Warren Taylor - My Picture of God is too small - Sunday, August 2, 2026

Let's pray.

Glorious Father, we ask that you would give us a new revelation of your greatness, a new revelation of your grandness, a new revelation of the heart that you have for us.

So rich in love, so rich in kindness, and such a joy that's on your face when you look gaze upon us.

Father, we ask that in this time that you would open us up to a new way of looking and seeing you and receiving you in Jesus' name.

Amen.

Just recently I was at the school of prayer, and um I came away thinking and declaring after being involved in the school of prayer that my picture of God was too small.

I won't say that I had boxed in God, but it was God was sort of showing to me that the dimensions by which I measured him could not accommodate him.

I needed to stretch the picture that I had of God.

I needed to expand the dimensions of him even in my small mind.

These dimensions included his power and authority, but also the depth of his tender, loving heart.

In comparing the love that I had experienced on earth to the love of the Father, it was like comparing the height of Mount Carnobilis to Mount Everest.

Mount Conobulus is big in comparison to the landscape for thousands of kilometers, but tiny when compared to Mount Everest.

I believe the Lord would want me to talk about the following points.

Number one, what distorted images of Father God do I have because of my own Father?

Secondly, how the miracles of God are used to show us his nature.

Thirdly, how God's dimensions and rule are shown in creation.

And fourthly, the healing testimonies stretch our image of God.

What distorted images of Father God do I have because of my own father?

This is not abash my dad's sermon.

It's not healthy for me to hold judgments and unforgiveness towards my father.

I believe he did the very best for me.

And I've tried to be the very best father for my children, but I've made occasional mistakes.

Maybe that's a very generous report, Carl, on my fathering.

I've made more than one.

Yet they still love me.

Maybe it says more about their good nature than it does about mine.

Remember, Jay at the School of Prayer spoke on the revelation of the Father.

The outpouring of the Toronto blessing was very much a revelation of the heart of Father God and brought considerable healing to the body of Christ.

Yet this revelation may have only scratched the surface concerning the Father's love for you and for me.

The images we hold on our biological father can be a stumbling block to relating closely to Father God.

Jay classified five types of fathers.

The emotionally distant father, the absent father, the authoritarian father, the abusive father, and the performance-driven father.

I'll give you a short description of each classification.

The emotionally distant father, sometimes called the passive father, shows affection in minimal ways, provides for the family in monetary terms, displays little or no affection.

The absent father, totally unavailable to the children, a workaholic or driven by a calling in his life.

It could be sport or whatever.

But there is a route of abandonment for the children.

They definitely feel they are at the bottom of the valued chain.

The authoritarian father.

This father is selfish.

The entire family revolves around him.

He demands obedience.

He controls emotionally through fear.

He's like a drill sergeant.

The abusive father, physically, emotionally, or sexually abusive.

Children have big trust issues.

The children often blame themselves for disappointing their father.

The performance-driven father.

The father uses sharp, caustic comments to motivate the child to improve or succeed.

Their father uses shame and guilt to drive performance in sport or life.

Always a nagging feeling for the child that they can't quite make it.

What is God the Father really like?

God wants to touch you.

He wants to be close to you.

He will never abandon you.

God will never give up on you.

God knows you intimately and is not disappointed in you because you have the DNA of God.

His sole desire is to grow you in who he is, grow you in kindness, grow you in joy, grow you in peace.

I've been fortunate enough to hear prophetic words from God.

God so often declares our identity in him as the launching pad for future growth in God.

I've included scriptures to help you with this truth.

This is from John 16, verse 27.

John 16:27

This is Jesus speaking.

Deuteronomy 32, 10.

He kept them as the apple of his eye.

That's us.

It's such an old expression, isn't it?

Now the apple of his eye.

As I talk to my grandchild, it's almost like you are the best.

Every time I look at you, I smile.

2 Corinthians 3 18.

And the Lord, who is the Spirit, makes us more and more like Him as we are changed into His glorious image.

Isaiah 49 16.

And the last scripture blows my mind.

This comes from Psalm 139, verses 17 and 18.

Psalms 139:17

How precious are your thoughts about me, O God! I can't even count them.

They outnumber the grains of sand.

I looked at one cubic meter.

What's one cubic meter?

One step that way, one step that way, and up about this high.

One cubic meter.

I asked Wikipedia to tell me how many grains of sand are in one cubic meter.

I must admit I've been I was a bit disappointed.

They could only tell me it was between 10 billion and a hundred billion.

A billion is a thousand million.

How poor is that?

They couldn't tell me something a bit more accurate than that.

I did the mass.

And that's only one cubic meter.

What about the sand and on all the beaches in the world?

What about the sand in the golf courses?

My picture of God is far too small.

Secondly, how the miracles of God show his nature.

I've been challenged lately to think and meditate on God being a spiritual being, not a human being.

I believe that Jesus, when he came to earth, became a human being because he was fully man and fully God.

That almost does my head in too.

Jesus being the perfect man, he was able to take the sins of the world upon himself.

When Jesus' blood was shed on the cross, he brought healing to our relationship with God.

He broke the power of sin over our lives.

He made us a new creation for all who would receive his gift.

After Jesus fed the 5,000 men, plus the men, plus the women and children, Jesus insisted that his disciples go to the other side of the lake.

Jesus went off to pray.

Maybe it wasn't important to the author of the gospel, that's Matthew.

How was Jesus going to get to the other side of the lake?

Maybe Jesus had a skill in blowing apart the natural thinking of the disciples.

They were sort of accustomed to it happening regularly.

Yet this night Jesus raised the bar.

Have you ever asked why didn't the disciples recognize Jesus walking on the water?

Was it because Jesus was doing something that rocked them?

Or was Jesus doing an activity outside of the human realm?

He didn't come walking in human form, but in as a spiritual being.

In Matthew 14, verses 26 and 27, it says, When the disciples saw him walking on the water, they were terrified.

Matthew 14:26

In their fear, they cried out, It's a ghost.

But Jesus spoke to them at once, Don't be afraid, he said, take courage.

So often when the spiritual realm collides with the natural realm, us humans go into fear.

When Jesus performed this miracle, his heart was declaring, I want to be with you.

I want to give you courage.

I want you to recognize who I am.

I am human like you, but I am divine.

When Moses was tending the sheep, Moses could be thinking, This is a normal day.

The sound of sheep, the smell of sheep.

He knew what to do.

God invades the natural with the supernatural.

Moses sees a burning bush.

This is from Exodus 3.

Then the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a blazing fire from the middle of a bush.

Moses stared in amazement.

Though the bush was engulfed in flames, it didn't burn up.

This is amazing, Moses said to himself.

Why isn't that bush burning up?

I must go see it.

When the Lord saw Moses coming to take a closer look, God called to him from the middle of the bush.

Moses, Moses, here I am.

Moses replied, Do not come any closer, the Lord warned.

Take off your sandals, for you are standing on holy ground.

Moses covered his face, for he was afraid to look at God.

God said that he had seen the oppression of my people in Egypt.

Now he goes on in Exodus 3.

Now go, this is talking to Moses, for I am sending you to Pharaoh.

You must lead my people, Israel, out of Egypt.

Moses did have an animated discussion with God over this directive.

But when God created this miracle, his heart was creating curiosity and amazement in Moses.

His heart was declaring to Moses, You are known by the great I am.

His heart was declaring to Moses, I will always protect you.

His heart was declaring to Moses, I can burn a bush without destroying it.

I know how to lead you against the enemy that appears overwhelming.

Our last story from Scripture comes in Acts twelve.

King Herod Agrippa began to persecute, persecute some believers in the church.

He had the apostle James, that's John's brother, killed with a sword.

When Herod saw how much it pleased the Jewish people, he also had Peter arrested.

This is Acts 12, verses 4 and 5.

Acts 12:4

When Peter was imprisoned, placing him under the guard of four squads of four soldiers each.

Herod intended to bring Peter out for trial after the Passover, but the church prayed earnestly for Peter.

Sounds like our prayer vigil for Iwana.

A supernatural force was set in motion.

The night before the trial, Peter was fastened with chains between two soldiers.

Other soldiers stood guard at the prison gate.

The authorities had determined that it would be impossible for Peter to escape.

Peter might have lost hope or he might have rested in faith in God, for he was asleep.

Now things heat up.

In Acts 12, verse 7 to 10.

Acts 12:7–10

Suddenly there was a bright light in the cell, and an angel of the Lord stood before Peter.

The angel struck him on the side to awaken him.

That'd be a nice awakening, and said, Quick, get up.

And the chains fell off his wrists.

Then the angel told him, Get dressed and put on your sandals, and he did.

Now put on your coat and follow me, the angel ordered.

So Peter left the cell, following the angel.

He didn't realize it was actually happening.

They passed the first and second guardposts and came to the iron gate leading to the city, and this opened before them all by itself.

Amazing.

So they passed through and started walking down the street, and then the angel left them.

In this miracle, God's heart was declaring over Peter.

I heard your prayers.

Man's control and authority are nothing in the ballpark of mine.

So I arranged the rescue mission for you because you are special to me.

I wanted to do it for you, releasing all the chains and the gates so that you would give me the glory.

So I would be exalted.

I don't believe God was saying Peter was selfish, but it's the default position for a man and woman to declare that they did it.

It's crucial in every miracle when God enters into our world, we remember the heart of God towards us.

Bill Johnson, the pastor of Bethel Church in America.

I love what he says.

He says, to stay in life, in kingdom lifestyle, in Deuteronomy 4 and 6 states three directives.

Keep the commandments, keep the statutes, which is really principles of kingdom living, and keep the testimonies.

The testimony is the meditating upon and embracing the miracles that we don't understand, but they move us to wonder.

Every one of us should be deeply concerned about the moment we move into a season where we have lost the awe and wonder of God.

Those who understand their Christian lifestyle are serving a God their size.

We often at times fashion a God that we can understand and have some measure of control.

There is a moment between exposure to a wonder, a miracle, and that moment you come into understanding.

In that season, there is a realm of trust that we trust God in mystery.

In Psalm 78, verse 4, says, We will not hide these truths from our children.

Psalms 78:4

We will tell the next generation about the glorious deeds of the Lord, about his power and his mighty wonders.

And then later in Psalm 78, verse 7, this time, so each generation should set its hope anew on God, not forgetting his glorious miracles and obeying his commands.

Psalms 78:7

In verse 4, the glorious deeds, or in some versions say the glorious praises.

Bill Johnson says, glorious praises are the boasting of the nature of God revealed in his miracles.

Forgetting his miracles and not living in a place of awe and wonder with God, this is not a small matter.

There is a generation at stake.

The next generation is in peril.

We owe it to the next generation to live in awe and wonder and bold boastly, bold, boldly boast of the awesome wonder of God revealed in his miracles.

Thirdly, how God's dimensions and rule are shown in creation.

In Psalm 89, verse 11, it says, The heavens are yours and the earth is yours.

Psalms 89:11

Everything in the world is yours.

You created it all.

And still in Psalm 89, this time in verse 6 and 7, for who can compare with the Lord?

What mightiest angel is anything like the Lord?

The highest angelic powers stand in awe of God.

He is far more awesome than all who surround his throne.

And you know fully well that I borrowed it from so many different resources.

The distances in astronomy cannot be measured in kilometers.

They are too big.

They use light years.

A light year is the distance traveled by light in a year.

The speed of light is 300,000 kilometers per second.

If I was to do a distance which is not used, the light minute, that would be 18 million kilometers.

To get it to light years, you have to multiply by another factor of 300,000, which is the timesing by 60, which is the timesing by 24, which is the timesing by 365.

The first truth that begins to amaze me in all of this in the astronomy, they refer to the known universe or the observable universe.

The known universe is an estimate.

With the development of better telescopes like Hubble Space Telescope, the known universe has become bigger.

The known universe is estimated.

Estimated to be 93 billion light years.

In diameter.

A billion is a thousand million.

So it's an estimated 93,000 million light years in diameter.

Our suburban space is called the Milky Way.

It is our galaxy.

There are two trillion galaxies in the known universe.

A trillion is a million million or 12 zeros.

It's estimated there are a hundred billion to two hundred billion stars in the Milky Way.

Hundred thousand million to two hundred thousand million stars light up the skies in the Milky Way.

The Milky Way is a hundred thousand to one hundred and twenty thousand light years in diameter.

Just when you are thinking that God is impressed with his big toys, you are the pinnacle of his creation.

You are the only creation that he made in his own image.

Adam and Eve are the only creations mentioned to warp with God in the garden.

Now to the small things God made.

Millimeters is not small enough to measure the tiny creations of God.

A nanometer is one millionth of a millimeter.

Typical hair ranges in thickness from 50,000 nanometers to 120,000 nanometers.

God amazingly created each strand of hair on your head, so he was able to say in Matthew 10, 30, and the very hairs on your head are numbered.

Nanometers is the scale used to measure the size of atoms and molecules.

A strand of DNA is 2.5 nanometers in diameter.

If each person on earth were the size of a nanometer, everyone on the planet would fit into a Hot Wheels matchbox car.

Just as you think God is doing cartwheels over his tiny creations, God says the following statements concerning you and me in Scripture.

In Ephesians 2, 6.

For he that's God raised us from the dead along with Christ and seated us in the heavenly realms because we are united to Jesus.

In John 17, verses 22 and 23, this is Jesus speaking.

John 17:22

So they may be one as you and I are one.

I am in them and you are in me.

May they experience such perfect unity that the world will know that you sent me and you love them as much as you love me.

I can accept the dimensions of the universe, but does the dimensions of God's love say God loves me and you with the same richness that he loved Jesus?

A million times, yes.

The healing testimonies that stretch our image of God.

The healing stories in Scripture are so varied and so extraordinary.

Naaman suffered from leprosy.

He was so respected by the king of Aram, where he was the commander of his army.

The king of Aram sent a letter to the king of Israel, including a generous gift.

This is how the letter was worded.

This is in 2 Kings 5, verse 6.

2 Kings 5:6

With this letter I present my servant Nahum.

I want you to heal him of his leprosy.

The king of Israel was irritated and confused.

I don't heal people.

The prophet Elijah spoke to the king of Israel in 2 Kings 5 8.

Why are you so upset?

Send Naaman to me, and he will learn there is a true prophet here in Israel.

What happened next?

Astounded, disappointed, and angered Naam.

Naam had traveled a considerable distance, but Elisha did not meet him in person, but told him through a messenger to wash himself seven times in the Jordan River, and he would be healed.

Naaman initially rejected the idea, declaring it was beneath him.

His friends convinced Nahum to do as Elijah suggested, and he was healed.

When Jesus encountered a man who was deaf and had a speech impediment, he didn't ask him to wash in the river seven times.

The crowd begged Jesus to lay his hands on the man to heal him.

Maybe they had seen power imparted by Jesus with the laying of hands.

But Jesus led the man away from the crowd.

This is in Mark 7, verses 33-35.

Mark 7:33–35

He, Jesus, put his fingers in the man's ears.

Then spitting on his own fingers, he touched the man's tongue.

Looking up to heaven, Jesus sighed, and I'm probably going to get this wrong.

Epaphrah, which means be opened.

Instantly the man could hear perfectly, and his tongue was freed to speak plainly.

I hear there is supernatural power in the saliva of Jesus.

My last healing story comes from scripture.

Jairus traveled a long distance to see Jesus.

He pleaded with Jesus to come quickly to his home, for his only daughter, 12 years old, was dying.

Jesus was healing others and got held up.

In the delay, a messenger relayed the sad news that Jairus' daughter had died.

There is no use troubling Jesus anymore.

Jesus spoke directly to Jairus in Luke 8:50.

Luke 8:50

They traveled a long distance together, Jesus and his four disciples and Jairus.

I sometimes wonder what Jesus did to keep Jairus walking in faith.

When Jesus got to Jairus' home, there was weeping and wailing.

Jesus said the girl was only sleeping.

The crowd laughed at Jesus.

He didn't let the mocking deter him.

He knew his father.

He only did what he saw of the father doing.

In Luke 8, 54, then Jesus took her by the hand and said in a loud voice, My child, get up.

At that moment her life returned, and she immediately stood up.

Then Jesus told them to give her something to eat.

There are so many more healing stories in Scripture.

I'll briefly include two more.

A woman who had suffered twelve years from bleeding was healed by touching the fringe of Jesus' robe.

People were healed by the very shadow of Peter.

I've heard it said that they were healed because Peter was overshadowed by God.

In summary, we do God a massive disservice when we worship a God that we can understand and can fully see his ways in our lives.

God is so much bigger than that.

If the thought of God doesn't consume us with wonder and awe, then we've become too inward focused.

God in creation is phenomenal.

A considerable amount of what God designs is either too big or too small for our feeble minds to comprehend.

We are called to live in wonder and honor with God, to live in gratitude and joy for all He has given us.

We worship a God who is beyond all we can imagine or believe, but who delights in us and calls us to walk with Him daily.

Thank you for listening.