3 Main Ingredients

Goodmorning and welcome in today. Today we are going to take a look at a passage of scripture but before we do that, I wanted to tell you a story.

For the past 20 years our family on most occasions eats fresh flatbread at each meal. If you have never had it, it is a type of unleavened bread. Some people may refer to it as a pita or tortilla.

We use them for everything from scrambler breakfast wraps to burritos. It’s a very good and inexpensive meal that we have always eaten and enjoyed in our family.

We first learned about it when we ate fry bread as we worked on a Navajo reservation in new Mexico. In our family’s version we simply skip deep frying the bread in oil, and cook them on a dry hot frypan.

After we take them off of the wood cookstove, we put them in a pile inside of a plastic grocery bag, keeping the heat and moisture inside so they remain soft and delicious all day long. Whatever is leftover can be used as crackers for soup or other things the next day.

Flat bread in our family has three simple ingredients, flour, salt and water. It is a very simplistic recipe that is very similar to the Christian faith.

In Christianity the 3 main ingredients for salvation are repentance, remission and reconcilliation.

The best example I have found in scripture that embodies the 3 main ingredients of our faith is the parable of the prodigal Son. This is a story that really needs to be examined daily by those who profess Christianity. The Son sinned. He had a change of heart. He apologized. He got completely and quickly forgiven and the result was full and complete reconciliation.(Luke 15:11)

Let’s start with the word repent.

Step 1: Repentance. Repent means to have a change of heart that leads you to feel remorseful enough that you approach and apologize to someone you have wronged. That is exactly what the prodigal son did. If you have no remorse, you certainly will not apologize to the offended party. Saying I’m sorry is an admission of guilt by itself. Only the proud and impenitent refuse to apologize to God and others.

Psalms 38:18 – For I will declare mine iniquity; I will be sorry for my sin.

Ps 32:5 I acknowledge my sin unto thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid. I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the Lord; and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin. Selah.

Acknowledge means to recognize your mistakes and admit them. When you admit your mistakes, no matter how many there may be, God is more than willing and ready to forgive us.

1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

True Justice is filled with mercy and forgiveness. A lot of people who were involved with the law of Judaism we’re unmerciful and unforgiving.

When we confess and repent, remission for our sins can happen with God. Each of us need God’s forgiveness because each of us have sinned in his sight which should be of serious concern for those who stand in judgement over others. Jesus will decide who truly was just and merciful in their decision making while here on Earth.

Many people think of the Supreme Court as the highest court in the land but truly the highest court is when each of us die and stand at the great Judgment Day before God who will determine if you truly were forgiving with other people while you lived your life upon this Earth.

Step 2: Remission. Remission is to forgive which means to pardon; to remit, as an offense or debt; to overlook an offense, and treat the offender as not guilty. A pardon is the action of forgiving or being forgiven for an error or offense, or to forgive someone for something they have said or done.

When someone sins or makes a mistake in their life, you can’t go back and undue what you have done. All we can do is apologize or say I repent. God doesnt make it difficult to obtain forgiveness, but quite the contrary. Our God loves to forgive and forget because He is the God of mercy. He desires that all men repent and come to Him so He can forgive them so that we can be reconciled back with Himself. When someone apologizes and says the words I repent, we are commanded to forgive as God forgives each of us.

Luke 17:3-4 Take heed to yourselves: If thy brother trespass against thee, rebuke him; and if he repent, forgive him.
And if he trespass against thee seven times in a day, and seven times in a day turn again to thee, saying, I repent; thou shalt forgive him.

God wants us to extremely forgiving.

Matt 18:21-22 Then came Peter to him, and said, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times?
Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee, Until seven times: but, Until seventy times seven.

Step 3: Reconciliation. Reconcile is defined as to make two people friendly again, or to become friendly with someone after estrangement or to re-establish friendly relations.

2 Corinthians 5:18-21 – And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation;

As I’ve said many times before, if there’s no reconciliation, there’s no forgiveness that happened. Many people today claim that they forgive others in their heart but they never reconcile with them. It’s just another form of false Christianity. Imagine going to the Lord Jesus and asking forgiveness from him but he doesn’t want you in heaven. Imagine The Prodigal Son returning home and his dad says I forgive you but I don’t want you living here.

You can tell if somebody truly forgave another person. Just look and see if they returned to the former relationship that they had with the other person. If they cannot forgive and reconcile, they themselves will not be forgiven by God, and that is something to terrible for me to even think about. Without reconciliation its like trying to make flatbread without flour. Reconciliation is so important to God that He doesn’t even want your offering until you reconcile with others that you have wronged.

Matt 5:23-24 Therefore if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee;

Leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift.

Ephesians 4:32 – And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.

These are three main ingredients in the Christian faith. Make sure you don’t leave one of them out.

Let’s think about those things for today and Lord willing we’ll talk to you some more tomorrow. Till then, bye bye everybody.❤

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