Very Most Important
Notes
Transcript
The Most Important Things
The Most Important Things
What are the most important things to know and do?
It depends on what we’re talking about.
Everything has something, or a few things, that are most important to remember to do.
Happy wife, happy life.
Put the toilet seat down.
Hug Sara. Tell her I love her.
Listen actively, ask good questions.
After supper, we sit and talk.
There are things that are reserved for only my wife.
Don’t look at, don’t think about, don’t talk about, only Sara.
Consequences are bad.
I talked last week about firewood.
Basic chore living at altitude. Our wood stove.
The 2 most important things to remember and do when heating w/ a fireplace or wood-burning stove.
Keep the house warm
Don’t burn the house down.
Once you accept these to important things, then there are lots of derivatives off of them.
Some of these things I know b/c some of you were nice enough to tell me.
Others, I’ve learned the hard way.
First, keep the house warm.
If you let the fire go out and you get behind the cold it takes a lot more wood to catch up.
Make sure you start the season w/ enough wood.
If you have to buy a cord in April, you’ll pay a lot for some junk wood.
Make sure you have enough of the right kind of wood.
Aspen lights easily, burns quickly.
Oak, good hardwood, burns slow and hot.
Shaggy juniper, likewise, slow and hot.
If you start the season w/ all aspen, it will go quickly. And, you might run out in April.
That was my first winter here.
W/ our wood stove, we can control how fast it burns. A couple of adjustments that allow more or less air in. More air, faster burn. And, burn more wood, run out of wood in April.
So, when the house is a good temp, we close down the dampers, slows it all down.
Speaking of air, it takes 3 things to get the fire lit.
fuel, that is wood.
a spark, either a clicker, lighter, match, or hot coals from the night before.
Air.
Newspaper is great for getting your fire started. But, if you jam the hole thing w/ paper and no air can get around it, the paper won’t catch, it will smolder and smoke, and that’s about it.
When the wood has a flame, there is less smoke. Or, when the wood is just smoldering it produces more smoke and more smoke gets in the house.
Back to where I started, happy wife happy life. Wife’s not happy when the house is full of smoke.
First most important thing, keep the house warm by keeping the fire burning all season.
Second, don’t burn the house down.
This has a lot to do w/ keeping the stove and chimney pipe clean.
Every off season, sweep the chimney.
I’m reminded of our first winter here, we had Mary and Barry Wright over for dinner. They came down Crestline to Pinewood and saw a house across Pinewood that the chimney was on fire.
It is the house Mindy and Brandon are renting now.
Mary called 911 and the guys got the fire out w/out losing the house.
Related, don’t burn pine inside. Pine is great for outdoor fire pits. But the resin builds up in the chimney and can ignite.
Also, a few years ago, one cold morning, Xmas Eve, our old wood stove wouldn’t light. We’d get it started and it would immediately go out.
We hadn’t lived in the house long, I had no idea when the last time the chimney had been cleaned, the screen at the top was jammed w/ soot. No air could come down.
No air, no fire.
Had to call a chimney sweep on Xmas Eve.
You guys might all be thinking, duh! I’m an idiot. There’s a learning curve.
Have you ever had a burning log roll out. That’s exciting.
When I haven’t cleaned the old ashes out, there’s a mound, it can happen.
And, when you clean the old ashes out, make sure they are in metal ash can w/ a lid, not plastic, and you put the can out on concrete to cool. Not on your wood deck.
That brought a house down up on Maverick a few years ago.
And, they have t/b completely out before you put them in your trash bin.
Maybe you saw the rather direct post from one of our trash haulers about hot embers in their truck.
Lots of paper and flammables in your trash bin and the truck.
We all get it. We learn these things one way or the other. But, we all adhere to them.
B/C, they are the most important things about heating your house w/ a wood stove.
Wouldn’t it be great if someone would just tell us what the most important thing is or things are about life?
Is it Job? Career? Finances?
Family?
Health?
Above everything else, what should be our highest priority. Then, there will be derivatives off these. But, we need to keep the most important thing the most important thing.
Good news. John did that. In his concluding verses, an epilog of sorts, he wrote clearly what we should keep as most important in our lives.
The bottom line is, keep the most important thing the most important thing.
We’re going to wrap up 1 John this morning.
The whole book is about the most important things to keep in mind as we live our lives.
Now, he wraps up his letter. Some of this is review, some new.
These are his last words, in this letter. And last words carry a little extra emphasis.
What is the most important thing?
This is It
This is It
I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life. This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him.
The most important thing for everyone is to know whether or not they believe the right thing to have eternal life.
There is only 1 God. And only way to get to Him in eternity.
There is nothing more important in life than this.
Everything else is secondary.
We can get caught up w/ people and events going on around us and we can let them become a higher priority. But, there is nothing more important than securing our eternal future.
John says we can know for certain.
You may recall, there are 2 Greek words for “knowledge” or “to know something”.
This time John uses “oida”. That means, factual knowledge.
You’d think he might use the other word, ginosco, b/c that refers to a relationship.
And, the relationship w/ Jesus is pretty important on this topic.
But, he doesn’t. He wants us to know that we can know for certain that we are going to heaven.
There is only 1 condition, it’s nothing we have to do, it’s something we have to believe.
Believe in the name of the Son of God, that is Jesus. And, believing in His name, means believing in everything there is to believe about Him.
Eternal life is assured to everyone who believes this.
After that, nothing else matters in regards to getting to heaven.
What we do matters, we’ll get into that.
But this is the priority.
This assurance is based on the 3 witnesses I talked about last week.
Water; Jesus baptism where God affirmed him and Jesus began his ministry.
Blood; Jesus’s death on the cross that ended his ministry.
Everything in between he taught and demonstrated that He is who God says He is and can do what He says he can do.
Spirit; raised him from the dead, indwells us and brings w/ him the same power that raised Jesus from the dead.
The assurance we have is not in our ability to believe. It’s in what Jesus did for us.
Then, once we believe, one of the things we believe is we can pray, talk to God b/c we now have a personal relationship w/ Him.
This is one of the derivatives we have.
Imagine, a conversation w/ the Creator of the Universe asking Him for help in our daily life.
In this, we are confident. Confidence is important. But, there has to be some connection to reality and truth.
Are we just talking to ourselves? No. God is listening.
You see there is a catch to getting what you ask for.
If we ask for something that God would choose for us, we’ll get it. If we don’t, we won’t.
Whatever we ask for, as long as it’s in God’s will, His will is His chooser, what he would choose for us anyway, He will do it for us.
Can we know God’s will? Yes.
Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.
God transforms our minds so we can evaluate our options better and choose what God would choose for us.
Here’s another passage that may help.
What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you? You desire but do not have, so you kill. You covet but you cannot get what you want, so you quarrel and fight. You do not have because you do not ask God. When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.
We don’t have what we want b/c either we don’t ask God for it, or we ask for the wrong thing w/ the wrong motive.
We tend to want what we want for ourselves. And, what James is saying here and what John says is if we ask for what God wants for us, we will get it.
Pray and ask.
Prayer is not a convenient device to impose our will on God or change His will to ours. But it is a way to subordinate our will to His.
It’s also not up to us to imagine or figure out possible solutions to our problems.
Do you really think you can think of better options than God? He’s God. He knows what’s best to do.
If we don’t know what to ask for, the HS will ask on our behalf.
The closer we are to God, the better we will know and know ourselves, and we are much more likely to know what He wants for us.
Confidently, ask for that and you will get it.
So, we can know we have our reservation in heaven and we can confidently talk to God expecting to get from Him what we ask for if we ask for the right thing.
What else should we pray for?
Once we believe, behavior still matters. Pray for the behavior of your friends.
Behavior Still Matters
Behavior Still Matters
If you see any brother or sister commit a sin that does not lead to death, you should pray and God will give them life. I refer to those whose sin does not lead to death. There is a sin that leads to death. I am not saying that you should pray about that. All wrongdoing is sin, and there is sin that does not lead to death.
Guys are wired to compete. If we are meeting someone at a restaurant we will secretly rush as fast as we can so we’re not the last one’s there.
We compete for our favorite girl. Marry her.
Then, one of the things we have to be aware of is that once we get the girl we keep competing for her.
If we’re not careful, we move on and compete for the best job and leave the girl behind.
That’s not good for the marriage.
Behavior in the marriage matters.
And, once we have new life believing in Jesus, even though our behavior didn’t get us in, it still matters how we live our life once we are.
First of all, there is only 1 unforgivable sin. That is the sin that leads to death.
Only one sin that God won’t, can’t forgive.
It’s unbelief. Or, a lack of faith in Jesus.
John is talking about fellow Christians, they have faith. There is not a sin they can commit that would separate them from God.
But, when you see a fellow Christian involved in something they should not be involved in, pray for them that God will get their attention and they will turn away from it.
What we are talking about is sin. John does not gloss over it. Not just an indiscretion, not just a minor lapse. Every sin we commit does damage.
Some damage is inside of us. No one can see it, but we can feel it. We know when we have done something wrong and it has caused a rift between us and God.
Some damage is obvious. We hurt people.
We should pray for each other. It’s hard work. It’s a discipline. We can’t make each other change direction. Typically, God doesn’t either.
But, when someone realizes the wrong they are doing, they can surrender the desire to do it again and God will forgive and remove their guilt and restore whatever they damaged.
So, John is coming the end of his letter. He now has some final thoughts he wants to make sure we get.
Final Thoughts
Final Thoughts
We know that anyone born of God does not continue to sin; the One who was born of God keeps them safe, and the evil one cannot harm them. We know that we are children of God, and that the whole world is under the control of the evil one. We know also that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know him who is true. And we are in him who is true by being in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life.
Dear children, keep yourselves from idols.
Our behavior does not get us into heaven, our belief does. But our behavior still matters.
When Jesus died on the cross He broke the bonds of the sinful habits that destroy us and the relationships that matter to us.
We don’t have to do them any more.
It’s not that we won’t slip into, or even intentionally do something bad from time to time. But, as Christians, we do not live in that lifestyle.
These sinful, harmful, habitual activities are the kinds of things our enemy wants us involved so we do wreck our lives.
Not only has Jesus freed us from them, he protects us from the harm that can result.
We will deal w/ the consequences of our bad behavior in this life, but it won’t keep us out of the next.
Once Satan loses you to Jesus, he will do whatever he can to distract and destroy what important to you. We don’t have to let him.
The HS helps us understand what’s happening and who’s at work.
Then John closes w/ this:
Keep yourself from idols. And idol is something or someone you allow to become more important than God.
An idol creates interference and we lose the clear and fast connection w/ God.
Very practically, idols keep you too busy to pray and read your bible.
They keep you distracted and make noise so you can’t hear God.
They scare you, make you worry, so you lose touch w/ the peace of God.
Idols make you think they will take care of you, provide for you, protect you, and keep you content and happy.
These are all the things that only God can do.
So, don’t let anything get in the way of your relationship w/ God and the activities that keep you close.
These are the most important things to keep in mind as you live your life.
Don’t get distracted by political issues. Love everyone and don’t get distracted by their skin color.
You don’t have to be so concerned about your life here on earth b/c your life in heaven will be so much better.
Relax and know that you have eternal life.
Know God and ask for what you know He wants for you.
Break the free from the sin in your life and pray that your friends will do the same.
Don’t let anything get in the way of your relationship w/ God.
Keep the important thing the important thing w/out letting anything else become more important.
Applications
Applications
Do you know?
Do you know?
Do you know for certain. You know what you believe.
And, if you believe the wrong thing God will let you know right now so you can believe the right thing.
If you do, relax. Your reservation is secure.
Pray
Pray
Know God better. Eph. 1.
Let God continue to keep your mind renewed so your life continues to transform.
GIGO. Don’t put garbage in your mind.
Do these things and you will know God better and what He would choose for you in a given situation.
Pray that. Right thing. Right reason.
And, pray for your friends who are caught up giving in to things they don’t have to give in to anymore that are causing damage their lives and their relationships.
Pray is a powerful and effective tool we have. But we have to be patient and persistent in it. God is answering when we ask for what he wants us to ask for.
Any Idols?
Any Idols?
Get rid of them.
Anything keeping you too busy for God?
Too distracted? Making too much noise? Causing you fear and stress you don’t need?
Are you trusting in your ability or something else to do what only God can do?
Just ask, right now. The first thing that pops into your mind may be an idol you need to deal w/.
It can be a good thing. Maybe you’ve just allowed it too high of a priority.
Remove the idols from their places and put God on the throne in the most important place in your life.
Keep the most important thing the most important thing.