Join us as we explore seven “I am” statements from Jesus.

There are many reasons people pursue Jesus.

Some come right before a game asking for help to play well. We’ve all come right before a test asking for mercy when we didn’t study. Some come to church regularly hoping this may convince God to give them a relationship. Some are very religious because they are convinced that if we are good to God, then God must be good to us. At the bottom of all these examples is wanting something from God more than God Himself. We’ve all been there. But Jesus, in John 6 offers a better reason to come.

Jesus had just fed the 5000. It was the first-ever fast-food experience in history, and the people loved it. So much so, they came to Him from all over wanting Him to give them bread. They came to Him wanting something from Jesus more than Jesus. Jesus makes clear He did not come to give them good things, He came to give them the one thing they were made for, Himself. Jesus says, “I am the bread.” Jesus is not here to ensure that we have a good life, He came to be our life.  Jesus didn’t come to give bread, He came to be bread. He does not exist to serve us, He is inviting us to see that we exist to serve Him. But we will not serve Him until we taste and experience how He has served us. It’s His love for us that wins our hearts to belong to Him. We must eat the bread He offers.

On the last night of the life of Christ, we find Him eating a meal with His followers. With bread in His hands, He broke it in half and said to them, “This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me.” The next morning His body was broken as He hung on a tree for the sin of humanity. He embraced our death so we could taste His life. This is the bread we’re meant to consume. This bread will satisfy your deepest desires. This bread will save you from your sickness of sin. This bread tastes like love. This bread is better than anything else the world has to offer. Don’t settle for coming to Christ for something from Him instead of Him. He is the bread, don’t miss Him.

Do you find yourself wanting things from God more than you want God Himself?

Imagine being in a place that was so dark you couldn’t even see your hand in front of your face.

A place with no flashlight on your phone and no Alexa you could ask to turn on the lights. Have you ever been in a room like this? It’s pretty rare, but when we’re camping or at home when the power goes out, actual darkness can be rather worrying. It’s a strange thing to want to know where to go but to not be able to see the way.

In John 8, Jesus tells a big crowd that He is the light of the world and that anyone who follows Him will always have His light to guide them. Think about how powerful of a picture this is, not just when the people had no electricity, meaning no streetlights or flashlights to light their path, but to us today. How often is life confusing? How many times can the path in front of us be hard to see? Here’s a secret that we’ll let you in on, most people have trouble knowing which ways to go in life. It’s not always easy to know which friends to hang out with, or who to date, or what we want to do when we’re finished with school.

This is why this promise of Jesus being the light of the world is so important to us today. He tells us that if we trust Him and ask Him to guide us, then we will always have the light of Jesus with us. Darkness will still come, and difficult days will happen. There will be challenging choices, and there will even be attacks from the enemy. But when we walk with Jesus, we walk in His light. This is the light that points to how He loves us. This is the light that leads us when we don’t know where to go. This is the light that puts out the darkness. This is the light that has one destination, to the foot of the cross where the light of the world died in the dark. It is here at the cross where our darkness was placed on Him so that His light might live in us. Following Jesus, the light of the world, will lead us along the path that leads to God and living a life with God. The world can be dark, but the good news is Jesus is our light.

Are you walking with Jesus light these days?

Are you reading His word and asking the Holy Spirit to guide you when you make decisions?

What choices can you give to God?

Have you ever struggled to fall asleep because you can’t remember if the front door was locked before you went to bed? You’re pretty sure it is, but you can’t truly rest because in the back of your mind is the possibility that a robber could bust through the door at any moment.

Jesus says, not in His house. 

Jesus is the door that protects His sheep. The only people that come in are the ones He lets in. But there are many other voices in the world. They aim to lure you away from the gate they can’t get in. These are the thieves and robbers Jesus warns us about in scripture. They won’t do what they’re telling you they will. These varying voices are designed to draw you away with an empty promise that inside their door is what you’ve always been looking for. “Do whatever it takes to find followers, then you’ll feel better about yourself.” “You need to look different if you want to have friends.” “If you want to be happy, then find a relationship and stay in a relationship.” “You’ve been working hard and need a break. Just come inside this one time.” But Jesus says, “I am the door. If anyone comes through me, they will be saved… and find pasture.”

Only Jesus can give you the rest you’re looking for. Only Jesus is strong enough to keep you safe from thieves and robbers. He’s your defender and protector. He is a sanctuary of rest and a safe place in your darkest night. He is strong enough to defend you and caring enough to comfort you in His pasture. Anyone who desires can come through this door. But entering this door means coming through Christ. You cannot go around Him, and you cannot go above Him or beneath Him. The only way into this pasture is to come through Him. The only way to go through Christ is to find your rest in what Christ went through for you. At the cross, Christ became an outcast so we could come in. He took our sin on Himself outside the city walls so we could find our home in Him. Only here, in the door of Christ, can you find the eternal deep soul rest you’ve always been looking for. Rest here. Don’t believe the lies; Jesus is the only door worth walking through.

What doors do you typically find yourself walking in?

Take some time to rest in what it means to come through Christ.

Think about a shepherd. What is their primary responsibility? Shepherds tend to their sheep. A good shepherd takes great responsibility for the safety and welfare of his flock. He will guide his sheep through the day, protecting them from walking the wrong way, eating the wrong thing, or wandering into danger. In a sense, the shepherd is protecting the sheep from themselves. The shepherd also lies attentive among his sheep to defend against any threats predators may pose in the night. Jesus says to His sheep, “I am the Good Shepherd.”

Jesus looks after His own like a shepherd does his sheep.

The truth is that God’s desire was not to delegate this work of caring for us to someone else. It is quite the opposite. He takes it personally. God humbled himself so that we could know His love and fatherly affection. In His perfect plan, God stepped out of Heaven to take on flesh so that we could know and be known by Him. If you are reading this right now, God wants to know you. His desire to know you was so strong that Jesus, our good shepherd, stepped into our story to save us from ourselves through His death and resurrection.

In Psalm 23, David writes, “The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing.” This statement can be true for you as well. A sheep under the care of a good shepherd can move through each day with the peace that comes in knowing He is your protector. Your story may seem anything but safe right now but know that your shepherd is watching. He will provide for you, and he will protect you.

Our prayer is that you would feel the comfort and safety that comes from being known and loved by God.

You serve a God who held nothing back in order to restore a right relationship with His creation. You can trust the shepherd who gave up His life to guide your daily life.

How can you remind yourself daily of the love displayed in the life and death of Jesus?

What area of your life needs to be surrendered to the care of the shepherd?

Jesus was walking onto the scene where “the one he loved,” Lazarus, had died days before.

When Jesus sees Martha, He makes the promise to be the resurrection and the life. This statement, which Martha believed, had implications for her present reality and for eternity. Jesus does not say that he merely has the power to resurrect. But Jesus is claiming to be the source of resurrection and all life. Just moments later, Lazarus is called by Jesus out of the tomb to live again.

For you and me, the power of Jesus over life and death shifts the entire narrative of our lives. Like Lazarus, there are implications for the here and now. The life that Jesus offers to us is one full of peace despite the troubles that come (John 16:33). We can take on the yoke of Jesus and, in turn, find rest for our souls (Matthew 11:29-30). We have faith that despite our current circumstances, God is faithful to guide us to the finish line (Philippians 1:6).

While the resurrection has given us more than we deserve for this life, the gift expands into eternity.

Martha was just months away from watching firsthand as Jesus fulfilled the totality of this promise. Jesus took on the sins of the world, dying the death we deserved, and then conquered death being resurrected from the dead. It is only through Jesus that we have an opportunity to “never die.” Living a life surrendered to the saving power of Jesus Christ changes your life tomorrow, and it changes your life one million years from tomorrow. The resurrection of Jesus is the single most important moment in the history of the world.

Our prayer is that you would personally experience the life that Jesus offers. Your status in relationship to Jesus is the most important thing about you. Living a life that is universally influenced by that relationship is the good life that Jesus promised. This gospel truly changes everything.

What areas of your day-to-day life need to be molded into the life that Jesus called us into?

How does the future promise of eternal life change your perspective of your current situation?

Jesus is the Son of God.

Nowhere else do we see His beauty more clearly than at the Cross. It is here that God sent his Son into our world so that we could know Him and ultimately be saved by His blood. See, without Jesus, we’re in deep trouble. We’re stuck in a pit we can’t get out of. We’ve been given the news of a deadly disease. We could never get to God on our own because of our sin in view of His holiness. It would be like trying to flap your arms as hard as possible and fly from Florida to California. It wouldn’t matter how hard you tried. You just weren’t born with wings.

When we were born, we were born into a world where sin was in our nature; we were selfish and greedy, we were mean and bitter, and over and over again, we chose what we wanted instead of what God wanted. 

But even while we were living in that sin, God looked at us and loved us and wanted us to be with Him. This is where that Holiness comes into play. See, God knew that we could never be with him as long as that sinful nature was our story, so because of His love, God wrote us a new one. He sent Jesus into the world and showed us His character through Jesus’ life. He was kind and gentle, powerful and generous, merciful and righteous, and, at the right time, sacrificial. When Jesus told the disciples that He is the way and the truth and the life, He meant it. When He said that no one comes to the Father except through Him, He meant that too. The world may tell us that hard work, or “being a good person,” is the way to happiness in Heaven, but the truth is much more radical. Jesus is our way. He is the only way. He is the one who shows us the way to spend our lives here on Earth, and He is the one who traded our sinful nature for His righteousness so that one day we can be with a Holy God forever. The problem was justice, and His mercy was the solution. Through His life, death, and resurrection, Jesus made a way for us to come to the Father.

Do you understand why no one comes to the Father except through Jesus? 

Have you put your trust in Jesus to exchange your sinful nature for His righteousness? 

We all want to matter in life; to have significance, purpose, and meaning.

In these words, Jesus is spelling out how we can do that, and it boils down to this – apart from me you can do nothing, just like a grape branch can’t produce grapes without being attached to a vine.

So what does it actually mean to be attached to the vine?

Specifically, in these words, Jesus is referring to grapes, something that was very familiar to the people of His time. Grapes are the most widely used fruit in the Bible and for good reason. When we think about what we will produce in our lives, we can think of grapes, because grapes can serve a lot of purposes.

Grapes can be eaten fresh off the vine, pressed for grape juice, pressed and preserved for wine, or dried for raisins. Grapes live beyond their life on the vine.

No matter what season you find yourself in – 

You are feeling fresh and refreshed, ready to step into whatever God has called you to.

You feel pressed like the world is coming at you from all sides.

You feel pressed and hidden away like you are going through the struggles of life alone.

You feel dried out, tired from “religion,” worn out from the constant push and pull of life.

No matter where you find yourself, God wants to do something in you and through you. Grapevines can’t just grow anywhere. It takes a master gardener to find the right place with the right water, soil, and sunlight for a grapevine to flourish.

And the same goes for you. You were planted by the Master Gardener Himself – intentionally, carefully, and with a purpose.

When we abide with him, (remain in him, doing daily life, step by step, moment by moment with him), he promises that we will bear much fruit. Our work is abiding, His work is growing. Our work is remaining in His love, His work is making us lovely. Our work is enjoying the soil, the sun, and the water; His work is to make grapes that can be used to His glory.

If we abide with Jesus, we will bear much fruit. That’s a promise. He’s the vine. Who we are stems from who He is. Stop straining and striving, and rest in what only God can give you. This is where growth happens. This is where the fruit is produced. Isn’t that what we all want? To bear fruit, good fruit.

We can examine our lives by asking ourselves – are we producing good fruit? The kind that gives life. Today, and every day moving forward, your work is to rest in His work for you. Apart from Him, you can do nothing, but in Him, anything is possible. We remain in him, and we will bear much fruit.

Look around at your relationships, your actions, and your mind. Is what is being produced on your branch good and lifegiving?