Key points
- 1
1God's formal name, Yahweh, means 'I AM' — declaring that He is the only self-existent, eternal being from whom all existence flows.
“I am that I am is saying I am the only thing that has always been, that always is, and always will be”
- 2
2God created us for both relationship with Him and purposeful mission; trying to have one without the other causes faith to flatline.
- 3
3When God calls us to go, our first mistake is starting with ourselves — our inadequacies, past failures, and fears — instead of starting with who He is.
“because he is, I can”
- 4
4Jesus is the great I AM — the pre-incarnate Yahweh who spoke to Moses, the Creator of Genesis 1–2, and the one who declared 'Before Abraham was even born, I AM.'
- 5
5God doesn't ask us to bring ability or resources — only who we are and what we already have — and He will use it in ways we never imagined.
“When God calls us to go serve his purposes, he doesn't expect us to bring anything except who we are and what we have and just say take it”
“that's where you get to see the great I am, be the great I am. That's where you see the power of God start to work”
- 6
6Every Christian is called to active, purposeful service in the local church body; isolation is a strategy of the enemy that stalls faith.
- 7
7There is a critical difference between leaving a church service and going — God always calls us to go with Him on mission, not simply to leave encouraged.
“there is a difference, a vast difference between going and leaving”
A story from life
Pastor Bill's nearly-three-year-old grandson insists on 'just leaving' without giving him a hug, illustrating the choice to leave a God-encounter without embracing His call
“A relationship with God will always come with a call to go in the purpose of God”
Illustration
The Sandlot scene: a boy has no idea who Babe Ruth is until his friends list all his nicknames, illustrating how names describe a person's attributes
A story from life
Pastor Bill describes how he and his wife of nearly 30 years can pick up a mid-conversation with no context, illustrating God's intimate knowledge of Moses' unspoken concerns
Application
The pastor's 'so what' cuts in two directions. For those who have never surrendered to Jesus, the invitation is simple: stop trying to be good enough on your own, cry out to Him, and accept His grace — because He is, you can be forgiven and brought into real relationship with God. For those who already know Jesus but have settled for a comfortable, purposeless faith, the call is to stop leaving and start going. Practically, that means finding a place to serve in the local church, honoring God with your finances, and putting what you already have — your time, your gifts, your ordinary shepherd's staff — before Him and trusting Him to use it in ways you never imagined. The barrier is almost never ability; it is almost always the unwillingness to surrender the 'I can't' and trust the great I AM.
