2. I AM is not like I am.

3. God owes no explanation

4.  Adam (4000 BC)  Noah (2300 BC)  Abraham (1900 BC)  Moses (1400 BC)

5.  “If I come to the people of Israel and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is His Name?’ what shall I say to them?’” God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM.”Exodus 3:13-14  I AM is… Other Holy Transcendent

6.  “The LORD, the LORD, I AM, I AM a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children’s children…” Exodus 34:6-7  I AM is… Both love & just Simultaneously, yet seemingly irreconcilably

7.  Who am I? 6 A voice says, "Cry!" And I said, "What shall I cry?" All flesh is grass, and all its beauty (constancy) is like the flower of the field. 7 The grass withers, the flower fades when the breath of the LORD blows on it; surely the people are grass. 8 The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever. Isaiah 40:6-8

8.  Who is I AM? 12 Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand and marked off the heavens with a span, enclosed the dust of the earth in a measure and weighed the mountains in scales and the hills in a balance? 13 Who has measured the Spirit of the LORD, or what man shows him his counsel? 14 Whom did he consult, and who made him understand? Who taught him the path of justice, and taught him knowledge, and showed him the way of understanding? Isaiah 40:12-14

10.  Who is I AM? 15 Behold, the nations are like a drop from a bucket, and are accounted as the dust on the scales; behold, he takes up the coastlands like fine dust. 16 Lebanon would not suffice for fuel, nor are its beasts enough for a burnt offering. 17 All the nations are as nothing before him, they are accounted by him as less than nothing and emptiness. Isaiah 40:15-17

12.  To whom then will you liken God, or what likeness compare with him? An idol! A craftsman casts it, and a goldsmith overlays it with gold and casts for it silver chains. He who is too impoverished for an offering chooses wood that will not rot; he seeks out a skillful craftsman to set up an idol that will not move. (Isaiah 40:18-20)  …you thought that the I AM was one like yourself… (Psalm 50:21)  Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles. (Romans 1:22-23)  At the root of all sin - dishonoring of God, disobeying God, shame & dirtiness in our lives - is the belief that God is somehow like me - that God is not good.

13.  26 Lift up your eyes on high and see: who created these? He who brings out their host by number, calling them all by name, by the greatness of his might, and because he is strong in power not one is missing. Isaiah 40:26

14.  Why would you ever complain, O Jacob, or, whine, Israel, saying, "God has lost track of me. He doesn't care what happens to me"? Don't you know anything? Haven't you been listening? God doesn't come and go. God lasts. He's Creator of all you can see or imagine. He doesn't get tired out, doesn't pause to catch his breath. And he knows everything, inside and out. Isaiah 40:27-28 (The Message)

15.  He energizes those who get tired, gives fresh strength to dropouts. For even young people tire and drop out, young folk in their prime stumble and fall. But those who wait upon God get fresh strength. They spread their wings and soar like eagles, They run and don't get tired, they walk and don't lag behind. Isaiah 40:29-31 (The Message)

16.  3 A voice cries: "In the wilderness prepare the way of the LORD; make straight in the desert a highway for our God. 4 Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low; the uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places a plain. 5 And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together, for the mouth of the LORD has spoken.“ Isaiah 40:3-5

17.  In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. (John 1:1)  And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Father, full of grace and truth. (John 1:14)  Noah, Abraham, Moses, David – None of them had as full a revelation of I AM as we do in Jesus Christ…neither do the angels!

18.  I AM the Bread of Life. John 6:35, 48  I AM the Light of the World. John 8:12; 9:5  Before Abraham was, I AM. John 8:58  I AM the Door. John 10:7, 9  I AM the Good Shepherd. John 10:11-15  I AM the Resurrection and the Life. John 11:25-26  I AM the Way and the Truth and the Life. John 14:6  I AM the Vine. John 15:1, 5  I AM He. John 18:6

19. Thank God that I AM became like I am.

20. What does I AM want with me this Christmas?