And from that trip came a friendship
and a brotherhood that I have found to be so profitable to
me, and I hope it has been somewhat profitable to him. And then on,
any time I was asked to return to the islands and bring someone,
I was always the first one I called. And we were not the ones who
scheduled the trips always, but when ice storms hit here. Those
were always scheduled by someone else. It just seemed that every
time we went down, it was the last week of January, first week of
February or so, and we would barely get out of bluegrass Louisville,
and I stormed it, but we had nothing to do with abandoning
those, I assure you. But we were glad to be where
we were. But I highly esteem your pastor, and the way he's
left, to have him as a friend, and also this church. You have been so generous, and
so kind, and my ministry, the ministry
the Lord has given us there and I esteem this church very highly
and thank you from the depths of my heart. During the days
of this ministry on this earth, our Lord made a number of statements
in which identified himself with what we call the I Am's of Jesus
Christ. And these are recorded by John
in his doctrine. Our Lord said in John 8, 12,
I am the life of the world. In John 6, 48, the second, he
said, I am the bread. Third, in John 15, 1, he says,
I am the truth. Five. Fourth, in John 10, 7,
he says, I am the door. Fifth, in John 10, 11, in our
text for tonight, our Lord said, I am the good shepherd. Sixth, seventh, and eighth, in
John 14, 6, he said, I am the way, and I am the truth, and
I am the life. Number nine, in John 11.25, he
said, I am the resurrection. And in John 8.58, he made what
might have been the most astounding of all these statements when
he said simply, I am. You are what? I am what I am. I am what I need to be. I am everything you need. I am the self-existent God. I am salvation, justification,
sanctification, righteousness, and wisdom. I am what I am. Tonight, God willing, we're going
to look at this fifth statement, at least it is fifth in the number
in which I have given to them, and we're going to look at verse
11, but I'm going to read the passage. Thank you.