Overview
Rev. Rico Magnelli examines “The Great I Am Lives and Works in You” through 1 Corinthians 9, 1 Thessalonians 2, showing how christ, great, need shape a believer’s relationship with God, daily choices, and service to others.
Transcript
Understanding The Great I Am Lives and Works in You
So Exodus chapter three, please. The great I am lives and works in us. God certainly adapts to meet the present need and we’ll see that through this teaching.
And we see it through his grace and how his grace is applied to each situation, each person, each challenge and the path that we walk. It’s so beautifully illustrated in the record of the children of Israel. When the children of Israel were in captivity, God sends Moses to carry out his will, which is to free them.
And one of the questions that Moses asks is in verse 13 of chapter three of the book of Exodus. And Moses said unto God, behold, when I am come unto the children of Israel, I shall say unto them, the God of your fathers has sent me unto you and they shall say unto me, what is his name? What shall I say unto them? The word name is the Hebrew word Shem. And in that culture, it not only denotes an identity, but also a reputation and a character.
So a deeper sense is what is your name? What is your reputation and your character that I can deliver to them this deeper sense? And God responds in verse 14, and God said unto Moses, I am that I am. And he said, thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I am has sent me unto you. And God said, moreover unto Moses, thou shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, the Lord God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob has sent me unto you.
This is my name, which would carry not only an identity, but a reputation and a character forever. And this is my memorial unto all generations. The words, I am are from a Hebrew verb, Haya.
And it means to exist or become. Interestingly enough, it’s the root of the word Jehovah or Yahweh. So to exist or become is how God wants to communicate his name, his reputation, his character.
How fantastic that is. I am that I am. Now in the Greek, it also is the word to exist or become.
The Biblical Foundation
And what’s interesting in the Greek Old Testament, the Septuagint, it’s a present indicative. So that means it’s a continuous representation of identifying the Lord, his reputation and his character. It’s unceasing, it continues in the present.
And what we know about this record, which we won’t go into, but the Lord becomes what is needed in the moment for his people. His name also embodies his perfect timing. The great I am carries the sense of, I will be what I need to be for you in the moment.
At times in the record of the nation of Israel, he was judgment upon their enemies by allowing these plagues to happen. He became the parting of the Red Sea to escape enemies. He became a pillar of fire and a cloud to protect them and be able to see in their journey.
He became manna from heaven to nourish them. He became the Sabbath day in a sense, to give them rest and the recouping that they needed in mind and body. He became the promised land to prosper and for them to be able to dwell in safety.
See, the Lord becomes what is needed. And in this situation, what is highlighted was their freedom. He became their protection and he became their prosperity.
God embodies all of these great aspects. Look at John chapter eight, the gospel of John chapter eight. The great I am is I will become what I need to become in the moment, in the present.
What do you need? What does your family need? What does the person that you just met need? Well, God will adapt and work in us to present himself and represent Christ to become what people need and communicate that to them. Here in John chapter eight, Jesus Christ makes this statement. He says in verse 58, Jesus said unto them, he’s talking to the religious leaders.
Verily, verily, I say unto you, before Abraham was, I am. That’s the same word that’s used, really the same words that are used in the Greek Old Testament in Exodus three. Why am I saying this? Because Jesus Christ was the agent of Jehovah or Yahweh that meets the need in the moment.
Examples and Spiritual Lessons
He was the greatest example of taking God’s power and care and authority and love and provision and applying it specifically in each situation regardless of the circumstances. In a matter of speaking, Jesus Christ, all of the I am needs of people became embodied in his life and ministry. This carries great significance because of who we carry within us.
Christ was present and adapted to the needs of the people. They needed a savior. They needed a sinless sacrifice.
They needed someone that was approachable. They needed someone that was tender and loving and yet fierce as a lion. They needed somebody they could look in the eye and they would say what he meant and meant what he said.
They needed someone that had a tender care for people, had no attitude about him, could be with rich and poor and it made no difference. Well, how can we apply this to our walk? We can become adaptable to meet the need in the present time for people. Look at 1 Corinthians, please.
The great I am lives and works in us to the end that we can adapt and help connect with people to their God, put their hand in God’s hand. In 1 Corinthians 9, verse 19, Paul writes, for though I’d be free from all men, meaning he didn’t owe anybody anything. He owed his life, his ministry to the God and his Lord and savior.
Yet I made myself servant unto all that I might gain the more. Wow. And unto the Jews, I became as a Jew that I might gain the Jews.
That’s the religious people. To them that are under the law as under the law. Those are those legalistic people that I might gain them that are under the law.
Faith in Action
To them that are without the law. Those are people that have no legalistic standards in their life, perhaps. But you can see the gamut, the spectrum within which Paul is functioning, being not without law to God, but under the law to Christ, that I might gain them that are without the law.
How does a man or a woman becomes this versatile? How does a man or a woman rise up to a level to make themselves an agent of the great I am through Christ Jesus? We’re reading it. To the weak became I as weak, that I might gain the weak. In other words, there’s an empathy here.
It’s not Paul allows himself to get sick so he can relate to sick people. That’s not what he’s doing here. He’s relating to them through the empathy of Christ, the compassion of Christ.
I am made all things to all men that I might by all means save some. Well, the word made here means to become all things to all men. You know, it starts out this way.
It’s something that we become. And the interesting part here is that in the Greek grammatical construction, it’s talking about action in the past that’s completed in the present. So in essence, his whole life led up to each moment.
God can draw from your entire experience or base. God can draw from your understanding and your heart and bring it into focused impact. The key is Christ.
That’s what puts it all together. And this I do for the gospel sake that I might be partaker thereof with you. Sometimes we believe these limitations, these restrictions that perhaps we’ve even put upon ourselves.
Walking in Love and Confidence
Well, it doesn’t mean that we don’t have at times issues that we need to work through, sure. But the grace of God is so big that it can move within an amazing spectrum from reaching religious people to legalistic people to people that have no legal boundaries or standards in their life and walk because of Christ. And all this happens in the moment.
That’s what I wanna emphasize. It happens in the moment. The great I am is in the moment.
It’s not yesterday. It’s not tomorrow. It’s in the moment.
Know ye not verse 24, which run in a race run all but one received the prize. So run that you may obtain. Now Paul’s using an athletic allegory here but he’s really talking about spiritual matters.
Look, and every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things. Sure. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown.
There’s rewards in this life for conducting ourselves within certain disciplines with precision and heart and accuracy and persistence. But we an incorruptible, that’s right. We’re after what’s gonna be rewarded in the next life which is eternity.
I therefore so run not as uncertainly. Paul wasn’t confused about what he was doing. He wasn’t uncertain that he wasn’t doubting himself that he’s wasting his time because the world is pulling you in one direction and God is drawing you with his love.
Applying the Teaching in Daily Life
He’s drawing you with his grace. He’s drawing you with his mercy. So we don’t have to be uncertain in our path that we’ve chosen.
So fight I. It says fight, not as one that beat at the air. That means somebody who’s shadow boxing. You never land a punch.
No, our lives have impact. That’s right. But I keep under my body and bring it into subjection lest that by any means when I have preached to others I myself should be a castaway or become disqualified.
He stayed in the fight. Look at 1 Thessalonians 2 and we’ll close there. 1 Thessalonians chapter two.
Paul wanted to reach people. So he adopted the mindset of the great I am and became whatever he needed to become in the situation. Maybe someone needs a hug.
Maybe someone needs a word of encouragement. Maybe someone just needs your ear to listen to them. Maybe someone needs a little inspiration.
Well, God will work in the situation. And here is another illustration of kind of the gamut, the spectrum of versatility and adaptability that we can have through the grace of God in Christ Jesus. Paul in 1 Thessalonians chapter two, verse seven, speaking about him and Timothy and Silas.
But we were gentle among you. We were gentle among you. Even as a nurse cherishes her children.
A Life Shaped by God’s Word
It’s really a nursing mother. How gentle is a nursing mother with that baby? You moms know much better than we men. It’s a bond and it’s an affection and it’s a connection that I’m not sure can be duplicated in any other way on this earth, other than God getting involved in helping us understand something deeper.
I just don’t know. That baby came out from you and you’re gentle. But he isn’t talking about a nursing mother.
He’s talking about Paul, Silas, and Timothy. Look here, look what it says. So being affectionately desirous of you, we were willing to have imparted unto you not the gospel of God only, but also our souls, our own souls, because you were dear unto us.
For you remember, brethren, our labor and travail. For laboring night and day, because we would not be chargeable unto any of you, we preached unto you the gospel of God. Ye are our witnesses, and God also, how wholly and justly and unblameably we behaved ourselves among you that believe.
As you know, how we exhorted and comforted and charged every one of you as a father doth his children. Wow, from a gentle nursing mother to a guiding father look at the versatility we can apply when we allow the great I am in Christ Jesus to work in us. We can reach the religious, the legalists.
We can reach those that have no legal standards in their life. Why? Because the great I am lives in you and works in you because of Christ Jesus. So God adapts to meet the present need for sure.
It’s in the moment through his grace applied very specifically to each situation, to each person, to each challenge and each path that we walk, we can adapt through Christ to the present need, whatever it is, because the great I am lives and works in you.
Key Takeaways
- The great I am is I will become what I need to become in the moment, in the present.
- So he adopted the mindset of the great I am and became whatever he needed to become in the situation.
- And what we know about this record, which we won’t go into, but the Lord becomes what is needed in the moment for his people.
- Well, God will adapt and work in us to present himself and represent Christ to become what people need and communicate that to them.
- We can become adaptable to meet the need in the present time for people.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the main message of “The Great I Am Lives and Works in You”?
Rev. Rico Magnelli examines “The Great I Am Lives and Works in You” through 1 Corinthians 9, 1 Thessalonians 2, showing how christ, great, need shape a believer’s relationship with God, daily choices, and service to others.
Which scriptures are central to this teaching?
The teaching draws especially from 1 Corinthians 9, 1 Thessalonians 2.
How can believers apply this teaching?
We can become adaptable to meet the need in the present time for people.
Scripture References
1 Corinthians 9; 1 Thessalonians 2
This text was prepared from the teaching audio or source document. Please verify scripture references against your own Bible.
