Episode Transcript
CONSECRATE
Wake up, sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.
Jesus, I belong to you.
I lift up my heart to you.
I set my mind on you.
I fix my eyes on you.
I offer my body to you as a living sacrifice.
Jesus, we belong to you.
Praying in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, amen.
HEAR
John 15:1–5 NIV
“I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. Abide in me, as I also abide in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must abide in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you abide in me.
“I am the vine; you are the branches. If you abide in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.”
CONSIDER
I am remiss for not making more of the seven "I Am" statements of Jesus as we have walked through the Gospel of John. With a single entry for each chapter, it is challenging. As we cover the seventh I Am declaration today, we will be well-served to remember the first six.
1. I am the bread of life. (6:35)
2. I am the light of the world. (8:12)
3. I am the gate for the sheep. (10:7)
4. I am the good shepherd. (10:11)
5. I am the resurrection and the life. (11:25)
6. I am the way, the truth, and the life. (14:6)
7. I am the true vine. (15:1)
I would like to challenge us all to rememberize these great revelations of Jesus for they hold the key to great awakening. I especially want to encourage all the kids who are with us on the Wake-Up Call to hide these words of Jesus in your hearts. (I'll send a set of Sermon on the Mount Flash Cards to the first ten kids who send me a video of you saying these words of Jesus by memory. See the PS for instructions on how to get it to me.)
Why do these words matter so much? Because in them Jesus tells us he wants to be our everything. Jesus is life.
There is a little word Jesus repeats over and over again in today's text. It may be my favorite word. No, it's not "behold," which is my other favorite word. You saw it didn't you. The word is "abide."
Abide in me, as I also abide in you.
These may be the most gracious and invitational words ever spoken. Abide in me.
The word speaks of the attachment of love, of deep friendship. Watch where the text goes:
I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. (v. 15)
I have called you friends.
In the spirit of the seven I Am statements, let me risk impropriety by adding an eighth. I think Jesus would approve, though I don't presume on it and would never in a million years put my statement on par with Scripture—though I think Scripture supports it. Without further adieu, here it is:
I am your friend.
PRAY
Abba Father, we thank you for your Son, Jesus, who always tells the truth, no matter how hard or glorious or beautiful it may be. Bring us into the “I am the vine; you are the branches” real life with him. Come, Holy Spirit, and train us to surrender our whole lives to the lordship of Jesus and to do it until we have done it. We pray in Jesus’s name, amen.
