August 18, 2024 • 11 mins
Secret God Podcast
Seeing God For Yourself
Where does your revelation of God come from? Who do you say He is? Have you only heard about Him, or have you actually seen Him? Don’t just take others word for it. See Him for yourself and then decide if He’s the one for you.
Key Takeaways:
- Seeing God changes you forever.
- God deserves to be seen for who He really is, not what we have made Him out to be.
- Your relationship with God should be based on what you’ve seen, not just what you’ve heard.
- Churches are full of people who have never really seen God.
❤️ Support The Secret God Podcast
Excerpts:
“People today have so many opinions about who God is and what He wants and yet most of these people have no idea what God really looks like.”
“In fact, most churches have so misrepresented God that a lot of people today want nothing to do with Church.”
“Some of the greatest men and women of the Bible saw God and were crushed by the sinfulness of their hearts, yet we are comfortable with the condition of ours.”
Dont Miss Out! Sign Up For New Post Notifications.
Listen on your favorite network.
Apple Podcast / Spotify / Amazon Music / YouTube Music / iHeart Radio / YouTube
Scripture Refernces:
- Revelation 1:16-18 NIV - Bible Gateway
- Acts 9:1-9 NLT - Saul’s Conversion - Bible Gateway
- Isaiah 6:1-5 NIV - Bible Gateway
- Job 1 NIV - Prologue - Bible Gateway
© 2025 BaumShell Media LLC All Rights Reserved
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Did you know when Jesus came tothe region of Caesarea Philippi,
he asked his disciples, who dopeople say that the Son of Man is?
Well, they replied, some say Johnthe Baptist, some say Elijah,
and others say Jeremiah or oneof the other prophets.
Then he asked them,but who do you say I am?
(00:22):
Simon Peter answered, you are theMessiah, the son of the living God.
Jesus replied, you are blessed,Simon, son of John, because my father
in heaven has revealed this to you.You did not learn this from any
human being.The people in the Bible were
seeing something, somethingbeyond the average eye, something
(00:43):
revealed only in heavenly realms.They were seeing the revelation
of who God is.The revealing of the unveiling
of something amazing.They were living and
experiencing this revelation.It wasn't just some scripture verse
they learned in Sunday school.It was being revealed before their
very eyes and they were living it,writing about it, experiencing it.
(01:08):
When someone wrote, I look up andsee where my hope comes from,
they actually were seeing something.God is so amazing, so wonderful.
He deserves to be seen for whohe really is,
not who we have made him out to be.I mean, we want everyone to see us
and judge us for who we really are.Why wouldn't God want the same?
(01:29):
We all think we know exactly whoGod is and what he looks like.
But all too often our image ofGod is way off and isn't based
on actually seeing him,but on ideas and traditions passed
down by others who they themselvesprobably have never truly seen
the Lord. Who do you say God is?Where does it come from?
(01:50):
Where are you getting yourrevelation? What is your source?
Is it what your church says?Where your grandparents say?
Where religious tradition,says what some famous person on
YouTube who went to heaven for 20minutes says what the world says,
or what that Netflix special,Unseen Jesus says?
Or is what you were saying about Godbeing revealed from heaven itself?
(02:14):
Who is God to you?Just someone you've heard about
or read about, or someone youhave seen with your own eyes?
Now revelation is probablyhitting you.
The revelation that you don't have arevelation, you just have information
passed down from some other source,passed down again and again.
Think about this.Just how many churches are full
(02:36):
of people,and even pastors and leaders who
have never really encountered God,have never seen who he truly is.
Probably more than we realize,but yet they still get together week
after week, serving a God they don'teven know and have never even seen.
They only have an idea,a picture of who God is and in what
(02:57):
he looks like for most of the time,that picture isn't very accurate.
God is far better than we canimagine, and God deserves to be seen,
really seen for who he is and notwhat we, the world and religion
have made him out to be.People today have so many opinions
about who God is and what he wants,and yet most of these people have no
(03:19):
idea what God really even looks like.Find this hard to believe.
Okay, let's go even farther.Take Saul of Tarsus,
who later became the Apostle Paul.When Paul was Saul, he encountered
God on the road to Damascus.In fact, he encountered God in such
a dramatic, powerful, and totallyunexpected way that it shocked Paul
(03:40):
instead of oh hey, God, it's you!His response was, who are you?
Who is this radiant, powerful,all consuming person who has just
completely brought me to my knees?And this was Saul,
the perfect Pharisee.He had served God diligently all
his life,in fact more diligently than any
other religious person at the time.The Bible says this about Paul.
(04:04):
And as for righteousness,I obey the law without fault.
Who today can say they arefaultless in their religion?
Paul was the poster child of theperfect religious specimen.
Today,he would be touted as one of the
great religious leaders of our time.But yet even Paul had never
truly seen or encountered God.Again, how many churches are full of
(04:28):
people who have served God theirwhole life, but wouldn't recognize
Jesus if he ever really showed up?In fact, if Jesus ever really showed
up in our church, our responsewould most likely be who are you?
And his response to us would mostlikely be the same as it was to Saul.
Why are you fighting me?Most of us only know the image
(04:49):
that has been given to us.And sadly,
most churches are portraying apoor image of who God really is.
We all need to really look upand see who God really is.
Instead of assuming we know.When you really see God,
it changes you.You don't just continue on the path
you're going like it's no big deal.When people in the Bible really
(05:10):
saw God, their whole lives changedforever. Job served God faithfully.
In fact, God even told the devil,have you considered my servant job?
There is no one on earth like him.So this is someone God apparently
knows about and even speaks highlyof. Read about job sometime.
He went through quite the ordeal andhis friends in him sat around talking
(05:33):
about God as if they knew him.Trying to figure out why job was
going through all he was.But in the end,
after all that job went through,he finally really saw God and his
response was, I had only heardabout you before, but now I have
seen you with my own eyes.I take back everything I said,
and I sit in dust and ashes toshow my repentance.
(05:56):
I think this is true for most of us.God,
we have only ever heard about you.If we could ever really see you,
we would shut our mouths andrepent and stop saying the
things we are saying and stopdoing the things we are doing,
for we are wrong about you.Repentance is truly seen as God
you serve but have never seen.And realizing you were wrong
(06:17):
about him this whole time.When the prophet Isaiah saw the Lord,
his response was,woe to me I am ruined, for I am a
man of unclean lips, and I liveamong a people of unclean lips.
And my eyes have seen the King,the Lord Almighty.
Translation I'm a wretch.Everyone around me is a wretch,
(06:37):
and we're all toast.Unless God does something,
none of us stands a chance.I don't really get this vibe in
most churches.I think most churches must be full of
people who have never truly seen God,including the pastors and leaders
Otherwise they wouldn't be sayingmost of what they are saying or doing
most of the things they are doing.Just go on Facebook or social media
(07:00):
and look at what most Christians aresaying, and you realize that they
probably have never really seen God.They only serve an image of God
created by men,one that suits them better.
The people in the Bible actuallysaw God and their revelation about
him was from heaven, not man.But today we just have passed down
information that barely resembles Godand we go along with it blindly.
(07:25):
In fact,most churches have so misrepresented
God that a lot of people today wantnothing to do with church. Why?
Because they are lost sinnerswho don't want God.
No, because they are sick of empty,worthless religion that produces
nothing. They want something real.God deserves to be seen and people
all over deserve a real chanceto see God for who he really is.
(07:50):
When you really see God,you see how absolutely pure,
holy, majestic and good he is.It ruins you, it and hinges you
because he is so much more amazingthan we are or can even understand.
Revelation 117 says, when I saw him,I fell at his feet as though dead.
(08:11):
When was the last church serviceyou were in?
When people dropped to the flooras if dead,
because they had really seen God?Well, that was the olden days.
God doesn't do that anymore.Are you sure?
Or are you listening to people whohave never seen God talk about
things they have no idea about?Are you willing to take that chance?
Really?Seeing God shuts the mouth of
(08:32):
gossips.It turns the hearts of the wicked.
It brings the proudest to theirknees and silences darkness.
We stop tearing down others.We stop acting certain ways.
We are more cautious with whatwe do or say. Why?
Because we are morally correctand want to do the right thing
because our religion dictateswhat we should act like.
(08:54):
No, it's because we have seen theLord and we are nothing like him.
We are undone and must change.Some of the greatest men and women of
the Bible saw God and were crushedby the sinfulness of their hearts.
Yet we are so comfortable withthe condition of ours.
What makes us so much betterthan these great men and women?
Are we that much more righteous,or have we never really seen?
(09:18):
In order to see? You have to look.Duh. Big revelation right?
But seriously, where are we looking?Our lives are so busy and full.
Usually we are only looking atour small little world,
our jobs, what needs to be done?Children, bills, shopping,
entertainment.Running here, running there.
(09:39):
We have this little bubble of our ownlittle world that most of us live in.
We barely look outside our littlerealm at other people, let alone look
up and try to catch a glimpse of God.And besides all that,
a lot of churches don't allow theopportunity to really see God.
Most are just feeding on theself-centeredness of our lives.
We should be going to church toactually see God, to look up and
(10:02):
strain until we catch a glimpse.After all, isn't that what
church should be about to go andworship and look up and see God
and stop seeing everything else?To stop looking at our lives and
our problems and our worries andjust look up and see.
See the God who created the universe,who holds all creation in his hands
(10:23):
to put her aside our preconceivednotions and all of our knowledge
and all of our understanding toput aside the images we have,
the information we know, and reallyallow ourselves to see God for who
he is. God deserves to be seen.He is standing above everything all
day long, doing nothing but good,radiant, captivating, holy but he is
(10:48):
covered up by so much misinformation,so many false images, ideas and
opinions of who he is, covered by somany other non important things.
So many other gods wanting tomake him look bad, covered up by
so much religious tradition.Don't take anyone else's word for it.
Look and see for yourself who Godis and what he really looks like.
(11:12):
Look and see and decide for yourselfand let what you see change.
You forever find a church whereGod and not man is on display,
where he is allowed to be asvisible as he wants to be.
A place where our lives centeredaround him.
A place where you can look up andsee clearly who God really is.
(11:33):
Then you can decide if God isworth it or not.
But don't make that decisionuntil you have truly seen him.
He at least deserves that much.
Did you know when Jesus came tothe region of Caesarea Philippi,
he asked his disciples, who dopeople say that the Son of Man is?
Well, they replied, some say Johnthe Baptist, some say Elijah,
and others say Jeremiah or oneof the other prophets.
Then he asked them,but who do you say I am?
(00:22):
Simon Peter answered, you are theMessiah, the son of the living God.
Jesus replied, you are blessed,Simon, son of John, because my father
in heaven has revealed this to you.You did not learn this from any
human being.The people in the Bible were
seeing something, somethingbeyond the average eye, something
(00:43):
revealed only in heavenly realms.They were seeing the revelation
of who God is.The revealing of the unveiling
of something amazing.They were living and
experiencing this revelation.It wasn't just some scripture verse
they learned in Sunday school.It was being revealed before their
very eyes and they were living it,writing about it, experiencing it.
(01:08):
When someone wrote, I look up andsee where my hope comes from,
they actually were seeing something.God is so amazing, so wonderful.
He deserves to be seen for whohe really is,
not who we have made him out to be.I mean, we want everyone to see us
and judge us for who we really are.Why wouldn't God want the same?
(01:29):
We all think we know exactly whoGod is and what he looks like.
But all too often our image ofGod is way off and isn't based
on actually seeing him,but on ideas and traditions passed
down by others who they themselvesprobably have never truly seen
the Lord. Who do you say God is?Where does it come from?
(01:50):
Where are you getting yourrevelation? What is your source?
Is it what your church says?Where your grandparents say?
Where religious tradition,says what some famous person on
YouTube who went to heaven for 20minutes says what the world says,
or what that Netflix special,Unseen Jesus says?
Or is what you were saying about Godbeing revealed from heaven itself?
(02:14):
Who is God to you?Just someone you've heard about
or read about, or someone youhave seen with your own eyes?
Now revelation is probablyhitting you.
The revelation that you don't have arevelation, you just have information
passed down from some other source,passed down again and again.
Think about this.Just how many churches are full
(02:36):
of people,and even pastors and leaders who
have never really encountered God,have never seen who he truly is.
Probably more than we realize,but yet they still get together week
after week, serving a God they don'teven know and have never even seen.
They only have an idea,a picture of who God is and in what
(02:57):
he looks like for most of the time,that picture isn't very accurate.
God is far better than we canimagine, and God deserves to be seen,
really seen for who he is and notwhat we, the world and religion
have made him out to be.People today have so many opinions
about who God is and what he wants,and yet most of these people have no
(03:19):
idea what God really even looks like.Find this hard to believe.
Okay, let's go even farther.Take Saul of Tarsus,
who later became the Apostle Paul.When Paul was Saul, he encountered
God on the road to Damascus.In fact, he encountered God in such
a dramatic, powerful, and totallyunexpected way that it shocked Paul
(03:40):
instead of oh hey, God, it's you!His response was, who are you?
Who is this radiant, powerful,all consuming person who has just
completely brought me to my knees?And this was Saul,
the perfect Pharisee.He had served God diligently all
his life,in fact more diligently than any
other religious person at the time.The Bible says this about Paul.
(04:04):
And as for righteousness,I obey the law without fault.
Who today can say they arefaultless in their religion?
Paul was the poster child of theperfect religious specimen.
Today,he would be touted as one of the
great religious leaders of our time.But yet even Paul had never
truly seen or encountered God.Again, how many churches are full of
(04:28):
people who have served God theirwhole life, but wouldn't recognize
Jesus if he ever really showed up?In fact, if Jesus ever really showed
up in our church, our responsewould most likely be who are you?
And his response to us would mostlikely be the same as it was to Saul.
Why are you fighting me?Most of us only know the image
(04:49):
that has been given to us.And sadly,
most churches are portraying apoor image of who God really is.
We all need to really look upand see who God really is.
Instead of assuming we know.When you really see God,
it changes you.You don't just continue on the path
you're going like it's no big deal.When people in the Bible really
(05:10):
saw God, their whole lives changedforever. Job served God faithfully.
In fact, God even told the devil,have you considered my servant job?
There is no one on earth like him.So this is someone God apparently
knows about and even speaks highlyof. Read about job sometime.
He went through quite the ordeal andhis friends in him sat around talking
(05:33):
about God as if they knew him.Trying to figure out why job was
going through all he was.But in the end,
after all that job went through,he finally really saw God and his
response was, I had only heardabout you before, but now I have
seen you with my own eyes.I take back everything I said,
and I sit in dust and ashes toshow my repentance.
(05:56):
I think this is true for most of us.God,
we have only ever heard about you.If we could ever really see you,
we would shut our mouths andrepent and stop saying the
things we are saying and stopdoing the things we are doing,
for we are wrong about you.Repentance is truly seen as God
you serve but have never seen.And realizing you were wrong
(06:17):
about him this whole time.When the prophet Isaiah saw the Lord,
his response was,woe to me I am ruined, for I am a
man of unclean lips, and I liveamong a people of unclean lips.
And my eyes have seen the King,the Lord Almighty.
Translation I'm a wretch.Everyone around me is a wretch,
(06:37):
and we're all toast.Unless God does something,
none of us stands a chance.I don't really get this vibe in
most churches.I think most churches must be full of
people who have never truly seen God,including the pastors and leaders
Otherwise they wouldn't be sayingmost of what they are saying or doing
most of the things they are doing.Just go on Facebook or social media
(07:00):
and look at what most Christians aresaying, and you realize that they
probably have never really seen God.They only serve an image of God
created by men,one that suits them better.
The people in the Bible actuallysaw God and their revelation about
him was from heaven, not man.But today we just have passed down
information that barely resembles Godand we go along with it blindly.
(07:25):
In fact,most churches have so misrepresented
God that a lot of people today wantnothing to do with church. Why?
Because they are lost sinnerswho don't want God.
No, because they are sick of empty,worthless religion that produces
nothing. They want something real.God deserves to be seen and people
all over deserve a real chanceto see God for who he really is.
(07:50):
When you really see God,you see how absolutely pure,
holy, majestic and good he is.It ruins you, it and hinges you
because he is so much more amazingthan we are or can even understand.
Revelation 117 says, when I saw him,I fell at his feet as though dead.
(08:11):
When was the last church serviceyou were in?
When people dropped to the flooras if dead,
because they had really seen God?Well, that was the olden days.
God doesn't do that anymore.Are you sure?
Or are you listening to people whohave never seen God talk about
things they have no idea about?Are you willing to take that chance?
Really?Seeing God shuts the mouth of
(08:32):
gossips.It turns the hearts of the wicked.
It brings the proudest to theirknees and silences darkness.
We stop tearing down others.We stop acting certain ways.
We are more cautious with whatwe do or say. Why?
Because we are morally correctand want to do the right thing
because our religion dictateswhat we should act like.
(08:54):
No, it's because we have seen theLord and we are nothing like him.
We are undone and must change.Some of the greatest men and women of
the Bible saw God and were crushedby the sinfulness of their hearts.
Yet we are so comfortable withthe condition of ours.
What makes us so much betterthan these great men and women?
Are we that much more righteous,or have we never really seen?
(09:18):
In order to see? You have to look.Duh. Big revelation right?
But seriously, where are we looking?Our lives are so busy and full.
Usually we are only looking atour small little world,
our jobs, what needs to be done?Children, bills, shopping,
entertainment.Running here, running there.
(09:39):
We have this little bubble of our ownlittle world that most of us live in.
We barely look outside our littlerealm at other people, let alone look
up and try to catch a glimpse of God.And besides all that,
a lot of churches don't allow theopportunity to really see God.
Most are just feeding on theself-centeredness of our lives.
We should be going to church toactually see God, to look up and
(10:02):
strain until we catch a glimpse.After all, isn't that what
church should be about to go andworship and look up and see God
and stop seeing everything else?To stop looking at our lives and
our problems and our worries andjust look up and see.
See the God who created the universe,who holds all creation in his hands
(10:23):
to put her aside our preconceivednotions and all of our knowledge
and all of our understanding toput aside the images we have,
the information we know, and reallyallow ourselves to see God for who
he is. God deserves to be seen.He is standing above everything all
day long, doing nothing but good,radiant, captivating, holy but he is
(10:48):
covered up by so much misinformation,so many false images, ideas and
opinions of who he is, covered by somany other non important things.
So many other gods wanting tomake him look bad, covered up by
so much religious tradition.Don't take anyone else's word for it.
Look and see for yourself who Godis and what he really looks like.
(11:12):
Look and see and decide for yourselfand let what you see change.
You forever find a church whereGod and not man is on display,
where he is allowed to be asvisible as he wants to be.
A place where our lives centeredaround him.
A place where you can look up andsee clearly who God really is.
(11:33):
Then you can decide if God isworth it or not.
But don't make that decisionuntil you have truly seen him.
He at least deserves that much.
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Special Summer Offer: Exclusively on Apple Podcasts, try our Dateline Premium subscription completely free for one month! With Dateline Premium, you get every episode ad-free plus exclusive bonus content.
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!