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Peggy Joyce Ruth, aka "the Psalm 91 Lady" is author of a variety of Psalm 91 book titles with over six million copies in print. She taught a weekly Adult Bible Study for more than 35 years in her church in Central Texas as she shared how to make God’s Word your final authority. Known for her easy-to-understand style of communicating the Word of God and warm storytelling, Peggy Joyce's heart is that her books and teachings will bring you into the same freedom from fear she experienced and help you put God's Word to work in your life.
Okay. We're gonna be talking today about the seven I AMs of Jesus. Now if you were asked to describe God in two words, could you? You know, what would you say? Have you ever wondered how God would describe himself if he were asked?
Speaker 1:Well, Moses asked him just exactly that. He wanted him to tell him who he was, you know. So in Exodus three ten through 14, God had told Moses, I'm going to send you to Pharaoh, and I want you to tell him to let my people go. But Moses said, who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and and that I should bring the sons of Israel out of Egypt? Who am I to do that?
Speaker 1:And God says, well, I'll be with you. I'll be with you. And this will be a sign that it is I who sent you. When you have brought them out of Egypt, you will worship me on this mountain. I think it's interesting that God's confirmation to us, when we ask Him to confirm that we're hearing right, His confirmation is always in retrospect.
Speaker 1:We have to do it first and then He confirms it. So he said, You do that and you come back and you'll worship me on this mountain. Then Moses said, When I go to the sons of Israel and tell them I'm going to be bringing them out because the God of our fathers has sent me to do that, They're gonna say, well, what is his name? And what then will I say? And how am I going to tell them who sent me?
Speaker 1:And so in Exodus three verse 14, God says, I am who I am. He said, you say to the sons of Israel, I am has sent me to you. Now, in a million years, who would have ever thought of God describing Himself that way? You know, that's so unusual. I AM who I AM.
Speaker 1:Go tell them, 'I AM sent you.' Okay, that's a strange answer, but there is so much significance here. Now, God is saying more in these two short words than one could ever possibly imagine. And the name I AM was to become the continual, present tense revelation of God's character all through the Word of God, all the way from Genesis clear on through the Bible. Now, I went through the Old and the New Testament and I looked up every I AM scripture that I could find. And I found 205 different times in which God made a very significant reference to the fact that He is the I AM.
Speaker 1:I thought that was interesting. 205 times God said, I AM thus and so. And each time He was showing us a different facet of His personality. Now, I'm not gonna have you look up all 205 references. I won't do that to you.
Speaker 1:But I can't begin to tell you what a revelation that is into the character of God. Now, when God used these two short words to describe Himself, He was saying more to Moses than man could ever possibly have imagined. First of all, he was saying, I am present tense. He was saying literally, I am the self existent one. He's the eternal present tense.
Speaker 1:And he's saying, I am the one who always has been. I'm the one who always will be. And he said, basically, he was saying, I am the absolute, present tense, only one forever. So he was saying, I am the one. I am eternal.
Speaker 1:Now, unfortunately, today, there seems to be so many people now who are serving the great I was. They're acting as though all the blessings of the covenant have passed away. But that's not so. When God said I am, he was saying I am the now God. Now whether in Moses' time or whether it's in our time, he is the absolute, present tense, forever.
Speaker 1:Now, god has started using his I am name clear back in Genesis, but we probably would never have picked up on it if he had not been so specific with Moses. I'm glad that he really spelled it out to Moses, you know, when he said, You tell them that I AM sent you. And back then, he gave the first covenant name to Abraham. He was also using the present tense I am identity if you look very closely at this. Now God said, don't fear Abram.
Speaker 1:I am a shield to you, and your reward is going to be very great. Okay. Now even though we've been given a new covenant now, we still have the benefit of this original Abrahamic covenant because the benefits haven't haven't gone away. We have the same benefits today that he was telling them they had in the Old Testament. And so in Genesis 15 verse one, God said, I am your shield.
Speaker 1:Basically, God was saying, I am your shield. I am your protection. And he was also saying, I'm your reward. I'm your eternal present tense inheritance. Now, the covenant and the inheritance that God gave us was Himself.
Speaker 1:That was everything. That was our inheritance. That's our everything He's given to us. And he was saying, I give myself to you to be everything that you will ever need on a constant present tense basis. So think about that.
Speaker 1:The God of the universe, the God of the whole universe said, for your covenant, I'm going to give you myself. Now I'm gonna be the I am to you, and anytime you ever need, I'll be there, and whatever you need, I will take care of you. I'll give it to you. It'll be from me. I am your reward.
Speaker 1:Okay. Now that should make us really begin to shout when we think about that. Well, from there, God progressively now revealed his I am nature throughout the entire Old Testament. As you go through it, He was revealing Himself through His I AM name. And toward the end of the Old Testament, He makes a very phenomenal announcement.
Speaker 1:And He makes that in Jeremiah 31, the last part of verse nine. Now, I wish there had been a lot of time to go through all these different facets of his personality because it really was an exciting study as he revealed the different I AM revelations. Now, we couldn't touch on them all, so I chose seven that I thought would be the most helpful. So in Jeremiah 31 verse nine, he said, I AM father. Now he has been revealing, his I AM characteristic all along, but now it's getting time for Christ.
Speaker 1:It's getting time for the Messiah to come. And so he reveals himself this time as I am father. He's getting ready to introduce his son. And I thought that was significant that he hasn't introduced himself that way up until the time it's we're ready for Jesus to come. Now no other so called god had ever made that kind of claim before.
Speaker 1:Now this doesn't really sound like much of a revelation to us because this is common knowledge to us now. I mean, we call him father all the time. We don't think anything about it. And we're constantly praying every day, Our Father who art in heaven. But this was a new revelation in Jesus' time.
Speaker 1:This was very shocking statement to the people back there. And even today, in foreign religions, this is a shock for them to hear that God is saying, I am father. They can't comprehend a God who would present Himself as a father. That's just foreign to them. Well, recently, I read a book by a Muslim lady who had become a Christian, and she entitled her book, I Dared to Call Him Father.
Speaker 1:That really impressed me when I saw that. So that took a tremendous amount of courage because that would have been blasphemy in her old religion. But she had come to know God very intimately, so that gave her the boldness to be able to step out and call him father. Now once he refilled himself as father, then he made the final and the complete revelation of himself in his son. And in Matthew twenty seven forty three, this could almost be a counterpart to the scripture in Jeremiah because it says, Jesus trusts in God.
Speaker 1:He takes pleasure in God for he said, I am the son of God. I think that's interesting that he takes pleasure in God because he says, I'm the son of God. God has said in Jeremiah, I am father. And now in the last part of Matthew 27 verse 43, Jesus is saying, I am the son of my father. Okay.
Speaker 1:Then Jesus, God's son, who is the exact replica of the father, he continues on in the revelation of God through the I am names of God. Okay. This is very significant now. And we're going to center in on the seven I AMs of Jesus that's recorded in the book of John. I think it's interesting that John had this revelation, and thank God he put it in his book.
Speaker 1:Seven is the number of completion. And so seven different times now, Jesus said, I am thus and so. And in those seven I am statements now, we have the entire life and the entire ministry of Jesus depicted perfectly, as well as the character of God. So hundreds of years now before when Moses had asked, God, how will I describe you to the children of Israel? And when God said, Describe me as the I am who I am.
Speaker 1:Now who would have thought that the fullness of what that meant was going to be revealed a few thousand years later in these seven I AMs? I am his son. Now, hope you'll mark these seven down in a book or something as we go along because you're going to be very happy that you have them, and it's going to actually summarize God's character. Okay. Now it's actually started in John six thirty three through 35.
Speaker 1:For the bread of God is that which came down out of heaven, and it gives life to the entire world. They said therefore to him, Lord, evermore give us this bread. And in verse 35, Jesus said to them, I am the bread of life, and he who comes to me, he's not going to ever hunger. If he'll believe in me, he will never thirst again. So in John six forty eight through 50, I am the bread of life.
Speaker 1:Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness. But Jesus here is basically saying, I'm the real thing. I'm the real bread that came down out of heaven. I am your real manna. They ate manna in the old testament, but that was a picture of what I was going to be.
Speaker 1:I'm the real manna, and when you partake of me, you will never die. Okay. In John six fifty one and fifty two, he says, I am the living bread that came down out of heaven. And if anyone eats this bread, he's going to live forever. And the bread also which I shall give for the life of the world is my flesh, he said.
Speaker 1:Now the Jews therefore began to argue with one another saying, how on earth could this man give us his flesh to eat? And they were listening with their mind, with their physical mind. And they literally thought that he was talking about cannibalism. And in John six fifty three through 56, Jesus therefore said to them, truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the son of man, unless you drink his blood, you're gonna have no life in yourself. He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.
Speaker 1:For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. And he who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I abide in him. Boy, that's saying a ton to us. We need to read that over and over until we take it in. What does he mean here?
Speaker 1:This text has to be taken in reference now with the scripture in John one verse one. And, of course, we're familiar with that scripture. In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God. And then in verse 14, and that word became flesh and dwelt among us. Other In words, that word became flesh and he lived with us.
Speaker 1:He walked with us and talked with us. Now the word was made flesh in in the in the life of Jesus. And then in John six verse 54, he has just told them to eat his flesh. And he was saying the word has become flesh in me, and now I want you to learn how to partake of me. I want you to partake of that word because I am the word he was saying.
Speaker 1:Okay. Now you can see a big loaf of delicious looking homemade bread. Oh, and it looks so good and it smells so good and it's beautiful. But unless you partake of it, it's never gonna nourish you. And that's what Jesus was saying.
Speaker 1:He was saying, I am that bread. I am literally the word made flesh. But he says, you have to partake of me or you'll never be nourished. Six times in the immediate context now, Jesus says that he came down out of heaven and his claim to heavenly origin is unmistakable. So he lets it be known from the very beginning that he was from heaven.
Speaker 1:And this flesh, this bread, this word literally supplies life in two different realms. Okay now, in John six verse 51, Jesus said, I'm the living bread that came down out of heaven. And if anyone eats of this bread, he says, he'll live forever. He'll live forever. And the bread also which I give for the life of this world, he says, is my flesh.
Speaker 1:So his flesh supplies life. Now he's saying in two different realms. It supplies life for this world, and it also supplies life for the world to come. Now when he said I am bread, he linked it with the supplying of man's basic needs. That's basically what he was saying.
Speaker 1:I I'll take care of all of your needs, all of your basic needs, everything you need for living in this world. Now when Jesus compared himself to bread, he was comparing himself to the most essential and foundational part of our existence. So the secret for having what it takes now for living in this world is in the spiritual bread. Then in verse 54, he takes it past this physical world and also promises resurrection and eternal life to the one now, who partakes of this living bread. And this is so important.
Speaker 1:This bread is life not only for here, but also for the hereafter. So it supplies us in two different realms. Now, I read somewhere in a nutritional magazine, that there are six steps for eating food. Six things that take place when you eat. Now, this was a a secular magazine, but I thought it was very interesting.
Speaker 1:It's talking about eating physical food, but I want us to apply it now spiritually. Number one, this article said you partake. You put the food in your mouth. Number two, you chew the food. You know, we don't just swallow it whole.
Speaker 1:Number three, this article said you enjoy the food and that's why you have taste buds. And it's in the enjoyment of the food that releases more digestive enzymes into your system. So, there's a reason for enjoying it. Enjoyment is very important for digestion. And number four: You swallow the food.
Speaker 1:It won't do you any good if you spit it out. And then number five, it says you digest the food. And then number six, your body uses it. It goes into all the cells. Okay, that's what Jesus was exactly saying.
Speaker 1:This this secular article, it it was interesting. Because number one, he was saying, you eat my flesh, partake of me, partake of the Word, because he said, That's my body. Partake of that. The second step, he said, Chew on it. Meditate on the Word.
Speaker 1:Think on it. And number three, he says, Enjoy it. Enjoy the Word. See, too often we read our Bible out of duty rather than enjoyment. We say, Okay, I've got to hurry and do my Bible reading because I've got so much to do today.
Speaker 1:But God said, No, don't do that. I want you to enjoy it as you take it in. And it's just like in the physical realm. The food that is enjoyed is better digested. And also, you get more out of your Bible when you enjoy it.
Speaker 1:When you sit down to read it and you say, Lord, this is so much fun. Reveal your Word to me. We're going to get so much more out of it, just like when we eat it, eat our food that way. And number four step: Swallow the Word. Okay, if you look on in verse 60 and verse 66 then, John six sixty: Many therefore of his disciples, when they heard this, they said, this is a difficult statement.
Speaker 1:You know, who on earth can listen to this? And then in verse 66, as a result of this, many of his disciples withdrew, and they were not walking with him anymore. They had started to partake. They had started listening. It sounded interesting to them, but they weren't able to swallow what he was saying.
Speaker 1:Now, how many times do we read a certain passage of scripture and we think, oh, I'm not ready for that, you know. But a part of eating is swallowing. A part of eating the Word is receiving that bread, thinking it through, not just gobbling it down, but thinking about it, realizing God's trying to tell me something in this. Now, the first four steps are things that we have to do. That's our part.
Speaker 1:But after we partake of the food, after we chew it and enjoy it, swallow it, our body then takes over and our body does the rest. And number five, it digests the food. And number six, it sends it into the different cells to use it and to nourish the body. Okay, it's the same in the spiritual realm. Exactly the same.
Speaker 1:Number one, we do the first four steps ourselves. We read the word. We meditate, chew on it, think about it. We choose to take time to enjoy it. And number four, we receive it.
Speaker 1:We swallow it. And then God does the rest. The Holy Spirit then digests what we've taken in, and it causes it then to nourish our body. It feeds our whole body so that our body can use it. Now, there is a way to tell whether or not we've taken the Word in through these six steps.
Speaker 1:There's something we can do to see if we've really taken it in. See, too often we just hurriedly read through it and we're through and we're going about our business. And we think we've adequately partaken of the Word. But there is a way to know. You can test it out to see if food, physical food, has been digested in you and if it's being used.
Speaker 1:Because with physical bread, if you're growing properly, if your bones and your muscles and your blood, you know, if they're healthy and you have energy, then you can know that you've been properly digesting your food. Okay, in the same way, the way you can know in the spiritual realm is by taking note if the word is the very first thought that comes to your mind when a situation arises. If you are faced, with something all of a sudden and you've got to use the word for protection, if that's what comes out of your mouth, you know you've taken the word in and you've digested it. But if the first thing you do is run to a doctor or run to somebody else, you're going to know that you might have taken the food in, but you didn't digest it. See, if out of the abundance of your heart, your mouth is speaking the word in every given situation, if it does that, then you can know that you're taking in and you're digesting that spiritual word.
Speaker 1:Now, there's a lot of things that come against you in the world, but God really has answered in his word for every single adverse thing that could ever possibly come. Realize bread does us absolutely no good in the physical or in the spiritual if it's not digested in the body. Okay, now let me give you an example. Let's say that a problem arises maybe with your teenage child. You may have to take disciplinary action, but the very first place that you should have run was to God.
Speaker 1:As Christians, we need to train ourselves that no matter what it is that we're facing with our children, with us, with anybody else, the first place we have to run to God and put him in remembrance of his word, just exactly like we're told to do in Isaiah. And we need to say, Lord, I thank you that my child has been dedicated to you. Isaiah fifty four thirteen tells me that a part of my inheritance is that he or or she is being discipled by you. That's a promise in the word. But we have to put that promise out.
Speaker 1:We have to let God know we've read that word and we've digested it and we're using it. You have promised me, lord, that they will not go into the captivity of the enemy. They're not gonna go into drugs and alcohol and illicit sex if I'm obedient. Thank you for for the angels, lord, that you've sent to guard and protect those children. And I'm asking you now, Lord, that you will direct them into the paths that they should go.
Speaker 1:When we put that word in, we know the promises. We've gotta use them. Or they do us no good. It'd be like putting in food and not using it in your body. It would do you no good.
Speaker 1:Okay. That's what should be coming out of our mouth and out of our heart where our children are concerned. And if it's not, then we need to stop and reevaluate our life and reevaluate what we're doing with the word when we take it in. When a phone call comes in the middle of the night, fear tries to engulf us. The first thing out of our mouth should be according to Psalm a 112 verse seven.
Speaker 1:I will not fear evil things, Lord. Your word tells me not to fear. My heart is steadfast and I'm going to continue trusting in you. That that needs to be what comes out of our mouth immediately. When Psalm 91 comes rolling out of our mouth in face of a problem, you'll know that you've taken in that bread from heaven.
Speaker 1:You'll know that you have been digesting it and your body has begun to use it. That should be exciting to us. We get excited when we take in food and we see that it's nourishing our bodies and it's doing what it's supposed to do. It should be that exciting to us when we're taking the spiritual food and all of a sudden we're using it and we know that we're doing exactly what God intended us to do. And verse 51 says, this is the bread for the living of life in this world.
Speaker 1:So God has given us bread for living physically in this world, But He's also given us bread, His Word, for living life in this world. And if we're not using it, then our body is going to be malnourished. The Word is the total provision for anything that we're ever going to need, whether it be mentally, emotionally, socially, financially, physically. But we have to use it. And it has to be important enough to us that when we start reading the Word, we're going to say, okay, Lord, I'm not just taking these in.
Speaker 1:Just get my bible study over with. I want to take it in because my body needs to use these words for the living in this world. Now there's a story told about a little boy who went on an overnight camp out with his father. Well, during the afternoon, he started trying to move this big rock because it was in the way of the campsite. So he was trying to get that big rock out of the way.
Speaker 1:Well, he had huffed and puffed and heaved with all his might, but the rock wouldn't budge. Well, the father had been watching, so he finally asked, son, are you using all you have to move that rock? And the little boy was he was somewhat exasperated with with the question. He said, well, of course I have. I've put everything I had into it.
Speaker 1:He thought his father meant that he wasn't trying hard enough. And then the father says, No, you aren't using everything that's available. You have me and you've not yet asked me to help. So many times that's what we're doing. We're facing our problems and we're doing everything we know to do.
Speaker 1:We read our bible study that morning but we didn't put it to work. We're not even thinking about running to God. We're not using what we have available. And that's what the father was saying. You haven't used me, so you haven't used everything available to you.
Speaker 1:Life is going to deal us some situations that look tough. And we can huff and puff and heave or work on it by the arm of flesh. And we can do that all we want to. And the only thing we're going to get is exhausted. When Jesus said, I am bread, He was giving us a tangible picture of the total provision that He's made available to us for the life in this world.
Speaker 1:He's given himself literally. Now, even back in the beginning, Abraham knew God as the I am bread because he said, let no man say that they made Abraham rich except the Lord God Almighty. So that let him know he was putting that word to work. He knew the El Shaddai was the bread. He knew that was his total provision.
Speaker 1:Okay, number two in John nine verse five. While I am in this world, Jesus said, I am the light of this world. While I'm in this world, I'm the light of this world. Now, scientists tell us that the moon produces no light of its own. It simply reflects the light of the sun's rays.
Speaker 1:Okay, now I want you to stay with me. When a lunar eclipse takes place, that means the earth has passed directly between the sun and the moon. Now the moon is darkened because the light of the sun is blocked off by the world. And so not only is the moon dark, but the night side of the earth is dark as well. So it doesn't have the moon's reflection.
Speaker 1:Now we Christians are like the moon. We are to reflect the light of God's son. His light illuminates us, and it's our reflection of God's glory now that shines out to the world. And that's what gives the world light. Now, the world's only hope for light is a reflection from us.
Speaker 1:If we as Christians are not doing our job, it's kinda like a lunar eclipse. They're not gonna get it because there's nothing in the world to make it come alive. So we need to do what God's called us to do. And that's why it's so important not to have a lunar eclipse. A lunar eclipse is when we let the world with all of the worries and cares and deceitfulness of riches and sin, when we let that come between us and and the sun, God's sun.
Speaker 1:And if we become dark, there's no light to reflect back to the world. We have a responsibility. But so many Christians don't even realize they have a responsibility. We've gotta come to a place where we say, I have a part to play. And if I'm not reflecting God's light back to the world, they may not get it.
Speaker 1:They may end up in hell just because I didn't do my job. See, once I was watching Olympic ice skaters, and the arena was totally dark, and the only light was a spotlight directly on the girl that was skating. And she would skate forward and backward, she turned flips, she did all kinds of maneuver. But that spotlight stayed perfectly on her every minute, every move she made. And it took a very talented person now to keep that light on her so accurately.
Speaker 1:And as I watched her skate, totally illuminated now by that huge spotlight, I realized that that's exactly what God does. He keeps the light of His sun shining on us every move that we make. And we're the only ones that can cut off that light. He's shining it on us. But if we're not following, if we're not opening ourselves up to that light to be a light to the world, there are going to be people who miss out because of us.
Speaker 1:It's made available to direct our path and be a light also to show other people the way. So it's not just for us, it's also for the world. And as long as we refuse to come into a lunar eclipse from the world, from the worries and cares and the sin, then we're going to be doing exactly what God's called us to do. Now, I looked up light in the encyclopedia and I discovered three interesting things, and they can all be applied spiritually. Now, number one, the encyclopedia says without light, there would be no sight.
Speaker 1:And I thought about that. You could have perfectly normal, healthy eyes and yet if there was absolutely no light, there would be no way for that healthy, normal eyes to be able to see. Our eyesight is totally dependent on the light. Now, it's no different in the spiritual realm. Spiritual sight or or spiritual insight is totally dependent now on the light of Jesus.
Speaker 1:And we're going to find out that pure wisdom and pure insight is there only as long as a person now stays in the light of God's word. And there's a lot of people who say they're Christians and they don't pay any attention to the word. They don't use the word. And so they're not being able to operate as God intended us as Christians to operate. It takes the light to have true sight.
Speaker 1:Okay. Number two. Another interesting fact about light. Light is one of the sources of all life. So take light away totally, and all the life now on this planet would die.
Speaker 1:And that's what Jesus was saying. He said, I'm the light of the world. And just like physical light is the source of life in the natural, he's saying, I'm the light that is the source of life in the spiritual. And he said nothing can live spiritually apart from my light. Okay, number three.
Speaker 1:Signs also tells us that light travels in straight lines. Okay, let me give you an analogy. How many times have you prayed for something and it felt like the Lord took a long way around to answer that prayer? I think we've all felt that at times. But when it boils down to it, what we really want is a band aid to stop the hurt and take care of it fast.
Speaker 1:Lord, just get get me through this in a hurry. But God's light goes straight to the source of the infection. See, light travels in a straight line, and He heals the problem from the roots up. He doesn't want us to settle for a band aid and live with an under par marriage or an under par personality or an under par circumstances. God didn't want that.
Speaker 1:And he's made a way so that we don't have to live that way. God's light tunnels straight through the mountain or straight through the problem, and he is the shortest route to the ultimate victory. And then number three, I am. In John 10 verse nine, he said, I am the door. If anyone enters through me, he shall go in and out and find pasture.
Speaker 1:Okay. Jesus said, I'm the door for the sheep and no man comes to the father except through me because he said, I'm the door. If they don't come through me, they can't get to him because I'm the door. Now, there's no other name given under heaven whereby men might be saved. There's no other entrance.
Speaker 1:He is literally the door, and there's no other door. Now if you ever had someone argue with you that it doesn't matter which religion you're in, you're gonna be saved. You know, I've heard people say that. Or if you're good, you're gonna make it to heaven. You just need to be good.
Speaker 1:Well, this is one of the scriptural grounds that you have to quote back. There's no other door. God says there is no other door. You can't be good enough. You you can't go there can't be another religion.
Speaker 1:There's only one door. And verse one, you've all seen people who have tried to go through the wrong door to get somewhere. Some want a successful career or maybe they want an education or maybe they're wanting a promotion in their job, and they've gone through the wrong door to get there. And you've seen people who have cheated all the way through school to try to get an education. And when they got there, they had gone through the wrong door.
Speaker 1:They had cheated themselves out of the knowledge that they could have gotten. And the only thing they had when they got there was a piece of paper. And that's happened many, many times. You've seen businessmen who were determined now to be a success and there's nothing wrong with being a success. God wants us to be successful.
Speaker 1:God wants that for us. But anytime we accomplish it another way other than God's way, it's just a hall of victory. They lost something in the process. Maybe they lost their reputation by doing it an evil way, or maybe they lost a family member, a wife maybe, a family. Okay.
Speaker 1:There's only one door to success that's going to make us now successful from every angle, and that door is Jesus. Jesus said, I am the door. I am the door. Now the Bible tells us that God makes one rich and he adds no sorrow with it. Why?
Speaker 1:Because that's the right door, you know. Matthew six thirty three says, seek first his kingdom and seek his righteousness, and all of these things are gonna be added to you. You know, we need to memorize that scripture, you know. If we just seek first the kingdom and seek first the righteousness of Jesus, then all these things that we need, all these things that we want, they're going to be just added to us. That is a scripture promise that very few people use, but it's tremendous when we think what it's saying.
Speaker 1:We have to seek Jesus. He is the door to whatever it is that we need. I've seen girls go after a promotion and use ungodly means and got the promotion, but there was never contentment because they lost something precious in the process by by going through the wrong door. Anytime we go through the wrong door, a door that God hasn't provided, that isn't the doorway that Jesus has, we're going to find out it's not going to work eventually. Compromise is always the wrong door.
Speaker 1:Now Jesus said I am the door. He is the door through which everything good comes. If you want good in your life, you're going to find out you can, no matter how hard you try or how good it looks someplace else, He is the door to everything that's good. And if we try anything else, it's not gonna work. Okay, so the fourth I AM is in John 10 verse 11.
Speaker 1:I AM the Good Shepherd. Now Jesus is not just a good shepherd but He is the shepherd who laid His life down for His sheep. There's a lot of good shepherds but He's the one who laid His life down for the sheep. And so on December 1978, in the Bighorn Mountain Of Wyoming, in one of the worst snowstorms in their entire history, hundreds of sheep in that great sheep country had gone to safety. But 50 got isolated in the storm on the wrong side of the mountain.
Speaker 1:And the shepherd was just devastated over the fact that his sheep were going to die. And they were lost. They were totally helpless. But the shepherd of those sheep, he got a helicopter and he went across that mountain in that blizzard. Very, very dangerous undertaking because in a helicopter, you want the weather to be good.
Speaker 1:And he was going in the worst kind of weather. And he dropped a big net down and he caught a few of those sheep up at a time. At the time, then as he had them, then he took them across the mountain to safety. Now, continued that slow, dangerous process until he had every one of those sheep back in the fold. Now, it cost him a lot more money than the sheep were worth, but it was worth it to him because it was so important because he cared about those sheep.
Speaker 1:Now, I don't even have to make an analogy there. That clearly depicts God's love for us and how much He cares for us and what He's gone to. He literally gave his life. He gave everything he had because he loved us that much. Now, several years ago, when Brownwood had their first terrible flood, my son, Bill, he had goats on this land by the bow.
Speaker 1:And one of the little goats, he and Sloan, his wife, they had raised it on a bottle and they'd named that little goat Little Willie. And so Bill was just grieved because he thought that all of those little goats had been swept away in the flood. And he was just devastated. But someone said that they had seen a guy hoisting up goats into a hayloft in a barn on the bow. Well, Bill didn't know whether it was his or not, but he wasn't going to take any chances.
Speaker 1:And so when he heard that, even though the waters were still totally out of control, the waters were rising, he got a boat and he started making his way over to that barn through those very swift and out of control waters. Now, he didn't tell his mother and daddy about that because we probably would have had a bed. But he got there and when he got close, he could hear little Willie's voice and he recognized it. And sure enough, when he finally got the door open now to the hayloft, there were his goats and the first one out was Little Willie, jumped right into his arms. Another twelve hours and they would have all been dead from thirst and suffocation.
Speaker 1:Now, as Bill was carrying them back to land, one boatload at a time, There was a TV crew from Abilene. They had come over to cover the flood. And so, boy, when they found this little boy going to all this trouble to get his goats back, they filmed Bill bringing his goats back to safety. Now, Jesus was the good shepherd at the expense of his own life. Now, that was prophesied hundreds of years before in Isaiah 53, verse seven.
Speaker 1:He said, All we like sheep have gone astray. We were rebelliously doing our own thing and we weren't following God. Man wasn't following God. We were lost. We were isolated.
Speaker 1:We were separated from God. And we were separated by a mountain. And that mountain was our sin nature. And Jesus carried us back over the mountain to safety at a great expense to Himself because all of our sins were laid upon Him. Now, in Isaiah 5four 14, it tells us that Jesus' appearance was marred more than any man.
Speaker 1:We need to think about that. We've seen a lot of people horribly marred. But Jesus was marred, it said, more than any man. And then even his form was marred more than the sons of men. You know, it's hard for us to even imagine that.
Speaker 1:They've painted pictures of him on the cross with the blood all over him, but we have no idea what he was going through or to moor him to that extent. Now, the shepherd was a familiar figure in Palestine. A shepherd would spend most of his life with his sheep and his own sheep knew him. And his own sheep responded to his voice. Now, I never will forget this story that was told by one of the Gideons.
Speaker 1:It was on a Gideon Sunday And he told this story. He said that when he was visiting over there in Israel, he watched one day when everybody gathered together in the town. They were having a big celebration. And all the shepherds came and they brought their flocks of sheep with them. They didn't leave them on the mountain by themselves.
Speaker 1:And they put them all together in one big community pen. And then he said, immediately hundreds and hundreds of sheep were all mingling together all over the pen. And he said he looked and he couldn't even imagine how they were ever in a million years going to be able to separate those sheep when it came time. And so he said at 05:00, when everybody was heading for home, he said he literally made a beeline because he wanted to see the mass confusion at the sheep pen when they started trying to separate all the sheep. But to his amazement, all the shepherds came and some of them called and some of them whistled.
Speaker 1:And he said in seconds the sheep had separated themselves, each running to his own shepherd. And he said he just stood there just in amazement watching what had happened. Those sheep knew their shepherd's voice. Now, that story really impressed me so much because it wasn't very long after that that I was in the mall And it was a particularly crowded day. And the mall halls were full of people.
Speaker 1:And the Lord began to impress me. He actually spoke to me. He said there are Christians and there are non Christians alike here in this mall. And they're all mingled together. And he said, By sight, you can't tell them apart.
Speaker 1:They are just people, kind of like the sheep. But the Lord then spoke something very clearly to me that I've never forgotten. He said, Everyone in that crowd who belongs to me and who knows me personally and intimately hears and recognizes my voice on the inside. He said, If I spoke to each one that belonged to me at the same time and told them to go outside, he said, there would be a certain number who would leave and immediately go out, while the rest, who were not mine, didn't know me, would go on their busy wait not even knowing what had happened. He said the mall would have separated just exactly like those sheep separated.
Speaker 1:And Jesus said I am the shepherd and my sheep do know my voice. And that just spoke to me because I don't even think I moved. I just stood there looking at all the people mingling together and thinking about that. Now, God wants His people to hear His voice that clearly. That's what He's wanting out of us.
Speaker 1:And that needs to be the desire of our hearts. Every Christian should want the desire of his heart to know His shepherd that way. Okay, number five. John fourteen:six. You need to write that reference down.
Speaker 1:God gives us another I AM promise. He said, I AM the way, the truth, and the life. Okay, now that's pretty all inclusive. When he says He's the way, the truth, and the life, he starts out by saying I AM the way. Nothing brings more comfort or more peace than knowing the way.
Speaker 1:Have you ever been on a trip and maybe you're going through a large city and you just can't find your way? Every street looks the same. You can't figure out which one to turn on to get where you need to go. That can be pretty frightening. But Jesus said, I am the way.
Speaker 1:How many times do we pray and say, Lord, I don't know what to do about my children. I don't know what to do about my job. Lord, I don't know. Do I need to get more education? I don't know about my ministry.
Speaker 1:I I don't know. You know? And we say, I don't know which way to turn. Just because we can't immediately see the the whole picture laid out in front of us doesn't mean that God hasn't answered our prayer and He's given us the way. We need to realize when He says I am the way, it's the way no matter what we're needing.
Speaker 1:Whether it's telling us where to go, what to do, He Himself is the way. And when we seek Him and really know in our heart that He is the way, then I think that illustration can help us to realize He's going to show us the way. He speaks to our heart to show us which way to go. Now, if we're gonna go to Houston at night for the first time and you got in your car with your road map, and of course, the road map represents the word of God, you could turn on your car lights and if you waited till those lights shined the light all the way to Houston, you'd sit there forever, But you have to turn on the car motor, drive to the end of the car light, and then that light shines on out several 100 more feet and you drive there until you get to the end of that. And you do that over and over and over until you finally get to your destination.
Speaker 1:When you drive to the end of that light, you know, God gives it to you again. And we continue that process until we reach where we're supposed to go. Okay, that's exactly how God does it. Jesus is the light and He says that He is the way. And it's usually not showing us all the way from where we are all the way to Houston.
Speaker 1:It's usually one step at a time. And sometimes Christians get real frustrated and they think, you know, I know a few things I'm supposed to do, but I don't know the way. We need to realize God is not gonna leave us and He gives us one step at a time. As we take that first step, then He gives us the next one. In Colossians two:six, that's basically what it's saying in the living Bible.
Speaker 1:Just as you trusted Christ to save you, trust Him now, the Lord says, for each day's problems, live in vital union with Him. When I first got the baptism of the Holy Spirit, that's one of the first verses that I memorized because it spoke so much to me. I trusted Him to save me. But there were so many things that were fearful to me that I didn't know what I was supposed to do. And he said, just as you trusted me to save you.
Speaker 1:Now, trust me now for each day's problem because he said, I'll give you the answer every step of the way. Just live in vital union with me. Now, as we take that one step of obedience, then the next step's going be there. Just kind of like when we drive to the end of the car lights. The car lights are going to go on out ahead of us.
Speaker 1:And that needs to be a reminder to us that when we take a step in faith, God's going to give us that next step. God doesn't close one door without opening another one. But we have to walk up to the door. We can't sit in the chair and say, Well, someday God's going to show me what all I'm supposed to do. No.
Speaker 1:We move into the direction He's given us as far as we hear Him and then we wait and trust Him and then He gives us the next step. So, very seldom now will He shine the light all the way to Houston. He'll probably always show us the way just a few steps at a time. And that frustrates a lot of people. But we need to realize He'll show us a step at the time, but we have to be obedient to take that step.
Speaker 1:And we'll have to take those steps to the end of the light in order to see the next step. And when we don't follow Jesus, the true light, we're going to find out that fear always comes in. And we usually find that we're devoured with just fears and all kinds of things. But we need to realize that if we don't follow God, it will take the way of California to get to Houston because we're not going to find our way easily. So Jesus is the I AM way and every step of the way we need to be saying Lord, show me the next step because I want to trust you.
Speaker 1:I want to do it your way. And He is the truth. Okay, now the Bible says you're going to know not only the way but you're going to know the truth and that truth is going to set you free. Now, some people think that means just tell the truth and don't ever tell a field. But that's not what God's saying here.
Speaker 1:Jesus is saying, I AM the truth. He's not talking about not telling a field. The Bible says, My Word is total truth. And we have to know the truth if we're going to have a good life here on this earth. And when we know the truth of God's Word in Jesus, then it's going to set us free.
Speaker 1:Totally set us free. He is the Way. He is the Truth and He's also the life. And until we've received Jesus, the Bible says that we're dead. We're dead in our sins.
Speaker 1:Now, there are a lot of people out in the world who have no idea that they are spiritual dead men. They just don't know that. There's a lot of Christians that don't realize that they have areas in their life where they're just dead because they're not following God. They're not letting Him be the way, the truth, and the life. And there's no way for them to come to life except through Jesus who is the way, the truth and the life.
Speaker 1:The only way to Zoe life, and that's what we're looking for, is through Jesus. Okay. Number six. John 15 verse five. Jesus said, I am the vine and you're the branches.
Speaker 1:Okay, what is the vine to the branches? If tear off the branch and throw it down, it's gonna die. So, the life's not there in the branch unless it's attached to the vine. The vine is what we have to go after. And Jesus said, I'm the vine.
Speaker 1:Now, the vine is the source. The vine is the source. And without that vine, the branches wither and die. You know, there's a poem that I found. God did not give you the shell of a turtle to protect yourself.
Speaker 1:God didn't give you the strength of an elephant to defend yourself. God didn't give you the speed of a deer to outrun your enemies. God gave you something better. God gave you himself as the source of everything you need. And when I read that poem, I thought, you know what?
Speaker 1:We need to keep reminding ourselves. That was just a simple way of putting it. But He has to be the source of everything we need because if we use Him for this and this and this and then all of a sudden we do our own thing, we're going to find that we're going fall on our face. It's not going to work. If you could ever quit trying to be your own power.
Speaker 1:Quit being your own defense. We try to defend ourselves so many times. We try to protect ourselves. We try to find ways to get strength but that's not what he's after. He wants us to realize He's our defense.
Speaker 1:He's our protection. He's our strength. And we have to rely totally on Him because He is the I AM Vine. He's the Source. We're the branches but He's the Vine.
Speaker 1:He's the Source. And when we understand that, it's just so simple to say, Lord, I can't make it on my own. But I know You, Lord. And You're the vine. That's where I get my strength.
Speaker 1:You're the source. Now, every time we think of Jesus saying I am the vine, that should remind us that He is our total source. We need to say that often. You know, we read about the vine and the branches but sometimes we don't stop and realize what that's really saying to us. Now, there's a true story told about a little boy that was told to memorize and recite the twenty third Psalm in front of his class.
Speaker 1:Well, the day came and he stood up and he got nervous and he said, The Lord is my shepherd. That's all I want. And everybody laughed. The whole classroom laughed. But you know what?
Speaker 1:I'm not sure that wasn't pretty accurate. That may be as accurate as the way it was written because Jesus is to be all we want and all we need. It's the vine that puts life in the plant. We need to say that until we remember it. It's the vine that puts the life into the plant, and Jesus is the vine.
Speaker 1:Okay. For 18, an aqueduct in Segoia, Spain carried cool water from the mountains to that city. Well, finally, they put a modern pipeline in, and that old aqueduct was no longer needed. Almost immediately, the aqueduct began to fall It was phenomenal how fast those aqueducts deteriorated. Now, the dry mortar crumbled and the stones loosened.
Speaker 1:They began to fall away. Well, a few years with no water running in the ducts, it ruined what 1,800 of service had not destroyed. You know, when you think about that, it didn't take any time. When it quit being used, it fell apart. When the life of Jesus, the vine, is not flowing through our branches, when his life is not flowing through our life, then we fall apart so quickly, just as quickly as that aqueduct fell apart.
Speaker 1:Now, Jesus, the vine, has to be our source of life. And anytime we make something else the source, it might be our job, we think, Oh, I couldn't do without my job. You know, Maybe it's our career. Or maybe it's an insurance policy. You know, well, I'm pretty safe.
Speaker 1:I've got this really big insurance policy if anything happens. It's not our mate. It's not our children. It's not even a ministry. The life will finally go out of whatever we're doing if we have our confidence, if we make anything else our source.
Speaker 1:When it's a person, we try to put in place of God as the source. It's going to fall apart. Fall apart every single time. Another person was not equipped now to carry that kind of pressure. God never intended that.
Speaker 1:Jesus said I am the vine and He has to be our source. Okay, the last part of verse five says and apart from Me you can do nothing. That's pretty well summed up. We don't even have to explain that. He said apart from me you can't do anything.
Speaker 1:But we need to say that to ourselves until we realize where we quit trying to fix it ourselves. We quit trying to do everything on our own power And we start saying Lord, I'm the branch. I can't do anything. I can't live. I can't exist without You.
Speaker 1:You're the vine. Okay, number seven is John eleven twenty five. He says: I am the resurrection and the life. Okay, He who believes in Me shall live even if he dies. I used to quote that because that always made me feel good, you know.
Speaker 1:Lord, I live even if I died. I live because I have You. That weighed heavy on Thomas after Christ's death and resurrection. Can't you just imagine? He missed the first appearance when the other apostles were there when Jesus appeared to them.
Speaker 1:And so, Jesus had made this appearance to these other disciples. And so, Thomas just said I don't know that I can believe that. He said I can't believe it until I see Him myself. I've got to see it with my very own eyes. Well, the next week when Jesus appeared right through the walls, He just walked in and He told Thomas, He said, Put your fingers and the nail prints in my hand and put your hand in my side.
Speaker 1:And He said, I don't want you to doubt anymore. I don't want you to fear anymore. Well, Thomas, can't you imagine? He fell to his knees, fell on his face and started saying, My Lord and my God. When Thomas met the I AM resurrection, every bit of doubt, every bit of fear fled.
Speaker 1:He couldn't believe it till he saw it. Some people are believing without actually seeing, and that is true faith. But he had to see it. But when he did, he was in a 100%. When we come face to face with the resurrection, we too will have our doubts and fears until we see when we come in contact just exactly like Thomas did.
Speaker 1:Then all of a sudden, all the fears, all the doubts, they fall away. Jesus didn't just say I raise people from the dead. No, He said I am the resurrection. So, there's a big difference. He wants to put life back in and He wants to resurrect everything in our life that worthwhile.
Speaker 1:And He's the only one that can do that. And when we start saying Lord, whatever is not right in my life, I want you to resurrect it. Put life in it. Now, in John eleven twenty five, Jesus said I am the resurrection and the life and he who believes in Me shall live even if he dies. Now, think about that.
Speaker 1:That's a scripture we need to memorize. You know, He said: I'm the resurrection. I'm the life. And He said: If you believe in Me, you're going to live even if you die. So, that can give so much peace to so many people.
Speaker 1:And in verse 25, it needs to be taken in context with the whole chapter 11. Lazarus has been dead for four days. And Mary and Martha, they're devastated because they just knew Jesus would have been there, that Jesus could have kept it from happening. And they had hoped perhaps that He would show up even at the last moment they were expecting it. And, they may have been believing it clear until they put Him in the tomb, you know.
Speaker 1:But now it was too late. Lazarus was dead and He's buried. And so it's too late. You know, we don't know why Jesus didn't come. There's nothing more final than death.
Speaker 1:You know, I mean, sometimes when a person's been believing for someone in their family and believing, then when they hear that they died, it's just kind of like they give up. Death just sounds fatal as though there's no other way to go. But in John eleven twenty three and twenty four, Jesus said to Martha, your brother's gonna rise again. And, of course, she said what probably most of us would have said, well, I know he's gonna rise again in the resurrection on the last day. I know that.
Speaker 1:But then in verse 25, the most powerful statement that that Christ ever said, he said, I am the resurrection. I am the life. And he that believes in me, he's gonna live even if he dies. That needs to be something We need to take some of these powerful Scriptures, powerful promises that Jesus has said and make a notebook. And then often go through that notebook just reading those promises.
Speaker 1:Boy, you read those out loud and I promise you, it doesn't matter how disappointed you may be about something. It doesn't matter how depressed you may be. You read down that list of those scripture promises and, oh, you'll be dancing when you get through. You know, it will lift your spirits. So, this is another of his I AM statements.
Speaker 1:I AM the resurrection. He's saying it's never too late. No matter what it looks like, it's never too late because Jesus is greater than death. Even death cannot stand a chance because Jesus said, I am the resurrection. So, what chance does death have?
Speaker 1:Jesus was trying to get Martha to understand that resurrection is present tense. It's not something that we're going to look forward to in the next life. It's present tense. Whatever we have need of in life, even though it's dead. You you may have a ministry and it looks like your ministry is totally dead.
Speaker 1:You may have different things in your life and you think it's dead. It's gone. But it can be resurrected when Jesus touches it. Now, there is a weird little creature called a tardigrade and it can exist more than a hundred years in a state that most people would call death. And yet, after a hundred years without having any water, without having oxygen, without having heat, that little tardigrade, when it's moistened, it will spring back to life.
Speaker 1:Those kinds of things, I don't understand it, but it lets you know the power that's in the Lord, in the creation that He's made. Now, that's not science fiction. It's written up now in the Scientific American magazine. And that's exactly what happens when the great I AM, the I AM resurrection, touches some area of our life that appears to be dead. It can literally cause it to spring back to life, live again.
Speaker 1:And that's what we need to realize. There's nothing that's too late. It's not too late for anything. God is the God of miracles. And he can bring resurrection and restoration into every dead thing in our life.
Speaker 1:A dead marriage, you know, where all hope is gone. And I've seen that happen many times. We were in ministry for thirty years pastoring a church. And I saw dead marriages sometimes. All of a sudden, they both looked to God and God put life back in that marriage and today they're still going strong.
Speaker 1:I have one in particular that I just couldn't have any faith for it. It was so dead that it was dead dead. And today they are so happy and they're serving God. So, a dead marriage or maybe in a dead relationship with their children. There are people who they've lost their children and their children are going the ways of the world.
Speaker 1:And they say, Oh, I've prayed and I've prayed and nothing has worked. And yet in an instant of time God can touch those kids and bring them back. Jesus is the resurrection. We need to give Him a chance. We need to see the miracle that He can bring just exactly like Thomas did.
Speaker 1:Now, Holy Spirit inspired John to quote Jesus seven times when He said, I am bread. In other words, He was saying, I'm the total provision because most people think of bread as being the provision for life. He said I'm bread. I'm your total provision. And then he says I'm light.
Speaker 1:I'm the revelation knowledge. Anything you need to know, he said I can be that for you. He said, I'm the doer. And then he's letting us know there is no other entrance. There are so many people in this world that they think they're going to go to heaven because they've done some good things or they've done this.
Speaker 1:But we've got to realize Jesus is the door and there are no other entrances except Jesus. And then he said I'm the shepherd, the caretaker. I'm going to take care of you. He said I'm the way, the truth and the life. I'm the direction, wherever you need to go.
Speaker 1:He said I'm the vine. I'm the source of everything. And then number seven, he said I am the resurrection and the life and the new birth and the restoration. Okay, this is not only a picture of Jesus. This is a complete picture of the father.
Speaker 1:We need to realize a lot of times we think all these things that Jesus did but the father was right there suffering right with Jesus, hurting for he was going through. But they both did it because they love us. And then Jesus summed up the great I AM in verse eight when He said, I am the Alpha and the Omega, the One who is, the One who was, and the One who is to come. We need to take that scripture and just meditate on it. Lord, we thank you.
Speaker 1:You're the Alpha. You're the beginning. You're the end. You're everything in between. You're the Almighty.
Speaker 1:Now, in Revelation one seventeen, Jesus himself said, Do not be afraid. I am the first and I am the last. In other words, I am present tense continually. Now, verse 18, Jesus became the I was one time. Once for our sake.
Speaker 1:He did it because he loved us that much. He said I'm the living one. He said I was dead. Behold, now I'm alive forevermore. And I now have the keys to death in my house.
Speaker 1:So he said not only did I come back and now I'm alive forevermore but he said, now I'm giving it to you. Praise God. He didn't stay dead. Behold, he says, I am now alive forevermore and I have the keys for you so that you don't have to have death and hell. You too can have life because of what I've done for you.
Speaker 1:He became the I was once so that we too can become alive forevermore in Him. Okay, how do we do that? That's what a lot of people ask. Okay, I believe this but don't know. How do I get there?
Speaker 1:Well, it's by realizing Galatians two twenty, it's no longer I who live but the I AM lives in me now. And I can receive all of these things through my Lord and through my Savior. He's done it for me. I can't do it for myself. But when I run to Him and completely give my life to Him, then He does it for us.
Speaker 1:I have been birthed again from the incorruptible seed of the great I AM. Therefore, with confidence, we can proclaim our new identity because it is a new identity. Sometimes we don't realize what a new identity it is but it's Christ in us, the bible says, the hope of glory. Father, we thank you. We thank you for what you did for us.
Speaker 1:Lord, it was such a sacrifice of what Jesus went through. The pain and the suffering that he went through for us. But, Lord, it was Father, it was pain and suffering for you to allow him to do it. But you both did it because you love us so much. Not that we deserved it, not even for a moment.
Speaker 1:But you gave it to us simply because you loved us. Father, we thank you that Jesus truly is the great I am. I am everything that we need. He said in Jesus name, Amen.