It’s easy for Christians to fall into a rut: Church is a thing you do, prayer is a box to check, and faith seems far from “the real world.” This fall we let Jesus himself confront our ruts. “Do you believe this?” he asks (Jn. 11:26).
To believe in Jesus is to experience him. It’s more than logic, argument, and doctrine. It is intimate knowledge of God himself. This fall, let Jesus himself speak to you in his seven “I AM” statements in the gospel of John. How is he changing you? What response is he inspiring in you? To believe in him changes everything.
Invocation
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Ponder
Every Sunday is a “little Easter” in the Christian church. Today we ponder the I AM statement: “I am the resurrection and the life.” Before you hear the word today, consider the ways that our culture avoids death. What does it mean when society bemoans aging and glorifies youth? Pause for 60 seconds and think of the change, decay, and death you see around you.
Word
John 8:12-20
Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” So the Pharisees said to Him, “You are bearing witness about yourself; your testimony is not true.” Jesus answered, “Even if I do bear witness about myself, my testimony is true, for I know where I came from and where I am going, but you do not know where I come from or where I am going. You judge according to the flesh; I judge no one. Yet even if I do judge, my judgment is true, for it is not I alone who judge, but I and the Father who sent me. In your Law it is written that the testimony of two people is true. I am the one who bears witness about myself, and the Father who sent me bears witness about me.” They said to Him therefore, “Where is your Father?” Jesus answered, “You know neither me nor my Father. If you knew me, you would know my Father also.” These words He spoke in the treasury, as He taught in the temple; but no one arrested him, because His hour had not yet come.
Prayer
Jesus, you said, “I am the resurrection and the life.” We live in a world of change, decay, and death. Overwhelm the shadows of this world. Bring your resurrection power to every corner of my life. Amen.
Benediction
May the almighty and merciful God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, bless and keep us. Amen.