kind of excited. I get there. They’ve got these lights strung up; and, you know, the music starts, and I kind of went, “Oh, no.” It was so culturally unrelatable I just thought, “Okay, this is not a good start.” You know, it helps to sing in the language of the people to begin with. And then the preacher got up, and it got worse. He preached and, you know, he was a shouter, and he preached his message, and it was just filled with meaningless religious rhetoric. And it was, again, completely unrelatable culturally and completely unrelatable to a non-churched person. And it just went on and on. I was so grieved! You know, here all these people had come out because they were hungry for God, and they had just missed the mark by a mile! And the fruit was so ripe. And some friends of mine and I, we stayed, you know, quite a while afterwards and then decided we better go back. Climbed in my van, and we’re driving over that, you know, pothole-strewn road and we got several miles down, and there was this guy walking in the direction of the town we came from. So I stopped and asked him if he wanted a ride. He said, “Yeah,” and he got in. I’ll never forget. His name was Marcello. And we began to talk to him and said, “Marcello, did you get anything out of the message tonight?” He said, “No. I didn’t understand anything. I had no idea what that guy was saying.” I said, “You didn’t get anything out of it at all?” He said, “No.” He said, “I came out here to hear something, but I didn’t get it there.” And we began to talk to him about Jesus and shared with him the simple plan of salvation, looked at him, said, “Marcello, would you like to pray and ask Christ into your heart?” He said, “Oh, yes!” We stopped on the side of the road, took hands with him, and he bowed his head and prayed and asked Jesus to come into his life. And the moment we finished praying he began to sob violently. He put his head in his hands, and he cried and cried and cried. I’ve thought a lot about that night and what God would do to reach a hungry heart. Here this young man is so hungry for God and for answers he’s walked 15 miles back into the hills to listen to people talk about God. And he got nothing out of it. And I didn’t, either, frankly. But here God lays it on my heart to go out there. I had no plans to go out there. He brings this American kid down to that area in Mexico. I end up out at the crusade, end up hanging out until such and such a time, drive back on the road... and I normally didn’t give strangers a ride.... and just happen to ask him, you know, for a ride. I think God would set up the whole evening just to reach one Marcello. He responds to hungry hearts. He would set everything up on this night just to reach your heart, as well, my friend. We do serve a God that responds to hungry hearts. You know, I got a letter from a gentleman one day that astounded me! He told me his story. He was writing from a maximum-security prison. Previously, he had been in Pelican Bay, which is a super-max-security prison in Northern California. They say that is where they put the worst of the worst criminals. The most violent offenders in our nation go to Pelican Bay. And he was in Pelican Bay. And he said, “My mother was a praying woman. And she would correspond with me and tell me that I needed to seek God.” And he was in there because of violent crimes he had committed. And he writes me this letter, and he said, “I could never sleep.” He said, “Every night I was plagued with violent dreams. Every time I would drift off to sleep, I was tormented with scenes of violence.” He said, “And I began to think about what my mama said and,” he said, “I did begin to turn my heart toward God. God, if there is any hope for someone like Me, are You there?” He said, “And one night I was having this violent dream, and suddenly a man’s face appeared to me. He didn’t say anything. He just looked at me, and he smiled.” He says, “And peace came over me, and I just had this feeling everything was going to be okay with my life.” He said, “Several times that occurred. When I slept at night, I saw this same man in my dream. He never said a word. He just looked at me and smiled. And I had peace.” He said, “I never had the violent dreams again.” And he said, “Eventually, through a series of things that happened...” He got released to just a regular, you know, a maximum security prison out of a super maximum security. And he said, “When I was in Pelican Bay,” whatever area he was in, said, “I had no access to a television. Never saw one.” He said, “But when I was in the maximum security prison, they had television. And I walked into a, you know, some room one day where some prisoners are, and they’re watching TV,” says, “And I walked in there,” and he said, “I almost had a heart attack.” He said, “The man that I saw in my dreams was on the TV.” He said, “It was you!” They were watching a service from Cottonwood Church on our broadcast. And he said, “I almost fell over.” He got saved. He gave his life to Christ right there, whole life turned around, and then he eventually got released from prison and came and paid us a visit at the church some time later. My friend, if a person is hungry to know... maybe just because nature has spoken to them. Romans, chapter 1, speaks of that, that nature is a revelation of God. You go out and look at nature, you swim in the ocean and see what’s there, you go in the mountains, you look in the sky at night... it didn’t just happen! And when a person’s heart sees that, it speaks of God. And when that person says, “You know what? If there is a Creator, I want to know Him.” Or it may be somebody that’s been influenced by a mama’s prayers or maybe someone just out of desperation has called upon God. God will move heaven and earth to get the truth to that hungry heart. And listen to me: If you’re His child, how much more will He be quick to respond to your heart’s call? Even if your present motivation is one of distress, know that your Father’s great heart is yearning to help you. King David said, “In my distress I cried to the Lord, and He heard me.” Secondly, I wish you knew the God who gives abundant life. John, chapter 10. I wish you knew the God who gives abundant life. Here Jesus drew an inerasable line of demarcation. Verse 10 of John 10: The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly. My friend, our Lord gives abundant life. Things that steal, kill, and destroy, that’s the thief’s work; that’s not the Lord’s work. But so many people get those things mixed up. God gets blamed for every bad thing that happens. But Jesus said that’s what the thief does. He said, “I came that you might have life overflowing, abundant life.” In fact, look with me at Psalm 36 real quickly. This actually may be where Jesus got that saying from. Psalm 36 and verse 7. And look with me at verse 7, “How precious...” Psalm 36:7, How precious is Your lovingkindness, O God! Therefore the children of men put their trust under the shadow of Your wings. They are abundantly satisfied with the fullness of Your house, And You give them drink from the river of Your pleasures. For with You is the fountain of life; In Your light we see light. Think about the language! Those that put their trust under the shadow of His wings, they’re not just a little satisfied. They’re abundantly satisfied. They drink of the river of His pleasures. With Him is the fountain of life. You know, I used to teach a Bible study back in the seventies in the area here, about 1978 or so. And a lot of different people came. And one night some high school students came. And God showed up in an unusual way. Everybody in the meeting got baptized in the Holy Spirit, was speaking in other tongues. And this guy sitting next to me, one of the high school students, he’s sitting next to me on the fireplace hearth. He had a glass of water in his hand, and I looked at him, and the glass was shaking and there was water jumping out of the glass. And he had this look of terror on his face. Literally, the Holy Spirit just sort of swept into the room. It was like an Acts, chapter 2, event. He puts the glass down, gets up without a word and goes into the bathroom in the house. He’s in there for ten minutes. The door suddenly opens, he walks out of the bathroom speaking in other tongues. Had an amazing encounter with God and was coming to the Bible studies. And then he formed a band, and they began to have a modicum of success, and I noticed that he began to drift away, didn’t come to the Bible studies, anymore. Saw him on a number of occasions; and as his band grew in popularity, he grew less and less interested, or so it seemed, in having a relationship with God. One day I saw him sitting in his van parked on the street outside of his girlfriend’s house, and God spoke to me. And I went up to him, and he had the window rolled down. We’ll call him John. That’s not his name. And I said, “John,” I said, “God just spoke to me that you are afraid that if you really sell out to Jesus Christ, all of the fun and all of the adventure is going to be sucked out of your life, that life is just going to be sterile and joyless and colorless.” I said, “Nothing could be further from the truth.” I said, “You fully live for Jesus, and you’ll start on an adventure.” He never said a word to me. He put his head down on the steering wheel. I don’t think he believed me. I walked away. A little bit later his band actually became very successful from coast to coast. In fact, I’ve seen people here in Cottonwood with the name of his band tattooed on their bodies. He became very successful, very well known, made a whole lot of money; but you know what? Got into a lifestyle of drug addiction, alcoholism, and hedonism, and it took its toll. That which promised to be liberating and joyful ended up being a snare and a bit of hell on earth for him, and he crashed and burned. You see, he believed a lie. The thief promises liberty, he promises fun, he promises adventure; but in the end it all turns to sawdust, it turns to gravel in your mouth. Now I do have good news. I talked to him some years ago, and he came back to his roots in Christ after a very, very hard road. But I hope you don’t believe that same lie. The God we serve is a God of abundant life. I have another friend. He was a *** addict. And he and I actually used to do a lot of ministry together. We traveled together and things; but before he got saved, he was a *** addict. And he ended up in a Teen Challenge program, and he was the only new guy there. And he told me, he said, “Bayless, in my mind,” he said, “I had a vision that if I ever gave my life to God, this is what it would be like.” He said, “I had a vision of myself in a dark robe, holding a candle, walking down an endless corridor saying some mindless chant over and over.” He said, “That’s what I thought service to God was: holding a candle, wearing a robe, wandering down an endless hallway chanting something that made no sense.” Well, he’s in this Teen Challenge program; he’s the only new guy in there, and they’re having devotions before the evening meal. And the leader of the Teen Challenge thing, you know, gets done with his little devotional message, says, “Okay, I feel God is telling me there’s one person here that needs to accept Christ.” He was the only new guy. “There’s one person, just one person needs to accept Christ.” And all the other guys there knew that this guy wouldn’t quit until he came forward to accept Christ, and they were not allowed to go eat until the meeting was done. So the guy next to him says, “Get up there. We want to eat He said, “I’m not going. No!” The guy goes, “Oh, and there’s one here... the Spirit just shows me there’s one person here that needs to give their life to Christ.” He said, “The guy next to me hit me and said, ‘Get up there!’” I said, “I’m not doing it.” The guy keeps going, like ten minutes: “No, there’s just one person here. We’re going to wait for that one.” He said a couple of the guys hit him hard in the ribs with their elbows: “Get up there now!” He said, “All right.” He gets up, and he’s angry. He walks to the front. The preacher says, “I want you to kneel down.” He said he was so mad; but as he began to kneel, he suddenly turned serious. He said, “By the time I was on my knees, I was serious with God.” He gave his life to Christ that night. They laid hands on him. He was freed from years of addiction, never put another needle in his arm. And you know what? His life has been far from carrying a candle down a corridor and singing some mindless chant. It’s been a life of international travel, of adventure, of meeting... certainly not trial-free, but meeting amazing people, a life of miracles, a life to be envied. It’s amazing what God has done with his life! It’s been a life of abundance. It’s been a life of joy. It’s been a life of adventure and discovery. Literally, just an astonishing life he has lived! The devil, my friend, is a liar. If you want to live a creative life, get in relationship with the Creator of the universe. He’s the one that breathes stars into existence. Number three and finally: I wish you knew the God who gives you the grace to enjoy what He calls you to do. I wish you knew the God who gives you the grace to enjoy what He calls you to do. Look with me at Psalm 33 and verse 13: The Lord looks from heaven; He sees all the sons of men. From the place of His dwelling He looks On all the inhabitants of the earth; He fashions their hearts individually; He considers all their works. All right, so God sees everybody on earth all at one time, and He’s fashioned their hearts. That’s the New King James Version. It says, “He’s fashioned their hearts individually.” He’s wired every person up uniquely, and He considers all their works. And the idea is this, that our works, what we do with our lives, should flow out of the individual wiring of our hearts. And, you know, when I got saved, I sold out. I was such a mess when Christ rescued me. I had such major league problems with drug addiction, and there was so much noise going on in my head! And when heaven intersected my pathway, I was just... that was it. I was sold out. I didn’t care who it identified me with or separated me from, I was going with Jesus. And I began going to this little Pentecostal church, and the music was terrible! And everyone in the church, to me, seemed to be more than a hundred years old. But I thought, “If this is it, I’m in. If we have to sing, you know, songs that I don’t understand and we’re only allowed to play three chords, I thought, “I’m in! If this is what you do as a Christian, I’m in!” Whatever I didn’t want to do, I just had this idea that that’s what God wanted me to do. And I remember one day I heard some music. I think it was an eight-track tape of Terry and John Michael Talbot, the Talbot Brothers. They previously had a band called Mason Profit. And they’re believers now and they’re singing about Jesus. And I liked the music, and I went, “Wait a minute. This is allowable? This is okay?” Began to shift my thinking a little bit, but the truth is, I carried that wrong idea about God with me for many years. My heart was right, but my head was wrong. My heart said, “God, whatever You want, wherever You want it, I’m in.” And don’t get me wrong, God does require us to do things that our flesh does not like. You’ll find that out very soon once you commit your life to Christ. He will deal with you about going to talk to somebody about Him, and you may be very, very uncomfortable. So it’s not about God comforting our flesh. It’s not about that at all. But my concept of God along this line went far deeper than that. In fact, I was in Bible school and I didn’t have any leading to do so, but I had made plans to move to another country because I wanted to serve God, and I said, “Man, this is what you do.” So I had already contacted a ministry there, made the financial arrangements, and I was planning on moving to this other nation. And, honestly, I really didn’t want to do it. But, to me, that was a sign that I was supposed to do it. If I didn’t want to do it, if I hated it, I figured, “Okay, that’s what God’s telling me to do.” And that was my idea of God. And I got a phone call one day when I was in Bible school, and it was a pastor’s wife, and I respected her and her husband deeply. She said, “Bayless, God told me to tell you something. God said to tell you: Stop squelching the desires in your heart. They are from Him.” I said, “Okay.” I had no idea what she meant. I said, “Thanks.” Well, I had the next day free. It was a Saturday. I wasn’t working that day. So I grabbed my Bible and I went to a local park. And I spent the whole day walking around the park praying about what she said. And I remember I was sitting on a picnic bench: “Don’t squelch the desires that keep coming up in your heart. They’re from Me.” And I suddenly had an epiphany. I had this desire that kept coming up in my heart to move back to California, Southern California, and start a church. And every time that desire came up, I said, “Get behind me Satan. You are not going to tempt me. I want to go to California. I like California. Get behind me, devil!” And I would push it down. But it’s like those birthday candles that you light them and you can’t blow them out; they just keep coming back. That’s the way this desire was. It kept coming back. It kept reigniting and reigniting. And I thought it was the devil trying to tempt me because, man, I wanted to come back here. I like California. And I suddenly had a paradigm shift in my view of God. I said, “God, You want me to go to California? Don’t You know I like it there? Don’t You know I want to be there? Don’t You know the weather’s nice?” And I suddenly realized that what God had called me to do, He had given me the grace to enjoy. Now don’t get the idea that it’s been a trial-free life... anything but! Some of the trials have been severe, and some of them have been so long that they seemed to me to not have expiration dates on them. But you know what? There has been grace through it all and for it all, and being here fits me like my favorite pair of boots. And whatever God has called you to do, wherever that might be, He’s wired you up, and He has grace in store for you to enjoy it. That day in the park my whole life changed. My whole view of God changed. I would like you to know God like I know Him. He’s the God who responds to hungry hearts, He’s the God of abundance, of abundant life, and He’s the God who gives you the grace to enjoy what He’s called you to do. And He has wired you up to do something. You know, I think that if the world knew what our God was really like, they run from the North, South, East, and West; they would come from the islands of the sea; and they would kneel at the foot of Christ’s cross and give their hearts to Him. If you haven’t done it, give your heart Jesus and then go tell somebody else about how wonderful He is. We hope you enjoyed today’s message. Order the full version of this teaching on CD, DVD or MP3 by using the contact details on screen now. Our prayer for you is that you’ll continually grow in the wisdom, faith and power that comes when we hear and apply God’s Word in our daily lives. What would you do if you knew for sure that Jesus was coming back tomorrow? How would you spend your crucial last moments on earth? Would you… … empty your bank account and throw a party? … buy the most expensive shoes? … go to the hairdresser? Would you like to know how Jesus expects us to live and prepare for His return? Bayless Conley explains what our priorities should be in these last days in his CD and DVD message, “Ready or Not, Here He Comes”. Discover what really counts – and how you can apply God’s wisdom to your life today. Use the information on the screen to order your copy now. “Ready or Not, Here He Comes”.