The Most Important Essentials (Part 1)
The Essentials • Sermon • Submitted
0 ratings
· 18 viewsNotes
Transcript
There are many worldly things we feel like we can not live without…like andriods and iphones, social media platforms, TV and entertainment…of course the list is as long as the number of people on the planet.
But those things are wants not needs, there are things that are more important to life such as water, food, clothing and even shelter.
If the Covid pandemic has taught us anything it has shown us what the majority of our leaders in government and rule makers believe is important and essential.
When everything was getting shut down I will have to say it really surprised me that all things spiritual was among the things that was deemed a nonessential.
I don't know why it surprised me because it should have been obvious…people in general could careless about God or even the things pertaining to God.
In his letter to the church in Rome, Paul quotes an astonishing statement from the Psalms: “There is no one who understands; there is no one who seeks God” (Romans 3:11). How can Paul, and David before him, make such a sweeping declaration? Of all who have ever lived, not even one person has really sought after God? There’s no question that billions of people have sought after a god, but they have not sought after the true God.
And it is for that reason that the world and even our nation sees God as nonessential in a time of a pandemic.
But just because so many see God as a waste of time and nonessential doesn't mean that God isn't essential, I would argue that God is the most essential and most important in every aspect of life, especial in the time such as now. God is the answer to all the problems we face in this life.
For the next several Sundays I want to point our attention to what I believe are the most essential and the most important needs in our life. For without them we would not survive much less endure any hardships or disasters.
So lets begin our Study this morning on the “The Most Important Essentials” by turning in our Bibles to Gen. 1:1 as we look at the first of three essentials which is....
God is Essential
Why is God so important and essential to life? This is the question that I want us to explore this morning.
God Sustains His Creation
without Him nothing would exist - Gen 1:1
without Him nothing would continue to exist - John 1:3; Colossians 1:17
1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
3 All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.
17 He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.
Now since God is the one who created all things and sustains all things that mean God must be...
Omnipresent, Omniscient, Omnipotent
He is Ever Present
God’s presence is continuous throughout all of creation, though it may not be revealed in the same way at the same time to people everywhere.
At times, He may be actively present in a situation, while He may not reveal that He is present in another circumstance in some other area.
The Bible reveals that God can be both present to a person in a manifest manner
1 God is our refuge and strength, A very present help in trouble.
and present in every situation in all of creation at any given time
13 The Lord looks from heaven; He sees all the sons of men.
14 From the place of His dwelling He looks On all the inhabitants of the earth;
Omnipresence is God’s characteristic of being present to all ranges of both time and space. Although God is present in all time and space, God is not locally limited to any time or space.
God is everywhere and in every now.
No molecule or atomic particle is so small that God is not fully present to it, and no galaxy so vast that God does not circumscribe it. But if we were to remove creation, God would still know of it, for He knows all possibilities, whether they are actual or not
Also, God is naturally present in every aspect of the natural order of things, in every manner, time and place
12 Who has measured the waters in the hollow of His hand, Measured heaven with a span And calculated the dust of the earth in a measure? Weighed the mountains in scales And the hills in a balance?
3 The Lord is slow to anger and great in power, And will not at all acquit the wicked. The Lord has His way In the whirlwind and in the storm, And the clouds are the dust of His feet.
God is in a special way attentively present to those who call upon His name, who intercede for others, who adore God, who petition, and who pray earnestly for forgiveness (Psalm 46:1). Supremely, He is present in the person of His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ (Colossians 2:19), and mystically present in the universal church that covers the earth and against which the gates of hell will not prevail.
Now as we can see through scripture that God is not only All Present, He is also All Knowing.
He is All Knowing - 1 John 3:20; Matt. 10:29-30
God knows everything (1 John 3:20).
20 For if our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and knows all things.
He knows not only the minutest details of our lives but those of everything around us, for He mentions even knowing when a sparrow falls or when we lose a single hair (Matthew 10:29-30). He knows the number of how many hairs on your head...
Not only does God know everything that will occur until the end of history itself (Isaiah 46:9-10), but He also knows our very thoughts, even before we speak forth (Psalm 139:4).
4 Before a word is on my tongue you, Lord, know it completely.
He knows our hearts from afar; He even saw us in the womb (Psalm 139:1-3, 15-16).
1 O Lord, You have searched me and known me.
2 You know my sitting down and my rising up; You understand my thought afar off.
3 You comprehend my path and my lying down, And are acquainted with all my ways.
15 My frame was not hidden from You, When I was made in secret, And skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.
16 Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed. And in Your book they all were written, The days fashioned for me, When as yet there were none of them.
Solomon expresses this truth perfectly when he says, “For you, you only, know the hearts of all the children of mankind” (1 Kings 8:39).
It is safe to say that God knows everything, for he sees everything and nothing is done without him knowing. So if God is all present and all knowing that must mean that he is also All Powerful...
He is All Powerful - Job 26:7-14
Job spoke of God’s power in Job 42:2: “I know that you can do all things and that no plan of yours can be thwarted.” Job was acknowledging God’s omnipotence in carrying out His plans.
Nowhere is God’s omnipotence seen more clearly than in creation. God said, “Let there be…” and it was so (Genesis 1:3, 6, 9, etc.). Man needs tools and materials to create; God simply spoke, and by the power of His word, everything was created from nothing. (Psalm 33:6)
6 By the word of the Lord the heavens were made, And all the host of them by the breath of His mouth.
God’s power is also seen in the preservation of His creation. All life on earth would perish were it not for God’s continual provision of everything we need for food, clothing and shelter, all from renewable resources sustained by His power as the preserver of man and beast (Psalm 36:6).
The seas which cover most of the earth, and over which we are powerless, would overwhelm us if God did not proscribe their limits (Job 38:8-11).
8 “Or who shut in the sea with doors, When it burst forth and issued from the womb;
9 When I made the clouds its garment, And thick darkness its swaddling band;
10 When I fixed My limit for it, And set bars and doors;
11 When I said, ‘This far you may come, but no farther, And here your proud waves must stop!’
God’s omnipotence also extends to governments and leaders (Daniel 2:21), as He restrains them or lets them go their way according to His plans and purposes.
21 And He changes the times and the seasons; He removes kings and raises up kings; He gives wisdom to the wise And knowledge to those who have understanding.
His power is unlimited in regard to Satan and his demons. Satan’s attack on Job was limited to only certain actions. He was restrained by God’s unlimited power (Job 1:12; 2:6).
Jesus reminded Pilate that he had no power over Him unless it had been granted to him by the God of all power (John 19:11).
Being omnipotent, God can do everything that is in harmony with His Holy character. The Bible reveals that He cannot do things which are contrary to His Holy character. For example, Numbers 23:19, Titus 1:2, and Hebrews 6:18 teach that He cannot lie.
God lacks the ability to lie because lying is contrary to His moral perfection. In the same way, despite His being all-powerful and hating evil, He allows evil to happen, according to His good purpose. He uses certain evil events to allow His purposes to unfold, such as when the greatest evil of all occurred—the killing of the perfect, holy, innocent Lamb of God for the redemption of mankind.
As God incarnate, Jesus Christ is omnipotent. His power is seen in the miracles He performed—His numerous healings, the feeding of the five thousand (Mark 6:30-44), calming the storm (Mark 4:37-41), and the ultimate display of power, raising Lazarus and Jairus’s daughter from the dead (John 11:38-44; Mark 5:35-43), an example of His control over life and death.
Death is the ultimate reason that Jesus came—to destroy it (1 Corinthians 15:22; Hebrews 2:14) and to bring sinners into a right relationship with God. The Lord Jesus stated clearly that He had power to lay down His life and power to take it up again. He had power to call upon twelve legions of angels to rescue Him during His trial, if needed (Matthew 26:53), yet He offered Himself in humility in place of others (Philippians 2:1-11).
The great mystery is that this power can be shared by believers who are united to God in Jesus Christ. Paul says, "Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me" (2 Corinthians 12:9b).
God’s power is exalted in us most when our weaknesses are greatest because He “is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us” (Ephesians 3:20).
20 Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us,
It is God’s power that continues to hold us in a state of grace despite our sin (2 Timothy 1:12), and by His power we are kept from falling (Jude 24). His power will be proclaimed by all the host of heaven for all eternity (Revelation 19:1).
So let me ask you something based on what we have heard through scripture this morning…Is God Essential? YES, and just because this world or even our government and people around us who may think God isn’t essential the truth is no one not even those who doubt God’s existence is sustained by HIM.
Part 2
God’s WORD is Essential
It Reveals the Nature of God
It Restores
It Revives
Part 3
Why is the Church Essential (Important)
If you were to ask the person in the street, “Why is the church important?” you would probably get a wide range of answers. Some would laugh at the question, because for them the church is not important in any way. Others might see the church in the same category as museums: They both preserve things from the past. They’re a nice place to visit on rainy days, where you can observe how quaintly people used to live, but they’re out of touch with our modern world.
God’s People are Essential
He Loves the Surrendered
He Longs to Save
He Lavishes the Saint