The Notes

This coming Wednesday night, April 22, 2026, is Part 2 of our "I Am" series - looking at the 7 "I Am" statements of Jesus from the Gospel of John.  This week we look at His words, "I Am the light of the world."  Join us at 6:00 p.m. for some mid-week encouragement for the soul.

If you can't join us in person, you can always participate through our Facebook page - we go "live" at 6:00 p.m., and you will have a front row seat.  If you can't join us live, there are 3 ways to watch the message later - on Facebook, on YouTube, or here on our website.  Messages are posted the following day and you can watch a replay of any message anytime!  

If you want to keep some notes from a message, you can download the notes for a specific message from the "Past and Future Messages" page of our website.  There are many ways to be spiritually fed and encouraged.

This past Wednesday night, April 22, 2026, we began a new message series that looks in depth at the "I AM" statements of Jesus as recorded in the Gospel of John.  There are 7 of these "I AM" statements that reflect separate and distinct ways Jesus can impact our lives.  Look at it this way, a person may be a daughter, and also a mother, a sibling, a friend, a co-workers, etc.  One person has many different roles in life, and so does Jesus.  He is more than just the Savior, the one who died for us.   It is our prayer that this new study will give us a deeper, more meaningful connection with Jesus Christ.  

In this first week, we looked at John's 6th chapter, verses 25-69; the specific verse with the "I AM" statement is found in John 6:35 - "I am the bread of life."

Jesus then said, "Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty."  It is the first "I m" statement, but not the first time He said, “whoever drinks of the water I give them will never be thirsty.”  He has already told this to the Samaritan woman at the well in John 4:14.

In this conversation Jesus has in John 6, they bring up the manna provided to the Israelites when Moses led them out of slavery.  And Jesus makes clear that Moses didn't provide the manna, God did.  It's a reminder that God can provide for all our needs in life and we should look to Him and not people.  Manna was provided to meet physical needs, and Jesus was provided to meet spiritual needs.  Here are 5 ways Jesus can be the bread of life for us if we will believe in Him, trust Him, and call on His name. 

Point # 1 -  Jesus explained He is "the true bread" of Heaven for our spiritual needs. If you are searching for a better life . . . a better way to live . . . then try Jesus.  There is no substitute for Him.  He is the gift sent by God the Father for us.  Our search for meaning in life ends when we connect with Jesus Christ and understand all that He is.  He said in Matthew 5:6 – “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.”  What your soul needs . . . what we search for to have meaning in life . . . won’t be found in worldly pursuits.  Those things ultimately are not satisfying because they are soon forgotten, wear out, get replaced, need upgrading, and will not last.  That salary will soon be less than satisfying; that job will become tedious; the vacation will be a thing of the past and not fully remembered.  But Jesus - the true bread that sustains us - will last forever.  If we will hunger and thirst for Him and His righteousness, we will "be filled.”   We won't lack for anything and will be fully satisfied.

Point # 2 - Jesus fills us with what money can’t buy.

There are going to be days in our lives when we are weak; we will wonder how do I get though this circumstances, this trial, this season?  Many people spend money and resources on self-help books, therapists, and counseling.  Isaiah 55:2 says – “Why spend money on that which is not bread, and your labor on that which does not satisfy? Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good, and your soul will delight in the richest of foods.”  We don't have to buy our need . . . Jesus is the help we need.  He will give us the strength we need.  He will satisfy our longings.  We will have the richest of a life in the ways that truly matter; those things that money cannot buy for us - joy, contentment, peace, and love. 

Point # 3 - Jesus’ spiritual nourishment satisfies what is lacking in life.  At some point, people everywhere wonder - is this life all there is? Isn't there something more than just our physical needs and existence?   Jesus said, “Man cannot live on bread alone.”  Matthew 4:4.  That means our souls need to be fed as well as our bodies; the existence of our souls tells us there is, indeed something more after this life.  But when you have found Jesus, there is no more searching.  He is it!  Jesus is “the bread of life.”  So we can stop and rest in Jesus, because when we come to Him we “will never hunger," and "will never thirst.”

Point # 4  - He fills us completely. . . the spiritual thirst is quenched.  Psalm 107:9 says: “For He satisfies the thirsty and fills the hungry with good things.”  Jesus gives us what is good for us, and He does it in abundance.  Just like feeding the 5,000 people with 5 loaves of bread - there were 12 baskets left over.  Jesus will never bring anything into our lives that is not good, and cannot be used for good.  That is why He can satisfy our spiritual thirst.  The deeper we dive into knowing Jesus, the more satisfying He is.

Point # 5 - He is our daily spiritual sustenance…  He gives us our daily bread.  In Exodus 16:4 - the LORD said to Moses, “Behold, I will rain down bread from heaven for you. Each day the people are to go out and gather enough for that day.”   And the Bible assures us that each day, we have new mercies.  It's not a one time thing.  Each day of life, Jesus will be enough, whatever you need!  And it's a reminder that each day we need to be spiritually fed.  If you go without physical food, you will starve and your body will begin to shut down. It's the same with with our need for spiritual food.  Just like we have basic human needs, our Spirit has a need, too.  It needs to know there’s something more – eternal life.  John 6:33 - “For the bread of God is the bread that comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”   Jesus declared – “I AM” that bread of life.  And look at the rest of what Jesus said:

"For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me.  And this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all those he has given me, but raise them up at the last day.  For my Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day.” (John 6:38-40).

That statement shocked those listening; they said - hey, we know him - he’s Jesus, the son of Joseph.   “How can he now say ‘I came down from heaven?' "

If you only know Jesus as a man, you don’t really know Him.  If you only know Him as Saviour, you don't fully know Him. 

He’s the son of God, part flesh, part divine.  He left Heaven and came down to us as the “bread of life” - to sustain us, fill us, and satisfy our longing.  Our eternal life is based on knowing Him as our daily bread, and looking to Him each day of our lives to fill us and nourish our souls.