The Rest of= the Story:
“I AM”
John 14:1-6=
“What is man that you are mi=
ndful
of him?”
“…that you may believe that Jesus is=
the
Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his
name.” =
=
&nb=
sp; =
&nb=
sp; (John
20:31)
“Suppose I go to the Israelites a=
nd
say to them, 'The God of your fathers has sent me to you,' and they ask me,
'What is his name?' Then what=
shall
I tell them?" God said to
Moses, "I am who I am. T=
his is
what you are to say to the Israelites: 'I AM has sent me to you.'" (Exodus 3:13-14)
1"Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust=
in
God; trust also in me. 2In my Father's house are many rooms; if it were not=
so,
I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. 3And if=
I
go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me
that you also may be where I am.
4You know the way to the place where I am going.=
"
5Thomas said to him, "Lord, we don't know where you are going, so
how can we know the way?"
6Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No o=
ne
comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14:1-6)
![3D"<<](3D"Sermon2008-04-20TROTSIAM_files/image002.jpg")
“He was=
in the
world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recogni=
ze
him. (John 1:10)
“Yet to=
all who
received him, he gave the right to become the children of God.” (John
1:12)
I. Jesus Is…the WAY
Jesus said,=
“I
am the way—not one way among many from which you can choose, not one =
of
several equally valid ways— “I=
AM
THE WAY.”
“Take up your cross daily and follow me.”
Jesus Christ
II. Jesus Is…the TRUTH
There is so much confusion in our world that the truth often looks =
like
a lie and lies begin to resemble the truth.
(Note: show= piano photo when I talk about
“mice= living in a large piano.”)
![](3D"Sermon2008-04-20TROTSIAM_files/image004.jpg")
Jesus Christ came as the Truth of God in human flesh. He spoke
God’s truth, He lived it; then He died and rose again that God’s
truth might set us free!
III. Jesus Is…the LIFE
“Why don’t you get a life?!?”
(note: the = following is supposed to look like a sign in a travel agency window—frame it, etc.???)
Escape
the ordinary,
the unusual,
the predictable,
the boring.
Take a fun-filled trip
with
us.
ABUNDANT LIFE:
Clear Focus and Direction
Imbued with Truth
The Exciting Adventure of
Following
JESUS CHRIST!
(End of Pow= erPoint Notes—Sermon Text and Notes Follow)
The Rest of= the Story:
“I AM”
John 14:1-6=
What a beautiful anth=
em,
“The Majesty and Glory of Your Name.” That inspired text comes from the =
Eighth
Psalm. The writer asks a ques=
tion. He wonders why such a majestic and
glorious God would even notice people like us.
“What is man that you are mindful of him?&=
#8221; He
assures us that God IS aware of us, though, because He made us. He made us just a little lower tha=
n the
angels, in fact, and He crowned us with glory and honor and put the works of
His hands under our feet to be “rulers” over them.
But there’s a p=
roblem:
ever since God gave us life and all this stuff to manage—to “ru=
le
over”--we have struggled with knowing God and loving Him and having t=
he
relationship with Him that He desires.&nbs=
p;
So we haven’t done a very good job at being “rulers̶=
1;
over creation.
Because of this, when=
the
time was right, God sent His Son.
And John tells us that the whole reason he wrote his Gospel is this:=
“…that you may believe th=
at
Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have lif=
e in
his name.” (John 20:31)
John=
tells
us things about Jesus that we do not find anywhere else. He wants us to believe in Jesus an=
d find
that life in Him that is so much better than what we often settle for. Our Scripture today is a case in
point. Before we read it, I n=
eed to
give you a little background.
In t=
he Old
Testament, Moses encounters a burning bush and hears God’s call to le=
ad
His people out of slavery. He=
has
lots of questions, and he asks God: “Suppose
I go to the Israelites and say to them, 'The God of your fathers has sent m=
e to
you,' and they ask me, 'What is his name?'=
Then what shall I tell them?"&=
nbsp;
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.'" (Exodus 3:13-14)
God’s name is
“Yahweh”—I AM. Then,
some fifteen hundred years after Moses has this encounter with Pharaoh, John
writes his Gospel to tell us “the rest of the story” about
Jesus. Seven times he quotes =
Jesus
saying, “I AM.” F=
ollow
this: seven times—the perfect number—the perfect revelation of
“The Great I AM.”
Our text for today is=
one of
the best known of these seven “I AM” sayings of Jesus. We find it in John 14:6. We’ll begin our reading with=
verse
1:
1"Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust=
in
God; trust also in me. 2In my Father's house are many rooms; if it were not=
so,
I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. 3And if=
I
go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me
that you also may be where I am. 4You know the way to the place where I am
going." 5Thomas said to him, "Lord, we don't know where you=
are
going, so how can we know the way?"&n=
bsp;
6Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No o=
ne
comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14:1-6)
The message is clear.=
We do not find our way through this
world and to the Heavenly Father until we recognize Jesus Christ for who He=
is
and find in Him our WAY and the TRUTH upon which we build our lives.
Some of us may still =
remember
Cary Grant, the famous actor.<=
span
style=3D'mso-spacerun:yes'> He told the story of how he was wa=
lking
down the street one day when a man coming toward him began staring at him.<=
span
style=3D'mso-spacerun:yes'> The man was excited—he knew =
this
was someone famous. “I =
know
you, he said, you’re…you’re, uhhhh, Rock Huds…no,
you’re…”
Wanting to let this g=
uy off
the hook and get on his way, he finished the sentence for him: “Cary
Grant.” “No,
that’s not it,” he said, “You’re…”
“He was in the world, and though the world was m= ade through him, the world did not recognize him. (John 1:10)
“Yet to all who received him, he gave the right = to become the children of God.” (John 1:12)
I. Jesus Is…the WAY
Jesus said,=
“I
am the way—not one way among many form which you can choose, not one =
of
several equally valid ways—“I =
AM THE
WAY.”
“Take= up your cross daily and follow me.”
Jesus Chris= t
II. Jesus Is…the TRUTH
There is so= much confusion in our world that the truth often looks like a lie and lies begin= to resemble the truth.
Jesus Chris= t came as the Truth of God in human flesh. He spoke God’s truth, He lived it; then He died and rose again that God’s truth might set us free!
III. Jesus
Is…the LIFE
“Why don’t you get a life?!?”
Escape
the ordinar= y,
the unusual= ,
the predict= able,
the boring.=
Take a fun-= filled trip
with us.
ABUNDANT LIFE:
Clear Focus and Direction
Imbued with Truth
The Exciting Adventure of
Following
JESUS CHRIST!