The Seven I Am Sayings

God’s glory doesn’t look like power as we expect—it looks like humility in Jesus, the King who enters on a donkey. John’s Gospel invites us to believe in Him as the “I AM,” the source of life, light, and truth. Real faith grows as we know His voice and follow Him daily.

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Transcript

Ezekiel’s Glory Leaves The Temple

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All right, let's look into the word of the Lord today. But just before that, um mean in Ezekiel chapter 10 and verse 19. Yes, Ezekiel 10:19, you will find an incident. You know, that's that's where mean Ezekiel says that the spirit of the Lord, rather, the glory of the Lord, is just lifted up from the temple at Jerusalem and it would exit the city of Jerusalem through the east gates. You know, I mean that portion will say that the spirit of the Lord, I mean the glory of the Lord, went away from the temple. Why? Because there was idolatry, there is spiritual corruption, and there is adultery in the country of Israel. And God was displeased with his people. Prophet after prophet would come and warn them, but they would not heed the warning of the Lord. So the Spirit of the Lord just rose up from that place and went off through the east gate. Ezekiel chapter 41 to 43. It comes with a promise telling that the glory of the Lord will return back to the temple, and the glory that is going to come back will be greater than the glory that already left. So, I mean, they lived in that hope, they lived in that promise. Someday the glory of the Lord will

Palm Sunday Through The Eastern Gate

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come back. Look at the New Testament, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. All of them talk about the entry of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ entering the city of Jerusalem. Matthew chapter 21 talks about it, and Mark chapter 11 talks about it, and then Luke chapter 19 talks about it, and John chapter 13. All of them talk about Jesus coming back into the city of the city of Jerusalem. But Matthew take makes an interesting note. When Matthew writes about the Palm Sunday event when Jesus triumphantly entered the city of Jerusalem, Matthew says that Jesus entered from Bethany and the Mount of Olives. Both of them are the eastern side of Jerusalem. And the Bible itself doesn't say anything, but Jesus entered through the eastern gate. They call it the great gate or the golden gate. He entered through it. In the sense what Prophet Ezekiel said that the glory of the Lord left through the eastern gate, so Jesus walked into the temple through the eastern gate. Just that you know Ezekiel 41 to 44 says, but the glory will be greater. Will be greater. But Jesus Christ, interestingly, walks in not really on a horse, not really in pomp and glory, not with a military might. He walks, he enters on a donkey like a peaceful, a peaceful king. Why? Because I think you know our definition of success or often our definition of glory is very different from the way God would define. Women they expected a king to walk in, king to establish his own kingdom. But Jesus established an eternal, an eternal kingdom by walking into Jerusalem, dying for our sins on the cross. He established a kingdom that will last forever and forever and forever. Alright, that's a bit about Palm Sunday. Let's just look at the word of the Lord or the portion for today.

Why John Writes His Gospel

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For the last one month or so, we've been studying about Jesus Christ from the Gospel according to John. Six weeks is what we allotted. Why? Because the whole of the Lenten season, we just wanted to come closer to, closer to Jesus Christ. And believe me, you know, I mean, my favorite gospel is John's Gospel. The others are really good. I respect them a lot, but just that, you know, I am and I like John's Gospel a lot because when the other three Gospels talk about what Jesus did, John talks about who Jesus is. That's the reason I like this. I like this gospel. And John writes to a different people in his church. You know, they say, John is the only apostle who died a natural death. All the apostles, let's say almost all the apostles were martyred for their faith. I mean, uh, Tom, I mean, Judas committed suicide. And the only apostle who died a natural death was John. That was not really an easy, easy death. Church history tells that they put him in boiling oil. He suffered a lot, and in his suffering, they threw him out, rather, exiled him to the island of Patmos. That's where he would sit, he would have his visions, he would pen down the three epistles of John and then the book of Revelation, and he would think and pray about, he would have visitations, I mean, from the Lord, and then he would pass away in a natural, in a natural way. Now, this man, John, was very young. When the church was established, he saw the church grow from a baby church into a little more vibrant church. What do I mean by this? When John saw the church established on the day of Pentecost, it was mostly Jewish people who became Christians and they would become part of the, they would become part of the church. The church was very Jewish, but when you look at the book of Acts, remember the time when uh Philip was in Samaria, and when Philip went around preaching about the gospel of Jesus, people started receiving the Holy Spirit. Peter and John also later on go, and when they laid their hands, they started receiving the Holy Spirit. Not just that, the same book of Acts also says Peter would go to the house of Cornelius. Cornelius, by the way, is a Roman person, he's not even a Jewish person. And as Peter was preaching, the Holy Spirit would come upon them, and everybody was speaking in tongues, and everybody started prophesying. Then the church council at Jerusalem they sat down and they discussed about that whole event. They are telling that, you know, I mean, mean the Holy Spirit came upon us, and the same Holy Spirit has come upon the Samaritans and the Romans, the Greeks, and all the other people. And they decided who are we to stop them from joining the church of the Lord. So the church of the Lord would involve the Samaritans, involve the Romans, involve the Greeks, involve all kinds of people, became part of the it's more or less like the church of today. I'm sure the good number of people who speak Tamil over here. I mean, a good number of uh speak in Telugu language, good number of Malayalis, good number of North Indians, good number of people from everywhere would come and become the part of the part of the church. And you know, that's the way the church is kind of growing, the church is moving forward. It's good. You know, if you really want to be comfortable in heaven, you should worship God with people from different backgrounds because that's what you will find in heaven. If you say that I'll worship with only my kind of people, God help you. You will struggle in heaven, struggle to adjust in, adjust in heaven. Either way, so when the church started growing like that, then there's a diff there's a problem with that. And the problem is people from different backgrounds they come with their own perspectives, they come with their own pre suppositions, they come with their own mindsets. So it's a little hard to minister to like a diverse congregation. What do I mean by that? In the Gospel of John itself, John talks about the Jewish people, and he says, the Jewish people

Exodus “I Am” And Jesus’ Identity

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would always seek for a sign. You know, they are like, you know, God, you do a miracle, then I will believe that you are the Lord and Savior. Like some of us, right? Like God, I mean, I'm not really studying for my examination, but even then, if I get 80%, I will come to church every Sunday. None of us did anything like that. Okay. And some of us, God, if that girl says yes, I will get 20%. Some of us are like that. You know, God, if you do a miracle, you know, I have a good number of friends, you know, who were who met with an accident, and in the hospital they say, God, if you give me one more chance, I will serve you the whole of my life. And they are pastors now. Yeah, I mean, but for them, they were seeking a sign. Do a miracle and I will follow you. That's a typical Jewish mentality. But then the Samaritans are not like that. You know, though they are called the second treated as second class citizens, I think their faith was much more stronger. The Samaritans only needed to listen to the word of God. Remember Jesus talking to the Samaritan woman? Jesus did not do any miracle over there. All that Jesus said is, I have living waters. If you drink from it, you will never really thirst, never really thirst again. And she's like, Give me that water, give me that water. Then the course of the conversation, Jesus says, Mean, you're married, man, five times, and the one with whom you're living, he's not even married to you. That was enough to convince this lady. She goes back to the village and says, I think I found the Messiah. Come, let's meet the Messiah. The Samaritans just needed to listen to God, they just needed a word from the Lord to give their life to Jesus. Some of us are like that, right? I don't really need a miracle. All I know I mean need is Jesus telling, I'm with you, man. It's going to be okay. That's enough for me. That's enough for some of us. And the Greeks are on a different level. The Greeks want philosophy, they want, like, you know, to have a nice big discussion. Remember, Paul struggled with that. He would go to Athens and he would discuss with them again and again. And then they would say, Let me think about it. Those are the Greeks. Different kinds of people would respond in a different way. John was very elderly. I mean, he was very old when he sat down and he saw the church grow in front of his eyes. And he would say, Different kinds of people come and become part of the. It would bless his heart to see those kinds of people coming there. Because he understood that the family of God is increasing. But then in his heart, look at everything that John writes in his gospels, not just his gospel, the three letters and the book of Revelation. He writes from a fatherly heart. Like a father, he would, he would sit down and write. And as he's writing, he just wants to encourage them, just wants to build the church. But John is a wise man. You know, he roamed along with Jesus, he was very close to Jesus, he understands man. So he sat down to write this gospel. Before we look into the gospel, just let me read one portion from Exodus and then we will continue. Exodus chapter 3, verse 3, verse 14. This was the time when Moses has an encounter with the Lord and that burning bush experience. And in the course of conversation, Moses asks, If the Israelites ask me who sent

I Am The Bread Of Life

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me, what should I tell them, God? What should I tell the Israelites that this person or this God has sent me? In answer to that question, the answer that God gives is, God said to Moses, I am who I am. This is what you are to say to the Israelites, I am has sent me to you. Or else it can also be translated as, I will be what I will be. So the answer that God gives us, tell them, I am has. So that's a revered name of the Lord, the respected name of the Lord according to the Israelites. That's the revelation that God gave once in the old covenant or in the old testament. Let's come back to John. John sat down to write his gospel, and in his heart, all he wants to do is help everybody. The spirit of the Lord is leading him to write in this particular way. In his heart, he wants his children, the young believers in the church, to grow strong in the faith. In John chapter 20, verse 31, he tells, I wrote this gospel just because of this reason. He said, But these things are written so that you will believe that Jesus is the anointing or Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and by believing you might have life in his name. That's the reason he wrote the gospel. So any part of John, if you read, read it with keeping this verse in your heart. That this gospel, this portion, will increase my faith in Jesus. Remember, look at this. You know, the word, the central word to the gospel of John is the word believe. Sometimes the word believe, faith, and trust are used interchangeably. But the gospel is about this believe, believe. 240 times they say the word believe is mentioned in the New Testament of that. 90 times the word belief is mentioned just in John's Gospel. That's around 40% of the time. The word belief is mentioned in this gospel. Remember, the central verse of the entire Bible is John 3:16, and it says, Whoever believes should not perish, but will have eternal life. The word belief, belief is very important to this, to this gospel. So John sat down to write down his gospel, and because he understands the mindsets of the people, he would arrange it in a very different way. Different from all the other three gospels, Matthew, Mark, and Luke. What John would do? John would keep the Greeks in their mind, the Greeks allowed to discuss. So in his gospel, he includes 11 discussions, or we call it the discourses. The 11 times Jesus sat down to discuss something. The 11 times that Jesus had a conversation with different people. You know, remember that conversation Jesus has is with Nicodemus. It's all about the new birth, all about being born again. And also the conversation, you know, Jesus sat down at a well at Samaria, the Sikar village, and Jesus strikes a conversation with the Samaritan lady. Remember, Jesus also spoke about his authority. Then Jesus would talk about, I mean, has a long discussion about the bread of life, so on and so forth. Seven discussions or the seven discourses Jesus had. Along with these seven discourses, John would take the seven titles that Jesus Christ would have. Or rather, he would mention seven titles of Jesus. You know, Jesus has a lot many titles. Look at Isaiah itself, Emmanuel, everlasting father, counselor, all those titles. But John is picking and choosing. He chooses only seven titles. Like he says, Jesus is the Lamb of God, Jesus is the Son of God, Jesus is the rabbi, Jesus is the Son of Man, Jesus is the Messiah, and finally on the cross, it is told that Jesus is the King of the King of Israel or King of the Jews. He would take the seven titles of Jesus Christ. And last week, if you have attended church, we looked at the seven signs, so the seven miracles that Jesus did. So he would John for some reason would pick on the number seven. Seven titles, seven miracles, uh the seven discourses of discourses of Jesus. Perhaps you know in the Hebrew, seven is a sign of perfection. That number is thought to signify perfection. So John would bring all of these together and combining them along with them, he would talk about the seven I am statements or the I am sayings of Jesus Christ. Why does John select seven I am sayings? Because once in the book of Exodus, God revealed to Abraham, I mean to Moses and said, Tell them I am has sent you. So John says, Jesus said seven times I am. So Jewish person reading this gospel, he will be like, To Moses, it was once. But Jesus said, Seven times, I would gladly receive Jesus as Lord and Savior. That convincing John was when he wrote the when he wrote his gospel. Today we will look at the seven I am sayings of Jesus and then we will respond to this, to this message. The first time Jesus says, I am, you will find it in John chapter 6, verse 35. This is where Jesus says, I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, he who believes in me will never be never be thirsty. Now, what is the context? Jesus is doing a lot of miracles. The teaching of Jesus is very popular everywhere. People are running behind Jesus Christ, they're following Jesus because of all the miracles that they were doing. Not all people are following Jesus Christ. I mean, for the miracles. Not all people are following Jesus Christ because of the teaching. Different people were following Jesus because of their own, because of their own reasons and all. Some liked it, some just went it, some went because they were curious, some went to accuse. Same way people come to church, right? Some come because it's a Sunday, some come because grandmother said me, told me to go to church, some come because we like the chai and coffee, some come because of friends, some come because of the music, some come because of the AC. Whatever it is, we are all in the presence of the, we are all in the presence of the Lord. Let me read these verses for you. John chapter 6, verse 26. Jesus answered, Very truly I tell you, if you're looking for me, not because you saw the signs I performed, but you ate the loaves and had your fill. Remember the time when Jesus multiplied the five loaves and the two fish. So from that time, some people started following Jesus because they could freeload. Freeload meaning you go to a function hall, if you see a wedding, and even if you are not invited, now we don't do anything like that, but like some people did. At least some of the people who were following Jesus, they were following Jesus just because of, just because of that. Then Jesus says, no, no, no, no, this is just not right, man. This is just not right. So then they start a discussion with discussion with Jesus Christ. Now, in the course of the discussion, they ask Jesus, Jesus, I mean you say that the work of the Lord is to listen and obey the one who is sent, telling, you know, okay, forget that Jesus, just tell me, Moses gave us a sign and we believed in, we believed in him, his or his message. What sign are you going to give? Or, you know, directly what they're asking is, Are 40 years Moses gave us manna in the desert, free food. Free food he gave. What sign are you going to give? That is a simple question, direct question they ask, Jesus. And then Jesus says, I am the bread of life. What did they ask? And what answer did Jesus? Jesus gave. Jesus said, I'm the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry. He who believes in me will never be never be thirsty again. But then this gospel is mean min it's not really about like physical food and all. He is talking about a spiritual food. And the emphasis I already told you is about belief. What does Jesus say after that? But as I told you, you have seen me and you do not believe. You have seen me and you have not really believed. Matthew, Mark, and Luke, they also talk about the same miracle, and they all talk about it from the point of view that people were hungry and Jesus fed them. John says Jesus still multiplied the food, but he made a declaration of himself that he is the bread of bread of life. He's talking more than just the physical, the physical aspect of it. You know, if you have scanned that QR code, you can go to the other notes where it says, where it compares the Bible or the scripture with food. Sometimes the Bible the word of God is compared to milk, which a baby should receive. Sometimes that same word of the Lord is compared to meat when grown-up people should be eating. Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of the mouth of the Lord. Let's look at the second one.

I Am The Light Of The World

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It is in the Feast of the Tabernacles. You will find it in John chapter 8, Feast of the Tabernacles, and they commemorate or they remember how God led them from Egypt to Israel, to the land of Canaan. Remember, when they got out of Egypt, the nights were cold and the days were hot. So in order to safeguard the Israelites, there would be a pillar of fire that would give them the warmth by the night. It would turn into a cloud, it will give them the shade during the day. That's how God led them for 40 long years through the wilderness. And in order to remember what God has done, the Israelites would take out a minorah. Minorah is like a huge lampstand. They would light it up somewhere in the temple. They say it's there's a coat of the woman. That's where they would put these lampstands, two of them, and they would light. Them up. And when they would light them up, people would remember, remember the way the pillar led us through the through the wilderness. And not just that, houses would keep lamps outside just to say that God led us. You know, that lamps ended up as the cereal bulbs in the Christmas trees for some reason. All right. So that's the way Jesus walked into that context. The Feast of the Tabernacles, he would walk, he would look at the lights everywhere, and Jesus declares himself, telling, I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of light of life. In the wilderness, whoever followed the pillar of fire, they went through the destination. If you do not follow the pillar of fire, then you are walking in darkness because the light only came from that pillar of fire. The warmth came from that pillar of fire. Jesus says, I am the light of the world. Now this says John chapter 8. Read John chapter 9. John chapter 9 talks with a man who was born blind in the temple. And Jesus walks in, takes some mud, puts it on his eyes, tells him to wash at the pool of silo, and he comes back with eyes. That's not even a healing healing, because healing needs an organ which has deteriorated. That is a miracle. Something which was not there in the eye socket suddenly appeared. A miracle Jesus Christ would have. The third one. You know, a typical shepherd community. In a typical shepherd community, the shepherds would take the sheep outside for grazing, and they would go outside grazing for days on weeks on end. And as they are grazing in the night where they can't go back to the village because it is too far, they would build an enclosure, something like a fence. They would take stones and they would build up a fence. But once the sheep are inside, mean they don't really have a gate. They don't even have a gate to block that fence. So who would sleep at the fence? The shepherd would sleep at the fence. So in that context, Jesus says, I am the door, or I am the. So if the wolf or the lion or the jackal or the bear has

I Am The Gate And Shepherd

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to come, who is at the gate? The shepherd is at the at the gate. Powerful. Jesus in John chapter 10, verse 9, he says, I am the gate. Whoever enters through me will be saved. He will come in, he will go out and will find, will find pasture. Meaning, Jesus is telling directly, I am your safety, I am your security. Under me you are, you are really, really safe. Powerful. You know, interestingly, you know, I mean, one of the first images of Jesus that you will find are Jesus Christ holding a sheep. You know, some of our houses also, you know, we have that picture of Jesus holding, either holding like this or on his shoulders and all. Jesus most probably was a carpenter, not really a shepherd. But the imagery is so powerful. Jesus is often portrayed as a as a shepherd. He himself spoke about himself as a shepherd. The next one, the fourth, I am saying, again in John chapter 10, verse 11, you will find it. Jesus says, I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the for the sheep. I mean, there's a lot you can talk about this. But then, you know, as I was preparing, I just came across this one video. You just need to type in, go YouTube, something called as the bummer sheep or the bummer lamb, B-U-M-M-E-R. Now, what is this bummer lamb? It says, when a sheep lays a lot of young, a lot of uh lambs and all, mean what it will do is it will reject the weakest of them. Now, why it happens? You know, there are very many reasons. Why? Because, you know, in the wild, the weakest one will slow down all the others. And the weakest one has the least chance of survival. So the mother which gave birth to the little one, it will headbutt the little one or it will kind of reject the little one. And that little lamb will feel rejected, brokenhearted, in many cases it will die of rejection before any wild animal would could eat it. That's the Bammer lamb. But in the context of a herd, in the context of a shepherd, the shepherd would take that bummer lamb, and the shepherd would feed that bummer lamb, the lamb that was rejected by the own mother. The shepherd would take it oftentimes because the lamb is weak, the shepherd would carry the lamb close to his heart. They say the sheep, because it's so broken and so rejected, it can hear the heartbeat of the shepherd. So the lamb would listen to the heartbeat of the shepherd, and the shepherd would feed the lamb, take care of the lamb. And once the lamb is strong enough, after sometimes, some weeks or months, he would reintroduce the lamb into the into the herd. And it would grow normally like any other. But then if the shepherd stands and he calls out, he calls the sheep, who is the first lamb that listens? Is this Bama lamb? Because it knows it has been rejected and it recognizes the voice which took care of it. So it will come running to the running to the shepherd. Remember, in this same chapter, Jesus says, I know my sheep, and my sheep know me, they hear my voice and they follow me. Believe me, if you've been rejected by your own, if you're rejected by the world, and if God has come to your rescue, you will listen to his voice. You'll paka listen to his voice. The voice that accepted you, the voice that gave you refuge, the voice that called out your name in your brokenness, that voice we will never forget, right? You know, oftentimes people come to me, like, you know, say, Pastor, I don't know what God is telling me. I'm confused. They say, you know, thoughts come to my mind. I don't know if I am only thinking for myself, or like, I don't know whether God is talking to me, or don't know if the devil is talking to me. You know, I also used to have this kind of uh, yeah, I mean, every now and then people come and ask me questions like this. But then I will be like, no, no, no, no, that shouldn't be the case, man. It can be the case when you know you you are a new Christian and all, but that shouldn't be the case in the long run. Why? Because let me tell you, you know, if in this room, if I if we switch off all the lights and all of you were shouting, and if I just whisper, and if my mother is in some corner of the room, she knows I whispered. Why? Because she gave birth to me. She took core of me when I was young. You know, the same thing is also reverse. If all of you are shouting, my mom somewhere from some corner calls my name, I'll be like, I know she's here. Why? Because I depended on her. I was intimate with her when when I was struggling, when I fell down, when I was hurt, who when I went crying to whom? To my mother. I will never really kind of you know make any mistake. I know my there is something that comes with intimacy. There is something that comes with dwelling in the presence of the Lord. The more you read your Bibles and the more you pray, the more clearer the voice of the Lord would become. Agree? Believe me, trust me, if you have not tried it, try it. If you see Netflix, Amazon Prime, and then say, God talk to me, God help you. It just doesn't work that way. You know, if you come and say, I'm not able to understand the voice of the Lord, hear the voice of the Lord, read your Bible, brother. Read your Bible, sister, spend time in the presence of the Lord, his voice will become even more clearer to clearer to you. The fifth one.

Hearing God’s Voice Through Intimacy

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Jesus loves this family. Lazarus and his two sisters, they're very dear to Jesus Christ, very close to Jesus Christ. Remember at one time Jesus and his whole gang went to Lazarus' house, and Mary and Martha, they were there to take care of the guests. Martha was serving, cleaning, arranging everything. You know what Mary was doing? She just sat at the feet of Jesus Christ, just listening to listening to him. Okay, they're in a place called as Bethany. And Lazarus, for some reason, is not feeling well. So Mary and Martha send a message to Jesus Christ, telling, Jesus, the one whom you love, this guy is so close to you, Jesus, he is not really feeling well. Please come. Please come and heal him. And they were so confident because Jesus is close to them. But you know what Jesus does? He doesn't immediately respond, he stays back two more days. Two more days. After two more days, you know what Jesus says? Lazarus is sleeping. Now let's go. Then the disciples say, Are he sleeping? If he sleeps, he will get away lonely. Then Jesus, like, my God, I mean, he's a dead man. Let's now go. Then Thomas makes an interesting statement in uh chapter 11, John chapter 11, verse 16. Thomas says, he said to the rest of the people, doesn't even tell Jesus, he said to the rest of the disciples, let us also go so that we might die with them. He says, Thomas is anywhere dead. Everybody is now angry with Jesus. If you go there, they will kill us also. Let's also go and die along with everyone. Well, lie along with uh mean with Thomas and all with Lazarus and all. Just the psalmist who came to India. It's okay, he changed. But then look at the sisters. Martha doesn't even come to see Jesus, she stays home. Then they send a word to Martha. Very reluctantly, she comes, and the first thing that Martha says is, let me read for you. Martha said to Jesus, If you had been here, my brother would not have died. That just another way of telling, you came late. If you had come early, my brother would have been alive. Then Mary, the same Mary doesn't even come. Martha at least came. After some time, maybe with a little bit of persuasion, she comes to Jesus and she has the same complaint. She fell at the feet of Jesus, said, Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. So for those two days since Lazarus is dead, they were like, you know, more than grieving the death of their brother, they were like, Why didn't Jesus come? Why didn't Jesus come? I was so close to Jesus. I sat down, listened to him, I made him number one in my life. Why didn't Jesus come? Why didn't Jesus come? Then the crowds who were there, they also started commenting. In verse 37, the crowds looked at uh looked and they talked among themselves and they said, Could not Jesus he went

I Am The Resurrection And The Life

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there and he gave sight to the blind, the crippled fellow started walking, the withered hand started operating again, all kinds of miracles he did. Can't he have kept Lazarus from dying? Jesus looked around and there was unbelief, unbelief, unbelief. It hurt Jesus that day. Jesus is very close to this family. They seen the miracles of Jesus, they heard teaching from Jesus, but when it mattered the most, their faith was stumbling. You know, it is easy to worship the Lord when everything is going well. We can come to the church, lift up our hands, maybe jump a little here or there. If you're too heavy, you will swing a wrong. But we it's easy to worship the Lord, right? But when you're going through a tragedy, that's where our true faith shows up, right? Whether you will trust the Lord or whether you will come whether you start on a complaining mode. Jesus looks at the unbelief everywhere and he makes a declaration. He said, I am the resurrection and the and the life. He who believes in me will live. Look at the end of the sentence. He looks at them, he looks at them and he says, Do you believe? Do you believe? Because if you believe, there is a miracle that is heading your way. If you believe, something supernatural will take place. If you believe, there is a breakthrough in store for you. Believe. Do you believe? Jesus says, roll the stone away, and then who comes walking from that grave? Lazarus, dead for three days. He starts walking out of the walking out of the grave. You know, the problem with this thing is everybody thought Jesus is a healer. Everybody thought Jesus can cure, Jesus can heal. Nobody thought that Jesus has power over death. Everybody was scared of death, right? Even us Christians, we are scared of death. They say that's the worst enemy that humankind ever faced. The scariest enemy that humans, us humans will face is death. So much so that, you know, I think you know, all of us are born again. We receive Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. Those four people who are taking baptism, they also receive Jesus as Lord and Savior. In other words, we have the assurance if something happens to us today, we will go to heaven, we will be in the presence of the Lord. In spite of all these things, we don't want to die, right? None of us want to die, man. Even if we have the assurance that we'll go to heaven, say, God, I want to live. Why? Because we are scared of that. That's the worst enemy we ever faced. But then when Lazarus started walking out, they understood even death has no hold on Jesus. Even death is nothing to nothing to Jesus. He can speak into a dead situation. Things have to come back to come back to life if you believe. If you believe. The sixth one, Jesus says, I am the way, the truth, and the

I Am The Way Truth Life

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life. Nobody comes to the Father except through, except through me. There are three things that Jesus is claiming about himself. Number one, he says, I am the look at this very carefully. Jesus is not telling I am a way, he's telling I am the way. I mean there is no other way other than other than Jesus Christ. Nobody can approach the Father except through Jesus Christ. You know, in fact, you know, the first word that is given to Christianity, or let me put it this way: before we people were called Christians, we were, or the first title that is given to us group, a group of people who believe in Jesus, is we were called as the people of the way. You will find it in the book of Acts. We were called Heodos, that's the Greek word. That's the first title that is given to Christians. Later on, in a derogatory way, in order to insult, they gave the word Christianos. Just three times you will find it in the in the Bible. It's in a derogatory way, in order to insult us. But Christians themselves called ourselves as, we called ourselves as the people of the way, meaning Jesus Christ is the is the way. And the second thing that Jesus is claiming is that He is the He is the truth. He's not just talking about the truth, He's not just testifying about the truth, He's telling I am the truth. And the third one, he's telling, I am the I am the life. He is the source of both spiritual as well as physical life and also the eternal life. That is who Jesus is. Remember, Jesus says, Thief comes to steal, kill, and destroy, but I have come to give you life, and life in all of its fullness or abundance. The seventh and the final one.

I Am The True Vine Abide

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John chapter 15, that's a powerful chapter. And here Jesus, two times the word is given. He says, I am the true wine. And Jesus speaks about himself or the true wine in two different ways. Number one, in 15, verse 1, Jesus says, I am the wine, and my father is the wine dresser or the gardener. He will prune, he will do whatever he wants to do. I am the wine, my father is the wine dresser. Skip a few verses, and in verse 21, Jesus says, I am the wine, you are the branches. Either way, the emphasis is on one word, and that one word is abide or mean better translated as remain. As long as you remain in the Lord, as you long as you remain connected to the wine, you will be successful. Successful in the sense you will bear much fruit. Apart from that, if you think that you can achieve anything in your life apart from Jesus Christ, I don't think so. I mean, I don't, it's April Fool, you just got it wrong. We will be successful, we will bear fruit only as we abide in the abide in the wine, remain in the wine, and you will be productive in your in your life. So John understood it. John understood his congregation. And as a father, as an elderly figure, writing to his children with much love, with much tenderness, with much grace, he writes down this gospel. He thinks about it. It's not one shot written. He must have thought and prayed about this over and over again. He wrote, come in, like, you know, one verse here, one verse there, then he combined all of them, then he put all of them too, all of them together, all inspired by the spirit of Spirit of God. You know, look at John. You know, John doesn't write as if Jesus existed 2000 years ago. John is writing as if Jesus is now. Jesus is doing those miracles now. For John, Jesus never really went off. He's not talking past, past. He's talking, you know, Jesus is doing that miracle now. Jesus is having that conversation now, right? This is the same unchanging Jesus. The same Jesus who spoke to the Samaritan is the same Jesus is spoken, he's speaking to somebody who is broken. It is the same Jesus who gave sight to the blind. He's walking amongst us and doing the same miracles, even among us. He's the same unchanging, same unchanging Jesus. Look at how John brings it to a close. He would talk about the I am saying, telling in the old covenant, once God revealed himself to Moses and said, I am, and people were so scared of that name. But in the new covenant, Jesus says it seven times perfection. And not just that, in the old covenant, I am has to be understood as if it's a fill-in-the-blank. You know, Jesus when God said, I am, and he left that blank. You can fill it up with anything. I am, or if you're going through some troubled times, you can say, I am peace. Or Jehovah Shalom. Or if you're going through some defeats, you can say, Jehovah Nissi. The Lord is my banner, or I am your banner. Or if you're lacking direction in your life, it is still a fill-in-the-blank, but you can fill it. I am your shepherd, I am your comfort. Or like God is telling, I am your everything, I am your all-in-all, your all sufficiency. John takes it, and by the time he comes to the

“I Am He” In Gethsemane And The Cross

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end of his gospel in chapter 18, he talks about the incident where Jesus Christ would be arrested. Jesus tells the seven I am sayings, but again he uses the I am not as a saying, but as an identity. When Jesus was in the Garden of Gethsemane, he was about to be arrested. The soldiers come and they're inquiring, where is Jesus? Where is Jesus? Verse 4, it says Jesus knowing all that was happening to him. So Jesus knew what is happening, Jesus knew who came, Jesus knew why they came, Jesus knows what exactly is going to happen tomorrow. Jesus knew everything, knowing everything that is going to happen to him, that's when he stood up and he went out. That's when he went out and he asked them, Who is it you want? You know, if I know somebody is going to come and arrest me, I'm gone. That I will not be there. But Jesus, knowing everything, he goes and says, Who do you want? And they say, Jesus of Nazareth. You know how does Jesus answer? I am. I am He. I am He. Judas, who was standing there with them, and when Jesus said, I am He, John writes it. Why? John again says, Jesus said, I am he, just because he wants to give that emphasis. I am he. When Judas hears that, Judas goes back, he Withdraws himself, falls down to the ground. Then Jesus again he asked the people, Who do you want? Who is it that you want? They say Jesus of Nazareth. And what does Jesus say? I am He. I am He. John wrote it. And when Jesus was crucified on the cross, they would place a notice. I-N-R-I-Jesus Nazarenus, Rex Yudaio, meaning Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews. But then the Jewish people, the Pharisees have a problem with that. They go to Pilate and then they ask Pilate, Pilate, don't write like that. Say that Jesus said, I am the King of the Jews. Don't say he is the King of the Jews. Say Jesus said, I am the King of the King of the Jews. John wrote it down, telling, man, the great I am carried the cross for you. The one who said, I am the way, the truth, and the life carried the cross for us. The one who said, I am the door, I am your protection, I am the good shepherd, I am the bread of life, I am the light of the world. Who carried that cross? The same I am carried that cross. Or look at John's gospel, the way he starts. In the beginning was the word, and the word was, and everything that was created was because of this word. Who carried the cross? The one who spoke creation into existence, the one who sustains creation, he's the one who carried the cross. The one who is all powerful, he's the one who carried the cross. Is there any need for Jesus to carry that cross? Absolutely no need. But then somewhere in his gospel, John says he loved us so much that he ultimately ended up carrying the cross for us. Can we stand in the presence of the Lord? If you know who our God is, and if you know what he has done for us, we will praise him, we will pour out our lives as an act of worship unto him. If you know how great our God is, God of the entire universe, God all powerful, he carried the cross for us. Can we just close our eyes, lift up our hands? You know, when he was carrying that cross, the Bible kind of describes that it was very heavy for him to carry. When the nails went into his hands, it was very painful. You know, Jesus was so exhausted at one time he was not even able to carry it properly. But you know, a good understanding of the Bible says that even when he was carrying that cross, even when the whips were cracking his back, Jesus was still running the entire galaxy. Jesus was still commanding the angelic host. Jesus was still the Lord of the entire universe, all powerful, almighty God. Just that that day he chose not to demonstrate his power. That day he made a choice to demonstrate his love towards us. That's my Jesus, that's the God who we serve, all powerful, almighty. He was powerful when he stretched out his hand and received that nail. When he looked up to the heaven and with a broken heart cried to God, he was still powerful, he was still strong, the angels still listened to him, but he submitted, he went through that pain just because of you, just because of me. That's Jesus.