One of the most perplexing questions that each of us faces in life at some point, is: Who am I? What was I made to do? All too often we go looking for the answers in all the wrong places, and the image that we build of ourselves, the understanding that we have of who we are, becomes twisted and distorted. That one thing has ruined … is ruining … many a life.

One of the things that many people ponder in life is this question, "Who am I?" We have so many pictures and images of who we should be thrust under our noses each day … and yet none of them ring true, so we end up feeling a bit like refugees, lost. The media and the advertisers, they want to define success for us. They want to tell us what it means to be open-minded. They want to tell us what we should aspire to. They want to tell us what a happy, well adjusted family looks like, and what beauty looks like and what we have to achieve, who we have to be, what we have to look like, to be successful.

They tell us if we don't look like this, we haven't made it, but we will if we buy their product and I don't know about you, but I can get so lost in that maze because my life never quite looks like those images of success that they wave under my nose. And we compare ourselves with other people, people who look successful and so often we come to the conclusion that we aren't. And so that question, "Who am I?" rattles around in that empty, hollow void inside. Who am I?

Have you ever been to one of those fairs, you know where they have Ferris wheels and merry-go-rounds and amusements and sideshows? And in side-show alley, they have those distorted mirrors. You know, you walk in front of one and you look all tall and skinny or short and fat or all wobbly and wavy. They're good fun for a little while, about a minute or two. But imagine, imagine if our mirrors at home were like that, all distorted … not good.

I remember when I was working as an IT consultant one of the clients I used to work for, the front door of their offices had this glass that was a perfect distortion of me. It just made me look a bit slimmer and a bit taller, you know I could have stood in front of that door all day and looked at myself. We'd like to have a mirror like that at home, wouldn't we? Or would we?

My hunch is, whenever we get a distorted image of ourselves, of who we are, that's not a good thing even if we happen to like the distorted image better than the real one. For example, the distorted image that society puts up that you can be whoever you want to be, it's all up to you, it's all out there, just go and be whoever you want to be.

I'm 5 foot, 9 inches or 174 cm tall, so it doesn't matter how much I want to be a basketball player, I'm never going to be a basketball player. In fact there are some things in life that I am decidedly not good at. If I try to be those things, it would be a bad fit. Maybe that's why so many people aren't happy, because they're trying to do jobs or be someone that they're quite simply not cut out to be. Aspiring to something that we're never going to be any good at is one of the worst things that we can do in the world. I wonder if that's why there are so many people, who literally hate their jobs.

I was looking at a recent 'job satisfaction' survey on the internet. Have a listen to these stats: 45% of workers say that they're either satisfied or extremely satisfied with their jobs. You know what that means? That means that 55%, or over half, aren't.

Of those 45% who said they were happy, less than half again, in fact only 20% said that they felt really passionate about their jobs. That means that 80% of people don't feel passionate about their jobs and 33%, fully a third believed they'd reached a dead end in their careers, there was no hope for a future. 21% were eager to change careers.

I think that these statistics are a tragedy. The vast majority of people aren't p

Okay, so we're five days on from Easter Sunday. Tell me, how much is the power, the joy, the awe, the wonder of what took place at Easter still resonating in your heart? Or has it kind of faded away as you've settled back into your daily grind?

That inexorable grind is, without doubt, one of the most powerfully destructive forces in our lives because it wears down our resolve to pursue the things that really matter.

In the mid-19th Century, a poor grocer's apprentice in Germany, Heinrich Schliemann, dreamed of finding ancient Troy. But life pulled him into commerce. He became a wealthy businessman, working obsessively to chase profit. Decades passed. Though rich, he felt unfulfilled, trapped in the grind he once believed would bring him happiness.

Finally, in midlife, he abandoned his business to pursue archaeology. He went on to discover the site of Troy. In the end, Schliemann admitted that chasing wealth had nearly cost him his true calling. Such is the power of the daily grind.

In the same way, it's so easy for us to get stuck in ground-level thinking and lose sight of the heavenly riches of God's kindness and grace.

Ephesians 2:6-7 … it is because we are a part of Christ Jesus that God raised us from death and seated us together with him in the heavenly places. God did this so that his kindness to us who belong to Christ Jesus would clearly show for all time to come the amazing richness of his grace.

As C.S. Lewis put it, "Aim for heaven and you'll get Earth thrown in; aim for Earth and you'll get neither."

That's God's Word. Fresh … for you … today.

Kindness isn't just about how we speak in good moments, but about how we treat each other in the tough ones.

Many people, many Christians even, let me say, live directionless, rudderless lives. Their lives don't seem to be heading anywhere in particular. And at some point, as we realise that life is slipping by ever so quickly, that shocks us into realising that before long, this life will be over … and for what?

You know one of the most common things that we all experience at some point or other in our lives, is this dilemma, this crisis if you will, of, well where is my life headed? I think it's because somehow we're hardwired to have hope for the future, to be able to look forward to a good future, to have a sense of significance, to make our mark in this world. Where is my life headed? … can become a question of quite some desperation.

And for our lives to be headed in the right direction we need a few things to come together. The way we live, the things that we can control, and the things that go on around us, the ones we can't control. That's not easy. It's almost an impossible juggling act. But … what if God has a plan? What if He has a purpose in the things that we've been travelling through? What if there's meaning behind it all, and He does want to do amazing things and He does want to be involved in the choices we make today? What if?

Wouldn't you want to tap into that? I mean, wouldn't you want to know? Wouldn't you want Him to speak those plans and purposes gently into your heart and let them make a difference for you, here and now? Just think … what a powerful way that would be to live.

Yesterday we saw that the biggest thing that we can get out of the Bible is discovering God Himself, who He is, what He's like, how does He react to different situations and things?

To me that is the greatest prize of them all, God Himself, getting to know Him, having a wonderful, rich relationship that just gets deeper and deeper as time goes by.

Today I want to look at the second thing that I think the Bible is about, God's plans and God's purposes, both the big picture and specifically for you and me. The big picture is so important. What's Gods big plan? What's He up to?

A friend and colleague of mine, Dr Graham Pratt, he and I were speaking a few years ago at an IT conference in Singapore. We were talking over coffee about some technology thing and he said to me, "Berni, context is so important, in fact in understanding something, context is almost everything." I'll never forget it, it's a pearl of wisdom. We want to know where our lives are headed, my life, my little piece of the puzzle, right? If we want to do that we need to understand the big picture; God's great plan as well as His specific plans and purposes for our lives.

You know, when I read the Bible, the stories and the things that happened a long time ago, somehow God's plan for my life becomes so crystal clear. For me, life was just a 'here and now' thing. It was about wealth and career. In reality, it was empty, hollow, directionless. Where was it headed? What was the point? But when I encountered Jesus, the Jesus of the Bible, when I started listening to Him by reading the Bible, I began to get a handle on God's big picture. A big picture that's best summed up in something that God says over and over again:

I will be your God and you will be my people. (Exodus 6:7)

From the beginning to the end of the Bible, you see God saying that and explaining it and sending Jesus so that it could happen. They're not just words on a page. This is the very heartbeat of God to call us back to Himself, to call us back home, here and now and for all eternity, despite our rebellion, despite the fact that we rejected Him, despite all our mistakes; to give us a new life, an eternal life that's not about rules and regulations but a relationship with Him.

And right through the whole Bible you see Him engaging with people and drawing them closer, people jus

Here's a tragedy that I see playing itself out time and time again: people say they believe in God, even that they believe that Jesus is who He said He is, that He died for them and rose again as we celebrated just a few days ago … and yet, there's this gnawing emptiness inside. Something's missing.

Tokichi Ishii was one of Japan's most feared and brutal criminals. He was arrested over 20 times for theft, assault, and ultimately murder. By the time he was sentenced to death, Ishii was so hardened that he spat on the guards and cursed all who came near.

He later admitted to feeling a crushing emptiness, a weight on his chest that he couldn't escape. But in prison, he was handed a Bible. Reading Jesus' words from the cross—"Father, forgive them"—pierced his heart. "I stopped," he wrote, "as if stabbed by a five-inch nail."

Overwhelmed by grace, he repented and gave his life to Christ. The emptiness lifted. Ishii became peaceful and kind, ministering to fellow inmates, and met his death in 1918 with joy, having been transformed by knowing the truth about who he was in Christ.

2 Corinthians 5:15,17 [Jesus] died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised … When anyone is in Christ, it is a whole new world. The old things are gone; suddenly, everything is new!  ESV & ERV

The truth about you, about anyone who really believes in Jesus, is that your identity is in Him. Just like Ishii, you are truly a new person; everything old has passed away, and everything is new. That's who you've become. Lay hold of that truth, and the gnawing emptiness goes away. Suddenly, everything is new!

That's God's Word. Fresh … for you … today.

What are you trying to control today?

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't always have a whole bunch to do with who God actually is.

It's 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't it be worthwhile kind of figuring out exactly who He is? IF God has the power, is the power, to transform our lives, shouldn't 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're setting about laying hold of God's 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 – 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't stunt me, it opened me up. It didn't 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've spent a lot of time in that Book, in fact its 66 different books. I've 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've really only scratched the surface. But the more I think about it, the Bible is basically about four things:

1. 1. Who God is, what He's like and how He reacts to things.
   2. What God's will and purposes are, what His plan is.
   3. Where my life is headed. It's about who I am, made in His image but how does He see me? Who did He make me to be?
   4. And … 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 … 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's 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's what the Bible contains, it's real and it's practical, it's about life, it's awesome and it's exciting and it contains power … 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't 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's written to you and to me, the Bible. It makes sense, doesn't 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's the same thing, He responds. It

So, did Easter have an impact on you? Did engaging with the story of the risen Christ touch your heart? Because, let me tell you, it's meant to. Because in Jesus, you have a whole new life.

American, Lew Wallace, was a lawyer, Civil War general and the governor of New Mexico. He was also a sceptic when it came to Christianity, setting out to write a book to disprove the divinity of Jesus.

But during his extensive research, Wallace encountered the compelling truth of Christ. The evidence so overwhelmed him that instead of writing an attack on Christianity, he penned the novel Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ. It became one of the most influential Christian books in history.

He later wrote, "It is not possible for anyone to study the life of Jesus of Nazareth seriously, without feeling His influence." Wallace didn't just discover the facts — he encountered the risen Christ, and it changed everything.

Colossians 3:1-2 So if you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. NRSV

Friend, knowing Jesus changes you - it's a reset and a refocus. Yes, we have all our day-to-day things to deal with, but when we seek the things of Jesus, when we set our minds on the things that are above, when we long to be with Him, to see His will done on this earth rather than our own… man, that changes you. It changes everything!

That's God's Word. Fresh … for you … today.

It's not about what we deserve, but what God created us to experience in relationship with Him.

The Bible tells us (Ephesians Chapter 1) That God has already made His incredible great power, His resurrection power, available to each and every person who believes in Jesus. So today, were going to take a look at what happens, when we lay hold of that power.

As you can imagine, I speak with a lot of people. People who respond to this radio program, people I meet in my travels, people who've hear me speak and want to know how to apply it to their lives. And most people, come to me with a problem. This is working in my life … and I just don't know why. That isn't working in my life … and I don't know what to do about it. I want to follow Jesus … but Satan keeps on winning as he tempts me with this sin or that sin.

Over and over again, I hear the same thing, the same question, the same problem, the same frustration in people's voices.

Why isn't my life all that Jesus promised it would be?!

It's a question that plagues many a Christ follower. It causes many to fall by the wayside. It causes many people to live a life that falls so far short of all that it could be in Christ. To my way of thinking, this is one of the greatest tragedies playing itself out in the Kingdom of God today. And just like many of the lifestyle and diet related illnesses that are killing people across the globe, this is a sickness that is completely avoidable.

Here is what I see happening in God's Kingdom, amongst God's people. The societies in which we live are moving further and further away from God. Look at the United States. A country of religious freedom, founded by the pilgrims, who came to the land to have the freedom to worship God. A nation who, on its dollar bill, has the words "In God we trust". And now, a country, where it's illegal to pray at school, illegal for an officer in the military to share his faith or a Bible with a soldier, a country where four in ten unborn children are 'terminated' – that's a genocide of around 1.2 million children each year.

I'm not just picking on the US of A … it's happening right around the globe. Societies founded on Christian love, as they become more secular, are shifting further and further away from God. And they're behaving as though this is progress. It's progress to allow one man to marry another man, or a woman to marry another woman. It's progress to allow a woman to choose whether or not to kill her unborn child. It's progress for women not to respect their husbands and men not to cherish their wives. And anybody who stands in the way of this so-called 'progress' is a narrow-minded, conservative bigot.

And these sweeping changes are sweeping many a Christian along them. Christians en masse are forsaking a life based on God's Word, for a life based on the world's ways. And not just individual Christians, but preachers, Bible teachers, churches and denominations. And then we wonder why things aren't going so well for us in our lives.

Really?!

Back to the Bible International based in Lincoln Nebraska, is a ministry that I have been closely involved with now for a good many years. They in fact founded the ministry of Christianityworks that I now lead here in Australia, way back in 1957. Part of Back to the Bible is the Centre for Bible Engagement, which has conducted extensive research around the world on the impact in the lives of men and woman, who are engaged with God's Word on a regular basis.

Remember, the Bible itself says that there is incredible power to defeat Satan, in God's Word:

… our struggle is not against enemies of blood and flesh, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armour of God, so that you may be able to withstand on that evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm. Stand therefore, and