What's In a Recipe?

1 Thessalonians 1:5 For our gospel came not unto you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Ghost, and in much assurance; as ye know what manner of men we were among you for your sake.

Have you ever asked someone for a recipe? What did they give you? Did they hand you a card with some words on it? My uncle used to work in a federal prison, and was provided a house with a crew of prisoners to serve him and his family. One, the cook, would try to make everything he made look like those pictures in the magazines next to the recipes. If it came out looking less than perfect, he threw it out. When you get a recipe, it's just words. Some people think the gospel is just words. It takes work to make the perfect cake - and most of that work is NOT done by the baker, but by the oven!

But the gospel is more than mere words. The gospel is the whole cake, ready for baking (mixing with the heat of faith). All the ingredients are in the pan and the oven is heated: the flour of sin has destroyed a life; the egg of Christ's blood, shed to cleanse and make pure the life that trusts Him; the sugar of the love of God which prompted this whole salvation in the first place, sweetening the deal with fuel and certainty; the baking powder of the power of God to make the dead rise again. It's all mixed, awaiting the trial of faith to heat and transform the whole thing (the power of the Holy Spirit). Yes, the result will truly be a wonderful new thing. The ingredients cannot be separated ever again. They have become ONE! They look and taste better than the picture on the recipe card.

We don't present the gospel as a mere recipe card and hope to see lives changed. We must rely on the Lord to have prepared the whole recipe, ingredients and all, in the heart of the hearer. We must not think, even for a minute, that we are responsible for the salvation of even one person. It is solely the work of God. We were merely the spoon that stirred the ingredients. God did the cooking. Give Him the glory and stir all the ingredients you can before you go to see Him! Pray before, during, and after you stir into the lives of others the words of the gospel and watch a miracle of a beautiful new creation come out by the work of the Lord!

Holler for Jesus,

Greg Yount

Check out my blogs:

Just-a-Thot - Devotional thoughts - http://justa-thot.blogspot.com

As I See It - Biblical perspectives on current events - http://asiseeit10.blogspot.com