Ray Marx had baked bread before. Hundreds of times.
Well, two times anyway.
"It's a simple loaf of white bread. How hard could that be?" Ray wondered aloud. "A little yeast, a little oil, a little flour - nothing to it."
Ray put all the ingredients into the big bowl his mother always used, added more flour until the mixture was a big ball and dumped it onto the counter.
As Ray kneaded the dough he imagined how surprised and happy his parents would be when he presented his homemade bread for breakfast the next morning. It was their 25th anniversary.
Ray cove red the big ball of dough with a light coating of butter, flipped it into the bowl, covered it with plastic wrap and set it aside in a warm corner of the room to rise.
"See nothing to it," he said smugly. "Didn't even have to look at the recipe."
Now all he had to do was wait for it to rise. 30 mins. Nothing, an hour. Nothing.
"It just sat there in the bowl like..., like a big lump of dough. Why wasn't it rising?" Ray asked himself.
He checked the expiration date on the yeast packet. No problem, it wouldn't expire for another 3 months. So what could it be?
Reluctantly he went to the cookbook.
"Let's see," he mused, "Flour, oil, yeast and sugar."
"Sugar! Of Course !"
Without sugar, the yeast couldn't do it's job. No wonder the bread wasn't rising! He had left out a small but vital ingredient.
Ray's bread couldn't rise without sugar. The same way, Paul says that Christians can't reach a mature faith without having the right ingredients in his or her life.
The ingredients are found in Romans 16:25 -27 (NIV)
Well, two times anyway.
"It's a simple loaf of white bread. How hard could that be?" Ray wondered aloud. "A little yeast, a little oil, a little flour - nothing to it."
Ray put all the ingredients into the big bowl his mother always used, added more flour until the mixture was a big ball and dumped it onto the counter.
As Ray kneaded the dough he imagined how surprised and happy his parents would be when he presented his homemade bread for breakfast the next morning. It was their 25th anniversary.
Ray cove red the big ball of dough with a light coating of butter, flipped it into the bowl, covered it with plastic wrap and set it aside in a warm corner of the room to rise.
"See nothing to it," he said smugly. "Didn't even have to look at the recipe."
Now all he had to do was wait for it to rise. 30 mins. Nothing, an hour. Nothing.
"It just sat there in the bowl like..., like a big lump of dough. Why wasn't it rising?" Ray asked himself.
He checked the expiration date on the yeast packet. No problem, it wouldn't expire for another 3 months. So what could it be?
Reluctantly he went to the cookbook.
"Let's see," he mused, "Flour, oil, yeast and sugar."
"Sugar! Of Course !"
Without sugar, the yeast couldn't do it's job. No wonder the bread wasn't rising! He had left out a small but vital ingredient.
Ray's bread couldn't rise without sugar. The same way, Paul says that Christians can't reach a mature faith without having the right ingredients in his or her life.
The ingredients are found in Romans 16:25 -27 (NIV)
25 Now to him who is able to establish you in accordance with my gospel,
the message I proclaim about Jesus Christ,
in keeping with the revelation of the mystery hidden for long ages past,
26 but now revealed and made known through the prophetic writings
by the command of the eternal God, so that all the Gentiles might
come to the obedience that comes from faith—
27 to the only wise God be glory forever through Jesus Christ! Amen.
In gaining ideas on how to study the bible it's always a good idea to ask someone or these days google or bing for them. There are heaps of ways out there. Each of us all have various means from reading chapter by chapter or using topics to read it. Last time I looked there were at least 7 different ways but my last link actually talks about 12..
Here are just some places to start looking.
