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 10:10-18
The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. I am the Good Shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. He who is a hired hand and not a shepherd, who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. He flees because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep. I am the Good Shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep. And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd. For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from my Father.”
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.